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Choose Reasons to Accept Your Thesis Statement

In longer documents, such as essays, reports, and Web sites, writers usually present readers with several reasons to accept their thesis statement. The kinds of reasons writers present will vary according to the types of documents they are writing. In informative documents, for example, writers might focus on the three or four most important aspects of the subject they want readers to understand. In analytical documents, they might choose points that help readers understand the results of the analysis. In argumentative documents, writers usually offer a series of claims that will lead readers to accept the arguments they are advancing.

To choose the reasons you’ll offer to support your thesis statement, consider brainstorming, freewriting, looping, or clustering (see Chapter 2). As you generate ideas, reflect on your purpose, your role as a writer, the type of document you intend to write, and your readers.

Writing to reflect. Which of your observations are most significant? What kind of impression do you want to create? (See Chapter 5.)
Writing to inform. What do you want to convey to your readers? What are they most likely to want to know about the subject? (See Chapter 6.)
Writing to analyze. How will you present the results of your analysis? What questions might your readers have about each part of your analysis? (See Chapter 7.)
Writing to evaluate. What is the best way to present your criteria and the results of your evaluation? (See Chapter 8.)
Writing to solve problems. How will you define the problem, and how will you present your solution? What questions do you think your readers will have about your problem definition, proposed solution, and alternative solutions? (See Chapter 9.)
Writing to convince or persuade. How can you convince your readers to accept your thesis statement? How do you think they might respond to your argument? What sort of counterarguments might they propose? (See Chapter 10.)