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Thesis Statements

What this handout is about.

This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your draft.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence near the beginning of your paper (most often, at the end of the first paragraph) that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. (Check out our handout on understanding assignments for more information.)

How do I create a thesis?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the way.

Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on brainstorming .

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

If there’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following :

• Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question. If the prompt isn’t phrased as a question, try to rephrase it. For example, “Discuss the effect of X on Y” can be rephrased as “What is the effect of X on Y?”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is likely to  be “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
• Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Suppose you are taking a course on contemporary communication, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: “Discuss the impact of social media on public awareness.” Looking back at your notes, you might start with this working thesis:

Social media impacts public awareness in both positive and negative ways.

You can use the questions above to help you revise this general statement into a stronger thesis.

• Do I answer the question? You can analyze this if you rephrase “discuss the impact” as “what is the impact?” This way, you can see that you’ve answered the question only very generally with the vague “positive and negative ways.”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not likely. Only people who maintain that social media has a solely positive or solely negative impact could disagree.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? No. What are the positive effects? What are the negative effects?
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? No. Why are they positive? How are they positive? What are their causes? Why are they negative? How are they negative? What are their causes?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? No. Why should anyone care about the positive and/or negative impact of social media?

After thinking about your answers to these questions, you decide to focus on the one impact you feel strongly about and have strong evidence for:

Because not every voice on social media is reliable, people have become much more critical consumers of information, and thus, more informed voters.

This version is a much stronger thesis! It answers the question, takes a specific position that others can challenge, and it gives a sense of why it matters.

Let’s try another. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. “This will be easy,” you think. “I loved Huckleberry Finn!” You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

You begin to analyze your thesis:

• Do I answer the question? No. The prompt asks you to analyze some aspect of the novel. Your working thesis is a statement of general appreciation for the entire novel.

Think about aspects of the novel that are important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

• Do I answer the question? Yes!
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not really. This contrast is well-known and accepted.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? It’s getting there–you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. However, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? Not yet. Compare scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions and anything else that seems interesting.
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?”

After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. 2018. The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing , 8th ed. New York: Pearson.

Ruszkiewicz, John J., Christy Friend, Daniel Seward, and Maxine Hairston. 2010. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers , 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Writing a Paper: Thesis Statements

Basics of thesis statements.

The thesis statement is the brief articulation of your paper's central argument and purpose. You might hear it referred to as simply a "thesis." Every scholarly paper should have a thesis statement, and strong thesis statements are concise, specific, and arguable. Concise means the thesis is short: perhaps one or two sentences for a shorter paper. Specific means the thesis deals with a narrow and focused topic, appropriate to the paper's length. Arguable means that a scholar in your field could disagree (or perhaps already has!).

Strong thesis statements address specific intellectual questions, have clear positions, and use a structure that reflects the overall structure of the paper. Read on to learn more about constructing a strong thesis statement.

Being Specific

This thesis statement has no specific argument:

Needs Improvement: In this essay, I will examine two scholarly articles to find similarities and differences.

This statement is concise, but it is neither specific nor arguable—a reader might wonder, "Which scholarly articles? What is the topic of this paper? What field is the author writing in?" Additionally, the purpose of the paper—to "examine…to find similarities and differences" is not of a scholarly level. Identifying similarities and differences is a good first step, but strong academic argument goes further, analyzing what those similarities and differences might mean or imply.

Better: In this essay, I will argue that Bowler's (2003) autocratic management style, when coupled with Smith's (2007) theory of social cognition, can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover.

The new revision here is still concise, as well as specific and arguable.  We can see that it is specific because the writer is mentioning (a) concrete ideas and (b) exact authors.  We can also gather the field (business) and the topic (management and employee turnover). The statement is arguable because the student goes beyond merely comparing; he or she draws conclusions from that comparison ("can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover").

Making a Unique Argument

This thesis draft repeats the language of the writing prompt without making a unique argument:

Needs Improvement: The purpose of this essay is to monitor, assess, and evaluate an educational program for its strengths and weaknesses. Then, I will provide suggestions for improvement.

You can see here that the student has simply stated the paper's assignment, without articulating specifically how he or she will address it. The student can correct this error simply by phrasing the thesis statement as a specific answer to the assignment prompt.

Better: Through a series of student interviews, I found that Kennedy High School's antibullying program was ineffective. In order to address issues of conflict between students, I argue that Kennedy High School should embrace policies outlined by the California Department of Education (2010).

Words like "ineffective" and "argue" show here that the student has clearly thought through the assignment and analyzed the material; he or she is putting forth a specific and debatable position. The concrete information ("student interviews," "antibullying") further prepares the reader for the body of the paper and demonstrates how the student has addressed the assignment prompt without just restating that language.

Creating a Debate

This thesis statement includes only obvious fact or plot summary instead of argument:

Needs Improvement: Leadership is an important quality in nurse educators.

A good strategy to determine if your thesis statement is too broad (and therefore, not arguable) is to ask yourself, "Would a scholar in my field disagree with this point?" Here, we can see easily that no scholar is likely to argue that leadership is an unimportant quality in nurse educators.  The student needs to come up with a more arguable claim, and probably a narrower one; remember that a short paper needs a more focused topic than a dissertation.

Better: Roderick's (2009) theory of participatory leadership  is particularly appropriate to nurse educators working within the emergency medicine field, where students benefit most from collegial and kinesthetic learning.

Here, the student has identified a particular type of leadership ("participatory leadership"), narrowing the topic, and has made an arguable claim (this type of leadership is "appropriate" to a specific type of nurse educator). Conceivably, a scholar in the nursing field might disagree with this approach. The student's paper can now proceed, providing specific pieces of evidence to support the arguable central claim.

Choosing the Right Words

This thesis statement uses large or scholarly-sounding words that have no real substance:

Needs Improvement: Scholars should work to seize metacognitive outcomes by harnessing discipline-based networks to empower collaborative infrastructures.

There are many words in this sentence that may be buzzwords in the student's field or key terms taken from other texts, but together they do not communicate a clear, specific meaning. Sometimes students think scholarly writing means constructing complex sentences using special language, but actually it's usually a stronger choice to write clear, simple sentences. When in doubt, remember that your ideas should be complex, not your sentence structure.

Better: Ecologists should work to educate the U.S. public on conservation methods by making use of local and national green organizations to create a widespread communication plan.

Notice in the revision that the field is now clear (ecology), and the language has been made much more field-specific ("conservation methods," "green organizations"), so the reader is able to see concretely the ideas the student is communicating.

Leaving Room for Discussion

This thesis statement is not capable of development or advancement in the paper:

Needs Improvement: There are always alternatives to illegal drug use.

This sample thesis statement makes a claim, but it is not a claim that will sustain extended discussion. This claim is the type of claim that might be appropriate for the conclusion of a paper, but in the beginning of the paper, the student is left with nowhere to go. What further points can be made? If there are "always alternatives" to the problem the student is identifying, then why bother developing a paper around that claim? Ideally, a thesis statement should be complex enough to explore over the length of the entire paper.

Better: The most effective treatment plan for methamphetamine addiction may be a combination of pharmacological and cognitive therapy, as argued by Baker (2008), Smith (2009), and Xavier (2011).

In the revised thesis, you can see the student make a specific, debatable claim that has the potential to generate several pages' worth of discussion. When drafting a thesis statement, think about the questions your thesis statement will generate: What follow-up inquiries might a reader have? In the first example, there are almost no additional questions implied, but the revised example allows for a good deal more exploration.

Thesis Mad Libs

If you are having trouble getting started, try using the models below to generate a rough model of a thesis statement! These models are intended for drafting purposes only and should not appear in your final work.

• In this essay, I argue ____, using ______ to assert _____.
• While scholars have often argued ______, I argue______, because_______.
• Through an analysis of ______, I argue ______, which is important because_______.

Words to Avoid and to Embrace

When drafting your thesis statement, avoid words like explore, investigate, learn, compile, summarize , and explain to describe the main purpose of your paper. These words imply a paper that summarizes or "reports," rather than synthesizing and analyzing.

