A thesis statement declares what you believe and what you intend to prove. A good thesis statement makes the difference between a thoughtful research project and a simple retelling of facts.
A good tentative thesis will help you focus your search for information. But don't rush! You must do a lot of background reading before you know enough about a subject to identify key or essential questions. You may not know how you stand on an issue until you have examined the evidence. You will likely begin your research with a working, preliminary or tentative thesis which you will continue to refine until you are certain of where the evidence leads.
The thesis statement is typically located at the end of your opening paragraph.
(The opening paragraph serves to set the context for the thesis.)
Remember, your reader will be looking for your thesis. Make it clear, strong, and easy to find.
You will want to revisit your initial "guiding statement," "essential question," or "working thesis," depending on your teacher's requirements. Your thesis statement will be a restatement of your guiding statement, an answer to your essential question, or a revised working thesis, now related to your research.
Example for the topic of "steroid use and high school students:"
Guiding statement: "My paper will explain the problem of steroid use among high school students; provide statistics to examine how widespread the problem is, the discipline provided by the school, how it affects the body, short and long term health issues, and treatment options."
Essential question: "Why do high school students use steroids?"
Working thesis: "Steroids use among high school students is due to a negative body image and competition."
New thesis statement:
"Because of the high level of competition in sports, the changing male body image, and the perceived safety of steroids, the rate of high school students using steroids stands to increase over time."
One way to think of the thesis statement is to think of your topic as the subject, and then your opinion as the verb.
Example: Steroid use among high school students (subject) will increase over time (verb).
Avoid using just forms of the verb "to be" like is, are, am, were, etc.
The action verb in the example above is "increase."
The Center for Writing Studies may provide you with more help.
