Read more about >> How to write a persuasive thesis for academic students, Delhi, Chandigarh, India

1. How to Write a Persuasive Thesis
A thesis is a type of writing that involves an in-depth analysis of a research
topic. Unlike a regular essay, a thesis is usually quite long, in-depth, and
based on extensive research. A persuasive thesis uses sound research,
analysis, and commentary in order to encourage a reader to agree with the
author's overarching argument. Many schools, colleges, and universities
require students to submit a thesis as part of their degree requirements.
Part 1. Beginning the Writing Process
• Understand the thesis assignment. Some instructors, colleges,
and universities have very strict requirements about what a thesis
must include. Read your syllabus, assignment rubric, or course
website thoroughly in order to understand exactly what is required of
you
• Narrow down a research topic. Sometimes your research topic
is provided to you by an instructor or university. At other times, you
are responsible for brainstorming your own research topic.[4] You
can consider framing your research topic as an interesting question to
answer or as a tough puzzle to solve.
• Discuss your tentative topic with your
instructor. Instructors and thesis advisors are usually very
happy to meet with thesis-writers about their topics. They want you to
succeed as much as you do. Once you have collected and organized
your thoughts, set up a meeting with your instructor to discuss your
tentative topic. Take careful notes during the meeting: your instructor
might have excellent suggestions for sources, approaches, and ideas
that you could include in your thesis.
• Read a few initial research materials. While it is too early to
begin fully delving into your research, you want to be sure that you

2. have a general sense of your topic before you begin narrowing things
down. Take a day or two to read some general sources surrounding
your topic. This will help you determine whether your topic is a viable
one, and it might give you a sense of what your tentative thesis
statement might be.
• Determine whether your thesis should be descriptive or
prescriptive. A descriptive thesis argues that the world operates in
a certain way. A prescriptive thesis, on the other hand, argues that
they should operate in a certain way. Depending on your field of
study, you might be expected to craft a descriptive argument or a
prescriptive argument.
• Write down a tentative thesis statement. Your thesis will be
governed by your thesis statement, which is a clear and concise
summary of your argument. A thesis statement is usually 1-3
sentences in length. Having a tentative thesis statement at the outset
can help your paper remain focused and grounded. However, as you
continue researching you might find that your thesis is somehow
inadequate and must be revised.
• Make a timeline. One of the most useful things you can do before
you begin writing is to carefully plan the trajectory of your research,
writing, and revising process. Be sure that you leave yourself plenty of
time to accomplish each task, and leave yourself some leeway in case
you encounter any roadblocks in your research. Depending on the
length and expectations of your thesis, you might spend anywhere
from a few weeks to over a year working on a thesis
Part 2. Compiling Your Research
• Determine the kind of research required of your
thesis. Different fields of study will have different conventions about
what counts as research. For example, a social science field might
require that you engage in surveys of human subjects. A lab science

3. field might require that you spend several weeks conducting
experiments before you can begin writing. A humanities field might
require that you closely examine several primary text sources, such as
letters, diaries, novels, or historical documents. Each of these kinds of
research might require a different time investment, so keep this in
mind as you prepare your thesis.
• Use searchable databases to acquire sources. Many colleges
and universities subscribe to online databases that compile relevant
research materials. Sometimes these databases are specific to a single
field of study (such as the Literature Online database); others are
more general (such as Jstor). By using keyword searches and Library
of Congress subject heading searches within these databases, you can
acquire a solid list of potential sources that will aid your literature
review.
• Use a research library to acquire sources. Many colleges and
universities have a research library that has extensive holdings that
include periodicals, books, and other media (such as films or
photographs). Use the library catalog search engine in order to
narrow down some potential journal articles and books for you to
read.
• Take excellent notes. Write down key pieces of information as you
read your research materials, such as their thesis, methods, key
terms, pithy quotations, and major sources of evidence. It can also be
helpful to look through the citations of your research materials to get
ideas for other sources you might read. It is important to write this
information down because you will likely be reading through dozens
of sources: it will be easy to forget vital pieces of information.
• Cite all your sources carefully. In order to ensure that you do
not plagiarize, be very careful about citing all of your sources.
Whenever you quote another author, refer to another study, or

