Thesis Statement

• Thesis statement


  A sentence used in an essay that serves as the guide for the essay and directly answers the question or task asked
• A thesis statement is not just a topic sentence. It is considered the main idea.
• Characteristics of a good thesis statement

  • Addresses the prompt clearly
  • Makes a claim or presents an argument
  • May be arguable if the thesis is an opinion
• Inductive writing


  A writing method which starts from particular to general; specific details are presented first and conclusions or generalizations are placed at the end
• Deductive writing


  The opposite of induction; writing method starts from general to specific, conclusions are presented first before presenting the support ideas or the specific details
• Inductive-deductive writing

  A combination of inductive and deductive methods; starts from specific, presents a generalized statement or conclusion at the middle and proceeds in discussing additional information or support details towards the end
• Deductive-inductive writing

  A combination of deductive and inductive methods; starts from a general statement, proceeds in discussing specific details in the middle, and ends with a recapitulation of the generalized statement
• Hinted/implied writing

  The writer does NOT directly present a generalized statement or conclusion, leaving it to the audience to conclude and make generalized statements about the ideas presented