{"id":296,"date":"2019-07-01T19:39:48","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T19:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/scholarlywriting\/?post_type=chapter&p=296"},"modified":"2019-10-21T20:11:42","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T20:11:42","slug":"writing-a-thesis-statement","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/chapter\/writing-a-thesis-statement\/","title":{"raw":"Writing a Thesis Statement","rendered":"Writing a Thesis Statement"},"content":{"raw":"Readers always want to know \u201cWhat is the big idea?\u201d Every type of non-fiction writing \u2013 from a short essay to a 10-page term paper to a lengthy thesis or dissertation\u2013 needs a controlling idea as a \u201cspine\u201d that holds the paper together (see Figure 6.6<\/strong>). Look at Table 6.3<\/strong>: Topics and Thesis Statements for a comparison of topics and thesis statements.\r\n\r\nTable 6.3:<\/strong>\u00a0Topics and thesis statements: A comparison\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Topic<\/th>\r\nThesis Statement<\/th>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\r\n

Healthcare funding<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

\r\n

To plan and fund healthcare, local health networks are better at improving the patient experience and access to care than a large central body.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n

\r\n

Acute respiratory distress syndrome<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n

\r\n

Positioning clients with acute respiratory distress syndrome in the prone position increases ventilation and decreases mortality rates.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"Skeleton\r\n\r\nFigure 6.6<\/strong>: Thesis skeleton\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nBegin by writing a working thesis statement. You will need this working thesis statement when you begin to outline and organize your assignment. As you continue to develop your paper, you can limit the working thesis statement if it is too broad or expand it if it proves too narrow for what you want to say. Each draft of the thesis statement will bring you closer to the exact wording that expresses your controlling idea.\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n

Student Tip<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\nThe Controlling Idea<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe controlling idea should be broader for a longer piece of writing than for a shorter piece of writing. Make sure the controlling idea is appropriate for the length of the assignment. How many pages it will take to explain and explore the controlling or main idea in detail? Be reasonable with your estimate. Then expand or trim the controlling or main idea to match the required length.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n

Attribution statement<\/h2>\r\nContent from this page was remixed with our own original contented and adapted, with editorial changes, from:\r\n\r\nWriting for Success 1st Canadian Edition<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Tara Horkoff\u00a0is licensed under a\u00a0Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License<\/a>, except where otherwise noted. Download for free at: https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/writingforsuccess\/<\/a>","rendered":"

Readers always want to know \u201cWhat is the big idea?\u201d Every type of non-fiction writing \u2013 from a short essay to a 10-page term paper to a lengthy thesis or dissertation\u2013 needs a controlling idea as a \u201cspine\u201d that holds the paper together (see Figure 6.6<\/strong>). Look at Table 6.3<\/strong>: Topics and Thesis Statements for a comparison of topics and thesis statements.<\/p>\n

Table 6.3:<\/strong>\u00a0Topics and thesis statements: A comparison<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Topic<\/th>\nThesis Statement<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Healthcare funding<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

To plan and fund healthcare, local health networks are better at improving the patient experience and access to care than a large central body.<\/p>\n

\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Acute respiratory distress syndrome<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Positioning clients with acute respiratory distress syndrome in the prone position increases ventilation and decreases mortality rates.<\/p>\n

\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Skeleton<\/p>\n

Figure 6.6<\/strong>: Thesis skeleton<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Begin by writing a working thesis statement. You will need this working thesis statement when you begin to outline and organize your assignment. As you continue to develop your paper, you can limit the working thesis statement if it is too broad or expand it if it proves too narrow for what you want to say. Each draft of the thesis statement will bring you closer to the exact wording that expresses your controlling idea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

Student Tip<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

\n

The Controlling Idea<\/strong><\/p>\n

The controlling idea should be broader for a longer piece of writing than for a shorter piece of writing. Make sure the controlling idea is appropriate for the length of the assignment. How many pages it will take to explain and explore the controlling or main idea in detail? Be reasonable with your estimate. Then expand or trim the controlling or main idea to match the required length.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Attribution statement<\/h2>\n

Content from this page was remixed with our own original contented and adapted, with editorial changes, from:<\/p>\n

Writing for Success 1st Canadian Edition<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Tara Horkoff\u00a0is licensed under a\u00a0Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License<\/a>, except where otherwise noted. Download for free at: https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/writingforsuccess\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"menu_order":8,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-296","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":139,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1848,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/296\/revisions\/1848"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/139"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/296\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/scholarlywriting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}