WRITING THESIS STATEMENTS

1. The thesis statement is the most important sentence in a five-paragraph essay. 2. Thesis statements are of two basic kinds:i) Simple thesis statement The unrestricted use of deadly force should not be granted to police forces in high crime areas. ii) Three-part thesis statement The unrestricted use of deadly force should not be granted to police forces in high crime areas because it allows officers excessive freedom, violates human rights, and remains an unproven concept. 3. Thesis statements:i) State the topic of the essay (The unrestricted use of deadly force) ii) Assert something specific / important about the topic (should not be granted to police forces in high crime areas) iii) State the purpose of the essay (the effects of the unrestricted use of deadly force) iv) Often state the thesis' controlling ideas (allows officers excessive freedom, violates human rights, and remains an unproven concept) v) Are usually written in the last sentence of the introductory paragraph. 4. When writing three-part thesis statements, parallelism must be observed. 5. Grammatical parallelism - maintaining balance by using the same part of speech (for instance, all adjectives) or the same part of the sentence (for example, all clauses). i) Non-parallel: "She likes dancing, swimming, and to box." ii) Parallel: "She likes dancing, swimming, and boxing." iii) Non-parallel: "He admires people with strong convictions, forceful characters, and who think for themselves." iv) Parallel: "He admires people with strong convictions, forceful characters, and independent minds." v) Parallel: "He admires people who have strong convictions, who have morals, and who think for themselves." (grammatical but wordier)