thesis organization statement

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What are thesis and organizational statements?

The Thesis Statement A persuasive essay—which will many (if not all) of your writing assignments in college will be—advocates a particular position that can be argued for or against. That position will be expressed in a thesis statement. Simply put, a thesis tells the reader your topic and your position on that topic. For example :

Movies produced in the mid-1950s use obsessive behavior to depict teenage romance as something dangerous that should be avoided.

A paper based on that thesis statement would cover the general topic of love in movies produced during the 1950s and would express the author’s view that obsessive behavior is used to portray the dangers of teenage romance.

Notice how that example expresses a particular position that can be argued for or against. Your thesis statement must express an opinion rather than a fact. It should avoid repeating anything that would be considered common knowledge. If no one could possibly disagree with your thesis, choose another topic.

In a persuasive essay, the thesis statement will typically be found toward the end of an introductory paragraph. The following paragraphs will contain the author’s argument in support of the position stated in the thesis statement and will give evidence in support of his/her viewpoint. A final paragraph will summarize the author’s argument and present the author’s conclusions about the topic (though it will not simply restate the thesis).

The Organizational Statement Sometimes, an organization statement will be used in conjunction with the thesis. An organizational statement is a map that tells your reader what h/she should expect to read in your essay. It introduces the two or three main pieces of evidence that you will use to support your position. While not required in a thesis, organizational statements can make for stronger thesis statements.

An organizational statement can can take the form of a separate sentence or can be attached to your thesis in a single sentence, as seen in the examples below:

Notice how the 2nd version above strengthens the original thesis. Try to combine your thesis and organizational statement into one sentence whenever possible.

Important: You must discuss the evidence in the same order that you introduce it in your organizational statement. In this example, it means the paper would have to discuss rebelliousness, an uncontrollable nature, and danger (as they relate to obsessive teenage romance in film) in that order .

For More Information Now that you know what thesis and organizational statements are, how do you come up with one? Learn different strategies by reading these two guides: Generating a Thesis and Thesis Statements: Working Backwards .

The information on this page is based on an English 102 handout by Angela Francis.

NEXT: Generating a Thesis

Thesis Sentences

Organizational statements in thesis sentences.

Sometimes, an organizational statement will be used in conjunction with a thesis. An organizational statement is a map that tells readers what they should expect to read in an essay. It introduces the two or three main pieces of evidence that the author will use to support the essay’s position. While not required in a thesis, organizational statements can make for stronger thesis statements.

An organizational statement can take the form of a separate sentence or can be attached to a thesis in a single sentence, as seen in the examples below. The organizational elements appear in bold text:

Movies produced in the mid-1950s used obsessive behavior to depict teenage romance as something dangerous that should be avoided. Obsessive behavior was viewed as rebellious, uncontrollable, and harmful , both to the teenagers and to the people who loved them.

Since obsessive behavior was viewed as rebellious, uncontrollable, and dangerous , movies produced in the mid-1950s used it to depict teenage romance as something that should be avoided for the sake of young adults and the people who loved them.

Notice how the 2nd version above strengthens the original thesis, by appearing as part of the same sentence.

Evidence in the body of an essay should be presented in the same order that it appears in an organizational statement. In the example above, it means the essay would have to discuss rebelliousness, an uncontrollable nature, and danger (as they relate to obsessive teenage romance in film) in that order .

In the following video, the second step focuses on “roadmap,” which refers to the organizational statement in a thesis sentence. The video also offers a chance for you to practice creating a thesis with an organizational statement.

What Is an Organizational Thesis?

An organizational thesis is a sentence that explains to readers exactly what a paper will be about. The thesis is a significant part of any paper and the organization of the piece hinges largely on the quality of the thesis statement. Though some papers have implied thesis statements, which means 1 the actual statement is not written anywhere in the paper, most professors and professionals require clear and descriptive thesis statements.

An organizational thesis must reflect the content of the paper, as it is the hinge pin of the entire piece. If the thesis statement is even slightly off topic, the paper will not be properly organized. For example, if the paper is about equestrian law, but the thesis is about horseback riding, the paper will not be properly organized.

The organizational thesis statement can appear anywhere in a paper. However, it is most common for it to be placed within the introductory paragraph of the paper. In the rare case that a paper has more than one introductory paragraph, the thesis is placed in the last paragraph before the body. It is generally the last sentence in the introductory paragraph, though in some rare occasions it can be placed in the beginning of the paragraph.