Instead of the terms above, try words like argue, critique, question , and interrogate . These more analytical words may help you begin strongly, by articulating a specific, critical, scholarly position.

Read Kayla's blog post for tips on taking a stand in a well-crafted thesis statement.

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How to write a thesis statement + examples

What is a thesis statement?

Is a thesis statement a question, how do you write a good thesis statement, how do i know if my thesis statement is good, examples of thesis statements, helpful resources on how to write a thesis statement, frequently asked questions about writing a thesis statement, related articles.

A thesis statement is the main argument of your paper or thesis.

The thesis statement is one of the most important elements of any piece of academic writing . It is a brief statement of your paper’s main argument. Essentially, you are stating what you will be writing about.

You can see your thesis statement as an answer to a question. While it also contains the question, it should really give an answer to the question with new information and not just restate or reiterate it.

Your thesis statement is part of your introduction. Learn more about how to write a good thesis introduction in our introduction guide .

A thesis statement is not a question. A statement must be arguable and provable through evidence and analysis. While your thesis might stem from a research question, it should be in the form of a statement.

Tip: A thesis statement is typically 1-2 sentences. For a longer project like a thesis, the statement may be several sentences or a paragraph.

A good thesis statement needs to do the following:

• Condense the main idea of your thesis into one or two sentences.
• Answer your project’s main research question.
• Clearly state your position in relation to the topic .
• Make an argument that requires support or evidence.

Once you have written down a thesis statement, check if it fulfills the following criteria:

• Your statement needs to be provable by evidence. As an argument, a thesis statement needs to be debatable.
• Your statement needs to be precise. Do not give away too much information in the thesis statement and do not load it with unnecessary information.
• Your statement cannot say that one solution is simply right or simply wrong as a matter of fact. You should draw upon verified facts to persuade the reader of your solution, but you cannot just declare something as right or wrong.

As previously mentioned, your thesis statement should answer a question.

If the question is:

What do you think the City of New York should do to reduce traffic congestion?

A good thesis statement restates the question and answers it:

In this paper, I will argue that the City of New York should focus on providing exclusive lanes for public transport and adaptive traffic signals to reduce traffic congestion by the year 2035.

Here is another example. If the question is:

How can we end poverty?

A good thesis statement should give more than one solution to the problem in question:

In this paper, I will argue that introducing universal basic income can help reduce poverty and positively impact the way we work.

• The Writing Center of the University of North Carolina has a list of questions to ask to see if your thesis is strong .

A thesis statement is part of the introduction of your paper. It is usually found in the first or second paragraph to let the reader know your research purpose from the beginning.

In general, a thesis statement should have one or two sentences. But the length really depends on the overall length of your project. Take a look at our guide about the length of thesis statements for more insight on this topic.

Here is a list of Thesis Statement Examples that will help you understand better how to write them.

Every good essay should include a thesis statement as part of its introduction, no matter the academic level. Of course, if you are a high school student you are not expected to have the same type of thesis as a PhD student.

Here is a great YouTube tutorial showing How To Write An Essay: Thesis Statements .

Developing a Thesis Statement

Many papers you write require developing a thesis statement. In this section you’ll learn what a thesis statement is and how to write one.

Keep in mind that not all papers require thesis statements . If in doubt, please consult your instructor for assistance.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement . . .

• Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic.
• Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper.
• Is focused and specific enough to be “proven” within the boundaries of your paper.
• Is generally located near the end of the introduction ; sometimes, in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or in an entire paragraph.
• Identifies the relationships between the pieces of evidence that you are using to support your argument.

Not all papers require thesis statements! Ask your instructor if you’re in doubt whether you need one.

Identify a topic

Your topic is the subject about which you will write. Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic; or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper.

Consider what your assignment asks you to do

Inform yourself about your topic, focus on one aspect of your topic, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts, generate a topic from an assignment.

Below are some possible topics based on sample assignments.

Sample assignment 1

Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II.

Identified topic

Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis

This topic avoids generalities such as “Spain” and “World War II,” addressing instead on Franco’s role (a specific aspect of “Spain”) and the diplomatic relations between the Allies and Axis (a specific aspect of World War II).

Sample assignment 2

Analyze one of Homer’s epic similes in the Iliad.

The relationship between the portrayal of warfare and the epic simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64.

This topic focuses on a single simile and relates it to a single aspect of the Iliad ( warfare being a major theme in that work).

Developing a Thesis Statement–Additional information

Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic, or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper. You’ll want to read your assignment carefully, looking for key terms that you can use to focus your topic.

Sample assignment: Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II Key terms: analyze, Spain’s neutrality, World War II

After you’ve identified the key words in your topic, the next step is to read about them in several sources, or generate as much information as possible through an analysis of your topic. Obviously, the more material or knowledge you have, the more possibilities will be available for a strong argument. For the sample assignment above, you’ll want to look at books and articles on World War II in general, and Spain’s neutrality in particular.

As you consider your options, you must decide to focus on one aspect of your topic. This means that you cannot include everything you’ve learned about your topic, nor should you go off in several directions. If you end up covering too many different aspects of a topic, your paper will sprawl and be unconvincing in its argument, and it most likely will not fulfull the assignment requirements.

For the sample assignment above, both Spain’s neutrality and World War II are topics far too broad to explore in a paper. You may instead decide to focus on Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis , which narrows down what aspects of Spain’s neutrality and World War II you want to discuss, as well as establishes a specific link between those two aspects.

Before you go too far, however, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts. Try to avoid topics that already have too much written about them (i.e., “eating disorders and body image among adolescent women”) or that simply are not important (i.e. “why I like ice cream”). These topics may lead to a thesis that is either dry fact or a weird claim that cannot be supported. A good thesis falls somewhere between the two extremes. To arrive at this point, ask yourself what is new, interesting, contestable, or controversial about your topic.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times . Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Derive a main point from topic

Once you have a topic, you will have to decide what the main point of your paper will be. This point, the “controlling idea,” becomes the core of your argument (thesis statement) and it is the unifying idea to which you will relate all your sub-theses. You can then turn this “controlling idea” into a purpose statement about what you intend to do in your paper.

Look for patterns in your evidence

Compose a purpose statement.

Consult the examples below for suggestions on how to look for patterns in your evidence and construct a purpose statement.

• Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis
• Franco turned to the Allies when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from the Axis

Possible conclusion:

Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: Franco’s desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power.

Purpose statement

This paper will analyze Franco’s diplomacy during World War II to see how it contributed to Spain’s neutrality.

• The simile compares Simoisius to a tree, which is a peaceful, natural image.
• The tree in the simile is chopped down to make wheels for a chariot, which is an object used in warfare.

At first, the simile seems to take the reader away from the world of warfare, but we end up back in that world by the end.

This paper will analyze the way the simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64 moves in and out of the world of warfare.

Derive purpose statement from topic

To find out what your “controlling idea” is, you have to examine and evaluate your evidence . As you consider your evidence, you may notice patterns emerging, data repeated in more than one source, or facts that favor one view more than another. These patterns or data may then lead you to some conclusions about your topic and suggest that you can successfully argue for one idea better than another.

For instance, you might find out that Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis, but when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from them, he turned to the Allies. As you read more about Franco’s decisions, you may conclude that Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: his desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power. Based on this conclusion, you can then write a trial thesis statement to help you decide what material belongs in your paper.

Sometimes you won’t be able to find a focus or identify your “spin” or specific argument immediately. Like some writers, you might begin with a purpose statement just to get yourself going. A purpose statement is one or more sentences that announce your topic and indicate the structure of the paper but do not state the conclusions you have drawn . Thus, you might begin with something like this:

• This paper will look at modern language to see if it reflects male dominance or female oppression.
• I plan to analyze anger and derision in offensive language to see if they represent a challenge of society’s authority.

