Journal - What Makes a Good Thesis

A thesis statement is a brief summary of the goal/purpose of your paper. It allows the reader to understand that every point/argument described throughout the paper will justify a specific overall idea. In order for a thesis statement to be strong, it must include both a statement of fact and opinion. The thesis statement should serve as a guide for the reader to follow as they continue to read the paper. It is most common to include your thesis statement as one sentence in the introduction paragraph in order to introduce your main purpose of your paper. However, thesis statements may be longer than one sentence and located in a place other than the introduction, depending on how the paper is organized. It is very important to have a strong, clear thesis statement because if the thesis statement is weak, the reader will not have a clear understanding of what they are supposed to learn and pay attention to while reading your paper.

To better illustrate my ideas of what constitutes a good thesis statement, I came up with two thesis statements that I consider to be strong:

1. The emission of fossil fuels causes a negative impact on the environment by producing air pollution.

2. Bungee jumping is a dangerous practice that should not be continued.

The first example represents a strong thesis statement because it includes a statement of fact and opinion. This sentence tells the reader that the paper will discuss how the emission of fossil fuels effects/relates to air pollution, which is the statement of fact. It also includes a statement of opinion because it tells the reader that the author believes that the impact is negative. Therefore, the reader can expect to read about claims as to why the author believes that the emission of fossil fuels and producing air pollution are negative impacts on the environment. The second example also represents a strong thesis statement because it includes the two properties of a good thesis statement (statement of fact and opinion) as well. The statement of fact in this sentence is that bungee jumping is a dangerous practice. The statement of opinion comes in the second half of the sentence when it says that it should not be continued. Therefore, from this sentence, the reader is able to understand that the paper will discuss the dangers of bungee jumping and reasons for why the act should not be continued.
These short, clear thesis statements are important guide for the reader that leads to a much better understanding of the idea that the author is trying to get across. A good paper should always teach some kind of lesson, and a strong thesis statement allows authors to do just that.