thematic essay prompt

How to Write a Thematic Essay

Every piece of writing ever written has its agenda. Whether it’s to teach a lesson or show the impact of a particular emotion or action, a central theme can be developed. The goal for us as readers is to uncover what the author was trying to tell us between the lines in their literature. When we do finally discover it, we’ve accomplished the first step of thematic essay writing! Let’s see below how to write a thematic essay with our papers writing service .

What Is a Thematic Essay?

Let’s look at the thematic essay definition; a thematic essay is a piece of writing in which an author develops the central theme in some literature using literary devices like foreshadowing, imagery, personification, etc.

A professional essay writer will uncover the primary subject, elaborate upon the literary devices employed, and express the overall significance of the theme. The primary challenge comes from the fact that although there are various subjects, finding the most meaningful and impactful one can be challenging.

Naturally, each person has their own varied interpretation, making it hard to agree on a central theme wholesomely. In short, a well written thematic essay comes from a healthy central idea that is conclusively proven via literary devices and logical arguments.

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How to Pick a Thematic Topic?

A crucial aspect of writing a good thematic essay is choosing a theme. Follow the hints listed below to help you create a thematic topic:

Brainstorm from your own experiences. Recall what you were talking about in class, with your mates or parents. Do some of these conversations remind you of some book, novel or another piece of literature?

Write down every idea that comes to mind. Sometimes, your most absurd ideas are the best way to go.

List your favourite literature pieces. Which literature piece was the most touching for you? Try to analyze its subject and problems the author built upon within the story; it might help you come up with your own ideas.

Look at the details of other literature pieces: You might find some interesting details within other literature that can help you come up with your theme.

Still have no idea what to write about? No worries, we have your back.

Thematic Essay Topics

• What is George Orwell’s deliberation in portraying a “Perfect Utopia” in his book 1984?
• What main idea is George Orwell painting about Communism in the book Animal Farm?
• What is Harper Lee saying about innocence in her novel To Kill A Mockingbird?
• What is John Steinbeck saying about loneliness and isolation in Of Mice and Men?
• What is F. Scott Fitzgerald saying about the American Dream in The Great Gatsby?

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How to Find and Explore the Central Theme

As stated before, uncovering the main subject and central theme respectively is the first significant step in a thematic paper. However, with so many things going on within the literature, it may be difficult to interpret the central theme accurately. To make sure you choose it correctly, follow these steps:

1. Summarize the literature: What main idea is the author trying to purvey? Usually, there will be many hints along the way, so choosing the right direction may not be so challenging.

2. Pick the most prevalent subject: One thing to note is the significant difference between a subject and a theme. A subject is the general topic of conversation—whether it be love, bravery, deception, etc. A theme is a specific point the author is making about said subject. So, find the talking point that is most commonly being brought up. This will be the focal point of the essay.

3. Read between the lines: After finding the most suitable subject, decipher what main point the author is trying to make. This will become clearer as you get deeper into the literature since clues and examples will appear frequently. After fully deciphering the central theme, there is one more significant step.

4. Overall significance: What is the overall significance that comes from the author’s point? What can be taken from this and applied to our personal lives? In other words, what is the lesson from all of this? What have we learned?

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Thematic Essay Outline

The thematic essay has several key components. First of all, it should be five paragraphs or more, depending on the depth of the theme. Next, it should have a concrete thesis statement, which, in other words, is the thematic statement that comes from the main subject. The introduction presents the reader with the subject and the thesis statement. The body paragraphs each discuss one literary element or more to defend the validity of your thesis, all the while providing many supporting details from the text itself. Lastly, the thematic essay conclusion summarizes the main points presented and finishes off with a statement of significance.

Follow the link to learn more about HOW TO CREATE A WINNING OUTLINE

The thematic essay introduction presents the main subject of discussion in a captivating way. The first sentence of the intro should be a hook statement that makes some intriguing claim about the subject of discussion. If done correctly, this will grab your reader's attention. Afterwards, provide any necessary background information from the literature that will help the audience understand your claims later on. Lastly, put together a well thought out thesis statement that reflects the central theme of the novel.

