Your thesis should provide a focus for your essay. That is, it should narrow the field of your discussion from a broad topic to a specific aspect of that topic.

Your thesis should be limited to what can be accomplished in the specified number of pages.

Your thesis should announce a specific aspect of your topic as well as suggest the specific argument/analysis which the essay will support and develop.

You should provide a thesis early in your essay in order to establish your position and give your reader a sense of direction.

Sample Theses

I will examine Beowulf.

This type of thesis provides no focus for the essay. It tells the reader what work you will discuss but neither limits your discussion to a specific aspect of the work nor does it suggest a line of reasoning/argumentation.

A better thesis would be:

While Beowulf appears to endorse a heroic code, it undercuts that code in Beowulf’s final battle.

This thesis limits the discussion of Beowulf to the heroic code. The reader will expect this paper to deal with 1) what is the heroic code in Beowulf ? 2) how does Beowulf’s behavior in the final battle undermine that endorsement?

Although Hamlet is gloomy, it is a very interesting play.

The big question here is: what is "interesting" about Hamlet? And, what does your particular interest in the play have to do with its "gloom"? What interests you may not interest someone else; therefore, it is better to reserve that judgment and move on to specifics.

A better thesis would be:

The perpetual curtailing of action and the claustrophobic imagery of Hamlet creates an atmosphere which convinces the audience that "Denmark is a prison."

3. The laundry list thesis--often generated by comparison /contrast essays

While Hamlet and The Duchess of Malfi are very different, they have many similarities.

This thesis does not deal with why you would bother comparing these two plays, and it will probably generate a list of similarities and differences without commenting on their significance to the larger themes in the play. Also, because this thesis does not limit the discussion in any way, the writer could end up spending a lot of time making obvious and superficial observations such as "Hamlet is a man and the Duchess is a woman."

A better thesis would be:

While Hamlet and The Duchess of Malfi share an incarceration motif, the gender of the protagonists expands or limits their options.

Beowulf expresses the universal human struggle for survival.

The difficulty here is coming up with textual evidence that Beowulf’s struggle is "universal" or even exclusively "human." It is better to avoid making huge assertions/generalizations which you cannot support.

A better thesis would be:

The similarities between Grendel’s nightly attacks on Heorot and Beowulf’s subterranean battle with Grendel’s mother undermine the distinction the epic makes between the human and the monster.

Hamlet creates a gloomy atmosphere, has suspenseful moments, and a tragic ending.

Besides the banal observations this statement makes, it implies no connection between the three aspects it announces. This thesis would probably generate superficial observations on many things, never going very deep into any of them. (Imagine a rock skipping along the surface of a lake.) It would be better to explore only one of these aspects thoroughly, or make the thesis, and hence the essay, reflect the relationship between atmosphere, suspense, and the final scene.

A better thesis would be:

In Hamlet, the constant curtailment of action draws attention to the play’s stagecraft by making each suspended moment a rehearsal for the final murders.