How to Get a Thesis Statement From a Paper Topic

When you are given a topic for a term paper, it can often be difficult to turn that topic into a thesis. Even if you get to choose a topic, going from a general area of interest to a focused argument successfully takes time and work. However, if you keep yourself open to a number of ideas and don't try to rush toward a finished paper as quickly as you can, you'll find that you can narrow your ideas into a thesis that will impress your instructor.

Instructions

1. Start by brainstorming. A topic is usually very general and usually has many different areas in which you can narrow your interests down to something manageable. Start by listing all the different aspects of your topic that seem interesting. Then, when finished, circle the three or four most interesting approaches.

2. Start your research. Even if your assignment does not require a formal research paper, doing a bit of informal reading on your topic can vastly improve the final product. Go to the library or on the Internet and just start looking at books, articles, and websites about your topic. Keep the following questions in mind: What do people talk about the most? Which issues seem most current? Which issues do people seem to argue about?

3. Locate a debatable issue about your topic. Remember that a thesis is your reasoned opinion about a topic. You need to find something where you can take a side on a potentially controversial issue. In other words, look for aspects that have not been decided yet, that cannot be decided based solely on facts, or where there simply seems to be disagreement.

4. Decide what you think about this issue. What is your personal opinion? Or, if you don't have an opinion, which side of the issue seems like it might be easiest to defend? Once you have found an issue about which you can take a stand, you are almost to your thesis.

5. Craft your opinion into a single sentence. Try to include the issue or question to which you are responding in the sentence itself. For example, a decent thesis sentence about the value of speed limits might be as follows: "Although some critics think that low speed limits unfairly limit our freedoms, they are in fact a good way to increase public safety."

6. Keep an open mind about your thesis. You may find that there isn't enough information to support your thesis. Or you may actually change your mind as you start to write. You can always change your opinion, but, if you have gone through the process of locating debatable issues, you should not ever have to start over from scratch.

Tips & Warnings

• A topic is a thing while a thesis is an opinion. If your paper starts to sound like a simple report on information, you aren't defending a thesis. You're just reporting instead of arguing for your thesis.