The body paragraphs follow a thematic essay format. Since each body paragraph’s purpose should be to present a literary device as evidence, the topic sentence should introduce the claim and gateway into the evidence. Every topic sentence must mention a literary device and its relationship to the literature.

Afterwards, to validate your claim, use examples from the book that strengthen the reasoning of your statement. These can be actions from the plot or quotations that are parallel with the central theme. It’s imperative to explain how the action/quote links back to your thesis statement, as it shows that you can support your logic.

Remember: each claim must use a literary device. It can not just be a random moment or inference. Thematic essays are all about proving thesis statements through the use of critical literary devices.

The thematic essay conclusion has three main objectives to complete before wrapping up the entire paper. It should not present any new information or facts, but should summarize the information already given. First of all, restate your thesis statement in a new way. Then, summarize the central claims you made within the body of your paper and their influence on the thesis statement. To finish off the entire work, present an overall concluding statement with a global analysis of the subject. Leave your reader with another hook, making him/her interested in digging deeper into the topic.

Try also read an article on poetry analysis essay , it could be useful and can give you new insights.

Thematic Essay Example

The best way to familiarise yourself with this type of writing is to learn from an example. ‍

Even though the ancient Greek cities of Athens and Sparta were geographically close to each other, they had very distinct cultures, lifestyles, values, and political systems that defined them. The following paper compares and contrasts the cultural impacts of the two cities by examining some of the duties and responsibilities of the citizenry as well as the different values that were deemed important. The paper further evaluates the impact of accomplishments that would have been left by both city-states on the history of western civilization.

Wrap Things Up

Before submitting your thematic essay, make sure to check a couple of things to correct any possible errors.

• Double-check and confirm that the central theme you have decided is the one that the author likely meant to focus on. Unless you can provide a secondary issue and present it strongly enough as a primary, validate the primary subject.
• Go through and proofread your entire paper. Nothing makes reading more irritating than grammatical mistakes, clean that stuff up as much as possible.
• Get a second pair of eyes to read through your paper. It’s best to ask a classmate for help, as they most likely have or had a similar assignment. Another great way to polish things up is to ask one of our writers to give you some helpful advice.

We also recommend reading about Jem Finch character traits , our readers find it very interesting.

Having a Trouble with Your Thematic Essay?

Having a hard time thinking up a proper topic to write about? Or, do you have one but are having a hard time deciphering the theme? Let our custom essay writing service do all the work for you. Check out our price calculator to estimate the cost of your assignment.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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How to Write a Theme Essay

Last Updated: January 4, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 207,258 times.

Starting the Essay

• For example, an essay prompt may ask you to reflect on the theme of good versus evil in John Steinbeck's East of Eden .

• Make a list of everything you know about the topic. This can be information you learned in class, as well as information you found on your own.
• Write down keywords or key scenes in the text that respond to the essay prompt. Think about what words or scenes from the text come to mind when you think of a specific theme.
• For example, when you brainstorm ideas on East of Eden , you may write down any moments in the text that seem to speak to the theme of good and evil.

• Your thesis statement will need to address the theme, your primary example or examples, and the stance you will take on the topic.
• For example, your thesis might be: "In East of Eden , John Steinbeck rejects the Biblical idea of good and evil and instead focuses on the contradictions and complications found in good and evil."

• Introduction: Discuss landscape as metaphor, include thesis statement.
• Body: Describe mountains in opening scene, elaborate on how they symbolize good vs. evil, state how characters live between the mountains, showing how people are caught between good and evil.
• Conclusion: Restate thesis statement, return to landscape as metaphor.

Writing Your Essay

• Questions can make fun hooks for the reader. Ask a rhetorical question that relates to the theme of the essay, such as "How does one decide what is good and what is evil?"
• You can also use a quote from the text as the hook. Find a quote in the text that explores the themes and ideas you'll be discussing in your essay.

