A thesis statement is a sentence that directly states the central idea of your written assignment. In essays, a thesis statement is usually included in the introduction. In longer pieces of writing, it may appear further along, but still near the beginning.

A successful thesis has the following characteristics:

• it is interesting to the readers
• it is specific
• it narrows down the scope of the topic to "make it manageable"

Find out more about thesis statements and see examples on the library's research & writing process guide.