4. paraphrase a scholarly argument, you must cite your sources. It is the
responsible thing to do, and you might suffer huge consequences for
failing to cite your sources properly.
• Consider whether you still believe your tentative thesis
statement. After you complete the bulk of your research process,
you will have a lot more expertise in your research topic. Take
another look at your tentative research statement. Do you still believe
it? Or does your thesis require some revision? Take some time to
think hard and carefully about what your new thesis statement might
be.
• Organize your research into an outline. An outline is a
general, organized sketch of a large piece of writing. It provides a
brief overview of each section of your thesis and will likely list the
evidence you will use in each section. Be sure that each stage of your
thesis helps to affirm your thesis statement.
Part 3. Drafting Your Introduction
• Identify the reader. The most effective thesis allows the reader to
understand and hopefully agree with the author. Consider who your
reader might be and what information they require to understand
your topic. For most theses, your imagined reader will be someone
who is conversant in your general field of study but is not an expert in
your specific research topic.
• Begin with a strong declaration of your argument. The best
introductions include a thesis statement in their first two paragraphs.
The thesis statement should be strong, clear, and concise. Make sure
your reader understands what question your thesis will be answering
as well as the methods your paper will use to answer that question

5. • Explain why your argument is significant. The best theses are
ones that are not only accurate but also meaningful. Do not just
explain what your argument is: explain why you think your argument
is important. Does your thesis change the way your reader might
think about history? Does your thesis posit a new method for
analyzing cells? Have you uncovered a new angle on a philosophical
topic? Describe what is new, interesting, and important about your
work.
• Provide your reader with important background
information. Remember that your reader will not have done the
extensive background reading that you have. This means that you
have to act as a teacher, explaining what certain terms, events, dates,
or methods mean and why they are significant. Do not talk down to
your reader. Rather, address your reader as an intelligent person who
simply requires a summary of what you have learned during your
extensive research.
Part 4. Drafting Your Body Paragraph
• Refer to your outline frequently. As you work through the body
of your paper, take a look at your outline several times. Make sure
that you are keeping on track and that your body text is always
working in service of your thesis statement.
• Make sure each body paragraph is relevant to the thesis. A
paragraph is a set of sentences unified by a single idea or closely
related set of ideas. You should treat each paragraph as a separate
piece of writing in order to ensure that each paragraph is well-
organized and unified. However, each body paragraph must also work
in order to further your support of your overarching thesis statement.
Make sure that you are not including any irrelevant information or
digressions.

6. • Use transition sentences between paragraphs. Ideally, body
paragraphs will build off of one another, adding up to conclusive
support for your thesis. Transition sentences can be used in between
paragraphs in order to describe how two paragraphs are related. This
can help orient your reader to your way of thinking, and it will also
help make your thesis seem more unified.
• Analyze evidence in every paragraph. Every paragraph should
include some kind of evidence, such as a quotation from a primary
source (like a letter or poem), analysis from a secondary source (such
as a quotation from an expert historian or the result of a previous
scientific study), or the results from your own research investigation
(such as the results from a survey you administer). Remember that
you have to analyze your evidence: don't simply list it. Explain why
you think each piece of evidence is relevant and important. If
possible, try to come up with your own interpretation of the evidence
• Provide context for your research. Consider your reader at all
times. Orient your reader to important contexts for the evidence you
present. Do not expect your reader to be able to understand the
evidence as well as you can: think of yourself as a teacher who must
explain the context of each piece of evidence.
• Write in an objective manner. Persuasive theses are rooted in
fact, not opinion or hyperbolic rhetoric. Keep your tone neutral and
professional. Do not use statements such as "I think" or "As everyone
should know." Instead, present your evidence clearly and analyze
your evidence compellingly. This will be a more effective persuasion
technique.
• Consider possible counter evidence. It might be tempting to
hide or minimize counter evidence that you find in your research.
However, the most effective theses take such counter evidence into
consideration. Think carefully about why the counterevidence should

7. not be as persuasive as the evidence that you present, and ask
yourself why your argument is superior to that of those who might
disagree with you. If you can deal with counterevidence and
counterarguments in a measured and effective way, your thesis will
be all the more persuasive for it.
• Don't worry about perfection. Don't let the perfect be the enemy
of the good. A first draft should get your ideas, evidence, and analysis
on the table. However, there will likely be rough patches, confusing
sections, or paragraphs that you will have to rewrite later. Don't get
hung up on small details: get the large ideas on paper, and worry
about the small things during the revision process.
Part 5. Drafting Your Conclusion
• Consider whether your evidence supports your thesis
statement. After you have finished drafting the body of your essay,
take a few moments to consider whether it is persuasive enough to
conclusively support your thesis. Does your evidence add up to what
you say it adds up to? Or does it add up to something else? It is
possible that you will have to revise your thesis statement again after
drafting the bulk of the essay. If you have to change your thesis
statement, don't beat yourself up about it. Be proud that you are
improving your essay at each stage.
• Summarize the argument of your thesis. A good conclusion
should remind your reader about the overarching argument of your
paper. What was the purpose of the thesis? What were your methods?
Especially for lengthy theses, a conclusion has to tie up the various
sections together in order to remind the reader how they are all
connected
• Explain why your argument is significant. The best
conclusions explain why the previous pages were important. How

