Writing Your Term Paper
“Creating Your Outline: The Thesis Statement”

This article is all about how to create an outline. How important is your outline? Just like the skeleton gives form and enables function for the body, your outline gives form to your paper and helps it to communicate. A good outline will:

·  tell the reader what to expect

·  convey how thorough your research may be

·  communicate your major points to the reader so that he/she may determine whether your paper holds the information that they are seeking

Before you can create your outline, you must determine your topic and the primary purpose of your paper. Your primary purpose is called your “Thesis Statement.” In a term paper, the topic is usually given to you; however, it is up to you to determine the purpose of your paper.

What do I mean by purpose? If you wish for someone to read what you write, your text must have purpose (whether you want a person to read your novel, or you want your paper to be acceptable to your instructor). You need to have a reason to write and one primary argument to present to the reader. That’s your Thesis!

What is a Thesis Statement?

A thesis statement is an arguable statement that expresses the ONE point that you will be making in your paper.

·  It is a single sentence that summarized the main point of your paper.

·  Your statement must be arguable. This has nothing to do with an angry or heated debate. It is a point of view that can be rationally discussed. It means that a person could disagree with your thesis and be able to take the opposite point of view.

·  It does NOT try to prove your point. Your paper will do that.

·  Your thesis statement tells the reader about what you will be trying to convince them. When you write your paper, you will use the facts you have gathered in your research to do the convincing. Therefore, you will be “arguing” your point of view through what you write in your paper.

Determining Your Thesis

1.  Examine your facts that you have gathered in your research.

2.  Look for a central theme to which all your facts are related. (This semester, the theme – or topic – was given to you.) This will give you some direction for the next step.

3.  Begin asking questions about the facts. These will be questions that your facts answer or that are related to your facts.

A.  Group your questions into sets as they relate to each other.

B.  Examine your questions and determine a central idea that you want to prove to the reader or a central question for which you want to find the answer.

4.  Take your central idea or question and form it into a single statement. Choose your words carefully as you focus on accurately communicating your main point.

5.  Evaluate your statement to see if you believe it is true. If it is not, reword it so that it is true or create a new statement. During this step, also consider points that you may want to discuss in your paper.

6.  Create the final version of your thesis statement.

A.  It must be worded affirmatively so that another person could take the opposite point of view.

B.  It should summarize what you want the reader to believe or learn by the time they finish reading your paper.

C.  Recognize that after you write your paper, you may want to come back and revise your thesis statement.

A Practical Example

Let’s work through some possible thesis statements you might consider.

Topics discussed.

  1. Self image
  2. Redemption
  3. The armor of God
  4. The mystery is not who I am in Christ, but it is who Christ is in me.
  5. Man is completely sinful on his own
  6. God is holy, perfect
  7. The fall of man (when he chose to be sinful)
  8. If you have a healthy self-image, you can confidently stand for God
  9. Love of God
  10. Christ not only loves us; He likes us.

Theme

This semester, the theme of the content (and the topic of your term paper) is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Questions

  1. Who is Christ in you?
  2. Why is a healthy self-image necessary?
  3. What does “Christ in you” mean?
  4. Why is Christ in you?
  5. Who is Christ?
  6. What is the armor of God?
  7. How does the armor relate to self image and who Christ is?
  8. What is the power of God to redeem?
  9. How do you have a healthy self image?
  10. How much are you worth? (As much as God wants you to be)
  11. What is the mystery of the Gospel?

Possible Thesis Statements & Evaluation

  1. Christ in you will lead you to salvation
  2. You don’t have Christ in you until after salvation, so this thesis statement is not true. Discard it.
  3. Christ in you is the result of salvation
  4. A healthy self-image comes from knowing who Christ is in you.
  5. What does “knowing” mean? You “know” something is true based on facts.
  6. A healthy self-image yields confidence. Is there a difference between pride and confidence?
  7. A healthy self-image allows you to stand up for Jesus and not be a wimpy Christian.
  8. When you know the love of God, you have a healthy self-image.

Create a Final Thesis Statement

  1. This paper will present what it means and how to have a healthy self-image.
  2. When you know the love of God, you will have a healthy self-image.
  3. Understanding who Christ is in you is important because it impacts every area of your life.
  4. This paper will present God’s plan for mankind to enter into an intimate relationship with Him.
  5. This paper will present how the armor of God in Ephesians 6 is related to God’s plan of redemption and His relationship with mankind.

You DO NOT need to choose one of these statements for your paper. You need to create YOUR OWN thesis statement that is based on your research and understandings. (You cannot write about something you do not understand.)

There are many ways that you can word your thesis. As you see above, two of the statements (#2 and #3) are affirmative so that others could disagree with them. Three of the statements (#1, #4, and #5) are worded as a statement of what the paper will discuss. Either way is fine.