Once you have read a variety of sources and considered all sides of your issue, you are ready to form a working thesis: a one-sentence (or occasionally a two-sentence) statement of your central idea. In a research paper, your thesis will answer your central research question.
Here, for example, are the research question and working thesis statement that student Anna Orlov wrote as she began to research her paper on Internet surveillance in the workplace.
ORLOV’S RESEARCH QUESTION
Should employers monitor their employees’ online activities in the workplace?
ORLOV’S WORKING THESIS
Employers should not monitor their employees’ online activities because electronic surveillance can compromise workers’ privacy.
After you have written a rough draft and perhaps done more reading, you may decide to revise your tentative thesis, as Orlov did.
ORLOV’S REVISED THESIS
Although companies often have legitimate concerns that lead them to monitor employees’ Internet usage—from expensive security breaches to reduced productivity—the benefits of electronic surveillance are outweighed by its costs to employees’ privacy and autonomy.
The thesis usually appears at the end of the introductory paragraph.
Orlov, “Online Monitoring: A Threat to Employee Privacy in the Wired Workplace”
Exercise: Thesis statements in MLA papers 1
Exercise: Thesis statements in MLA papers 2
Related topics:
Drafting a working thesis
Forming research questions in various disciplines