• For example, you may introduce the role of nature plays in the text to discuss the theme of good and evil. The first sentence of your body paragraph should discuss the role of nature. This will set up the paragraph and let the reader know what the focus of the paragraph will be.

• For example, you may discuss the use of nature in the text in one paragraph. The body of the paragraph should then use quotes and scenes in the text to support this idea.
• You might write,"The descriptions of the Gabilan Mountains in the text symbolize good and evil. The characters in the story live in the Salinas Valley, trapped in a gray area between these two extremes."

• Ask yourself, "What do I want my readers to have learned through this essay?"
• Remind readers about the essay's theme. Reference some of the arguments you made in the body of your essay, reinforcing how they support your original point.

Revising Your Essay

• Check that there are transitions between paragraphs. Look at the beginning of each paragraph to make sure they all flow well together.

• Print out your paper and proofread it. Oftentimes, errors are easier to catch on paper. If you can't print out your paper, try changing the size or type of the font. Anything that alters how the work looked when you wrote it can help alert you to errors. [13] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

• Be open to constructive feedback from friends and peers. This will only improve the essay and ensure it is at its best when you turn it in.

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.
• ↑ https://penandthepad.com/write-essay-theme-book-2200.html
• ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/how-to-write-a-thesis-statement.html
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/essay-outline/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-a-hook/
• ↑ https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/how-to-write-an-essay/conclusion
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/steps_for_revising.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/proofreading_suggestions.html
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

When writing a theme essay, you’ll need to explore a given theme in the text you’re studying. Before you start your essay, brainstorm some notes about your theme, which you can then build your essay from. For example, if you have the theme of good and evil, think about which characters are mostly good or evil, any good or evil actions they take, description that uses light and darkness, and any religious context. In your intro, state your thesis, which should summarize your essay’s main argument. Then, choose 4 or 5 examples of your theme and write a paragraph exploring each one. Make sure you support your points with quotes from the text. In your conclusion, link your ideas back to your thesis statement. For more tips from our English co-author, including how to revise your essay to polish it up, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to write a top-grade Thematic Essay

When assigned to write a thematic essay, you ought to understand what it is, how to approach it, and how to put every aspect of it on paper finally. You will most likely be assigned to write a thematic essay in high school, college, and university. Instead of getting confused, as most students do, you can use this quick guide and learn how to write a thematic essay quickly and seamlessly.

Remember, a thematic essay entails developing the central theme in literature, using specific literary devices. This guide will teach you the steps to take, identify a central theme, and some helpful tips when writing thematic essays. You will also have some topic suggestions and advice.

Without wasting time, let us delve deeper into it.

What is a thematic essay?

A thematic essay is a category of essay that involves the creation of a major literature theme using literary devices such as imagery, personification, and metaphor, among others. The writer expresses the importance of the themes in the essay .

However, the common challenge in a thematic essay is that every writer interprets the main theme from their perspective. Therefore, an ideal thematic essay should consist of logical arguments that are justified through literary devices.

The fundamental role of a thematic essay is to unwarp the major subject discussed. As a student, you are required to use facts, evidence, and examples obtained from a secondary and primary source.

You should connect the various facts to the main subject of your essay to demonstrate logical arguments in your essay.

How to write a good thematic essay in simple steps

One major challenge for students writing a thematic essay is that they have to identify a central theme. Apart from that, your thematic essay should also have logical arguments backed by evidence, examples, and illustrations that are based on literary devices.

Step 1: Read the essay prompt

The essay prompt provides information about the issue or the topic to be discussed in the essay.

Reading the prompt is significant in inspiring your response in essay form, which is critical in your reasoning and analytical skills.

Moreover, reading essay prompts is important in informing the writer about what is expected in the thematic essay.

Step 2: Choose the text you are going to use

  It is important to gather the sources you will use in your essay writing before embarking on writing.

The texts include literature abstracts, discussions, or other texts that support your theme. Therefore, it is vital to gather the texts properly.

You should ensure that your chosen text contains facts or examples supporting your essay theme.

