Every piece of writing has a thesis statement. This is a fancy term for a simple concept. A thesis is the core concept that a piece of writing is trying to convey.

In academic writing, the thesis is often explicit: it is included as a sentence as part of the text. It might be near the beginning of the work, but not always–some types of academic writing leave the thesis until the conclusion.

Journalism and reporting also rely on explicit thesis statements that appear very early in the piece–the first paragraph or even the first sentence.

Works of literature, on the other hand, usually do not contain a specific sentence that sums up the core concept of the writing. However, readers should finish the piece with a good understanding of what the work was trying to convey. This is what’s called an implicit thesis statement: the primary point of the reading is conveyed indirectly, in multiple locations throughout the work. (In literature, this is also referred to as the theme of the work.)

Academic writing sometimes relies on implicit thesis statements, as well.

This video offers excellent guidance in identifying the thesis statement of a work, no matter if it’s explicit or implicit.

Click here to download a transcript for this video

For a summary, you may also watch this 2-minute video, Thesis Statements, developed by the University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center. It provides a quick review of what thesis statement is, a sample thesis, and a formula to develop one.

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