Developing Your Thesis and Outlining Your Essay
Objectives
1. Write a strong thesis.
2. Write topic sentences that support or develop your thesis for each paragraph.
3. Organize your research notes into evidence by paragraph.
4. Note any further research you need to do.
Thesis Development
First, you need to have a strong thesis. This should be an arguable idea, one that you can support with
substantial evidence from your research. Your thesis should NOT be just an opinion or just a statement of
fact.
For example, this is an arguable thesis:
By making jazz popular with a larger audience, Louis Armstrong influenced race relations in the 1920’s.
This is just an opinion:
Jazz is the best kind of music.
This is just a statement of fact:
Louis Armstrong was a famous jazz musician in the 1920’s.
To write your thesis, you first need to really think about everything you have learned from your research.
To do this, we are going to do three guided free-writes in the boxes below.
1.
2.
3.
Research Essay Outline
A clear outline will help you write a thorough and organized essay. Follow the instructions
below to write your outline.
1. Write your thesis. This is your main argument or idea, and your entire essay should
support or develop this argument or idea. For example: By making jazz popular with a
larger audience, Louis Armstrong influenced race relations in the 1920’s.
2. Write the topic sentence for body paragraph 1. The topic sentence is a mini-thesis that
focuses this particular paragraph. Often, you can turn your research questions into topic
sentences—but they must be written as statements, not questions, to work. Your topic
sentences should work together to develop the ideas in your thesis. For example: Louis
Armstrong’s charismatic and inventive singing and unique voice shifted jazz’s focus to
solo performances.
3. Organize the research notes that you will use in this section. If your topic sentences are
based on your research questions, your notes are probably fairly organized already, but
go through to make sure they all fit with the paragraphs.
You can color code your notes, write “paragraph 1” on them, or physically put them into
piles or cut and paste them into sections based on paragraphs. Also, make note of any
other information you need to complete this paragraph.
4. Continue until you have outlined all of your paragraphs. Follow the same outline
procedure for each paragraph. Make sure that all of your topic sentences support or
develop the main idea in your thesis.
More examples of topic sentences:
 Louis Armstrong’s stage presence allowed him to cross over from jazz to other
types of performances, gaining the admiration of larger audiences.
 As Louis Armstrong’s popularity grew, white audiences began to accept him in
ways African-Americans weren’t generally accepted.
When you have finished your outline, you will have a framework for your argument and for how
you will use your research. As you draft your essay, you will need to focus on writing
analysis—explaining how each piece of evidence supports your thesis.