Once you have read a variety of sources, considered your issue from different perspectives, and chosen an entry point in the research conversation (see R1-b), you are ready to form a working thesis: a one-sentence (or occasionally a two-sentence) statement of your central idea (see also C2-a). Because it is a working, or tentative, thesis, it is flexible enough to change as your ideas develop.
In a research paper, your thesis will answer the central research question you pose (see R1-b). Here, for example, are student writer Sophie Harba’s research question and working thesis.
research question
Should the government enact laws to regulate healthy eating choices?
working thesis
Government has the responsibility to regulate healthy eating choices because of the rise of chronic diseases.
After you have written a rough draft and perhaps done more reading, you may decide to revise your thesis, as Harba did, to give it a sharper and more specific focus.
revised thesis
In the name of public health and safety, state governments have the responsibility to shape health policies and to regulate healthy eating choices, especially since doing so offers a potentially large social benefit for a relatively small cost.
The thesis usually appears at the end of the introductory paragraph. To read Sophie Harba’s thesis in the context of her introduction, see MLA-5b.