How to Write a TOEFL Essay Introduction

PAGE 3 OF 4

Writing the thesis statement

Now it is time to write our thesis statement. This is the last sentence of the first paragraph. It is also the most important sentence in the essay. The thesis statement does two things:

• It directly answers the essay question.
• It tells the reader what your opinion is.

For our introduction, here's what the thesis statement could look like:

No police officer should ever carry a gun.

In this example, we have a strong thesis statement. It is simple and direct: it answers the essay question and tells the reader exactly what our opinion is.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the thesis statement is the most important sentence in the essay. In fact, if the reader has difficulty understanding the essay, he will often return to the thesis statement to be reminded what the essay is about. A bad thesis statement results in a bad essay.

If this is something new to you, we strongly recommended that that you learn more about how to write a good thesis statement by visiting the tutorial on this website.