How Do I Write a Great Thesis?

Before we get to the task of writing a truly amazing thesis, we must first agree on what a thesis
is. A thesis statement tells your read, in clear and succinct terms, exactly what your paper is
going to be about. In all your assignments in ENG 105, you’ll want to place your thesis at the
end of an introductory paragraph. Now that we know what a thesis is, we can begin
discriminating between a bad thesis, a good thesis, and a great thesis.

Imagine that you’re writing a thesis for the Narrative Essay. You decide to write the paper on the
first time you went mountain climbing. This is the first thesis you come up with:

Bad
The first time I went mountain climbing was great.

The first question the reader will ask is “why?” You have to give the reader a reason not to walk
away from your paper. You rewrite the thesis and end up with this:

Good
My first mountain climbing experience had a big impact on my life.

The question remains “why?” This thesis is less general than the previous, but it still needs more
detail to be interesting. Finally, you arrive at this thesis:

Great
My first mountain climbing experience had a big impact on my life because it taught me that I
can overcome any obstacle if I put forth enough effort.

There you go! Your thesis is specific and interesting, while still leaving you room to go into
detail in your paper’s body paragraphs.

You begin writing your paper, and you realize that it has three main topics: courage, teamwork,
and appreciation for nature. You then decide to change your thesis to reflect this fact. You now
have a different type of thesis.

Three-part thesis
My first mountain climbing experience had a big impact on my life because it gave me courage,
taught me teamwork, and gave me an appreciation for nature.

This type of thesis is good if your paper has three distinct main points, but if it has more or less,
you might want to stick with the regular thesis type outlined above.
 Activity One
Thesis Statements: General to Specific

Work in groups to turn the following thesis statements from general and boring to specific and
interesting.

1) The summers I spent at camp were some of the best of my life.

2) Mountain biking is a great form of exercise.

3) Flagstaff is a beautiful city.

4) Fishing is an exciting sport.

5) Michael Moore makes horrible movies.

6) Fall is my favorite time of year.