Writing Your Thesis Statement

1. Writing Your Thesis Statement Now, that you’ve done your research, it’s time to organize your ideas. Start by writing a thesis statement. Then arrange your ideas in an outline.

2. What is a thesis statement? • Your thesis statement tells what your report is all about. A good thesis statement starts with an interesting topic and then focuses on an important detail about the topic. • Interesting topic+important detail= thesis statement

3. Interesting topic: Daniel Boone’s exploration + Important Detail: helped early Americans go west. = Thesis statement: Daniel Boone’s exploration helped early Americans go west.

4. More examples of Thesis Statements: • 1. The English Quaker William Penn (an interesting topic) founded the Pennsylvania colony to provide religious and political freedom (an important detail).

5. More examples of Thesis Statements: • 2. Anne Bradstreet was a poet in the 1600s (an interesting topic) who wrote poems about family, women, faith, and politics in Massachusetts (an important detail).

6. Create Your Thesis Statement • Review your notes and write a thesis statement about the most important accomplishment of the person you will write about.