At some point, you can turn a purpose statement into a thesis statement. As you think and write about your topic, you can restrict, clarify, and refine your argument, crafting your thesis statement to reflect your thinking.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Compose a draft thesis statement

If you are writing a paper that will have an argumentative thesis and are having trouble getting started, the techniques in the table below may help you develop a temporary or “working” thesis statement.

Begin with a purpose statement that you will later turn into a thesis statement.

Assignment: Discuss the history of the Reform Party and explain its influence on the 1990 presidential and Congressional election.

Purpose Statement: This paper briefly sketches the history of the grassroots, conservative, Perot-led Reform Party and analyzes how it influenced the economic and social ideologies of the two mainstream parties.

Question-to-Assertion

If your assignment asks a specific question(s), turn the question(s) into an assertion and give reasons why it is true or reasons for your opinion.

Assignment : What do Aylmer and Rappaccini have to be proud of? Why aren’t they satisfied with these things? How does pride, as demonstrated in “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” lead to unexpected problems?

Beginning thesis statement: Alymer and Rappaccinni are proud of their great knowledge; however, they are also very greedy and are driven to use their knowledge to alter some aspect of nature as a test of their ability. Evil results when they try to “play God.”

Write a sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay you plan to write.

Main idea: The reason some toys succeed in the market is that they appeal to the consumers’ sense of the ridiculous and their basic desire to laugh at themselves.

Make a list of the ideas that you want to include; consider the ideas and try to group them.

• nature = peaceful
• war matériel = violent (competes with 1?)
• need for time and space to mourn the dead
• war is inescapable (competes with 3?)

Use a formula to arrive at a working thesis statement (you will revise this later).

• although most readers of _______ have argued that _______, closer examination shows that _______.
• _______ uses _______ and _____ to prove that ________.
• phenomenon x is a result of the combination of __________, __________, and _________.

What to keep in mind as you draft an initial thesis statement

Beginning statements obtained through the methods illustrated above can serve as a framework for planning or drafting your paper, but remember they’re not yet the specific, argumentative thesis you want for the final version of your paper. In fact, in its first stages, a thesis statement usually is ill-formed or rough and serves only as a planning tool.

As you write, you may discover evidence that does not fit your temporary or “working” thesis. Or you may reach deeper insights about your topic as you do more research, and you will find that your thesis statement has to be more complicated to match the evidence that you want to use.

You must be willing to reject or omit some evidence in order to keep your paper cohesive and your reader focused. Or you may have to revise your thesis to match the evidence and insights that you want to discuss. Read your draft carefully, noting the conclusions you have drawn and the major ideas which support or prove those conclusions. These will be the elements of your final thesis statement.

Sometimes you will not be able to identify these elements in your early drafts, but as you consider how your argument is developing and how your evidence supports your main idea, ask yourself, “ What is the main point that I want to prove/discuss? ” and “ How will I convince the reader that this is true? ” When you can answer these questions, then you can begin to refine the thesis statement.

Refine and polish the thesis statement

To get to your final thesis, you’ll need to refine your draft thesis so that it’s specific and arguable.

• Ask if your draft thesis addresses the assignment
• Question each part of your draft thesis
• Clarify vague phrases and assertions
• Investigate alternatives to your draft thesis

Consult the example below for suggestions on how to refine your draft thesis statement.

Sample Assignment

Choose an activity and define it as a symbol of American culture. Your essay should cause the reader to think critically about the society which produces and enjoys that activity.

• Ask The phenomenon of drive-in facilities is an interesting symbol of american culture, and these facilities demonstrate significant characteristics of our society.This statement does not fulfill the assignment because it does not require the reader to think critically about society.

Drive-ins are an interesting symbol of American culture because they represent Americans’ significant creativity and business ingenuity.

Among the types of drive-in facilities familiar during the twentieth century, drive-in movie theaters best represent American creativity, not merely because they were the forerunner of later drive-ins and drive-throughs, but because of their impact on our culture: they changed our relationship to the automobile, changed the way people experienced movies, and changed movie-going into a family activity.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast-food establishments, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize America’s economic ingenuity, they also have affected our personal standards.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast- food restaurants, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize (1) Americans’ business ingenuity, they also have contributed (2) to an increasing homogenization of our culture, (3) a willingness to depersonalize relationships with others, and (4) a tendency to sacrifice quality for convenience.

This statement is now specific and fulfills all parts of the assignment. This version, like any good thesis, is not self-evident; its points, 1-4, will have to be proven with evidence in the body of the paper. The numbers in this statement indicate the order in which the points will be presented. Depending on the length of the paper, there could be one paragraph for each numbered item or there could be blocks of paragraph for even pages for each one.

Complete the final thesis statement

The bottom line.

As you move through the process of crafting a thesis, you’ll need to remember four things:

• Context matters! Think about your course materials and lectures. Try to relate your thesis to the ideas your instructor is discussing.
• As you go through the process described in this section, always keep your assignment in mind . You will be more successful when your thesis (and paper) responds to the assignment than if it argues a semi-related idea.
• Your thesis statement should be precise, focused, and contestable ; it should predict the sub-theses or blocks of information that you will use to prove your argument.
• Make sure that you keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Change your thesis as your paper evolves, because you do not want your thesis to promise more than your paper actually delivers.

In the beginning, the thesis statement was a tool to help you sharpen your focus, limit material and establish the paper’s purpose. When your paper is finished, however, the thesis statement becomes a tool for your reader. It tells the reader what you have learned about your topic and what evidence led you to your conclusion. It keeps the reader on track–well able to understand and appreciate your argument.

Writing Process and Structure

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Generating Ideas for

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Thesis vs. Purpose Statements

Architecture of Arguments

Working with Sources

Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources

Using Literary Quotations

Citing Sources in Your Paper

Drafting Your Paper

Generating Ideas for Your Paper

Introductions

Paragraphing

Developing Strategic Transitions

Conclusions

Revising Your Paper

Peer Reviews

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How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement: 4 Steps + Examples

What’s Covered:

What is the purpose of a thesis statement, writing a good thesis statement: 4 steps, common pitfalls to avoid, where to get your essay edited for free.

When you set out to write an essay, there has to be some kind of point to it, right? Otherwise, your essay would just be a big jumble of word salad that makes absolutely no sense. An essay needs a central point that ties into everything else. That main point is called a thesis statement, and it’s the core of any essay or research paper.

You may hear about Master degree candidates writing a thesis, and that is an entire paper–not to be confused with the thesis statement, which is typically one sentence that contains your paper’s focus. 

Read on to learn more about thesis statements and how to write them. We’ve also included some solid examples for you to reference.

Typically the last sentence of your introductory paragraph, the thesis statement serves as the roadmap for your essay. When your reader gets to the thesis statement, they should have a clear outline of your main point, as well as the information you’ll be presenting in order to either prove or support your point. 

The thesis statement should not be confused for a topic sentence , which is the first sentence of every paragraph in your essay. If you need help writing topic sentences, numerous resources are available. Topic sentences should go along with your thesis statement, though.

Since the thesis statement is the most important sentence of your entire essay or paper, it’s imperative that you get this part right. Otherwise, your paper will not have a good flow and will seem disjointed. That’s why it’s vital not to rush through developing one. It’s a methodical process with steps that you need to follow in order to create the best thesis statement possible.

Step 1: Decide what kind of paper you’re writing

When you’re assigned an essay, there are several different types you may get. Argumentative essays are designed to get the reader to agree with you on a topic. Informative or expository essays present information to the reader. Analytical essays offer up a point and then expand on it by analyzing relevant information. Thesis statements can look and sound different based on the type of paper you’re writing. For example:

• Argumentative: The United States needs a viable third political party to decrease bipartisanship, increase options, and help reduce corruption in government.
• Informative: The Libertarian party has thrown off elections before by gaining enough support in states to get on the ballot and by taking away crucial votes from candidates.
• Analytical: An analysis of past presidential elections shows that while third party votes may have been the minority, they did affect the outcome of the elections in 2020, 2016, and beyond.

