Lesson 4
Identifying Thesis Statement
Understanding and Locating the Thesis Statement
The thesis statement presents or describes the point of an essay. In an academic text, the thesis statement
is usually presented in the abstract or executive summary or found at the last part of the introduction. It is
written in declarative sentence
Strategies in Locating Thesis Statement
The following strategies are also useful in helping you locate the thesis statement of a text.
Read the title of the text and make inferences on its purpose.
If the text has no abstract or executive summary, read the first few paragraphs as the thesis statement is
usually located there.
In other cases, you may also check the conclusion where authors sum up and review their main points.
Elements of a Thesis Statement
1. Topic. The topic of your paper.
2. Argument/Claim. This depends on the type of paper you are writing. If it is an argumentative paper, then
this should express your opinion. If it is a research or explanatory paper, this should explain the purpose of your
paper.
3. Evidence. The support for your argument/claim.
If you already have these three elements, you can combine them to create your thesis statement.
Example:
1. Topic – Chesse
2. Argument – has healthy tendencies
3. Evidence – calcium helps bones and teeth, boosts the growth of good bacteria in the gut, and the protein
helps cells repair themselves
Research has shown that cheese has healthy tendencies because its calcium provides necessary nutrients
for the growth of bone and teeth, it boosts the growth of food bacteria in the gut, and it has protein that helps
cells repair themselves.
In some cases in academic texts, the thesis statement located at the last part of the introduction is
replaced with a purpose statement. Unlike the thesis statement, the purpose statement is introduced by signal
phrases that announce the purpose, scope, or direction of the text as well as it focus. The signal phrases include:
“This study examined…”, “This paper examined…”, “The aim of this essay is to…”, “This paper begins
with…”, “The primary objective of this paper is to… “, and “The purpose of this essay is to…” among
others.
Example:
This paper aims to examine the key concepts on IHE. Specifically, this paper reviews articles which will
shed light on the significant ideas, and proposes a preliminary framework for IHE in the Philippines.