An organizational thesis statement should be a complete sentence, including a subject and verb. However, the sentence should be complex enough to encompass the entirety of the paper's subject. Thus, other grammatical components, such as prepositional phrases, objects, adjectives and adverbs should be included where necessary to add complexity and specificity to the thesis statement.

Specificity

It is also necessary for organizational theses to be specific enough to stabilize the paper. Specific thesis statements are more valuable because the thesis serves to centralize the paper and unify the paragraphs and main points. For example, if the paper is about equestrian law and the thesis is about a closely related topic, such as animal law, the broad thesis will detract from the paper. The thesis should also be specific enough to allow for several body paragraphs to follow. For example, the statement "equestrian law is good," is too vague, and the statement "equestrian law was created for the benefit of horses, horse owners and the general public," is much more specific, making it a better thesis.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University: Organizational Thesis Statements

Tessa Holmes has been writing professionally since 2007. Her short stories and articles have been published on Relevantmagazine.com and in the "Cypress Dome." She has worked with the "Florida Review." She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Central Florida.

Thesis and Purpose Statements

Use the guidelines below to learn the differences between thesis and purpose statements

In the first stages of writing, thesis or purpose statements are usually rough or ill-formed and are useful primarily as planning tools.

A thesis statement or purpose statement will emerge as you think and write about a topic. The statement can be restricted or clarified and eventually worked into an introduction.

As you revise your paper, try to phrase your thesis or purpose statement in a precise way so that it matches the content and organization of your paper.

Thesis statements

A thesis statement is a sentence that makes an assertion about a topic and predicts how the topic will be developed. It does not simply announce a topic: it says something about the topic.

Good: X has made a significant impact on the teenage population due to its . . . Bad: In this paper, I will discuss X.

A thesis statement makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of the paper. It summarizes the conclusions that the writer has reached about the topic.

A thesis statement is generally located near the end of the introduction. Sometimes in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or an entire paragraph.

A thesis statement is focused and specific enough to be proven within the boundaries of the paper. Key words (nouns and verbs) should be specific, accurate, and indicative of the range of research, thrust of the argument or analysis, and the organization of supporting information.

Purpose statements

A purpose statement announces the purpose, scope, and direction of the paper. It tells the reader what to expect in a paper and what the specific focus will be.

Common beginnings include:

“This paper examines . . .,” “The aim of this paper is to . . .,” and “The purpose of this essay is to . . .”

A purpose statement makes a promise to the reader about the development of the argument but does not preview the particular conclusions that the writer has drawn.

A purpose statement usually appears toward the end of the introduction. The purpose statement may be expressed in several sentences or even an entire paragraph.

A purpose statement is specific enough to satisfy the requirements of the assignment. Purpose statements are common in research papers in some academic disciplines, while in other disciplines they are considered too blunt or direct. If you are unsure about using a purpose statement, ask your instructor.

This paper will examine the ecological destruction of the Sahel preceding the drought and the causes of this disintegration of the land. The focus will be on the economic, political, and social relationships which brought about the environmental problems in the Sahel.

Sample purpose and thesis statements

The following example combines a purpose statement and a thesis statement (bold).

The goal of this paper is to examine the effects of Chile’s agrarian reform on the lives of rural peasants. The nature of the topic dictates the use of both a chronological and a comparative analysis of peasant lives at various points during the reform period. . . The Chilean reform example provides evidence that land distribution is an essential component of both the improvement of peasant conditions and the development of a democratic society. More extensive and enduring reforms would likely have allowed Chile the opportunity to further expand these horizons.

For more tips about writing thesis statements, take a look at our new handout on Developing a Thesis Statement.

Writing Process and Structure

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Getting Started with Your Paper

Interpreting Writing Assignments from Your Courses

Generating Ideas for Your Paper

Creating an Argument

Thesis vs. Purpose Statements

Developing a Thesis Statement

Architecture of Arguments

Working with Sources

Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources

Using Literary Quotations

Citing Sources in Your Paper

Drafting Your Paper

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Paragraphing

Developing Strategic Transitions

Conclusions

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Revising an Argumentative Paper

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Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

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As a university student, you are required to write in many different forms for a variety of audiences. The most common types of writing are academic assignments, such as essays, research papers, and business or lab reports. These assignments are usually rather formal, demanding good reading and academic writing skills. They require you to research a topic and then develop a thesis (a perspective, a point of view), which is backed up with evidence from peer-reviewed resources or primary sources (e.g. a novel). In addition, there are less academic items to write, such as emails to your professors and graduate school or job applications. Each of these types of writing follows specific conventions and demands a range of writing skills.