Step 3: Take notes as you read

As an essay student, taking notes will influence your attention to decide the key literary devices to apply in your essay. 

Choosing relevant sources that entail comprehensive literary devices that support your theme is vital as you make notes.

Step 4: Determining the central theme

Determining the central theme is one of the vital steps of thematic essay writing. The central theme is the basic component of your essay. It defines the essence and scope of the essay . It also defines your angle of analysis .

Therefore, it is significant to determine the central theme of your essay. We will provide hints later in this article on identifying central themes. It is vital to have the hints at your fingertips as a student.

Step 5: Craft your essay thesis

After determining your main theme, it is vital to develop your essay thesis. Your essay thesis is fundamental in summarizing the points that will be discussed in your entire thematic essay.

This thesis will be posted at the end of the introduction paragraph; your essay thesis should clearly define the central idea to be discussed in your essay.

Consequently, every component of your essay can relate to your essay thesis. The following tips can help you to craft your essay thesis:

• Construct a question. To craft your essay thesis, you can begin by considering the questions provided. However, if not provided, you can develop your individual question. What can you decide or like to explore on the topic?
• Write your first answer. After researching, you can construct a temporary answer to your question. This is a simple task because it controls the writing and researching process.
• Construct your answer. After writing your answers, you need to consider that you will use your answer to co-compel your readers of your essay. Reading extensively concerning the topic will give your more details about your answer and assist you in developing further.

Step 6: Write body paragraphs

Writing the body paragraphs follows the introduction in thematic essay format. The body paragraph should convey the purpose of the essay and utilize literary devices that are used as evidence; each literary paragraph should consist of literary devices.

The topic sentences are introduced to provide a gateway and claim of the evidence. Each topic sentence is linked to a literary device and its connection with the literature.

After writing your topic sentence, you are required to justify your claims. You can use secondary sources to strengthen your point of reasoning through facts, figures, and examples. You can use questions or plots related to your essay's main theme.

It is crucial to prove how the quotes or plots link to the thesis statement of your essay. It is also important to note that every claim should apply the literary device. Thematic essays rely on applying literary devices to improve the thesis statement.   

Step 7: Write a captivating introduction

The introduction summarizes your approach and understanding of the answer to your essay question. It is critical in revealing what you intend to discuss in your essay and how you evaluate the theme.

To write a captivating introduction in your thematic essay, your initial stamen in the introduction paragraph should hook the reader through an intriguing claim concerning the topic.

This will attract the reader's attention and provide required background information that assists your audience to comprehend the essay claims later. Moreover, writing a captivating introduction is vital in conveying a well-framed thesis statement that reveals the novel central theme.

Step 8: Write a powerful conclusion

The conclusion marks the end of the thematic essay. When you write your conclusion, you should ensure it completes the essay before wrapping up the whole paper. It should include new information not discussed in the essay's body.

To write an effective conclusion as a student, you need to start by reinstating the thesis statement differently from how you stated in your introduction. Then, summarize your logical arguments on the central theme in the body paragraph.

To end your essay. Provide a final concluding statement that analyzes the topic. You should ensure that you leave your audience with a hook making them interested in exploring the topic. 

Step 9: Format, edit, revise, and proofread the essay

After writing your thematic essay to a conclusion, it is vital to check the format of your essay and adjust any necessary items as required by your professor's instructions before submission. 

You should confirm and double-check your central themes to match your essay requirements. Finally, peruse through your entire essay and edit any mistakes should note that grammatical mistakes will irritate your readers.

Therefore, it is critical to clean up all mistakes to make the essay attractive to the reader. Revise the paper to ensure that the essay is well-edited and efficient.

Proofread your essay to remove any possible mistakes. Proofreading can also assist you in changing the sentence structure to help polish your essay further. Moreover, it can help in eliminating mistakes from the paper.

Generally, as an essay student, you should ensure that your essay is in the correct format, well-edited, revised, proofread, and free from grammatical mistakes before submission.

How do you pick an excellent thematic topic?

