Strong Thesis

Among all the elements that make a great academic writing essay, your opinion—or thesis statement—matters the most. However, students sometimes confuse opinions with facts and end up establishing a statement of fact as their thesis. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a fact is defined as “a piece of information presented as having objective reality,” while an opinion is “a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter.” In other words, facts are universally accepted as true, while opinions are subjective and unique to the writer. For academic writing, it is opinions that make an essay shine. Moreover, the purpose of writing an academic essay is to exchange ideas with readers. A thesis statement based solely on facts conveys no ideas and does nothing to foster the development of arguments.

For example, suppose Blue Tiger (BT) wants to write an essay to compare McDonald’s in China with McDonald’s in Germany. He proposes the thesis statement: “Chicken McNuggets in China are served with sweet-and-sour sauce only, while Chicken McNuggets in Germany are served with a greater variety of sauces, such as cocktail dip.” We can probably guess what BT wants to say; perhaps what he wants to say is the Chicken McNuggets in Germany taste better because of the various sauces. However, compared to what he really wants to say, the thesis statement he presents merely states a list of facts. In this particular example, “Chicken McNuggets in Germany taste better” is a personal opinion, while “Chicken McNuggets in China are served with sweet-and-sour sauce” and “Chicken McNuggets in Germany are served with sauces of more varieties” are just two facts. If BT just lists these two facts, readers cannot engage in a meaningful discussion, because what he says is one hundred percent correct (which is why we call them facts). On the contrary, if he says “Chicken McNuggets in Germany taste better“, then that’s arguable. For instance, I can tell him, “You know what, BT, the cocktail dips really suck. Among all the sauces, I only like the sweet-and-sour sauce.”

From this example, you probably have already formed a basic idea of what a factual thesis statement is like and why it damages your essay. Nevertheless, in general, how can we identify whether a statement is a fact or not? Of course, you can refer to the earlier definition, but here is a simpler method. After constructing a thesis statement, ask yourself the following two questions:

• Can someone possibly disagree with it?
• Can you think of a potential counter-argument against your thesis statement?

If the answer to both questions is “yes,” your thesis statement is arguable and reflects a true opinion rather than a fact.