Read the assignment's prompt or directions carefully, and consider verbs as hints for the elements your paper needs to address directly. For example, the key verbs are "lay out," "comment on" and "provide" in this prompt: "Lay out the major pieces of the federal government's budget, comment on what the budget reveals about American culture and provide a suggestion for budgetary reform."
Guide your writing by thinking of each hint, verb and element of the assignment prompt or directions as its own assignment. In the example prompt, mini-assignment No. 1 is to lay out the major features of the budget. Mini-assignment No. 2 is to comment on what the budget reveals about American culture. Mini-assignment No. 3 is to provide advice for budgetary reform.
Draft a brief response to each mini-assignment. The responses may be factual or based in your opinion, depending on the prompt. Responses to the first mini-assignment example may be: discretionary spending, mandatory spending and national debt. The response to the second mini-assignment example could be: Huge debt illustrates our refusal to live within our means. A possible response to the third mini-assignment is: institute "pay-go" funding, like Social Security.
Turn your mini-answers into sentences. An example for the first mini-assignment scenario is: The federal budget is divided between discretionary and mandatory spending, but also includes the national debt. The second mini-assignment scenario example is: Our national debt illustrates Americans' inability to balance the budget or live within their means. An example for the third mini-assignment is: If we could institute a "pay-go" rule to guarantee that all new programs fund themselves, similar to the operation of Social Security, then we could address this problem.
Combine the answers, and edit them to take the tone of an overarching argument rather than just a string of sentences. The result is your thesis. An example thesis is: While the federal budget is largely characterized by the distinction between discretionary and mandatory spending, it also characterizes the difficulty Americans have with living within their means; instituting a "pay-go" rule for all government programs would both reduce the national debt and set a better financial example for American culture.
Double-check the assignment's prompt or directions to ensure your thesis addresses all of the required elements. If it does, then begin writing your paper. If it does not, repeat the procedure, and pay particular attention to the element you did not yet address.