Most pieces of academic writing present a 1-2 sentence thesis statement. It is usually placed at the end of the introduction. The thesis statement presents the project at hand: what is being demonstrated, argued, or explained.

A common error is to mistake a topic for a thesis. A topic can be contained in a noun or phrase. A thesis, however, is a complete thought and complete thoughts require a verb.

Topic: Matthew's genealogy

Thesis: Matthew's genealogy prepares the reader to interpret Jesus' life through the lens of David's kingship.

Another way to spot the difference is to identify what question your thesis answers. Questions that prompt the example above could be "why does Matthew begin with a genealogy?" If your thesis does not answer a question, it isn't a thesis.

Improving a thesis can look a lot like improving any sentence. The general principles of effective writing that promote clarity and brevity apply to theses

To this end, use an adverb-less action verb in the active voice.

• Adverb-less: Adverbs are words that qualify or describe a verb, adjective, another adverb, preposition...and a few other grammatical constructions. Basically, adjectives modify nouns while adverbs modify everything else. Adverbs rarely express an idea better than a well chosen verb.
  • He slowly thought the matter over. ⇒ He pondered the matter.
  • Dr. Jones strongly claims... ⇒ Dr. Jones asserts...
• Action verb: Are you using a 'to be' verb in your thesis? (Am, be, is, are, was, were, been, and being are the conjugations of 'to be.') 'To be' verbs are the written equivalent of an equals sign. They say this is the same as that. Can you rewrite your sentence to use an action verb? In most cases, this will result in a shorter sentence and/or a more precise communication.
  • The cat was sitting. ⇒ The cat sat.
  • The meal is delicious. ⇒ The delicious meal filled me with gratitude. (By swapping this verb+predicate adjective with an adjective, you are now free to add a whole new verb. This means more meaning!)
  • It is important to note that Matthew's genealogy has a three part form. ⇒ Matthew's genealogy has a three part form. or, even better, Matthew's tri-part genealogy ... [insert a verb and a more meaningful sentence here]. (In this example, the 'to be' verb is in a superfluous opening I call a running head start.)
• Active voice: Active voice sentences have subjects that act. Subjects that are acted upon are had by passive voice sentences. Passive voice sentences clutter and obscure. They add unnecessary words while allowing you to omit information.
  • In the passive voice you may write 'The cookie was eaten by the mouse.' By changing the sentence to the active voice, you can reduce word count by 29% while losing no meaning: 'The mouse ate the cookie.'
  • Passive voice also allows you to omit information: 'The cookie was eaten.' In the active voice, you must add an agent: 'The mouse ate the cookie.' There may be times when you want to emphasize the object (in these examples, the cookie) of the sentence. This may be a time when using passive voice makes sense. But when wielded without thought, passive voice is a serious hindrance to effective writing.

Thesis statements define the boundaries of the your anticipated conversation. Do not let your thesis be too broad for the length of your paper or for the scope of your evidence. Avoid an overbroad thesis by structuring it around your evidence and by interrogating each element.

• Do not begin a research project with a thesis. If you already know the answer, why research it? Begin with several substantive research questions instead. A substantive question will ask how or why. It will require a complex response. The answer to a research question is a thesis. Moreover, it is a thesis formed by your specific findings and is not generated by your preconceived assumptions.
• The narrower your thesis, the more defensible. Interrogate each element of your sentence with the question, "can you be more specific?"
  • Example: Theologian X's defense of the infallibility of scripture is more compelling than Theologian Y's argument.
    • Can you describe the type of evidence used by X? Is there a particular piece or type of evidence you want to draw out?
    • Why is it more compelling? What does it compel?
    • What is Y's argument?