http://www.writeawriting.com/academic-writing/strong-thesis-statement/
It never fails to amaze me how much time one spends writing one particular sentence when drafting an essay. This one sentence could go through 10, 15, even 20 drafts before it is satisfying enough. The string of words I speak of is commonly known as a thesis statement.
These 20-30 words represent the basis for an entire argument. Throughout the essay you are constantly going back to the theme of your thesis. Time and time again, you look back to that one sentence.
http://www.lib.usf.edu/writing/wcnews/thesis-statements/
As I began writing my research paper I was excited about my topic and had a general idea for the layout and organization of my essay. Little did I know, the biggest struggle I would face was developing my thesis.
I started focusing more on educatio
n and women’s rights with statements like, “Sexism still exists on modern college campuses causing biased treatment and greater barriers to education for women.” This then progressed to “Policies like coeducation in colleges and universities appear to address inequity, however they fail to recognize the social injustice that persists.” While this was more on the path I wanted, something still wasn’t right.
https://mic.com/articles/129514/this-is-what-it-takes-to-overturn-sexist-high-school-dress-codes
The phrasing, the flow, the sentence structure. It all has to be perfect. Or at least happily workable to draft a satisfying essay. At this point, I have developed my thesis into, “Policies such as coeducation in universities appear to address inequity, but fail to acknowledge persisting social injustice.”
As of right now, I plan to stick with this, but it could easily change five more times between now and when the final draft is due. At least at this point I am confident the ideas I am trying to address are conveyed accurately. If I were to change my thesis now it would be more word choice or phrasing, not content based editing.
