What's a good thesis statement???

Question

I'm writing a paper on a crime theory and a crime, more specifically, Differential Association theory and Abuse (child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse). I'm the worst at thesis statements, please help with suggestions! Thanks

Answer 1

Ask yourself, "What am I trying to prove, explain, or examine? Am I trying to convince people about something? What do I want my main points to be? What do I want the reader to conclude about the subject when he/she is done reading the paper?"

Brainstorm about the relationship between Differential Association theory and abuse. Write down all the connections between the two that you can think of. Do some research and see what other people are saying on the subject. If your school has access to databases (Ebscohost, LexisNexus, etc.), you may be able to find scholarly articles or case studies.

Your thesis statement could turn out to be as simple as, "This paper will examine child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse through the lens of the Differential Association theory, proving that ____."

If you still need help forming a thesis statement, contact your university's Writing Center, or do some online research on how to write good thesis statements. The Online Writing Lab at Purdue is always helpful with these sorts of problems: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_thesis.html