Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region III- Central Luzon
BECURAN HIGH SCHOOL
Sta. Rita, Pampanga

English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Quarter 3- Module 4

Outlining and Identifying the Thesis Statement

Note: All your other outputs will form your portfolio of learning so make sure to answer them as
carefully and honestly as possible.

 Identifying the Thesis Statement

In the first three modules of this quarter, you have been exposed to various academic texts,
and in every text you read and/or write, it should have a main point, a main idea, or central message. The
argument(s) presented in the paper should reflect this main idea. The sentence that captures your position
on this main idea is what we call a thesis statement.
Almost all of us—even if we don’t do it intentionally, —search early in an essay for one or two
sentences summarizing the argument or analysis that is to follow. We refer to that summarizing sentence
as a thesis statement.

A thesis statement is the main idea of an essay. It is often a point you want to argue or support
in an essay.

Moreover, the thesis statement explains to a reader the main idea of the essay and the writer's
opinion on that idea. It is usually one sentence and often placed in the introductory paragraph of an essay.

A thesis statement is a claim that could be argued. The essay will contain evidences and opinions that
support the argument.

 Thesis statements avoid the following:

- A thesis is something you plan to make an argument about.

 A thesis statement should:

✓ contain a topic (main idea of what you are writing about)
✓ contain an opinion about the topic (what your attitude is toward the topic)

 Process in WRITING a THESIS STATEMENT

Step 1: TOPIC. State the topic under consideration. (E.g. cats)

Step 2: ISSUE. State the specific issue in the form of a debating proposition (for something). The issue
usually answers the question “what?” What about cats? (E.g. Cats should be subject to leash laws.)
Step 3: POSITION + RATIONALE (because clause). Your topic and issue = your position. Now, using a
because-clause, e.g. Cats should be subject to leash laws because they are natural wanderers.
TIPS FOR WRITING YOUR THESIS STATEMENT
1. Determine what kind of paper you are writing:
▪ An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue
or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.
▪ An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.
▪ An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence.
The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an
interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true
based on the evidence provided.
 If you are writing a text that does not fall under these three categories (e.g., a narrative),
a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader.
2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and
should be supported with specific evidence.
3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.
4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly
what you have discussed in the paper.