Selecting an excellent thematic topic is one of the crucial aspects of thematic essay writing. The following guidelines help pick an excellent thematic topic:

• Brainstorm. Remember anything you discussed with your parents, friends, or teachers. Do the conversations link to some novel, book, or literature writing?
• Write the ideas that you can recall . Usually, the ideas that come first in your mind are the best ones to build on.
• List the best literature . Ask yourself about the most touching piece of writing to you. Then, evaluate the subject and the author's challenges in the literature developed in the story. This can help you to develop your ideas.
• Select a convincing theme . You should understand your expected audience and provide strong ideas to engage them as ordinary readers. Considering things that can engage your audience can assist you in coming up with a central theme in your essay writing.
• Refer to other pieces of literature. Using your professors' materials can assist you in coming up with the main theme of your essay. In addition, reading the material provided or suggested by your professor can give hints of an appropriate theme that you can discuss in your thematic essay.
• Get the Perspective. Sometimes to come up with the major theme, you will be required to consider the advantages and disadvantages of issues ad consider one perspective that can lead to a major theme to use in your essay.
• Consider social issues. A thematic essay is often linked to social problems that affect human life. Therefore, to develop a compelling theme as an essay writer, you need to analyze the social issues and select one that is appropriate to develop the main theme in your essay.

Related: How to make a good essay outline

How to identify the central theme in a text

 As discussed before. Unwrapping the major subject and the main point are the fundamental steps in writing a thematic essay. However, sometimes it is cumbersome to interpret the central theme effectively due to numerous aspects that run within the literature Coming up with a central theme is one of the significant approaches in thematic essay writing. The steps provided below can assist you in coming up with an appropriate theme.

• Condense the literature: consider the major idea that the author is conveying. There are many hints about the literature summary. As a writer, you should choose the hints that are effective and less challenging
• Pick a common subject: As an essay writer, it is vital to identify the difference between subjects. A subject is regarded as a general topic; it can be deception, love, or bravery. However, there is a specific point that is derived from the subject. Therefore, identify a common talking point and make it the focal theme of your essay.
• Read the central point: interpret the major idea that the author was delivering upon getting the subject. You will become more apparent as you explore the frequent examples and clues in the literature.
• Overall significance : you should consider the importance of the author�s point. Identify what can be retrieved and applied in personal lives. Generally, this will drive you to ask the lesson that can be derived from the literature. 

Comprehensive Outline for a Thematic Analysis Essay

As an essay writer, your main objective is to be creative when writing your essay to include all crucial details. Consequently, beginning your essay with the outline is vital for thematic essay writing.

Your outline should note that all things contained in the draft do not necessarily form your final piece of writing. Nevertheless, an outline is significant in guiding you throughout your work.

As a writer, you should make sure that you check the flow of your essay. You can achieve this by checking how you use transitions.

In many instances, students tend to treat every paragraph as a mini-essay without linking one paragraph to the other. This aspect leads to an essay that is incohesive and is not flowing.

Also, students should refrain from emotional expression and wordiness to prevent irritation of the reader. When drafting your essay, you should ensure that you are neutral in the sense that you should refrain from being informal or formal. It would assist you to sound sincere and respectful.

A thematic essay outline is meant to guide the writer without mistakes throughout the writing process. Additionally, an outline is crucial in preventing the writer from getting stuck during the writing process. In most cases, the outline of a thematic essay follows a 5-paragraph structure that consists of an introduction, 3-body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Some students think that writing an outline is a waste of time. However, this is not the case; an outline is the basic component of your essay paper.

Possessing a detailed essay outline allows you to create a fantastic thematic piece of writing that is logical, flowing, and coherent.

Overall, a good outline consists of an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. However, the number of your body paragraphs can vary depending on the depth of the theme of your essay.

Introduction

You should begin your essay with an introduction. You should make an impressive introduction that attracts the attention of your reader. The introduction section consists of background information and the vital points discussed in the essay.

You should be strategic when developing this section. Utilizing practical tools such as humor or posting a connective question is critical. In your introduction, deploying exciting and surprising facts encourages the readers to explore your work.

