In any paper, the thesis statement is the most important and heavily weighted portion. A bad thesis statement is like a car with a bad engine. It might look great, but it will never get started. Learning to write a great thesis statement assists in high school, college and even in post graduate studies. In any case, a thesis statement is the central point of an argument. Having a poor one leads
. to a poorly written, rambling argument, that will be as painful to write as it will be to read. Thesis statement should have the four following characteristics. A thesis statement must take a stand on a subject. It cannot equivocate or stand a middle ground. "President Lincoln was both a great president and a bad one." It must have an opinion, otherwise it is just hot air. People also want to read something that's worthwhile to discuss. Having a thesis statement has plenty of information and material allows students to work it into an entire paper. "JFK was killed in 1963" is a terrible thesis because it is neither an opinion nor worth discussing. There's no method of debating that. A thesis statement needs to be specific. When writing a thesis statement, painting too broad an opinion makes support weak. Simply saying "President Lincoln was good" is far too broad. How was he good? A good politician? A good statesman? A good bowler? Narrowing it down and saying "Lincoln become one of the best debaters in US history" narrows down the subject. Also, when it comes to essays, a thesis statement needs to have one main idea. Having too much in a thesis statement prevents a writer from tackling it effectively in a few pages. Keeping it narrow and singular allows the paper to properly support it, making it an excellent argument. More Reference Links: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/thesis.shtml
