After you have decided on a topic and thought about how you want to approach it, your next step is to take a stand on the issue you are going to discuss. You do this by expressing your position as a thesis statement.
A thesis statement is the central element of any argumentative essay. It tells readers what your position is and perhaps also indicates why you are taking this position and how you plan to support it. As you draft your thesis statement, keep the following guidelines in mind:
An argumentative thesis statement is not simply a statement of your topic; rather, it expresses the point you will make about your topic.
| TOPIC | The green movement on college campuses |
| THESIS STATEMENT | College campuses should go green. |
An argumentative thesis statement should be specific, clearly indicating to readers exactly what position you will take in your essay.
| TOO GENERAL | Colleges need to do more to get students involved in environmental issues. |
| REVISED | Colleges should institute programs and classes to show students the importance of using sustainable resources. |
An argumentative thesis statement should get right to the point, avoiding wordy, repetitive language.
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| WORDY | Because issues that revolve around the environment are so crucial and important, colleges should do more to increase student involvement in campus projects that are concerned with sustainability. |
| REVISED | Because environmental issues are so important, colleges should take steps to involve students in campus sustainability projects. |
Many argumentative thesis statements include words such as should and should not.
College campuses should ____________.
Because ____________, colleges should ____________.
Even though ____________, colleges should not ____________.
At this point, any thesis that you come up with is tentative. As you think about your topic and as you read about it, you will very likely modify your thesis statement, perhaps expanding or narrowing its scope, rewording it to make it more precise, or even changing your position. Still, the thesis statement that you decide on at this point can help you focus your exploration of your topic.
TENTATIVE THESIS STATEMENT
College campuses should go green.
List five possible thesis statements for the topic you chose in Exercise 7.1. (To help you see your topic in several different ways, you might experiment by drafting at least one thesis statement that evaluates, one that considers causes and/or effects, and one that proposes a solution to a problem.) Which thesis statement seems most promising for your essay? Why?