Your Smart Shortcut to Submitting a Flawless APA Thesis Statement

As soon as you approach an essay or research paper in the APA referencing style, you may get stuck at the very beginning, when formulating the paper’s main idea and message. This part of an academic writing piece is called a thesis statement, which should condense your paper’s main idea and inform the readers about the content of the body.

So, how do you tell whether your thesis statement is APA or MLA by format? This question is pretty easy to answer because your paper’s referencing format determines this format. If you write in the APA format, you will have an author-date citation format, and if you use MLA, your citations will be in the author-page format. Needless to say, these conventions don’t affect the actual content of your thesis statement; it typically doesn’t contain in-text citations and reflects your stand and opinion on the subject.

Therefore, there is no specific APA thesis format, when we talk about this notion, we mean a dissertation-like project, not your essay’s main idea.

Is There a Thesis Statement in APA Format?

As with any other referencing formats, the thesis statement APA format is located at the end of the introductory section. This place doesn’t change depending on the citation approach, so you won’t confuse it anyway. The structure of your introduction is as follows:

• A broad overview of the topic’s context and background. This part sets the stage and enhances your readers’ understanding of the narrower theme you will discuss further.
• A problem that you have identified and plan to research in this paper. You should formulate it concisely and back it up with statistics and facts to show its significance.
• The roadmap to the body of the paper and your position on the analyzed issue.

Thus, as you can see, your APA thesis statement is the final part of the introductory section, whether it’s a single paragraph in a short essay or an extended section for several pages in a longer academic project.

Thesis Statement: APA Guidelines for the 7th Edition

Since we’re talking about the 7th edition of this referencing format, it makes sense to cover its main guidelines and requirements. Though they don’t relate directly to a thesis statement as a sentence at the end of your introductory part, they still matter for the overall formatting of your assignment. So, here are the main points you should adhere to at all stages of composing the essay:

• The format requires you to keep your paper double-spaced and use a half-inch indent at the beginning of each paragraph.
• In this format, the pages should be left-indented throughout the paper.
• You should set the margins at 1 inch on all sides of the sheet.
• The font in APA format should be 12pt, with the most intelligible fonts given a priority. These are Times New Roman, Arial, and Calibri.
• The 7th edition format specifically stresses the need to use bias-free language, which is vital for inclusivity and respect for diversity. Therefore, students should employ neutral and respectful language choices when talking about age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, SES, race, etc.
• The in-text citations follow an author-date format, with only the publication’s year indicated for indirect quotes and author-date-page requirements for direct quotes.
• The list of used references should be provided at the end of the writing piece, formatted with hanging indents and listed in the alphabetical order.

How to Write a Thesis Statement in APA Format? Tips and Tricks

Here are a couple of professional tips to make your thesis statement more impactful and correct:

• Choose a debatable subject to be able to generate several reasonable arguments in favor of your position. It is important to produce an idea that justifies a discussion, as it functions as your rationale for the whole paper.
• Select the topic that can be adequately managed within your assigned word count. A too broad subject can make your discussion superficial, and a too narrow subject will prevent you from offering several worthy arguments and proving them with sufficient evidence.
• Focus on one central idea to avoid confusing the readers. Your essay should be dedicated to a single subject; otherwise, you will have to do double work by trying to link those subjects into a single theme.
• Make your position on the subject clear and traceable.

If you are still unsure how to compose this part of your essay, try using this generic formula that matches any topic and subject:

1. Topic – the subject you are analyzing in the academic piece.
2. Claim – your opinion or stand in regard to that subject.
3.  Major points – the arguments you have chosen to argue your point and prove it by the end of the essay.

Here are a couple of examples:

1. This essay will argue that schools should drop the mandatory uniform requirement for the sake of protecting students against bullying and relieving the financial burden of uniform purchases from poor households.
2. The importance of financial aid for African countries has been reducing in the past few decades because it has proven ineffective in fostering local economic growth and functioned as a manipulation tool in most cases.
3. AI has transformed the concept of academic integrity because it has added another dimension of academic misconduct and has shattered the well-established beliefs about ethical research procedures.

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Now you know how to write a thesis statement in APA format and are abreast of all the best practices related to this part of the academic writing craft. However, knowing the ins and outs of the process is not a guarantee of success, right? You may lack time or inspiration to do the task correctly and diligently.

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