Step 2: Figure out what point you want to make

Once you know what type of paper you’re writing, you then need to figure out the point you want to make with your thesis statement, and subsequently, your paper. In other words, you need to decide to answer a question about something, such as:

• What impact did reality TV have on American society?
• How has the musical Hamilton affected perception of American history?
• Why do I want to major in [chosen major here]?

If you have an argumentative essay, then you will be writing about an opinion. To make it easier, you may want to choose an opinion that you feel passionate about so that you’re writing about something that interests you. For example, if you have an interest in preserving the environment, you may want to choose a topic that relates to that. 

If you’re writing your college essay and they ask why you want to attend that school, you may want to have a main point and back it up with information, something along the lines of:

“Attending Harvard University would benefit me both academically and professionally, as it would give me a strong knowledge base upon which to build my career, develop my network, and hopefully give me an advantage in my chosen field.”

Step 3: Determine what information you’ll use to back up your point

Once you have the point you want to make, you need to figure out how you plan to back it up throughout the rest of your essay. Without this information, it will be hard to either prove or argue the main point of your thesis statement. If you decide to write about the Hamilton example, you may decide to address any falsehoods that the writer put into the musical, such as:

“The musical Hamilton, while accurate in many ways, leaves out key parts of American history, presents a nationalist view of founding fathers, and downplays the racism of the times.”

Once you’ve written your initial working thesis statement, you’ll then need to get information to back that up. For example, the musical completely leaves out Benjamin Franklin, portrays the founding fathers in a nationalist way that is too complimentary, and shows Hamilton as a staunch abolitionist despite the fact that his family likely did own slaves. 

Step 4: Revise and refine your thesis statement before you start writing

Read through your thesis statement several times before you begin to compose your full essay. You need to make sure the statement is ironclad, since it is the foundation of the entire paper. Edit it or have a peer review it for you to make sure everything makes sense and that you feel like you can truly write a paper on the topic. Once you’ve done that, you can then begin writing your paper.

When writing a thesis statement, there are some common pitfalls you should avoid so that your paper can be as solid as possible. Make sure you always edit the thesis statement before you do anything else. You also want to ensure that the thesis statement is clear and concise. Don’t make your reader hunt for your point. Finally, put your thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph and have your introduction flow toward that statement. Your reader will expect to find your statement in its traditional spot.

If you’re having trouble getting started, or need some guidance on your essay, there are tools available that can help you. CollegeVine offers a free peer essay review tool where one of your peers can read through your essay and provide you with valuable feedback. Getting essay feedback from a peer can help you wow your instructor or college admissions officer with an impactful essay that effectively illustrates your point.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources.  Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction.  A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments.  Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question.  Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list.  "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.  An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.  "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.  Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University

Home / Guides / Writing Guides / Parts of a Paper / How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement

How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement

A thesis can be found in many places—a debate speech, a lawyer’s closing argument, even an advertisement. But the most common place for a thesis statement (and probably why you’re reading this article) is in an essay.

Whether you’re writing an argumentative paper, an informative essay, or a compare/contrast statement, you need a thesis. Without a thesis, your argument falls flat and your information is unfocused. Since a thesis is so important, it’s probably a good idea to look at some tips on how to put together a strong one.

Guide Overview

What is a “thesis statement” anyway.

• 2 categories of thesis statements: informative and persuasive
• 2 styles of thesis statements
• Formula for a strong argumentative thesis
• The qualities of a solid thesis statement (video)

You may have heard of something called a “thesis.” It’s what seniors commonly refer to as their final paper before graduation. That’s not what we’re talking about here. That type of thesis is a long, well-written paper that takes years to piece together.

Instead, we’re talking about a single sentence that ties together the main idea of any argument . In the context of student essays, it’s a statement that summarizes your topic and declares your position on it. This sentence can tell a reader whether your essay is something they want to read.

2 Categories of Thesis Statements: Informative and Persuasive

Just as there are different types of essays, there are different types of thesis statements. The thesis should match the essay.

For example, with an informative essay, you should compose an informative thesis (rather than argumentative). You want to declare your intentions in this essay and guide the reader to the conclusion that you reach.

To make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you must procure the ingredients, find a knife, and spread the condiments.

This thesis showed the reader the topic (a type of sandwich) and the direction the essay will take (describing how the sandwich is made).

Most other types of essays, whether compare/contrast, argumentative, or narrative, have thesis statements that take a position and argue it. In other words, unless your purpose is simply to inform, your thesis is considered persuasive. A persuasive thesis usually contains an opinion and the reason why your opinion is true.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the best type of sandwich because they are versatile, easy to make, and taste good.

In this persuasive thesis statement, you see that I state my opinion (the best type of sandwich), which means I have chosen a stance. Next, I explain that my opinion is correct with several key reasons. This persuasive type of thesis can be used in any essay that contains the writer’s opinion, including, as I mentioned above, compare/contrast essays, narrative essays, and so on.

2 Styles of Thesis Statements

Just as there are two different types of thesis statements (informative and persuasive), there are two basic styles you can use.

The first style uses a list of two or more points . This style of thesis is perfect for a brief essay that contains only two or three body paragraphs. This basic five-paragraph essay is typical of middle and high school assignments.

C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series is one of the richest works of the 20th century because it offers an escape from reality, teaches readers to have faith even when they don’t understand, and contains a host of vibrant characters.

In the above persuasive thesis, you can see my opinion about Narnia followed by three clear reasons. This thesis is perfect for setting up a tidy five-paragraph essay.

In college, five paragraph essays become few and far between as essay length gets longer. Can you imagine having only five paragraphs in a six-page paper? For a longer essay, you need a thesis statement that is more versatile. Instead of listing two or three distinct points, a thesis can list one overarching point that all body paragraphs tie into.

Good vs. evil is the main theme of Lewis’s Narnia series, as is made clear through the struggles the main characters face in each book.

In this thesis, I have made a claim about the theme in Narnia followed by my reasoning. The broader scope of this thesis allows me to write about each of the series’ seven novels. I am no longer limited in how many body paragraphs I can logically use.

Formula for a Strong Argumentative Thesis

One thing I find that is helpful for students is having a clear template. While students rarely end up with a thesis that follows this exact wording, the following template creates a good starting point:

___________ is true because of ___________, ___________, and ___________.

Conversely, the formula for a thesis with only one point might follow this template:

___________________ is true because of _____________________.

Students usually end up using different terminology than simply “because,” but having a template is always helpful to get the creative juices flowing.

The Qualities of a Solid Thesis Statement

When composing a thesis, you must consider not only the format, but other qualities like length, position in the essay, and how strong the argument is.

Length: A thesis statement can be short or long, depending on how many points it mentions. Typically, however, it is only one concise sentence. It does contain at least two clauses, usually an independent clause (the opinion) and a dependent clause (the reasons). You probably should aim for a single sentence that is at least two lines, or about 30 to 40 words long.

Position: A thesis statement always belongs at the beginning of an essay. This is because it is a sentence that tells the reader what the writer is going to discuss. Teachers will have different preferences for the precise location of the thesis, but a good rule of thumb is in the introduction paragraph, within the last two or three sentences.

Strength: Finally, for a persuasive thesis to be strong, it needs to be arguable. This means that the statement is not obvious, and it is not something that everyone agrees is true.

Example of weak thesis:

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are easy to make because it just takes three ingredients.

Most people would agree that PB&J is one of the easiest sandwiches in the American lunch repertoire.

Example of a stronger thesis:

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are fun to eat because they always slide around.

This is more arguable because there are plenty of folks who might think a PB&J is messy or slimy rather than fun.

Composing a thesis statement does take a bit more thought than many other parts of an essay. However, because a thesis statement can contain an entire argument in just a few words, it is worth taking the extra time to compose this sentence. It can direct your research and your argument so that your essay is tight, focused, and makes readers think.

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What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement is an essential component of ALL academic and research writing.