However, you should not make this paragraph lengthy. Instead, it should be brief and contain the central idea concerning the essay. The last sentence in your introduction should comprise the thesis statement.

As discussed earlier, the thesis statement provides information about what is discussed in the body of the essay. Therefore, make sure your thesis statement is clear and provides a logical argument about the topic of the essay.

Body Paragraphs

Body paragraphs are the essay's main body that comprises of detailed discussion of the central theme. This is where you will be providing analysis, supporting justifications, and developing arguments.

It is critical to avoid giving baseless statements in this section because this part demands well-constructed logical arguments supported with evidence, facts, and examples that increase the quality of your essay.

As an essay writer, you should ensure that all your main points are discussed in the body of your essay . Each point should be discussed in each paragraph. The point is stated in the form of the topic statement and supported with the literary device.

Also, you can use subheadings in your thematic essay to avoid clustering of your content. All the paragraphs in your essay should be of equal length.

This is important in producing a quality essay. You can get numerous thematic essays on websites. You can read the samples to guide you in writing an excellent thematic essay.

The conclusion is, marks the end of the essay. A reasonable conclusion should be precise, practical, and logical.

Generally, the conclusion should resonate with the information in the thesis statement . To write a reasonable conclusion, begin by rephrasing the thesis statement.

Rewrite the thesis statement in your own words while keeping the meaning of the idea. After that, summarize the main points discussed in the body paragraphs of your thematic essay. Ensure all the points are summarized.

Finally, provide an overall statement that can hook the reader and attract the reader's interest to explore the topic further.

Essential tips when writing a thematic essay

• Read relevant literature that includes book chapters and other relevant sources that support your theme. Then, read the essay question carefully and brainstorm the best approach to writing your thematic essay.
• Developed a detailed outline that will guide you in writing the paper
• Ensure you master the requirements of the essay and academic rules that govern essay writing. Ensure you adhere to the required format and refrain from plagiarism by paraphrasing important p points from secondary sources.
• Your introduction should be brief and to the point, and you should not forget to include a logical thesis statement
• It is necessary to develop one straightforward central question in every paragraph
• You should present your paragraphs in a logical format. Ensure the paragraphs are linked with one other to ascertain the flow of the essay.
• Use compelling examples and claims that support the points in each paragraph. The claims and examples should be verifiable and well elaborated to bring the logical arguments in the essay.
• You should reference your source properly. Poor citations and references may result in plagiarism. Therefore, ensure you include a well-structured intext citation and reference list in your essay.
• Ensure all your description is followed by extensive analysis as a way of justifying your claims in the essay. Any description that lacks analysis should not be included.
• Make sure that your conclusion is relevant and concise.
• Make sure that all the materials are referenced, and a bibliography or reference list indicating all the used sources is provided
• Ensure you submit your essay at the required time.

Mistakes to avoid when writing a thematic essay

• Avoid using the complex word;
• Avoid using text that is not significant to your essay;
• Do not exaggerate your essay;
• Avoid long sentences;
• Avoid submitting your essay without proper citing;
• Do not submit the paper unreviewed;
• Make sure the paper contains stronger arguments;
• Refrain from submitting your work without running it through a plagiarism checker and Grammarly software
• Avoid using the wrong essay format;
• Avoid using too many questions from secondary sources.

Thematic essay topic ideas

Numerous thematic essay topics can be utilized to produce impressive work. Most of the common thematic topics are related to historical events. As an essay writer, you should consider an exciting topic to write about. Getting an interesting topic is fundamental in deriving ideas and writing quality work based on your knowledge. The following are some of the topics that are related to distinct subjects.

Global regents

• The transformed meaning of philosophy
• Can a person manage unconscious thinking?
• The responsibilities of Men and Women in the modern society
• Human rights in the contemporary world.
• The role of social media in the modern old
• The significance of the political system in the contemporary society
• The role of globalization in the contemporary world.
• The role of religion in society

Belief systems

• Should the death penalty be allowed?
• Should people be allowed to carry handguns?
• Are video games effective in mental health mitigation?
• Women should take care of children and not engage in any form of work.
• The childhood period is the most significant part of human life.

