Thesis statements

1. Academic Writing
Tutorial 3
Academic Language Centre, English Section

2. What is a thesis statement?
- What is a thesis question and what is a
thesis statement? Any differences?

3. What is a thesis statement?*
- A statement that covers all the information
in the paper.
- It is a complete sentence which expresses
what you believe and what you intend to
prove in your paper.
* van Loon et all, Academic Writing in English, a process- based approach, Coutinho p. 97

4. What is a thesis statement?*
- Example:
- The fact that there is a (1) gender based
disparity in salaries within the European
Union (2) inhibits women from pursuing
careers in all possible branches and (3)
delays economic growth throughout Europe.
Academic Language Centre
* van Loon et all, Academic Writing in English, a process- based approach, Coutinho p. 97

5. What is a thesis statement?*
- Body paragraph 1 topic: gender based pay
gap.
- Body paragraph 2 topic: limited career
choice for women.
- Body paragraph 3 topic: effects on the
European economy.
Academic Language Centre
* van Loon et all, Academic Writing in English, a process- based approach, Coutinho p. 97

6. What is a thesis statement?*
- If, during the writing process, the
information changes or information is
added, the thesis statement will need to be
adjusted.
- Important advice is not to make your thesis
statement neither too broad nor too narrow.
Academic Language Centre
* van Loon et all, Academic Writing in English, a process- based approach, Coutinho p. 97

7. What is a thesis statement?*
- Implicit thesis statements do not
announce the purpose or aim of the paper
but do state the problem. Example:
Therefore, women should not join the
military because they are physically weaker
and emotionally less stable than men.
* van Loon et all, Academic Writing in English, a process- based approach, Coutinho p. 98

8. What is a thesis statement?*
- Explicit thesis statements announce the
purpose or aim of the paper clearly.
Example: The purpose of this paper is….
* van Loon et all, Academic Writing in English, a process- based approach, Coutinho p. 98

9. What is a thesis statement?*
- Debatable statements are statements with
which other people may or may not agree.
They are sometimes called ‘arguments’,
‘claims’ or ‘assertions’.
- Example: “Every country should donate
funds to third world countries”.
* van Loon et all, Academic Writing in English, a process- based approach, Coutinho p. 99

10. What is a thesis statement?*
- Non-debatable statements are statements
with which no people would normally
disagree. They are stating ‘facts’.
- These statements are mainly used in
expository essays, that represent a body of
knowledge rather than an argument.
* van Loon et all, Academic Writing in English, a process- based approach, Coutinho p. 99