Writing a thesis statement for a research paper shouldn’t be difficult. Provided you know what it is, what it means, and where to include it in your assignment, you should have an easy time getting this done.
There are at least three things you should do before coming up with a thesis statement for your research paper assignment.
Choose a topic, conduct in-depth research, and then choose a stance. Once you solidify the position you would like to take for your research paper, write a thesis statement to lay a core foundation for the rest of the assignment.
What is a Thesis Statement in a Research Paper?
A thesis statement for a research paper is a declarative sentence that puts more emphasis on the position you’ll take throughout the assignment.
The statement should appear in the last sentence of the introduction paragraph. Then the rest of the paper will provide ideas, stats, and evidence to support this position.
Your declarative sentence should be specific such that it covers what you intend to explore in the paper. Moreover, you’ll need to provide specific evidence to support your position throughout the paper.
It’s likely that your topic might change as you work on your research paper. Should this be the case, you’ll have to go back to your introduction paragraph and revise your declarative sentence so that it reflects the changes you’ve made and the overall discussion in the paper.
Many students often complicate a thesis statement despite knowing how to write it, and that’s because they often have no idea what role the statement plays in research writing.
Generally, a good thesis statement should:
- State the primary idea of your research paper
- Clearly define the scope of your work and tell your audience what to expect from your research assignment
- Demonstrate a claim that you can prove with reason and evidence, not a simple factual statement
- Show a combination of your own thinking and research
- Be the last sentence of the first paragraph in your research project
Types of Thesis Statements
A thesis statement for a research paper can be analytical, argumentative, or expository.
- Argumentative: An argumentative declarative sentence takes a firm position on an issue, and it seeks to persuade a reader to consider that stance even if they didn’t initially agree with you.
- Expository: This type of a declarative sentence tells your readers that you’re presenting facts or ideas that you would like to explain in the paper.
- Analytical: An analytical thesis statement points out exactly what you will be analyzing in your research paper.
Many essays and research paper assignments are argumentative in nature.
So your thesis statement will mostly be argumentative, and everything that follows will have to convince your readers to accept the position that you take.
Characteristics of a Thesis Statement for Research Paper
We’ll look at how to write a thesis statement for a research paper in a moment.
Before we do that, though, it’s important to understand what a good declarative sentence for a research paper should be like.
At the end of the day, your goal is to grab the attention of the reader with your research project from the very beginning. Therefore, the declarative sentence that you write should be:
- Unique: Readers don’t appreciate general statements for declarative sentences. You have to give them something to think about, so you need to approach this part of the assignment from a unique point of view. For example, you can try to find a gap in the resources that you’ve evaluated during your research or come up with a completely different perspective for your study. Later on, you can use the gap you’ve found to come up with a unique thesis statement.
- Specific: The declarative sentence for your research paper has to be explicit and precise. So instead of waffling through hundreds of vague ideas that won’t even make sense, be as specific as possible. You want to give your audience a reason to look into the purpose of your study and developing a clear and concise thesis statement is the first step to grabbing their attention.
- Debatable: Never write what people already know as already existing facts, or you risk making your research paper weak. Present a debatable argument instead. Present the kind of a declarative sentence that would need further research and supporting evidence to prove. And as long as your topic is debatable, you’re on to writing a more comprehensive research paper.
With that said, let’s now look at how you can come up with a comprehensive thesis statement for your research paper.
How to Write a Thesis Statement
Now that you know what a thesis statement for your research paper should be like, it shouldn’t be difficult to come up with one. Here are the simple steps to follow in the order in which they’re presented:
- Write down the primary topic you wish to focus your research on
- Determine what you wish to prove about the topic. That will be what you intend to persuade your target reader to believe.
- Write down the reason why you’ve come up with the idea to prove what you wish to convince your audience to believe. It’s best to write the reason as a clear statement that you can support with evidence and facts. Don’t hesitate to write down as many supporting reasons as you possibly can, as doing so will make it easier for you to come up with a strong declarative sentence that demonstrates your stance on an issue.
- If and where applicable, you might want to consider existing point of views that don’t match up with your stance. These can be incredibly helpful in making it easy for you to come up with a strong thesis statement.
Conclusion
As you can see, the process of writing a thesis statement for a research paper goes beyond identifying your topic. But as long as you observe the few steps that we’ve shared above, it should be easy to come up with a 1 to 2 declarative sentence that will make your research paper a successful assignment.