A thesis statement is the first sentence in a document (e.g., an academic paper or essay),which articulates the overall topic to the reader.

1. What Makes a Good Thesis Statement?
A thesis statement is the first sentence in a document (e.g., an academic paper or
essay),which articulates the overall topic to the reader. Given that the thesis
statement is one of the first pieces of text that a reader sees, many writers try to use
proofreading and editing services to ensure that their thesis statements are as clear
and effective as possible.
While professional proofreading services are certainly important for a thesis
statement, many writers – particularly students and academics – need to be able to
know how to create these sentences on their own. Although it is always useful to hire
somebody to provide proofreading and editing services at a later time, developing
strong writing skills is essential for the early stages of a writing project.
Knowing what makes a good thesis statement, therefore, is an important piece of
information that all writers, including students and professional researchers, should
have in their toolkit. In this article, after outlining the fundamentals of what a good
thesis statement consists of, a three-step process for writing a thesis statement is
outlined.
What does a good thesis statement achieve?
To answer what makes a good thesis statement, it is essential to consider what a
good thesis statement even seeks to achieve.
Perhaps the key aim of a thesis statement is to immediately clarify to your reader
what the purpose of your essay or paper is. In addition to the document’s purpose,
the thesis statement should ideally set out the context and scope for the work.
A great thesis statement also engages the reader. That’s to say, aside from being
informative, thesis statements should hook the reader and motivate them to read on.
Thesis statements are often confused with topic sentences. To write a great thesis
statement, it is important to know the distinction. Specifically, the topic sentence
refers to the first sentence of every paragraph, whereas the thesis statement is the
first sentence of the essay’s opening paragraph.

2. Thesis statements should always be written based on close consideration of the
nature of the essay or document you are writing. For example, different types of
thesis statements suit the following types of documents:
• Expository essays
• Argumentative essays
• Persuasive essays
• Compare-and-contrast essays
• Research papers
• Dissertations
Altogether, it is clearly true that multiple factors feed into a good thesis statement.
After you’ve written your thesis statement and essay, remember that it’s always
useful to get a second opinion and optimize your work through professional
proofreading and editing.
Writing a thesis statement in three steps
Now you know what the aim of a thesis statement is, it’s worth sitting down and
spending some time to write your own. To help out, here are three steps to use as a
guide.
First, you should establish your essay topic. Until you know what your paper will
cover, you can’t write a good thesis statement.
Second, phrase your topic as a question. For example, if your topic is the legacy of
King George III, ask yourself, “What impact did King George III have on society
following his death?”
Finally, add some polish to your thesis statement by revising, editing, and adding
anything that is missing in order to achieve the aims mentioned in the previous
section.