8. should your reader's mind be changed after having read your thesis?
How have you shifted scholarly discussion? Feel free to move beyond
your very specific topic and discuss more general claims
• Explore alternative explanations or weak points. A
conclusion is also a great place to discuss parts of your paper that
might require further thought. Are there other possible explanations
for the phenomenon you discovered through your experiments? Were
there variables that you did not take into consideration? Think about
some of the gaps of your thesis, and address them in your concluding
section.
• Suggest avenues for further research. The best theses will
answer their research question but then posit new, significant
questions. How might this topic be pushed even further in future
work? What would you like to see other scholars work on in the
coming years? Has your thesis opened up new veins for scholarly
work that other people might explore?
Part 6. Revising Your Thesis
• Give yourself some space from your essay. Ideally, you should
take a few days off in between drafting your essay and revising it.
Effective revision has to be done while you are rested, refreshed, and
after you have a little bit of distance from your essay. This is an
excellent time to work on other projects, catch up on sleep or
housework, or do some fun activities with friends.
• Pretend like you are a member of a jury. As you sit down with
your thesis draft, pretend like you are somebody objective, like a jury
member or a journal editor. Try to put yourself into a different mind-
space than where you were when you originally wrote the thesis. This
will help you identify unclear sentences, sloppy thinking, and poor
phrasing more easily.
• Read your essay out loud. It can be easy to miss typos,
grammatical errors, and unclear or incomplete sentences when you
are reading a piece of paper. Take the time to read the essay out loud
to yourself, at a slow pace. Use a highlighter to mark every word,

9. sentence, or paragraph that seemed confusing or wrong when you
said it out loud.
• Ask yourself whether your research question has been
answered. When you finish reading the essay, consider whether the
problem you initially set out to solve has in fact been solved. Be
honest with yourself: is your conclusion accurate? If you were a
member of a jury, would you believe that your thesis statement has
been conclusively proven?
• Consider whether each sentence makes sense. Each sentence
should be clear and concise. Stay away from long-winded, abstract, or
repetitive sentences. Limit your use of jargon when possible
• Consider whether each paragraph is well
organized. Remember that each paragraph should be unified,
should have an effective transition sentence to relate it to the previous
paragraph and should have a topic sentence to describe the
paragraph, compelling pieces of evidence, and compelling analysis of
the evidence. You might find that some paragraphs require more
detail, and other paragraphs have irrelevant sentences that should be
cut. Other paragraphs might need to be split into two separate
paragraphs if they include too much information.
• Write a "reverse outline." In order to determine whether a
thesis's overall structure is convincing, write a "reverse outline." A
reverse outline is made up of the individual topic sentences of each
paragraph that you have already written. (This is opposed to a regular
outline that you write before you have drafted an essay.) Copy and
paste each topic sentence into a separate document, in the order you
present them in your essay draft. If the "reverse outline" makes
logical sense and is convincing, it is likely that you have a solid
structure for your paper. If your reverse outline is jumbled up,
repetitive, or disorganized, you might have to rearrange your body
paragraphs.

10. • Use appropriately formal language. A thesis should not use
contractions, slang, or swear words. Keep your essay appropriate for
its scholarly context: it should be professional and objective
• Check your spelling and grammar yourself. Many computer
programs will help spell-check and grammar-check your essays.
Sometimes these can catch errors and typos. Sometimes, however,
they miss typos and might even auto-correct your writing in a way
that causes further errors. Don't just rely on your computer to
proofread your essay: do it yourself, at a slow pace. Be sure that you
catch all grammatical errors and spelling errors.
• Make sure all sources are properly cited. Double-check that
every quotation and citation is properly referenced and that your
bibliography is accurate. Use whatever citation format your instructor
suggests, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago. There are many citation
guides that can help you ensure that your citations and bibliography
are formatted correctly
• Ask a friend to read your thesis. Sometimes it can be difficult to
catch errors, inaccuracies, or clunky writing in your own work
because you are too familiar with it. Ask your friends or colleagues if
you could trade papers. You will help your colleague edit her paper if
she will take a look at yours. Rely on another set of eyes to catch the
mistakes that you could not catch.
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