How To Write An Essay: Thesis Statements

hello my name is Arielle and welcome to how to write an essay today I'm talking all about thesis statements and you might think that's impossible to make an entire video about thesis statements but I have so much to say this series is brought to you by Squarespace so a thesis statement you could say it is the anchor of your entire paper let's start what is a thesis statement it's a short statement usually one sentence that summarizes the main point or claim of an essay and is developed supported and explained in the text by means of examples and evidence where should it be typically your thesis statement should be at the end of your introduction this is not a steadfast rule you don't always have to put it there but honestly 99% of the time you want to have it at the end of your introduction a really helpful way to think about your thesis statement is that it's a compass imagine that you've just been plopped in front of a forest and someone gives you an introductory ramble about this forest your thesis statement is the compass right before you're gonna go and journey into the forest for a hike you need a compass you need something that you're constantly checking back to to lead you and direct you through the essay and forest a lot of my students felt that pistas statements were something they were simply doing for me because I wanted them because I loved thesis statements and I do love thesis statements but they're actually a tool for you the writer of the essay as well it's a way for you to keep on track constantly throughout your essay you should be referring back to your thesis statement looking at that compass to remind yourself what it is you're arguing a lot of the times research can get out of control you find yourself on fun but random tangents and it's important to constantly be linking back to your thesis statement it's a tool for you also so how do you make a thesis statement it's really important to realize that a topic is not the same thing as a thesis statement your topic could be dogs Pisa statement will be a specific and arguable point about dogs you could for example make your thesis statement small dogs make better companions than large dogs there you have a specific statement it's not a fact it's an opinion it's an argument that you are making and trying to defend remember that your thesis statement should be an argument not a fact I have marked a lot of essays where the thesis statement is simply a fact something like windows are made of glass that's not something that you can argue that's just fact you're just giving me a research paper what we're going for is an argumentative statement something unique to you something that you are proving something that you're making connections about that nobody else has if you're struggling to write an argumentative thesis statement I find it incredibly helpful to do this practice write down on your computer go ahead and type in this essay I will be arguing that and then fill in the blank that literally forces you to create an argument you can end up leaving that as your final thesis statement especially in lower years of university just having a clear argument is what a marker is looking for but you can then once you have a solid thesis foundation change that so that it isn't as obvious another thing to keep in mind is that a thesis statement is never fixed you can always change it and thesis statements often do change throughout the essay writing process you may have a thesis statement you write your first paragraph and you're like oh wow I actually am arguing something else or like seven paragraphs into the paper you realize wow I'm not actually arguing what my thesis statement is go ahead and change it adjust course to whatever you're actually writing about you might think that my passion for thesis statements is insane and out of control but these statements could help to anchor your paper it can help you to link back and constantly make sure that what you're arguing is related to what you said you'd be arguing and it's helpful to the reader to make sure that they know what you're talking about and can follow your argument I really hope that you have found this helpful make sure to check out my other episodes on how to write an essay and thank you so much to Squarespace for sponsoring this video I use Squarespace for all of my website building and I genuinely find it an incredible tool it's an all-in-one platform you never have to like try and figure out coding or anything it's a place where you can buy domains it's great and if you visit squarespace.com forward slash arial you can get your first trial for free and you can get the first thing you purchase 10% off so check them out in the description let me know down in the comments what is your thesis statement what are you arguing and I hope you enjoyed this video bye

Channel: Ariel Bissett

Views: 698,601

Keywords: essay, essay writing, thesis, thesis statement, how to write an essay, thesis statements

Id: TotaRoYh60Y

Length: 5min 19sec (319 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 30 2018