The Thesis Statement

The Thesis Statement

In Research Papers, Reports, Theses

The answer to the question with which you began your research, or the substantiated hypothetical statement, will eventually become the thesis statement, or controlling idea, for the paper. As your outline evolves and your research leads you in new directions, your thesis statement may change, and you should frequently consider revising it as your work progresses. You might even find that you have completely reversed your conclusions in the process of doing your research.

The scope and precision of your thesis statement will vary depending on your field of study, the level at which you are writing, and the nature of the assignment. For an undergraduate research paper on a subject new to the writer, the thesis statement might well be much more general than an appropriate thesis statement for a graduate paper. For the latter, a more knowledgeable and sophisticated approach to the subject would be required. The same would be true of a professional paper, which might delve into extremely specialized areas of the subject. Even when writing a very general paper, however, you might find a particular area of the subject in which you wish to concentrate. You will want to get some idea from your instructor or advisor about the scope of conclusions you are expected to draw for any given assignment.

Your final thesis statement should cover all the points made in the paper. It need not enumerate each point, but you should not disconcert your reader by straying into an area of inquiry not suggested by the thesis statement. For example, the following thesis statement refers briefly to two major sections of the paper, the advantages of electronic texts and the disadvantages to electronic publishing, and it suggests the writer’s answer to the question of the title, “Are Books Obsolete?” “Although electronic means of publication have some advantages, electronic texts are not likely to replace books.” A paper beginning with this thesis statement should not conclude that books are in fact obsolete; the writer who had come to that conclusion in the process of writing would have to revise the thesis and the rest of the paper accordingly.

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This page last updated on 07/19/2004