Writing a Thesis Proposal
Some students have difficulty writing a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a phrase which allows the reader of the paper to grasp what the entire paper will contain. Sometimes, thesis statements can be general. For example, one who say in their thesis statement that they wants to discuss how the vices in Dante’s Inferno are associated with the punishments the sinners receive. This thesis statement would allow the writer to explore the topic while still containing it enough so that they can have a structured discussion on the topic. However, a thesis statement can also be extremely specific and require the writer to have the entire custom paper in mind while writing the thesis statement. For example, one could discuss the symbolism of the raven in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. In this case, the writer would focus on one point, the raven, and associate it with various parts of the poem. This does not give the writer very much to work with depending on the context and length of their paper.
There are two ways to develop a thesis statement. One of these, as mentioned, involves having the entire paper in mind and writing the thesis so that it fits the paper. The other way would be to write a thesis statement and try to write the paper using the thesis statement as the guide and theme. It is very important that the thesis statement be introduced at the end of the first paragraph. This will allow the reader to have a general idea of where the paper is going. The paper should also not stray too far from the thesis proposal statement so as not to confuse the reader and add too much excess information.