Answer:
1. Always start with a Grabber. Grabbers can be leads, hooks, quotations, wow facts, or a very short story or anecdote. The Grabber will show your voice and personality. You want to make your paper or presentation interesting and lively. You want your reader/audience to be interested in what you have discovered and get excited about what they will learn through reading your essay or listening to your presentation.
2. Introduce your topic to your reader/audience.
Answer basic Skinny or informational questions like who, what, where, when. Pretend you you are talking to a younger sibling and you just want to give him brief background or overview about your topic in a couple of sentences.
3. Your Thesis Statement is the last sentence of your introductory paragraph. It is one meaty sentence which answers your Fat Question.
Introduction Triangle. Digital image. How to Start an Essay: No Magic Solutions for Your Papers. Custom-Writing.com, 2013. Web. 17 Aug. 2013.
Generating a Thesis Statement
What is a thesis statement?
It is the answer to your Fat Question
It presents your opinions or thoughts on a subject with your reasons as to why your thesis is valid (arguments)
It is the position you intend to prove
What does a thesis statement do?
ties the whole essay together
serves as a map for the writer and reader to follow throughout the essay
provides a reference point for your topic sentences which support your thesis and argument
keeps the reader focused on and engaged with your argument or reasoning
offers enough detail for the reader to grasp the reasons for your thinking
Do I have to have a thesis statement?
Yes. You cannot write an essay without one.
What does a good thesis statement look like?
It should only be one sentence, regardless of essay length
It should use clear, strong language
A good thesis statement is a declarative sentence with no qualifiers (might, maybe, perhaps, etc.):
A thesis statement should always be written in the third person.
It states only one main idea with reasons
It may be written like this:
Position: ____________________________________ because (state three reasons why your thesis is valid)
1. _________________________________
2. _________________________________
3. _________________________________.
What a thesis statement should NOT look like:
It should never include phrases like: in my opinion, I think, I believe, etc.
However, it may be helpful to write a rough draft of a thesis statement with this phrases to make sure you are expressing your thoughts or arguments clearly. Be sure to delete these phrases when writing the final draft of your thesis statement.
Where does my thesis statement belong in my essay?
It is the closing sentence in the first paragraph of your essay
It should also be re-written in new language as part of your conclusion
Lorcher, Trent. "How to Write a Thesis Statement: High School English Lesson Plan." Bright Hub Education. Bright Hub, Inc., 2012. Web. 17 Aug. 2013.
