Research Papers Simplified - Laramie County Community College

Laying out the red carpet in the lead-in suggests that you care about your
reader getting directly to the thesis statement and essay map without getting
lost. Take a look at the outdoor adventure lead-in, and notice how it smoothly
and logically leads the reader to the thesis statement and essay map.
Additional strategies for writing lead-ins can be found at the Capital
Community College website on writing:
Capital Community College: Writing Lead-ins
The Thesis Statement
The second part of your introductory paragraph is the thesis statement.
The thesis statement is the main idea of your essay. I like to use the following
analogy to explain the importance of the thesis statement: Your heart is to
your body as your thesis is to your essay. Without a heart, a body dies.
Without a thesis, the essay dies. That’s a little dramatic, I know, but it
underscores the importance of the thesis statement in any essay.
Here are three basic rules for the thesis statement:
Rule 1: Your thesis statement presents your opinion on a given topic.
Your job as a writer in the thesis statement is to move beyond a safe
and simple statement of fact like the following:
It’s a fact that many people participate in river running activities like rafting
and kayaking. Readers are looking for you to state your opinion in the thesis
statement. Rewritten, the following thesis statements assert an opinion:
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