Example Thesis Statement for a Persuasive Essay
Teach How to Write a Thesis for a Paper to Persuade
Jan 21, 2009
Here are some tips to guide students toward successfully writing their thesis statements.
Approaching the Topic
Writing a thesis statement for a persuasive essay is similar to constructing one for an expository in that you still need to make a definite, arguable statement and list the key reasons you will discuss in your paper. The construction of your thesis should take into consideration the content, purpose, and length of your essay.
If you are writing a standard five paragraph essay, your thesis should introduce the main points discussed in your three body paragraphs. If your essay is an extended paper of, for instance, three to five pages, you will allude to the two to four primary sections of your paper and construct your thesis statement as you would for a shorter paper. Writing a clear thesis early in the planning process will help you maintain a cohesive structure when drafting your essay.
Brainstorming the Topic
Suppose you’ve assigned your students the following topic: Convince your reader whether year-round schooling is beneficial for students. Unless you have a specific purpose for doing otherwise, it is a good idea to encourage students to pick a position on this statement about which they feel most passionately.
Brainstorming is a necessary step toward writing a solid thesis statement. When it comes to picking a position on a topic such as this, students should quickly develop a pros and cons list to facilitate making a decision. This can be done individually, in small groups, or as a teacher-facilitated whole group activity. The added benefit is that after creating a list, students will have many ideas on which to build their essays.
Narrowing the Focus
Instruct students to identify three strong reasons from their brainstorming list to support their chosen position. Remind them that they are writing a persuasive essay, not a comparison contrast. Therefore, their three reasons should all support the same position. Once they have done so, encourage them to use language from the prompt to develop their thesis stem. For this example, here's how to reject the idea of year-round schooling to create the following stem:
Year round schooling is not beneficial for students.
Some students will stop at this point and assume they have a thesis statement. True, this is a definite, arguable statement. However, it does not introduce the key content of the essay or provide structure for the paper. Without this structure, many novice writers will proceed to write an unfocused draft that will need substantial revisions to achieve better organization. It is better to first write a narrower, more focused thesis statement and then draft an essay that follows the simple structure of the thesis statement. For instance, students can complete their thesis stem as follows:
Year round schooling is not beneficial for students because it would create unnecessary stress, negativity toward school, and limited vacation opportunities.
Aligning the Essay
With a clear, detailed thesis such as the one above, students can easily envision the body of the essay. That is, the first body paragraph will address the unnecessary stress students will experience. The second body paragraph would discuss students feeling negatively toward school. The third body paragraph would argue the lack of vacation opportunities if year-round schooling was implemented.
Providing examples for writing thesis statements is an effective way to teach this necessary skill. It is also helpful if you provide writing guidelines and a checklist to help students work independently toward their writing goals.
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