purpose of the thesis

What Is the Purpose of Thesis Statements?

The purpose of a thesis statement is to provide a clear, specific argument that will serve as a guide to the reader so she knows what to expect from your essay. A thesis should be related to the question or prompt that your are responding to, but it should provide a specific argument that goes beyond a simple restatement of the subject. The thesis serves as the backbone of your essay, and you will support the claims that you make in your thesis throughout the piece. A good thesis will also help you as the writer know how to structure your essay and when to leave out information that is not relevant to the thesis.

Does your thesis serve its purpose?

Let's say you are writing about the U.S. Constitution. You write the following thesis statement: "The U.S. Constitution set forth principles that are still very important to our government." Now, ask yourself if this thesis is serving it's purpose. Is it a specific argument? Not really. It is an argument that no one would dispute, and it is so broad that you would need to write a book to cover all of the issues that this thesis covers. Does it serve as a guide to the reader? No, because the reader doesn't know what principles you are going to write about or why they are so important. A better thesis might be something like this: "The 'commerce clause' in Article 1, Section 8 has been the most important single line in the Constitution, influencing the size and scope of the current federal government." This is an argument that is specific enough to defend and will let your reader know exactly what your essay will be about.

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