`Thesis Statement Worksheet
What are the essential components of a thesis statement?
A thesis must:
● be a single sentence located usually at the end of your introductory paragraph.
● be a statement and not a question. The thesis should be the answer to the question that
you are addressing in your paper and not the question itself.
● tell the reader the main point or purpose of your paper and what to expect as they read
your paper.
● make an arguable claim that others might dispute. The thesis is not a neutral
statement of fact nor simple opinion. It is supported or argued with evidence and reason.
● state your interpretation or the conclusion you have reached about the subject of the
paper and not just state what the subject or topic of your paper is.
● be specific rather than vague or general.
Samples of poor thesis statements on the topic of the Death Penalty:
1. “In my paper, I will explore the issue of the death penalty in the United States.”
Problem:
● First of all you should never use “I” in your thesis.
● This statement is not a thesis and is more of a statement of the topic or subject of your
paper.
2. “ The death penalty is a very controversial issue in the United States today.”
Problem:
● This statement is not really in dispute or debateable
● This statement does not take a position or offer any interpretation of the issue
3. “There are many arguments in favor of the death penalty as well as many opposed to it.”
Problem:
● This statement is not really in dispute or debateable
● This statement does not take a position or offer any interpretation of the issue
4. “The death penalty should be abolished in the United States for numerous reasons.”
Problem:
● While this statement takes a position and is not neutral it is too broad and lacks any
specifics on content or organization. It is not a strong guide or “roadmap” to the
argument that will follow.
Samples of stronger thesis statements on the topic of the Death Penalty:
1. “The death penalty ought to be abolished in the United States for moral, practical and
constitutional reasons.”
Good qualities:
● While somewhat simplistic, this thesis does choose a position, state an interpretation of
the issue, and offer a guide to how the essay will proceed.
2. “The death penalty ought to be abolished because it is fundamentally immoral, ineffective in
preventing crime, discriminatory in its practice, and sometimes mistakenly carried out on
innocent people.”
Good qualities:
● Similar to the thesis statement above but a bit more sophisticated and specific, thereby
offering a better guide for the reader as to what to expect in the paper.
3. “Due to America’s ‘evolving standards of decency’ and recent changes in the interpretation of
the Eighth Amendment’s phrase ‘cruel and unusual punishment’, the death penalty, once
deemed acceptable in America, is now immoral and unconstitutional and ought to be abolished.”
Good qualities:
● This statement clearly chooses a side, narrows down the topic to a very specific angle that
the paper will focus on, and offers a nice guide for the reader.
Note: The above two thesis statements (#’s 2 and 3) are both strong but they are theses for two
different papers with two quite distinct points of emphasis. It is essential that your thesis
accurately reflect what you are actually writing about. Are you writing a broad paper
which discusses the four reasons why the death penalty ought to be abolished (as in #2 above)?
Or are you writing a more narrow paper which discusses the changing views of the morality and
constitutionality of the death penalty (as in #3)? Either one may be a fine paper but the thesis
needs to reflect what you are writing about.
