Argumentive Thesis Statement

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Your job as a writer is to persuade the reader—through the careful use of examples and thoughtful analysis—that your argument is a valid one. Although you do want to grab your reader's attention, asking a question is not the same as making a thesis statement.

Your job is to persuade by presenting a clear, concise concept that explains both how and why.

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However, because the thesis statement presents an argument that must be convincing to readers, it needs to have some important characteristics of its own: While the list above provides many crucial criteria for the thesis, there are others that need to be mentioned briefly as well.

Your thesis statement should never be in the form of a question, and it should always present view and not someone else’s.If your thesis is something that is generally agreed upon or accepted as fact then there is no reason to try to persuade people.Example of a non-debatable thesis statement: implies that something is bad or negative in some way.However, without a main point even these types of essays will have no coherence. Without this expressly written main point, the paper will be unclear and unfocused, and readers will often be confused about the idea you are trying to get across. With this statement, you not only tell readers what you think about an issue, but you also let them know what you intend to prove in your paper.For this reason, there is no need to explain to readers that you will back up your thesis in your essay.Although these genres are different, they are similar in that both require your essay to have a main point. It may seem that papers in which you state your favorite book, relate your most cherished memory, or describe your little sister don’t need a central idea.In fact, it is crucial that you have a central idea in both types of essay. It is also highly recommended that you present your main idea toward the end of your first paragraph, so readers will know at the onset what point you plan to make in your essay. After all, you aren’t trying to convince anyone to vote for a certain political candidate or to ban smoking in public places.Thus, always avoid quoting or paraphrasing someone in your thesis.Exercise 2 Read each thesis statement below and determine if it is effective.Your composition professor has given you an assignment, requiring you to write an essay in which you identify your favorite book and explain why you like it best.Later she assigns an essay in which you take a stand either for or against homeschooling.