The thesis statement is a one-sentence statement that expresses the main idea of the essay. The thesis statement is an arguable statement that communicates the author’s stance on a topic to the reader.

Any compare and contrast essay compares two things, ideas, or people for the purpose of arriving at a conclusion. The thesis statement for this type of essay is the sentence in the introduction that relays to readers the results of the comparison and what to expect from the essay that follows.

Develop a thesis based on the relative weight of similarities and differences. Once you have listed similarities and differences, decide whether the similarities on the whole outweigh the differences or vice versa. Create a thesis statement that reflects their relative weights.

The thesis statement should reflect your purpose for comparing the two characters and incorporate the effects their similarities and differences will have on your essay. Refer to your list of similarities and differences in order to formulate the main claim you are making in the essay.

Topic sentences and thesis statements are sentences that writers use to focus their ideas and express the main point of their writing. A strong set of topic sentences will work together to support a thesis. A thesis statement (the main point of a whole essay) is usually found at the end of an introduction.

The topic is the general subject of a paragraph or essay. Topics are simple and are described with just a word or a phrase. The main idea is a complete sentence; it includes the topic and what the author wants to say about it. If the author states the main idea in his paragraph it is called a “topic sentence.”

While the main idea is usually in the first sentence, the next most common placement is in the last sentence of a paragraph. The author gives supporting information first and then makes the point in the last sentence. Here’s a paragraph we can use as an example.