A thesis statement:

• occurs early in a piece of written work (introduction)
• tells the reader what the purpose and scope of the work will be
• provides more than a mere description of the topic
• puts a ‘wager’ (i.e. a bet) on the topic by telling us what the significance of the research will be
• defines what will be investigated and what they think will be found (note, it’s OK if the hypothesis is disproven once the data is in)

Descriptive thesis statements

Beware thesis statements that are too descriptive because they “do not investigate anything, critique anything, or analyze anything […] they also do not invite support and argument from outside of the central text” ( UW Expository Writing Program, 2007, p. 2). The problem with thesis statements that are merely descriptive is that they lack a ‘stance’ or an argument. They are therefore difficult to support with evidence and to build an argument for.

The examples below would not make good thesis statements because they are too descriptive.

a) Shakespeare was a famous playwright during the Elizabethan era. He wrote numerous plays and poems.

b) Almost one in two marriages in Australia end in divorce. That means the divorce rate is almost 50%.

c) Covid-19 was a virus that caused an epidemic in the early 2020’s.

Check your understanding

Where is the thesis statement in the passage below?

My intention was to investigate and portray Antarctica through my own and others’ personal experiences, through historical examples of jewellery and souvenirs and through experimentation in the studio-based manufacture of new jewellery and souvenirs [e] . The objects produced through this research would reference the valued jewellery and souvenirs now displayed in museums as historical artefacts which were once personal mementos [f] . I was particularly interested in the potential of these objects to represent personal narratives and experiences of the past [g] . In this research project I have explored some of the ways in which I can make objects, specifically jewellery and souvenirs that draw on this rich heritage to present Antarctica in an innovative way [h] .

Excerpt from Kirsten Haydon’s dissertation Antarctic landscapes in the souvenir and jewellery (used with permission)

Research and Writing Skills for Academic and Graduate Researchers Copyright © 2022 by RMIT University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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7.5: Where to Put a Thesis

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• Skyline College

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HOW DO I KNOW WHERE TO PUT A THESIS?

Research shows that you comprehend better when the thesis is directly stated, particularly when it is stated at the beginning of an essay. Such an initial thesis statement offers a signpost briefing you on what to expect and overviews the author’s message. Unfortunately, writers do not always follow this pattern. In a research study using psychology texts, the main idea was clearly stated in only 58 percent of the sampled paragraphs. Thus, you should be skilled in identifying stated and implied thesis statements.

For Implied Thesis Statements:

Practice: Locating Thesis Statements

Don’t meddle with old unloaded firearms, they are the most deadly and unerring things ever created. You don’t have to take any pains with them at all; you don’t have to have a rest, you don’t have to have any sights on the gun, you don’t have to take aim even. No, you just pick out a relative and bang away, and you are sure to get him. A youth who can’t hit a cathedral at thirty yards with a Gatling gun in three-quarters of an hour, can take up an old empty musket and bag his grandmother every time at a hundred. ---Mark Twain, “Advice to Youth”

In The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America , Pati Poblete gives her account as a young girl growing up in America being raised by her culturally foreign grandparents, and the results reverberate with her well into her adult years. Her parents, on the other hand, play a deafeningly silent role throughout the upbringing of Pati. The failure of Pati’s parents to provide her with guidance, attention and to control her exposure to popular media at a young age prevented her from having a healthy relationship with her grandparents and a healthy identity. Ron Taffel, a child-rearing expert, advised: “Even as kids reach adolescence, they need more than ever for us to watch over them. Adolescence is not about letting go. It's about hanging on during a very bumpy ride.” Pati unfortunately didn’t have this support so seemed to hit every bump. ---Student paper on Pati Poblete’s The Oracles:My Filipino Grandparents in America

In the 1940s, George Orwell warned “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past” (Orwell 30). In the 1990s a band called Rage Against the Machine, the name itself referring to a people’s movement to fight against control (corporation, government or otherwise) used this mantra in their song “Testify,” a warning to not silently endure oppression. This warning is not only relevant to the 20 th century, but has been applicable since human beings started forming structures of power to control and oppress one another. This can vividly be seen during the times of slavery in the United States when blacks were enslaved for two and a half centuries. In Frederick Douglass’s novel Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass reveals how this long and brutal control of human beings was partly accomplished through control over literacy. The control and limitations over reading and writing during slavery sought to make slaves like Douglass ignorant, powerless, and therefore more easily controlled, and this control over literacy and education is still happening in the world today. --Sample essay on Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave A TV set stood close to a wall in the small living room crowded with an assortment of chairs and tables. An aquarium crowded the mantelpiece of a fake fireplace. A lighted bulb inside the tank showed many colored fish swimming about in a haze of fish food. Some of it lay scattered on the edge of the shelf. The carpet underneath was a sodden black. Old magazines and tabloids lay just about everywhere. ---Bienvenidos Santos, “Immigration Blues”

Mark Twain, “Advice to Youth”

Student paper on Pati Poblete’s The Oracles:My Filipino Grandparents in America

Sample essay on Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave

Bienvenidos Santos, “Immigration Blues”

Graduate College

Science of language.

Ashby Martin, a third-year doctoral student in the neuroscience program, didn’t always want to study the brain. Initially, he wanted to be a librarian. At a young age, he memorized his library card number and looked up to the librarians. “My favorite place to go was the library,” he said. “Librarians get to give people knowledge and resources all for free. They give everyone the same access.”  

Buried in books, Martin found himself wanting to investigate things that were unknown; things that hadn’t been written down yet or even discovered, especially about the brain.   

This inclination led Martin to pursue neuroscience. Martin received his bachelor’s in neuroscience and behavior at the University of Notre Dame before joining Iowa’s doctoral program. The faculty, the connection to the hospital, and the foundational research that originated on campus were driving factors in his decision to come here. Martin specifically recalled Iowa’s psychological studies on patient S.M. (“The Woman with No Fear”) and meeting program director Dr. Dan Tranel.  

“That’s the past. [Tranel] is part of the present, and I could be part of the future. My research could be part of that future,” he says.  

Third-year doctoral student Ashby Martin. Photo provided by Ashby Martin.

Connecting through language  

At Iowa, Martin studies developmental neurolinguistics, particularly in young children who are bilingual in Spanish and English. His focus is on “numbers as language”, and he examines the neurological impact and visual representation of shifting between the individual’s multiple linguistic repertories through neurological imaging.   

One in three children under the age of eight speaks two languages. In Iowa, there are robust multilingual communities including West Liberty, Columbus Junction, and Amish populations who speak Pennsylvanian Dutch. As part of his studies, Martin has been able to connect with some of these multilingual communities in addition to participants in the Iowa City area.   

“Visually you can see the learning happening,” he says. “You can connect with people and share something local Iowans actually have . You can share effects that you see in their brains.”   

As someone who grew up speaking two languages, Martin has been able to use his Spanish to further connect with children who are involved in his studies and their parents. He noted that language barriers can impact a parent's involvement with their children’s activities , but being able to listen and respond to their questions in Spanish has bridged that gap.   

Martin notes that connecting with the parents has been a positive byproduct of this research. “Now there’s a parent who is not only engaged in research but is engaged with their kid in a new way that they maybe didn’t have access to before,” he describes. 

Martin leads a psychology and neuroscience station at a STEM event with students from West Liberty High School. Photo provided by Ashby Martin.

Expanding access to science  

One of the largest components of Martin’s research is the community impact. He recalls a story from Tranel, who also graduated from Notre Dame, about the implications of a university-required swim test. Despite its positive intentions, the test drew lines between students who had financial access to a pool and those who didn’t, emphasizing several considerations for research.   

“What is a good purpose? What is good execution? What is the back end of something that you are doing now, and how does it affect the local community?” Martin asks.

  Martin hopes that his work will shift people’s perspectives on language learning, especially modifying the mindset that one needs to achieve proficiency at an early age to learn a new language. Instead, Martin’s research emphasizes that developing a dual representation in the brain requires practice.   

