Research & Writing Guides
How to write a thesis statement + examples
What is a thesis statement?
The thesis statement is one of the most important elements of any piece of academic
writing. It can be defined as a very brief statement of what the main point or central
message of your paper is. Essentially, you are stating what you will be writing about. You can
see your thesis statement as an answer to a question. While it also contains the question, it
should really give an answer to the question with new information and not just restate or
reiterate it.
Your thesis statement is part of your introduction. Learn more about how to write a good
thesis introduction in our introduction guide. https://paperpile.com/g/thesis-introduction/
How can you write a good thesis statement?
A good thesis statement needs to do the following:
 Focus the main idea of your thesis into one or two sentences
 Write the answer to the main question of your topic
 Clearly state your position in relation to the topic
 Do not state the obvious. Give a disputable stance that requires support or
evidence
Examples of thesis statements
As previously mentioned, your thesis statement should answer a question.
If the question is:
What do you think the City of New York should do to reduce traffic congestion?
A good thesis statement restates the question and answers it:
In this paper, I will argue (Do not use this phrase in your course paper) that the City of New
York should focus on providing exclusive lanes for public transport and adaptive traffic
signals to reduce traffic congestion by the year 2035.
Here is another example. If the question is:
How can we end poverty?
A good thesis statement should give more than one solution to the problem in question:
In this paper, I will argue that introducing universal basic income can help reduce poverty
and positively impact the way we work.
Is a thesis statement a question?
A thesis statement is not a question. A statement has to be debatable and prove itself using
reasoning and evidence. A question, on the other hand, cannot state anything. It is a great
lead into a thesis, but it is not a thesis statement.
How do I know if my thesis statement is good?
Once you have written down a thesis statement, check if it fulfills the following criteria:

Your statement needs to be provable by evidence. In the example above, you
cannot just say that introducing adaptive traffic signals is better than
introducing a congestion charge because you don't like paying tolls.

Your thesis statement needs to be precise and short. Do not give away too
much information in the thesis statement and do not load it with unnecessary
information.

You cannot just say that one solution is simply right or simply wrong as a
matter of fact. You should draw upon verified facts to persuade the reader of
your solution, but you cannot just declare something as right or wrong.
https://paperpile.com/g/thesis-statement/