In definition essays, your main point typically defines your topic. The main point is directly related to your purpose, which is to get your readers to understand the way that you are using a term or concept in your essay. Although writers do not always define a term or concept in a thesis statement, it helps readers if they do.

A thesis statement in definition can follow a variety of different patterns, two of which include the term and its basic definition.

In essays based on the previous thesis statements, readers would expect the italicized terms and concepts to be defined through examples that show the writer’s meaning.