Thesis Maker:Three Steps to a

Strong Thesis Statement

A Tutorial

for the Students of

Mount Vernon High School

by Mr. Tuel, Librarian

Step 1

• Choose your topic.

• Do some reading/study about it.

• (Depending on the class/teacher, your topic may be chosen for you.)

Step 2

• Choose your focus.

• This limits the information you will present about your topic.

• The focus will also identify the approach you will take toward your topic: informational/expository or argumentative/persuasive.

Step 3

• Write your thesis statement, a single sentence that – Identifies the topic and focus of your paper– States the main idea/argument of your paper– Controls the content and direction of your paper

• Think of your thesis as an umbrella under which all of your paper will be covered.

Example 1

• TOPIC: The Vietnam War

• FOCUS: Rationale (reason for the war)

• THESIS: The United States fought the Vietnam War in order to stop the spread of communism in Indochina.

Example 2

• TOPIC: Jim Crow laws• FOCUS: Effects of• THESIS: “Jim Crow” laws, enacted by

many Southern legislatures between 1877 and the early 1950s, mandated segregation of blacks and whites and impacted public transportation, schools, and many businesses.

Example 3

• TOPIC: The impact of the individual in history• FOCUS: The murder of Emmett Till• THESIS: The gruesome and vicious murder

of fourteen-year-old Emmett Till in the Deep South in 1955 for his supposed whistling at a white woman captured the attention of the nation and helped to ignite the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Your Turn

• On your own paper, write the following:

– Your TOPIC:

– Your FOCUS:

– Your THESIS: