How to start an essay with a thesis statement

A thesis is your answer to the essay question in one sentence. It goes at the very start of your essay, and every paragraph after it gives evidence for it. A good thesis is an argument, which means a sensible person could disagree with it.

Why start with one

AQA’s examiners are clear about this. Their report on Literature Paper 1 in June 2023 gives this advice to students: “Starting your answer with a thesis is the most effective way to begin. A thesis is a brief outline of your argument or point of view.” The same report found that students who began with a thesis “generally did very well”.

A thesis also keeps you on the question. The report describes students who drifted, for example writing about Lady Macbeth in an answer about Macbeth. It says careful planning and an opening statement that set out the focus of the answer might well have stopped that.

Frames to build a thesis

Our free Thesis Statement Builder gives a frame at each of three levels. Start with the one you can use, and move up when it starts to feel easy. In each frame, the writer means Shakespeare, Dickens, Priestley or the poet.

• Securing (aiming for a 4): The writer presents (character or theme) as … Make a clear claim that uses the words of the question.
• Strengthening (aiming for grades 5 to 6): The writer presents (character or theme) as … in order to … Add the writer’s purpose: what they wanted the audience or reader to think, feel or do.
• Soaring (aiming for grades 7 to 9): The writer presents (character or theme) as …, yet …; in doing so, they … Add a complication or a change across the text, so your argument has somewhere to go.

From a fact to a thesis

Here is one question worked up step by step. The question is: How does Dickens present Scrooge as an outsider in A Christmas Carol?

1. Scrooge is an outsider in A Christmas Carol. This is a fact, so nobody could disagree with it. It is not yet a thesis.
2. Dickens presents Scrooge as an outsider who shuts himself away from other people. This is a clear claim, though it gives no purpose.
3. Dickens presents Scrooge’s isolation as his own choice, in order to show readers that selfishness cuts people off from the warmth of other people. This is a strong thesis.
4. Dickens presents Scrooge as an outsider by choice, yet hints that he can still be reached; in doing so, he warns wealthy readers and persuades them that change is possible. This is the fullest version, with a complication as well as a purpose.

Examples for the set texts

Each example below answers a practice question, using one of the three frames.

• How does Shakespeare present guilt in Macbeth? For example: Shakespeare presents guilt as a stain that cannot be washed away, in order to warn his audience that murder punishes the murderer.
• How does Shakespeare present Lady Macbeth? For example: Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as the stronger partner at the start, yet her power collapses into guilt; in doing so, he shows that a murder cannot be controlled once it is done.
• How does Dickens present the importance of family in A Christmas Carol? For example: Dickens presents family as the love that Scrooge has shut out.
• How does Priestley present Sheila as a character who changes? For example: Priestley presents Sheila as thoughtless at first, yet she is the first to accept her guilt; in doing so, he shows his audience that the younger generation can learn.
• How does Shelley present power in ‘Ozymandias’? For example: Shelley presents human power as temporary, in order to show that even the proudest ruler is humbled by time.

Writing one in the exam

1. Underline the focus of the question: the character or theme, and any word that tells you what to do with it.
2. Ask what the writer wants the audience or reader to think about it. That is the purpose.
3. Think about the whole text. Does the character or the idea change, or is there a complication?
4. Write the thesis in one sentence, or two at most.
5. Plan three or four paragraphs, each one proving part of it.

The thesis should take you a minute or two. One mistake to avoid is a thesis that lists methods or characters, such as a sentence saying Dickens uses similes, settings and the supernatural. A list gives your essay nothing to prove. Another is a fact, like the first step above.

Before you start writing, check your thesis. It should answer the question that was asked and use its words. It should make an argument someone could disagree with, and name the writer’s purpose. Every paragraph you have planned should support it.

Then build each paragraph with How to write a What–How–Why paragraph. For the extract questions on Paper 1, see How to answer the extract question.

Sources

• AQA, Report on the examination: GCSE English Literature Paper 1, June 2023