This guide will help you with all the types of writing you need to do at university.

Whether you are an incoming first year student, a PhD candidate, a Professor, or a professional employee, everybody writes. The following videos explore how various people approach writing and how they overcome the challenges that we all face.

Everybody Writes: Margie Clow Bohan from Dalhousie University on Vimeo .

Everybody Writes: Oluronke Taiwo from Dalhousie University on Vimeo .

Strengthening Introduction, Thesis Statement, and Organization (English III Research)

Introduction, strengthening your introduction, strengthening your thesis, strengthening your organization.

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By Hannah Bischoff in Uncategorized

In high school teachers do not talk about thesis statements much. They tend to teach about them, but do not expect you to use them throughout high school. I know this to be true because during my experience in high school I was not required to use thesis statements in any of my essays for any of my classes. In college, however, this all changes. Professors require thesis statements at the end of the first paragraph, no matter what class it is. This can make freshman year even more complicated, because you are not used to using them yet.

A thesis statement is the central argument of your essay and is very important. The thesis allows you to give a short and sweet introduction to the rest of your paper. The details in a thesis statement are like the milk in ice cream, without them, you will not have a complete thesis statement. Because of this, it is essential to be as clear and detailed as possible without being too wordy.

Make sure that your thesis statement has:

Several things go into writing a strong thesis statement.

Steps to Writing a strong Thesis:

Key points that make a thesis statement:

Even though every paper should have a thesis statement, the formula can vary from type to type of paper. The basic formula, however, does not change. The thesis statement is a complex sentence that explains your main claim, and then follows with the arguments you will be presenting. Usually, you should start with your weakest argument and finish the paper with your strongest. Each argument should be a different paragraph or set of paragraphs, and have clear breaks between sections.

Things that are not Thesis Statements:

Examples Thesis Statements:

For more examples and different types of thesis statements you can use this website

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/588/01/

Hannah Bischoff

Made with by Graphene Themes .

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington IU Bloomington

Writing Tutorial Services

How to write a thesis statement, what is a thesis statement.

Almost all of us—even if we don’t do it consciously—look early in an essay for a one- or two-sentence condensation of the argument or analysis that is to follow. We refer to that condensation as a thesis statement.

Why Should Your Essay Contain a Thesis Statement?

In general, your thesis statement will accomplish these goals if you think of the thesis as the answer to the question your paper explores.

How Can You Write a Good Thesis Statement?

Here are some helpful hints to get you started. You can either scroll down or select a link to a specific topic.

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is not Assigned How to Tell a Strong Thesis Statement from a Weak One

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned

Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question. For example, if your assignment is, “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like, “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?” After you’ve chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one or two complete sentences answering that question.

Q: “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?” A: “The potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class are . . .”

A: “Using computers in a fourth-grade class promises to improve . . .”

The answer to the question is the thesis statement for the essay.

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How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is not Assigned

Even if your assignment doesn’t ask a specific question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue you’d like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question you’d like to write about.

A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes:

Let’s see how to generate a thesis statement for a social policy paper.

Brainstorm the topic . Let’s say that your class focuses upon the problems posed by changes in the dietary habits of Americans. You find that you are interested in the amount of sugar Americans consume.

You start out with a thesis statement like this:

Sugar consumption.

This fragment isn’t a thesis statement. Instead, it simply indicates a general subject. Furthermore, your reader doesn’t know what you want to say about sugar consumption.

Narrow the topic . Your readings about the topic, however, have led you to the conclusion that elementary school children are consuming far more sugar than is healthy.

You change your thesis to look like this:

Reducing sugar consumption by elementary school children.

This fragment not only announces your subject, but it focuses on one segment of the population: elementary school children. Furthermore, it raises a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree, because while most people might agree that children consume more sugar than they used to, not everyone would agree on what should be done or who should do it. You should note that this fragment is not a thesis statement because your reader doesn’t know your conclusions on the topic.

Take a position on the topic. After reflecting on the topic a little while longer, you decide that what you really want to say about this topic is that something should be done to reduce the amount of sugar these children consume.

You revise your thesis statement to look like this:

More attention should be paid to the food and beverage choices available to elementary school children.

This statement asserts your position, but the terms more attention and food and beverage choices are vague.

Use specific language . You decide to explain what you mean about food and beverage choices , so you write:

Experts estimate that half of elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar.

This statement is specific, but it isn’t a thesis. It merely reports a statistic instead of making an assertion.

