   A thesis statement is one sentence 
            that briefly states your main point.
           A thesis statement must answer two 
            questions for the reader:
             What is your topic?
             What is your opinion, or how do you feel about 
                your topic?
           Your thesis statement cannot be an 
            announcement.
             In this paper, I will discuss whether murderers 
                should go to jail.
           Your thesis statement cannot be a fact.
             Murderers are people who kill other people.
           Your thesis statement must be something 
            you have an opinion about and can 
            argue.
             All murderers should go to jail.
           Your thesis statement does not need to 
            be perfect before you write your paper.
           Instead, write a working thesis 
            statement for two reasons.
             Working thesis statements help you organize 
                your thoughts.
             Once you organize your thoughts, you may 
                want to change your thesis statement to make 
                it more specific.
           Using specific information in your thesis 
            statement  helps the reader understand 
            exactly what you will write about.
             Not specific: All murderers should go to jail.
             Specific: All murderers should go to jail 
                because the law needs to be equal, they need 
                to learn a lesson, and it will prevent them 
                from murdering again.
           The specific thesis statement tells the 
            reader that you will write about three 
            reasons why murderers should go to jail.
           All body paragraphs need a topic 
            sentence.
           The topic sentence is like a thesis 
            statement for a paragraph.
           It tells the reader what you will talk about 
            in that paragraph.
           A topic sentence is usually the first 
            sentence of your body paragraph.