1. Thesis Statement... What is it?

2. What is a thesis statement? The thesis statement contains the focus of your essay and tells your reader what the essay is going to be about.

3. When do I write a thesis statement? You will develop a thesis statement about your research topic after you have developed your research question and hypothesis. You will need to do some actual research on your topic before you write your thesis statement. You will need to present your thesis statement in your introduction, prove it with evidence in the body of your paper and then summarize your evidence within your conclusion.

4. Why should your essay contain a thesis statement? To test your ideas by distilling them into a sentence or two. To better organize and develop your argument. To provide your reader with a ‘guide’ to your argument.

5. How do I write a thesis statement? The thesis statement should remain flexible until the paper is actually done. If you discover new information while conducting research and writing your paper, you will need to include that within your thesis statement. Also if you are unable to cover all the information found in your thesis statement, you will need to rewrite it to exclude the things you did not cover.

6. How do I write a thesis statement? Look at your research question and your hypothesis. Look at the information you already found. Decide what kind of statement you want to make; make sure you have enough evidence to back it up. Write you thesis statement based on the above information.

7. What does a thesis statement look like? There are a number of ways to write a thesis statement, just make sure you can support it with enough evidence from reliable sources. Be as specific as possible.

8. What does a thesis statement look like? Weak vs. Strong... Weak ◦ World hunger has many causes and effects. ◦ The North and the South fought for many reasons; some of which were the same and some different. Strong ◦ Hunger persists in Kenya because jobs are scarce and farming in the infertile soil is rarely profitable. ◦ While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions.

9. QUESTIONS??? COMMENTS... Contact Tracy Ponder 417.447.8173 pondert@otc.edu