Writing: Understanding the Importance of Thesis Statements

The thesis statement is important - when readers don't have much time, they'll only read the first line of a paragraph, or even the paper, before deciding whether the rest of it is worth their time (harsh but true reality, you probably do it too). So lead with something strong. At the same time, the second most important location is the end of the paragraph. So end strong as well.

During my fellowship essay review, I kept getting asked "what is the most important part of this paragraph?" and laughed to myself as each time it was embedded somewhere within the paragraph. Julia would tell me to listen as she read the paragraph and tell me to stop her when I got to my main point. Embarassingly enough, it was never at the beginning. If teachers back in middle/high school revised my essay like this, I think it would have been better ingrained in my head how to structure my essays. Although maybe embarrassment isn't the best strategy.

Depends on the audience of course, for something like this, an anecdote, I don't need to pay attention to such rules.

Source: Dr. Julia Deems