At the beginning of every essay is a statement of the author’s opinion. This is called a thesis statement. Writing a good author’s statement of opinion is a skill, which can be learned. Once it is learned, writing the remaining part of the essay is easy since the remaining part is nothing more than arguments supporting the author’s opinion.
The essay is a good one if the author’s statement of opinion at the beginning is brief, clear and forceful and if the arguments in the remaining part of the essay support the opinion. A reader of this essay will tend to agree with the opinion. A high-school English teacher or English 101 teacher may be persuaded to give this essay a very good grade.
How is a Good Thesis Statement Written
- Over a period of several minutes or even several days, decide tentatively on the opinion to be included in the essay. Say it out loud. Then, write it down in one or two sentences.
- If there is more than one opinion included, delete the opinion that is less important.
- If there is a very important opposing opinion, say it out loud in as few words as possible. Then, write it down like this: “Although it can be argued that” [persuasive opposing opinion], “a better argument is [author’s opinion].” Reword as needed.
- Think about why the subject of the essay is important. Add this information to what was just written. There should now be a total of one, two or three sentences.
- Try switching the first and last sentences around to see if this makes the opinion clearer or more interesting. See if some words or phrases need to be added or can be removed for even more clarity or interest.
- Find somebody who doesn’t know much about the subject of the essay. Better yet, find someone who does know something about it but has a different opinion. Read what has been written to them. If it doesn’t make sense to them or they don’t like it, find out why and make changes. Sometimes it takes no more than a one-word change to make sense out of nonsense.
- Once again, read what has been written. Make any additional changes needed to be brief, clear and forceful – and accurate.
What About the Rest of the Essay
Once the author’s opinion is expressed as briefly, clearly and forcefully as possible, the rest of the essay can be written. Every single sentence in the essay will need to support the author’s opinion in at least one of three ways:
- By including more detail
- By providing evidence
- By arguing against the idea or opinion in the essay and then pointing out why the opposing argument is weak
If even one sentence in the rest of the essay does not support the author’s opinion, one of two things will need to be done:
- Rewrite the sentence or scrap it.
- Make a change to the thesis statement.
A Persuasive Author’s Statement of Opinion
Each essay, then, begins with a thesis statement expressing the essay author’s opinion. The opinion is persuasive if the step-by-step guide in this article is followed. With a persuasive statement of opinion, the author can easily write the remaining part of the essay– the part with the arguments supporting the opinion. The resulting essay is very likely to persuade readers to agree with the opinion expressed and a teacher to give the essay a very good grade.
