Knowledge hub › For teachers › Thesis statements
Teaching thesis statements
One sentence at the start that answers the question with an argument, which every paragraph then proves. What AQA’s reports say, frames at three levels of support, and examples from the set texts.
A thesis is the essay’s answer to the question, in one sentence (two at most), placed at the start and argued by every paragraph after it. It has to be something a reader could disagree with: a claim about what the writer shows, and why.
What the examiners have said
AQA’s examiners have praised the habit in two recent reports. The June 2023 report on Paper 1 found that “those students who started their response with a thesis generally did very well, because they had established a conceptual line of enquiry for their response”. In the June 2025 report on the same paper, it is listed among the areas where students excelled: “There has been a strong focus on students crafting their answer by writing thesis statement introductions across all levels and abilities.” Examiners found these openings “more focused and precise than in previous years, resulting in answers that are anchored far more securely to the question throughout the entirety of the response.”
That last phrase is the point. From Level 4 upwards, AQA’s mark scheme levels ask for a focused response to the whole task, and a thesis gives every paragraph something to prove.
Three openings that are not yet a thesis
Our planning lessons for each set text use a hinge question that asks which of three openings is the strongest thesis. The two wrong options in the Macbeth lesson show two common problems:
- A list of methods, for example: Shakespeare uses many methods to present Macbeth’s conscience, such as metaphor and soliloquy. It names tools and argues nothing.
- A retelling, for example: Macbeth has a conscience in Act 1 Scene 7, but Lady Macbeth persuades him to kill Duncan and later he feels guilty. It is accurate and has no claim in it.
A third problem is the echo: a sentence that repeats the question back. Our grade 4 model essay on Macbeth opens “In Macbeth, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a man destroyed by his ambition”, which hands the question straight back, and the notes on that essay say it needs a clearer thesis to move up.
The fix is nearly always the same. Add a because or a so, and the sentence has to say why. The teacher notes in our lessons move students from Securing to Strengthening as soon as their thesis includes a because.
Frames at three levels of support
The free Thesis Statement Builder gives one frame for each level. All three answer the same question; only the support changes.
- Securing: The writer presents [character or theme] as … This frame makes a clear claim in the words of the question.
- Strengthening: The writer presents [character or theme] as … in order to … This adds the writer’s purpose.
- Soaring: The writer presents [character or theme] as …, yet …; in doing so, they … This adds a complication or a change across the text, so the argument has somewhere to go.
How a thesis grows
The openings of our three model essays for the Macbeth end-of-unit question, at grades 4, 6 and 8 to 9, show the move from echo to argument:
- Grade 4: “In Macbeth, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a man destroyed by his ambition.”
- Grade 6: “Shakespeare presents Macbeth as a man who gains everything he wanted and is destroyed by it.”
- Grade 8 to 9: “Shakespeare presents Macbeth’s destruction as something that happens from the inside.”
The grade 6 opening adds a twist to the question’s idea. The grade 8 to 9 opening makes a claim the whole essay then has to prove, and the notes on it say the thesis shapes every paragraph.
The strongest options in our planning lessons for the other two texts work the same way:
- A Christmas Carol: Dickens presents Fred as the voice of the Christmas spirit, whose patient kindness shows readers that no one is beyond saving.
- An Inspector Calls: Priestley presents Mr Birling as a confident man who is wrong about everything that matters, so that his 1945 audience rejects his selfish way of thinking.
A routine that sticks
- Give the thesis two minutes inside the plan. The end-of-unit essays in our schemes for all three set texts do exactly that.
- Test it with two questions: could someone disagree with it, and does it say how and why?
- Make every paragraph prove part of it, and end by coming back to it.
- When students start a timed essay, read the thesis first as you go round the room. It tells you within seconds whether the essay has an argument.
- Practise theses without essays. Five questions, five theses, ten minutes: the Builder has a page of questions for this, and the student guide How to start an essay with a thesis statement explains it in their terms.