Although he is only in his third year of his PhD, Martin hopes to eventually also publish in Spanish. One of his favorite parts of his work is addressing the lack of Spanish language representation in science by providing something that is normally only in English in Spanish. For Martin, this allows more people to be involved.  

With such a large emphasis on community engagement in his work, it’s no surprise that Martin can strike up a conversation with anyone over something as simple as the colors on a booth. For him, language is a common ground for developing connections with complete strangers.   

In the long-term, Martin hopes to bring his work to other countries outside of the United States to see if this dual representation presents in the same way across international multilingual populations. He describes this as seeing if it’s not just an “Iowa effect, but a human effect.”  

 For now, his team is focusing on bringing their technology out of the lab and into homes where language flows freely.  

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Honors alumni Owen Bachhuber is "hooked on reptiles"

Owen Bachhuber has been fascinated by reptiles since he was a kid. It all began at his sixth birthday party as he held turtles, snakes, and lizards from The Reptile Experience operated by Mike Burpee. Mike is a kindred spirit - his love for reptiles also began in childhood. In the midst of “the throes of a mid-life crisis,” Mike left behind his career in real estate to create The Reptile Experience, providing interactive experiences with reptiles to the community - like Owen’s sixth birthday party. 

“I thought - wow, I can do that,” Owen said.

Owen joined the Minnesota Herpetological Society in fourth grade (and went on to serve as the organization’s president in 2022). By seventh grade he had his first pet snake. He volunteered at the Minnesota Zoo and the Como Zoo throughout middle school and high school. He even started an educational business using his own pet reptiles (like a smaller scale version of The Reptile Experience).

In 2018, Owen started his first year at University of Minnesota where he majored in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology as an Honors student. His passion for reptiles didn’t stop once he started college. During his first summer break he interned at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and became a teaching assistant for zoology labs in fall 2019.

While completing a summer internship with the Turtle and Mussel Conservation in the summer of 2020, Owen listened to a podcast featuring Dr. Emily Taylor that ended up inspiring his research for his Honors thesis, Impacts of Educational Messaging on Audience Attitudes Towards Rattlesnakes .

“How people think about snakes is so important,” he said. “It affects their conservation.”

He conducted a survey with visitors of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium before and after they walked through the Desert Dome. Then he conducted the same survey with UMN zoology students, this time before and after they learned about rattlesnake social complexity through a hands-on lecture. The latter reported higher rates of positive feelings towards snakes after the educational session.

Owen is now a student at California State Polytechnic Institute and is advised by Dr. Taylor (the same researcher who inspired his thesis) where he studies the social behavior of snakes with the innovative Project RattleCam .

RattleCam placed cameras at Prairie Rattlesnake rookeries that were timed to take photos every five minutes. These photos were made available to the public and volunteers would look through the images to report information about the snakes. The results were used to study their social behavior, the way they obtain water in the region, and to help identify local predators. 

“Time lapse camera technology is allowing us to learn about secretive animals living in remote areas,” said Dr. Taylor about the project. “We are so excited to peek into the lives of mother and baby rattlesnakes with community scientists!”

In addition to the photos, there was a companion YouTube series created featuring videos of the snakes.

“We’re able to see things we’ve never seen before,” Owen said. 

Being able to show the public the way rattlesnakes behave can help humanize them, which in turn can inspire people to protect snakes’ habitats and communities. The research team is now working on bringing what they’ve learned into classrooms to teach the next generation about the lives of snakes.

“Snakes are very social,” Owen said. “They take care of their babies, they follow each other around, they have friends, they have babysitters.”

Owen will continue to pursue his passion for reptiles wherever the path leads him. Whether that’s a PhD program or going back to working in a zoo, he’s excited to share his excitement about reptiles with the larger community.

“I feel like I’ve gotten to live the dream throughout my life,” he said. “What really gets me energized is connecting people with animals. As long as I’m doing that, I’m happy.”

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New chair in agricultural economics reflects couple’s global vision brought home: “Purdue is special in our lives”

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• May 13, 2024

B ob and Karen Thompson have operated as a team, both throughout their 55-year marriage and in their long-standing commitment to sending Purdue Agriculture students abroad and welcoming international students to their home.

Now the Thompsons are strengthening the international focus of Bob’s former department by endowing the Robert and Karen Thompson Chair in International Agricultural Economics. The couple hopes the position will ensure a leading scholar in an international aspect of the discipline such as trade, development or comparative agricultural policy “to help solidify the commitment to the international focus in the offerings of the department,” he says.

The Thompson Chair is open-ended by design. “As a former dean, I understand that the college has to have the flexibility to respond to greatest needs and opportunities that come along that you never see coming,” Bob says.

Thompson knows about unanticipated opportunities. He grew up in New York state, so close to the Canadian border that the news source in his home was the Canadian Broadcasting Company, which he credits with “more of an international perspective than the average American community would get.”

Despite his emerging interest in international affairs, his options for study abroad were limited. Some local high schools sent students overseas through American Field Service (AFS) programs. “I really wished my little rural high school — I was in a graduating class of 20 — would get an AFS program, but it never did,” he recalls.

Thompson’s focus on agricultural policy emerged as an undergraduate at Cornell University, where he became intrigued by international food issues such as hunger and poverty. He applied for the university’s two study abroad scholarships — and ended up as first runner-up for each of them. Based on his interest, however, officials told him that if he was accepted to another program, Cornell would support him with additional scholarship funds.

Thompson wasn’t selective about his destination. “My first choice was ‘wherever,’” he says.

“Wherever” turned out to be Denmark for his junior year, where he met Karen, then a student in elementary education who grew up on a small farm on the Danish island of Bornholm. The couple maintained a long-distance romance for two years after Bob returned to Cornell and then completed a master’s degree at Purdue.

Shortly after they married in August 1968, the Thompsons went to Laos with International Voluntary Service, a Peace Corps-type program that allowed the two citizens of different countries to serve together, working with local agriculture and home economics extension agents.

Karen immigrated to the U.S. when they returned from Laos in 1970. That summer, they came to Purdue for her to complete her elementary education degree and Bob to begin a PhD program in agricultural economics. After earning her teaching degree in 1971, Karen started a master’s degree in special education.

In summer 1972, the Thompsons went abroad again, this time to Brazil, where Purdue had an institutional strengthening program with the Federal University of Viçosa dating to the 1950s. Bob collected data for his thesis and taught agricultural production economics in Portuguese, while Karen taught the elementary school-age children of Purdue professors on the Viçosa project.

Now a family of three — their daughter, Kristina, was born in Brazil — the Thompsons returned to Purdue in January 1974. At the May commencement, Karen received her master’s degree, and Bob received his PhD and joined the agricultural economics faculty. Their second child, Eric, arrived a year later. As a faculty member, Bob developed a nationally recognized program in international trade and agricultural development.

In 1983, the family moved to Washington, D.C. for a one-year leave that extended to four. There Bob served as a senior staff economist for the President’s Council on Economic Advisers, and later, assistant secretary for economics for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  

Thompson returned to Purdue as dean of the College of Agriculture in 1987 and was a strong advocate for study abroad.  At the beginning of his tenure, only one student in the College of Agriculture was studying overseas. When he left six-and-a-half years later, 10 percent of agriculture students graduated having had an international experience.

Thompson equates his one year in Denmark, two in Laos and two in Brazil, all within a nine-year time frame, to “a second PhD program.”

Having on-the-ground international experience made me much more effective as a professional doing research in other countries. Agriculture is such a global industry. To be a well-prepared professional in any agricultural occupation requires having a global vision or perspective.” - Bob Thompson

In 1993 Thompson left the dean’s position to return to his passion for developing agriculture and reducing hunger in low-income countries. He became president and chief executive officer of the Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development; and later moved back to Washington, D.C. to become director of rural development for the World Bank.

In Washington, Karen became volunteer curator of the Smithsonian Institution’s lace collection in its American History Museum. Her mother had taught her the basics of bobbin lace, and over time she honed her skills through training courses in several European countries. In addition to research and writing on lace made in colonial Ipswich, Massachusetts, the only U.S. site of a commercial bobbin lace industry, Karen continues to teach online courses on the technique. 

