When you start writing academic papers, one of the first things you hear about is a thesis statement. It seems straightforward enough.

The thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the main point of your paper.

Got it. That makes sense. You have a goal for writing, and the reader needs to know what it is, so the thesis statement explains it. 

The thing is, once you get in and actually start writing, the thesis statement isn’t always as simple as it seems. That’s because writing the thesis statement means understanding the full scope of your paper and what you’re trying to do by writing it. 

It would be really hard to make a trailer for a movie you hadn’t seen. How would you know what the best parts are to include? How would you make sure you didn’t spoil the big twist at the end? 

You have to really understand a movie to make a good trailer, and you have to really understand your paper to write a strong thesis statement.