Make an assertion based on clearly stated support. You finally revise your thesis statement one more time to look like this:

Because half of all American elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar, schools should be required to replace the beverages in soda machines with healthy alternatives.

Notice how the thesis answers the question, “What should be done to reduce sugar consumption by children, and who should do it?” When you started thinking about the paper, you may not have had a specific question in mind, but as you became more involved in the topic, your ideas became more specific. Your thesis changed to reflect your new insights.

How to Tell a Strong Thesis Statement from a Weak One

1. a strong thesis statement takes some sort of stand..

Remember that your thesis needs to show your conclusions about a subject. For example, if you are writing a paper for a class on fitness, you might be asked to choose a popular weight-loss product to evaluate. Here are two thesis statements:

There are some negative and positive aspects to the Banana Herb Tea Supplement.

This is a weak thesis statement. First, it fails to take a stand. Second, the phrase negative and positive aspects is vague.

Because Banana Herb Tea Supplement promotes rapid weight loss that results in the loss of muscle and lean body mass, it poses a potential danger to customers.

This is a strong thesis because it takes a stand, and because it's specific.

2. A strong thesis statement justifies discussion.

Your thesis should indicate the point of the discussion. If your assignment is to write a paper on kinship systems, using your own family as an example, you might come up with either of these two thesis statements:

My family is an extended family.

This is a weak thesis because it merely states an observation. Your reader won’t be able to tell the point of the statement, and will probably stop reading.

While most American families would view consanguineal marriage as a threat to the nuclear family structure, many Iranian families, like my own, believe that these marriages help reinforce kinship ties in an extended family.

This is a strong thesis because it shows how your experience contradicts a widely-accepted view. A good strategy for creating a strong thesis is to show that the topic is controversial. Readers will be interested in reading the rest of the essay to see how you support your point.

3. A strong thesis statement expresses one main idea.

Readers need to be able to see that your paper has one main point. If your thesis statement expresses more than one idea, then you might confuse your readers about the subject of your paper. For example:

Companies need to exploit the marketing potential of the Internet, and Web pages can provide both advertising and customer support.

This is a weak thesis statement because the reader can’t decide whether the paper is about marketing on the Internet or Web pages. To revise the thesis, the relationship between the two ideas needs to become more clear. One way to revise the thesis would be to write:

Because the Internet is filled with tremendous marketing potential, companies should exploit this potential by using Web pages that offer both advertising and customer support.

This is a strong thesis because it shows that the two ideas are related. Hint: a great many clear and engaging thesis statements contain words like because , since , so , although , unless , and however .

4. A strong thesis statement is specific.

A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten page paper on hunger, you might say:

World hunger has many causes and effects.

This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons. First, world hunger can’t be discussed thoroughly in seven to ten pages. Second, many causes and effects is vague. You should be able to identify specific causes and effects. A revised thesis might look like this:

Hunger persists in Glandelinia because jobs are scarce and farming in the infertile soil is rarely profitable.

This is a strong thesis statement because it narrows the subject to a more specific and manageable topic, and it also identifies the specific causes for the existence of hunger.

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COMMENTS

What are thesis and organizational statements?
An organizational statement is a map that tells your reader what h/she should expect to read in your essay. It introduces the two or three main pieces of
Organizational Statements in Thesis Sentences
An organizational statement is a map that tells readers what they should expect to read in an essay. It introduces the two or three main pieces of evidence that
The Organizational Statement
An organizational statement is a map that tells readers what they should expect to read in an essay. It introduces the two or three main pieces of evidence that
What Is an Organizational Thesis?
An organizational thesis is a sentence that explains to readers exactly what a paper will be about. The thesis is a significant part of any paper and the
Thesis and Purpose Statements
A thesis statement or purpose statement will emerge as you think and write ... a precise way so that it matches the content and organization of your paper.
Drafting: Thesis Statements and Essay Structure
In an argumentative essay, a thesis statement states the point or purpose the essay is meant to establish. It is not a mere announcement of a
Strengthening Introduction, Thesis Statement, and Organization
Strengthening Introduction, Thesis Statement, and Organization (English III Research). Resource ID: E3RsM5L01. Grade Range: 9 - 12.
Structure of a Thesis Statement
Structure of a Thesis Statement · Your standpoint on the topic · Short summary of the main arguments · Road map to the paper.
9.3: The Organizational Statement
An organizational statement is a map that tells readers what they should expect to read in an essay. It introduces the two or three main pieces
How to Write a Thesis Statement: Writing Guides
We refer to that condensation as a thesis statement. ... American families would view consanguineal marriage as a threat to the nuclear family structure