Write A Strong Thesis Statement

Sample Essay Question: Is using humor the best way to approach difficult situations and problems? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience or observations



Example of a weak thesis: Humor is often the best way to approach difficult situations and problems. Okay, but that’s unoriginal and boring. It just repeats the question.

Better or stronger thesis: While everyone loves a good laugh, not all of the world’s problems can be solved with laughter. Sometimes to accomplish great things we need to be serious. This is evident especially in solving the important issues of the day including combating terrorism and tackling the threat of global warming…………

The second thesis statement captures the readers attention and the reader is intrigued to read on.

Step 2-The Thesis Statement

The thesis statement consists of one to three sentences which:

• Lays a foundation
• Summarizes the main point of the essay
• Helps maps the order of the essay from the outline
• Interests the reader so she wants to read on

A weak thesis statement is a bland restatement of the question. This is not what earns a high essay score on the SAT. In my next post, I will give specific examples of a weak vs. strong thesis statement.