What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement is a sentence that contains the main idea or the central idea of the whole essay.

Why is it important to learn to write a thesis statement?

• It informs the reader what the whole essay is about
• It helps the writer to see what points should be included in the essay

Where do I write the thesis statement?

The thesis statement is generally written on the last line of the introductory paragraph. Nevertheless, there are occasions when the thesis statement is written in the middle, too.

How is a thesis statement written?

There are two concepts that you need to know before you write a thesis statement: topic and controlling ideas (CI). A thesis statement normally has three controlling ideas. There are two ways of writing it.

Examples:

Look at the following examples about the advantages of using handphone. Observe how the thesis statement is written. There are two ways to write a thesis statement. See how it is related to the topic The Advantages of Handphones.

• There are three (CI)  possible advantages of using handphones (Topic).
• Convenience (CI-1), special features (CI-2) and global connectivity (CI-3) are some of the advantages of using handphones (Topic).