Placement of Thesis Statements
You now know what a thesis statement is and how important it will be in relation to college writing. The next question is where to place it in relation to your paper.
The thesis statement should usually appear at the beginning of a college paper. Potentially, it could be the first sentence of your paper but that does not excite your audience or catch the reader’s attention of what your paper will be about. It is advised to place your thesis statement near the end of the first paragraph.
The first paragraph acts as a funnel opening to the content of the paper which draws the audience into the discussion. Your argument of the paper is then focused by the thesis statement before the main content of the essay begins.
Everything that then follows in your paper should have something that fits under the umbrella of your thesis statement.
However, if you are writing a relatively short paper, you could put the thesis statement as the first sentence. If this is the case, then the rest of the first paragraph will discuss what you’re going to argue for the rest of the paper. Once you reach the second paragraph, you’re already into the first part of the paper and your introduction is complete.
Before putting the thesis statement at the very start of your paper, it is important to recognise that this will not work as well when you begin to write papers that are longer and more complex.
To sum up where you should place your thesis statement; remember that the optimal home for your thesis statement is at the end of the introduction paragraph. This makes a natural bridge from the introduction through to the body of your paper. It also provides an opportunity for your introduction to develop into a distinct, thorough thesis statement that will effectively portray the argument of your paper.
Relationship of Structure to Thesis Statements
A good writer incorporates structure into their paper. As you have most likely learned in High School, there are three components to a paper. The introduction, body and conclusion. The thesis statement and where you put it is a vital component of the structure of your paper. It is like a blurb at the back of a book. It gives you the main summary of the book, without all the details that the book will reveal over time.
It is important that you give careful thought to the arrangement of your ideas and the paragraphs that contain them.
College students that take the time to structure their papers correctly will find that their papers are capable of creatively introducing the topic of the paper, present the content in a clear and logical manner and conclude by reinforcing the main argument and providing a sense of closure.
Why thesis statements are important and relevant to the structure of a paper:
- The author can refer back to it to narrow down points.
- Reader will not get confused by multiple points in correspondence to the paper’s objective.
- Focuses the paper on the author’s main points of the paper.