Thompson’s commitment to study abroad laid the groundwork for the nearly 40 percent of Agriculture students who now graduate having studied abroad in hundreds of wide-ranging programs the college offers through International Programs in Agriculture  (IPIA).

The Thompsons were so passionate about providing international opportunities to undergraduates that they endowed the Robert L. and Karen H. Thompson Scholarship to support students who participate in international study programs in agriculture.

IPIA asks the scholarship recipients to send the couple a postcard from their overseas institution. “Those are so nice to receive,” Bob says. “The comment that you hear most often is that it’s ‘a life-changing experience.’ It certainly was for me.”

Ensuring that agriculture students experience different cultures firsthand is good for Indiana agriculture, Karen adds. “It’s great for the ones who go back on the farms, but for the ones who are hired by agribusiness, the firms want international experience.”

Bob credits Karen for managing family and hosting responsibilities while he taught, conducted research and served in administrative positions. In addition to raising bicultural and bilingual children, the Thompsons regularly welcomed international students and friends to their home. Karen recalls learning to prepare an American Thanksgiving dinner before she had ever had one herself.

“Our children grew up with the American part of the family, the Danish part of the family, but also the international students at Purdue, because they really became our third family, to us and our children,” she says. “And it’s so important for the international students to get to know an American home and family.”

Not surprisingly, the travel bug also bit the Thompsons’ children. Kristina studied in Denmark in high school and college before volunteering with the Peace Corps in Benin and later, in Rwanda with her husband, Tom. The couple currently is assigned to Cotonou, Benin, where she is the Peace Corps’ country program and training director, and Tom teaches in the international school.

Both Eric and his wife, Amy, are Purdue graduates. Eric spent his junior year in Purdue Engineering at a German university and completed graduate study at the Danish Technical University. He now works in human hearing research for the Air Force. Their son is a high school senior, and their two daughters both studied abroad as college students.

“You detect a pattern here?” Bob asks, smiling.

The international perspective that the Thompsons cultivated in their own home has over time changed the College of Agriculture, by broadening student horizons through study abroad, and now, in a new chair in agricultural economics that promises to impact teaching and research.

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Bush of Mount Gilead earns cancer research fellowship

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Ohio State Marion junior biology major Wesley Bush was recently named a Pelotonia Undergraduate Scholar by The James Comprehensive Cancer Center at Ohio State. The award is the seventh such honor since 2018 for Ohio State students working with Ohio State Marion faculty research mentors.

The Pelotonia Undergraduate Scholars Program provides a one-year research award to the best and brightest Ohio State University undergraduate students who want to help cure cancer. The scholarship pays Bush $12-14k through the upcoming academic year to continue his research.

Bush shared that he is researching the fundamental mechanisms of cancer cells, providing a better understanding of how they operate that will allow the development of better drugs and therapies.   

  “My recent work examines how DNA damage repair machinery is altered or impaired in cancers,” said Bush. I use large databases of many human tumor samples to identify patterns of damage. By determining these patterns, we may better understand mechanisms of cellular transformation and immortalization,” he explained.  

“My Pelotonia project expands upon this, looking for patterns across 600+ cancer-relevant genes in 20 animals over 1 billion years of evolutionary time. We know that some parts of a gene (e.g., certain amino acids) are resistant to change across evolutionary time, and we want to test if mutations appearing in cancers follow these trends,” said Bush.  “If cancers mutations follow evolutionary patterns, then it challenges the assumption that mutation in cancer cells is totally random," he said. "This will also help better identify unusual mutations or patterns that can lead to further research or treatment development."  

The Edison, Ohio native, who completed his high school requirements online through Ohio Connections Academy due to COVID19 school closures, said that taking part in innovative cancer research was not something he saw himself doing coming out of high school.

“I did not know that a career in research was even an option. I became fascinated with this subject once I learned to think of genes as instructions for molecular machinery, as opposed to abstract letters in a Punnett square,” said Bush.  “I plan to pursue cancer research not only due to its massive humanitarian importance,” said Bush, “but also due to its unique character because of multicellular life. There is still so much to learn about how our own cells work, even when healthy, and the understanding gained through the fight against cancer will almost certainly benefit other fields of science and medicine.”

Bush went on to explain how he got involved in research through Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics, Dr. Ruben Petreaca and Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dr. Renee Bouley at Ohio State Marion.

“I expressed interest in the subject during my first-year biology course. After speaking with the professor, she suggested I apply to Dr. Petreaca’s lab. For the first few months there, I did bench work and assisted in other projects, but it wasn’t long before I was given my own project to focus on,” he said. 

According to Petreaca, Bush is an outstanding undergraduate student and a developing scientist with a passion for research and discovery.

“His drive to do science is easily in the top 5% of the students we have worked with,” Petreaca said.

“One of Wesley’s strengths is initiative. He does not require much mentoring; rather, our interaction with him is more like the one between a fourth-year graduate student and their advisor,” he added.   

Bouley and Petreaca have trained several past Pelotonia awardees all of which are also co-authors on papers, some of them first authors and some authors on multiple papers.  “Wesley also has a paper in revision and will undoubtedly publish more. Thus, Wesley is continuing in the finest tradition of previously funded Ohio State Marion Pelotonia funded undergraduate students,” said Petreaca.  

According to Bush, working in the lab has allowed him to do complicated research, as opposed to an emulation of it in a classroom setting. 

“This gives me a glimpse into what a career in this field will be like,” he said, “which has solidified my choice in major. I better understand how to write papers, grants, and the process of peer review. I have gained a lot of experience in talking about my project through posters, presentations, conferences, and applications. I have also changed my course schedule to allow for classes that are more closely relevant to my area of study.” 

Bush thinks Ohio State Marion has had a recent history of success with the number of Pelotonia Fellowships awarded to students because of the combination of people, facilities, and availability of equipment. 

“The principal investigators and staff at the campus are very patient and helpful, serving as excellent mentors for those who are new to research. The facilities are also excellent, allowing cutting-edge research to be performed in-house,” said Bush.  Not only that, Bush added, “the field of molecular genetics is rapidly developing as sequencing technology becomes cheaper and more powerful. Machine-learning tools are becoming increasingly intelligent and accessible, predicting driver mutations and protein structures. Many students are increasingly tech-savvy, allowing them to flourish in this environment of big data and heavy computing.” 

Ultimately, Bush shared that undergraduate research can provide a valuable opportunity to interact with and contribute to professional academia.  “Students can use this experience to help them decide what career path they wish to pursue, as many undergraduates are still unsure. Even if a student decides to go down a different path, they will still benefit, as many of the lab techniques and underlying theory are shared across various disciplines of life science and medicine,” said Bush. 

He went on to share that his decision to choose Ohio State Marion   had to do with the campus having a good 4-year biology program, its proximity to home and the overall value of the educational product.

“The small class sizes make it easier to communicate with professors and staff, providing a helpful and low-stress environment. The facilities are also excellent, he added.

Research opportunities like the one Bush is taking part in, he believes, will strengthen his graduate school application and be useful in the job market.

“I am likely to publish a few articles on my work,” he said, “which will be very helpful when I apply to graduate school. I also would likely not have sought out a Pelotonia scholars award if I had not been working as a researcher beforehand. This award will be also be immensely helpful in my future career, and the process of applying for it provided useful experience similar to applying for a grant.” 

Bush’s plans include working towards a PhD and could see himself also working as a college professor because of his love for many elements of the job.  “At the moment, said Bush, “I am aiming in the direction of bioinformatics, as computational methods will become more and more necessary as technology advances and datasets grow monstrous, I hope to be able to do research for most of my life, but I am not opposed to working as a professor, as I enjoy giving presentations and tutoring students.”  He said he plans to remain in the public sector, researching the fundamental mechanisms of cancer and cellular life so that others may use these findings to develop drugs and treatments. 

