Pick a topic of your choice if it is not assigned by your instructor. Narrow your focus if possible. Search various references on your subject that include books, journals, encyclopedias, newspapers and websites. Keep detailed notes. Underline, mark or highlight the most significant information that supports your argument. Research is the foundation for a well-defined and explicit thesis statement.
Compose a thesis statement after analysis and review of your notes. Your thesis statement makes a claim about your subject and justifies it with reasons and evidence. Your claim statement must be one others can disagree with. Put your thesis statement on paper to help you visualize your proposal more clearly.
Convince your reader that your assertion is true by presenting reasons and evidence. Decide the order you give evidence and reasons for your thesis statement. For example, exterminators should not kill brown bats in downtown buildings because brown bats help eliminate rats, mice and insects in the city. Your audience reading this thesis statement anticipates your argument and evidence why exterminators should not kill brown bats in downtown buildings.
Identify in your thesis statement what your ideas concern, and what your ideas are (your angle). Be certain your thesis statement focuses on these two fundamental principles. For example, in the aforementioned thesis statement your ideas concern the extermination of brown bats in downtown buildings, and your angle is that brown bats aid in the elimination of city pests like rodents and insects.
Pinpoint individual insight about your thesis statement with your angle -- which consists of your own analysis, ideas, argument and interpretation of the subject.
Place your thesis statement for a persuasive essay at the end of the introductory paragraph. This allows your reader to clearly realize what to expect as they read your paper.