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THESIS STATEMENTS
Online: https://www.ufv.ca/asc/
The requirement for a thesis statement in student academic writing is a longstanding tradition in universities,
echoing the need for original claims and contributions in published scholarly work. But what exactly is it? Can you
buy one off the shelves at Wal-Mart?
Maybe the best place to start is to talk about what a thesis statement is not. According to Mary Lynn Rampolla,
author of Writing in History:
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A thesis is not a description of your paper topic
A thesis is not a question
A thesis is not a statement of fact
A thesis is not a statement of opinion.
A thesis, says Rampolla, is “a statement that reflects what you have concluded about the topic of your paper, based
on a critical analysis and interpretation of the source materials you have examined” (54). In other words, a thesis
statement reflects the outcome of an analytical process. Found in introductory sections of articles and essays, it
focuses the reader’s attention, and guides their journey through your text.
We think this definition can translate well to most disciplines. Some other terms for “thesis statement” include
“argument,” “claim” or “contention”; one author calls it “a big idea boiled down to a single sentence” (Morreale
103). In essence, a thesis statement is your original contribution to a conversation in your discipline that may have
been going on for some time, and needs updating. This is often a surprise for undergraduate students to hear.
“What?” they may ask. “Me? Offer new knowledge?” Indeed, students too can make novel contributions to a field
of study because they are approaching a research question from a particular angle, and are doing so through
referring to a unique arrangement of primary and secondary sources.
Let’s explore how published academic writers such as your professors state their claims to new knowledge:
We contend that in conjunction with the best efforts of sending states to formalize the emigration of their
citizens, new opportunities for illicit migration have emerged and ultimately added to the myriad challenges
of labour migration and state control. (Siracusa and Acacio 233)
The present study shows that drive for muscularity is related to television use and internalization of athletic
attitudes towards appearance in both men and women, whereas magazine reading was not related to drive
for muscularity or internalization of athletic attitudes in either gender. (Cramblitt and Pritchard 445)
This article argues that social work within Native communities must be guided by Indigenous
epistemologies and ontologies of social justice. (Johnston-Goodstar 314).
While these examples might be a little obscure for anyone reading them apart from their contexts, we hope you can
still get a sense both of the diversity and complexity of thesis statements, and also of how explicit the authors are in
positing them, using such verbs as to claim, to contend, or to argue.
Now let’s look at a couple of student versions: the first one is from a rhetoric course, and the second is written in
philosophy:
This paper will examine C.P. Stacey’s “The Divine Mission: Mackenzie King and Hitler” and provide
examples from the text illustrating that modal verbs are one of the mechanisms that historians utilize to
incorporate their biases into scholarly papers without transgressing the rules of writing that exist in the
academic History community. (Watkins)
I will argue in this essay that Kierkegaard’s argument is ‘earth-shaking,’ not only because it demonstrates
that the world is not necessary, but because it leaves its mark on multiple philosophical issues that have
been raised in the history of philosophy. (Thiesen)
The last thing you need to understand about thesis statements is that they are the culmination of a lot of reading,
thinking, writing, revising, and rethinking. As one writer puts it, a “strong thesis should arouse at least a little …
skepticism in its reader, which in turn might be proof that the thesis author is claiming something interesting and
worth debating” (Portland n.d.).
If you are required to come up with a thesis before the reading and the writing process are in full swing, then a good
way to think about it would be to call it a working thesis. “A working thesis statement is just like a regular thesis
statement, except that you can tweak it and change it as you research and write” (Portland n.d.). A working thesis
can still require a decent amount of reading and rethinking; you can’t get it off the shelf at Wal-Mart!
For further information or feedback on your writing, please make an appointment at your UFV Writing Centre.
Works Cited
Cramblitt, Brooke, and Mary Pritchard. “Media's Influence on the Drive for Muscularity in Undergraduates.” Eating
Behaviors 14 (2013): 441–446. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 March 2014.
Johnston-Goodstar, Katie. “Indigenous Youth Participatory Action Research: Re-visioning Social Justice for Social
Work with Indigenous Youths.” Social Work. 58.4 (2013): 314-320. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20
March 2014.
Morreale, Sherwyn P. The Competent Public Speaker. New York: Peter Lang, 2010. Print.
“Writing Resources Guided Tour.” The Portland State University Writing Center. The Writing Center at PSU, 7
May 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Rampolla, Mary Lynn. Writing in History: A Pocket Guide. New York: Bedford. 2010. Print.
Siracusa, Christina, and Kristel Acacio. “State Migrant Exporting Schemes and Their Implications for the Rise of
Illicit Migration: A Comparison of Spain and the Philippines.” Journal of International Migration and
Immigration. 5.2 (2004): 321-342. Print.
Thiesen, Robert. “Kierkegaard's Earthshaking Argument: A Close Reading of the ‘Interlude’ in Philosophical
Crumbs.” Winning Essays: Writing Prize Competition 2012/2013. UFV Writing Centre, 2014. Print.
Watkins, Gregory. “Bias in an Unbiased Fashion: An Analysis of Modal Verbs within the Context of History
Writing.” Winning Essays: Writing Prize Competition 2012/2013. UFV Writing Centre, 2014. Print
University of the Fraser Valley – Academic Success Centre
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