EXAMPLES OF THESIS STATEMENTS
Topic – Influences of Shakespeare’s writing
Poor Thesis: Shakespeare’s writing relates to emotional anguish in youth.
Excellent Thesis Statement: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet clearly highlights the
emotional impact many teens suffer when parents make demands on who they can and
cannot develop friendships with.
(Examples – their deaths, the crying and anguish, the fighting between Romeo and
Tybalt)
Topic- dystopia vs utopia
Good Thesis statement: The society represented in Animal Farm during the height of
Napoleon’s rule presents an example of a dystopia.
(On the one hand, you can claim that it was a utopia after Napoleon because a great
deal of work was being done and it was an efficient society. On the other hand (and it
might be one heck of a lot easier) you can claim that a quintessential dystopia was
created because of the influences of power and greed – behaviour worse than under Mr.
Jones)
Topic – First nations in Canada
Poor Thesis Statements:
First Nations in Canada came into contact with the Jesuits in the early seventeenth
century.
First Nations and Jesuits were both changed as a result of contact with each other.
The Jesuits preached to the Amerindians and many of them converted to Catholicism.
Improved Thesis Statement: Both First Nations and Jesuits adapted and changed as a
result of contact with each other and often accommodated their worldview to the other in
order to meet their own purposes. The Amerindians had an active role in either accepting
or refuting the religious beliefs presented to them by the Jesuits.
Topic- Canadian government
Poor Thesis Statement: As Canada evolved as a state, it became more decentralized.
Improved Thesis Statement: Through its interpretation of the constitution, the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council played a significant role in the decentralization of the
Canadian state. ( decentralized: to distribute the administrative powers or functions of (a
central authority) over a less concentrated area: to decentralize the national government)
To summarize, your paper must have a specific thesis (or central argument) that you are
trying to convince your readers to adopt. Your paper as a whole should offer your readers
convincing reasons to accept your thesis.