Developing a Working Thesis

          The thesis statement in any research paper is the most important part of grabbing an audience’s attention and displaying what the author will be discussing for the length of his paper. It is imperative for an author to develop a well-thought and effective thesis statement in order to start off his paper powerfully. If done well, the thesis statement will tell the reader the main point of the essay, the author’s assertion, and why the essay is worth reading. One way to develop and effective thesis statement is through a working thesis statement. A working thesis statement takes the author’s main claim and then supports it through several specific reasons. This helps the author plainly lay out what he needs to cover in his paper and can help organizationally.
          In my essay about standardized testing in the United States, I could argue two different ways. I could either emphasize the effects of too much standardized testing in public schools or I could focus on the structure of the tests themselves and how they fail as accurate testing applications. The first working thesis that I could develop would look like this:

          Public schools in the United States should reduce the amount of standardized tests that are administered annually because they cause students to experience frequent, extreme pressure and anxiety; because school funding and grants could be based off of the test results; because ups and downs in test results that are attributed to natural learning curves will be nullified; because teachers will focus less on teaching valuable information in the classroom and focus more on teaching to the test, and because frequent standardized testing will eliminate the opportunity for creativity in school by teaching conformity and “standard” knowledge.

         
           Next, I could focus on the construction of standardized tests and state:

          Standardized tests fail to provide an accurate portrayal of student intelligence and competence because they contain vague questions with confusing language; because they focus largely on information that is gleaned outside of classroom learning; because they are biased against minority, low-income, and special needs children; because they do not reflect any real-world problem-solving situations, and because they fail to assess the broad spectrum of student traits, such as creativity, compassion, and perseverance.

          Both thesis statements will lead into very different papers and by laying out all of the support for my claim in a working thesis, I can decide which thesis I will be able to more effectively develop.