Graduate profiles

Meet the class of 2024, harvard college.

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Isabella’s senior thesis screenplay, a genre-bending family drama full of magical realism, centers the issues of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and two-spirit people.

Read more about Isabella

Dora Woodruff

Dora will next pursue a Ph.D. at MIT in algebraic combinatorics, a branch of mathematics that applies methods found in abstract algebra to discrete counting problems.

Aaron Shirley

Aaron dove into the world of medieval medicine with his thesis, “Holiness to Wholeness: Restoring Medieval Surgery to its Religious Cultural Context.”

Harvard Business School

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Davida Bynum

As a dual-degree candidate studying business and government, Davida is exploring the best ways to serve the public and private sectors.

Eduardo Avalos

With a focus on social entrepreneurship, Eduardo is hoping to create more equitable opportunities for those with fewer resources and less access.

Claudia Hill

By combining a degree in biomedical engineering with an M.B.A., Claudia plans to change millions of lives by creating life-saving drugs that can be distributed equitably.

Harvard Divinity School

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The growth I’ve experienced at HDS, both personal and academic, has been beyond anything I expected.” Samirah Jaigirdar Master of Theological Studies Learn more about Samirah’s studies

Jude Terna Ayua

Jude says his time at HDS changed his perspective about other faith traditions. After graduation, he will work as a private attorney and also run his non-profit, Keep Hope Alive Nigeria.

Christopher Siuzdak

While studying at HDS, Christopher’s favorite class was “Trends in World Christianity, 1900-2050,” which explored shifts in Christian confessions around the globe from a historical and social scientific perspective.

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Brian Mazmanian

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Moriah has turned her own struggles with sobriety and recovery into an opportunity to help others seeking higher education opportunities.

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Maria Emilia Mazzolenis

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Lachlain McGranahan

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Harvard Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

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Thomas found a way to identify otherwise unrecorded 20th-century hurricanes, laying the foundation for a new field of historical environmental seismology.

Dylan Renaud

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Juhee Kang, who studied history and East Asian languages and civilizations, explored how psychological testing and mass data collection evolved in 20th-century Japan, where they became central across society.

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Adebayo Alonge

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For her capstone research project, Maya sought to understand and find solutions for the inequality in Boston’s core city services, which aren’t equitably distributed across its diverse neighborhoods and communities.

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Phoebe Kotlikoff

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Deborah Plana

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Mitchell Winkie

There are only a handful of residency positions in dermatology for the U.S. military each year. There was only one spot in the Navy open to graduating medical students, and Mitchell was selected to fill it.

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Harvard School of Dental Medicine

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Sheridan Danquah

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Jessica Latimer

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Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

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I heard of people who had given birth during their incarceration, and I was really shocked.” Bethany Kotlar, who studied the impact of maternal incarceration during pregnancy and after birth on child development Learn more about Bethany’s research

Irfan Chaudhuri

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After navigating the roadblocks involved in gender-affirming care, Ivan founded the startup Trans Health HQ to decrease barriers for clinicians and patients.

James Frater

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• SDSU International student secures coveted spot in Stanford’s Art History doctoral program

Kehinde 'Kennii' Ekundayo faced tumultuous path to fund her education, but her resiliency paid off

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Kehinde “Kennii” Ekundayo laughs with ease these days, a levity that belies having to work multiple jobs, sell her blood to pay for college in her native Nigeria, or sometimes not be able to afford groceries during her graduate studies at San Diego State University.

Her high spirits stem from an email this spring from Stanford University, accepting Ekundayo into its Art History Ph.D. program.

Ranking among the top in the country, Stanford’s program is extremely selective. It typically admits fewer than eight candidates per year, according to its website.

“Certainly, I could say people who have a degree from an Ivy League institution regularly do not get admitted because it is so competitive,” said Gillian Sneed , assistant professor of Art History and Foundations Coordinator at SDSU’s School of Art and Design. “We are very proud of Kennii for her achievement.”

Stanford is providing Ekundayo with a fellowship that pays her tuition and living expenses for five years. For her research, she also received a supplemental award through the university’s Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Fellowship.

 This is uncharted territory for Ekundayo, who will graduate this month from SDSU’s interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences (MALAS) program.

“Since starting my undergrad at 16, when I left home, I’ve had to fund myself,” she said. “And now at Stanford, I get this amazing opportunity to focus on my education and my research without having to focus on where my tuition is going to come from.”

Her SDSU community of faculty mentors, classmates and friends expects big things.

“Look out world,” said SDSU English and Comparative Literature Professor William Nericcio , who heads the MALAS program. “Her support package is extraordinary. For this brilliant woman who has been scrabbling together monies to cover living expenses, it could not have happened to a better person.”

Hustling for Art

Raised by a single mom, Ekundayo paid her way through college in Nigeria working as a courier, cosmetics salesperson, and other odd jobs.

She began freelancing for a local artist friend, helping curate events. Prior to that, she had rarely visited a gallery or museum. Her major was French. 

During an exhibit at a hotel, Ekundayo recognized a Nigerian state governor and his entourage in the lobby.

“I ran after him, and the security was like, ‘Go away girl,’” she recalled. “I said I am trying to invite you to a show that just opened. I made a spectacle and he said, ‘OK, I am going out now, but I will stop by when I return.’”

The official kept his word. “He bought so many works that day. We had never sold anything like that before,” she said.

That got Ekundayo on the artist’s payroll and hooked her on the vibrant creative scene in Lagos where she began meeting people and learning all she could about contemporary African art and curating shows.

Coming to San Diego

Looking for freedom to pursue her ideas, Ekundayo quit her job. She had built relationships with prominent gallery operators and Nigerian artisans. As a newcomer to the art scene, she occasionally felt the sting of elitism. But she persisted.

“The thing about me is I say yes to everything,” she said. “And even if, at the end of the day, I say I do not want to do this again, at least I did something.”

At a film festival in Lagos, Ekundayo met SDSU Professor Niyi Coker , director of the School of Theater, Television, and Film. The encounter led to a plan for a retrospective at SDSU of works from iconic African artist Bruce Onobrakpeya , accompanied by Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka . 

She had previously worked with both men, and CNN’s African Voices Changemakers featured her retrospective of Onobrakpeya’s career.  

Ekundayo curated the show and spent her life savings shipping art to the U.S. The exhibit opened in February 2022 in the SDSU University Art Gallery.  

“For 20 years, I took students to London for a study abroad program, and this show was of a quality that I was accustomed to in London, where the museums are amazing,” said Nericcio.

Sneed also was impressed. “I felt like this older generation, Bruce and Wole, had identified Kennii as being this bright star for their country.”

After the show, Ekundayo flew back to Nigeria. But she wanted to further her education. She had applied to a prestigious art college in the United Kingdom but could not afford to go.

Nericcio lobbied her to apply to SDSU. “I asked for funding,” said Ekundayo. “He said sorry, there is no funding. I was like, well, this is a dead end.”

She recalls Nericcio saying, just start with the application and everything will work out.

Next Chapter

Ekundayo enrolled in August 2022. She is a paid research assistant for Nericcio, works as managing editor of SDSU University Press, grades papers for professors, is a teaching assistant, and makes time to participate in campus activities.

“She is very active, knows everybody, gets out there and goes to all these events, just works her butt off,” said Sneed.

Ekundayo received a scholarship to travel to Brazil last summer for research on her master’s thesis, a comparative analysis of how Brazilian and Nigerian artists are shining light on climate change and flooding.

“She did a tremendous job of expanding her network on that trip in a short amount of time,” said Kristal Bivona, an SDSU assistant professor of classics and humanities and associate director of the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies. “It is impressive how she can contact people she has never met before, make plans and just get in there.”

Ekundayo is still wrapping her head around her academic journey to Stanford, where she plans to research recent refugee artists in the U.S. She is grateful to all her mentors and supporters, especially Nericcio, who is the reason she came to SDSU.

“When people are kind to you, you are able to perform at your peak,” she said. 

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