READING AND WRITING

AS # 4
THESIS STATEMENT

THESIS STATEMENT
 Thesis statement is the main idea of a paper that is usually conveyed in a declarative sentence.
 It serves as a summary of your writing and gives a viewpoint about a particular topic.
 Through the thesis statement, you guide your readers by briefly explaining your argument, giving
clue on how you will defend your claim.
 As a writing strategy, the thesis statement helps you determine what significant ideas to emphasize
in your writing.

PARTS OF A THESIS STATEMENT

Issue:
The problem that the writer wants to tackle.
Claim or Conviction:
Reflects the writer’s argument.
Objective:
Reflects what the writer wants to accomplish.
Position:
Reflects what the writer believes should be done about the issue.

FUNCTIONS OF A THESIS STATEMENT

1. The thesis statement expounds on an answer to an issue or topic.
2. A thesis statement gives direction to the academic text.
3. A thesis statement defends a writer’s claim.

GUIDELINES IN FORMULATING A THESIS STATEMENT

1. It should be expressed in a declarative sentence, not a question.
2. It should more than a statement of fact about a topic.
3. It should contain enough supporting details and should be more than just a title.
4. It should be specific enough to be defended.
5. It should reflect your opinion, giving enough arguments that can be proven.

THESIS STATEMENT VS. TOPIC SENTENCE

 The topic sentence gives a glimpse of what the paragraph is about while thesis statement contains
the writer’s conviction.
 The topic sentence connects to the thesis statement while the thesis statement encompasses all
the other sentences in the essay.
 Thesis statement has a broader scope than the topic sentence.
 Two or more ideas may be presented in a thesis statement while only one idea should be
contained in a topic sentence.
 READING AND WRITING

AS # 5
WRITING THE THESIS STATEMENT

GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE THESIS STATEMENT

ISSUE OBJECTIVE CLAIM POSITION
What do you believe in
What is the problem? What do you want to What do you want to and what should be done
accomplish? prove? about it?

CATEGORIES OF THESIS STATEMENT: INFORMATIVE AND PERSUASIVE

Informative Thesis Statement:
To make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you must procure the ingredients, find a knife, and
spread the condiments.
Persuasive Thesis Statement:
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the best type of sandwich because they are versatile, easy
to make, and taste good.

TOPIC SENTENCE: The government should only subsidize the art that is understandable by the public.
ISSUE:
All art forms must be given subsidy even if it is not understandable by the public.
OBJECTIVE:
The freedom of expressing one’s art expression must be uphold. Thus, the government must give
subsidy on all art and art forms for the art is a tangible output of creative expression.
CLAIM:
Most of the people live in a society where they are introduced to only a small scale of art or art
forms. This only signifies that art is not being uphold, thus it sends a message that most of the people only realize
arts that is pleasing for them and not those arts that is not introduced in the status quo.
POSITION:
That we must not keep mainstream arts or arts only understandable by the pubic remain
mainstream. Thus, the aim for subsidization should not be limited for those artforms, rather it should be for all
artforms.

THESIS STATEMENT:
Art is introduced to people in a small scale only, thus, it leads to the people’s mindset that art is
limited to some forms, therefore, to enable to introduce all the artforms, the government should provide and subsidize
all artforms even if it is not understandable by the public because we must not let mainstream arts remain
mainstream.