Literary thematic essay topics

• Explain the themes explained in the book �The Great Gatsby."
• Explain the major theme highlighted by Bernard Shaw in the novel �Arms and the man."
• What is the central theme in the poem �The Road not taken" by Robert Frost?
• Happer Lee discusses "innocence" in his novel To Kill a Mockingbird. What does he try to elaborate on?
• The civil war era.
• The slavery issue in America
• US-Russia relations
• The Cold War Period
• Industrial revolution in the USA
• International organizations

Read our article on the list of social issues and see if you can consider some controversial and current social issues for your topic ideation. 

Final Remarks!

As you wind up your thematic essay, ensure that everything is okay. Remove any spelling, stylistic, typographic, and grammatical errors.

Also, confirm is your central theme comes out clearly in the paper. You can hire an expert proofreader to help you spot and correct mistakes.

Thus far, we are sure you have the correct information that has set you up to write a great thematic essay by yourself. You can use this guide to research, plan, and write a quality paper.

Alternatively, you can hire an essay writer to write your thematic essay from Gradecrest. Our model essays are plagiarism-free, 100% unique, and top-quality.

You can also check sample essays online to get further inspiration. We believe that you will write an excellent paper from now on.

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

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A thematic essay is a type of writing assignment that focuses on a specific theme or topic. It requires you to identify a central theme, discuss it in detail, and make connections between various facts. Your main goal is to demonstrate understanding and interpretation of the given subject matter. This type of essay is commonly used in literature classes or history exams.

If you’ve got an assignment to write a theme essay, you might wonder where you should even start from. No worries, we’ve got you covered here! The first thing you must know about this specific type of paper is that it aims to analyze a certain well-known theme and make an interesting statement about it. Here, you must explain meaning and relevance or complexity of your topic. You should summarize details that support your conclusion. In this article, we will conduct a detailed review of theme essay concept. We will also provide you a step by step guide on how to write a proper one. Let's dive right into it!  

Thematic Essay Definition

Let’s start with defining what is a thematic essay and its purpose. In this type, one should select a thesis and form unique statement related to its aspects. You should write about it, explaining or elaborating to your audience the following:

• How is your statement related to your topic?
• Which important or interesting aspects does it highlight?
• What approaches and literary devices are you using for analysis ? How do you explain your general theme? This can be comparison, metaphor, personification etc.

When composing such an essay, you must formulate and defend your statement. Here, you will demonstrate abilities of analysis and literary devices usage. At least several paragraphs would be needed to display such skills properly.

Thematic Essay Outline: What's Inside

The best way to begin is creating a theme essay outline for your topic. An outline should contain all key parts, concepts and ideas of your paper. You should put it in a sketchy but logical manner. This way you'll quickly prepare a shortened version of your assignment. It will also help you in reviewing it. Adding missing points and correcting significant mistakes would be easier at this early stage. Outline should include all main essay parts:  

• Introduction
• Thesis statement
• Body section
• Conclusion.

Keeping it brief, you should not provide complete sentences to describe your statements, ideas and arguments. A few words would suffice for each important point. Purpose is to make it readable for yourself! You should review it quickly and spot any inconsistencies.

How to Write a Thematic Essay Step-By-Step

Now it is time to focus on how to write a theme analysis essay – the complete text from scratch. Is your goal to impress readers and achieve a good grade? Then it is important that you create a proper essay structure template and don't lose any of your key questions! Stay methodical and keep it logical! Make sure your audience is engaged and don’t disappoint them in the end. Below we’ll provide a general idea for each step of this process.

Step 1. Define the Topic for Your Thematic Essay

When it comes to choosing among thematic essay topics, it is important that you pick an interesting and maybe even a controversial one. At the same time, make sure you can actually provide some meaningful input about it. Your assignment should impress readers with detailed analysis and its author’s writing skills. That's why your chosen topic must provide enough material for that.  There is a diverse choice of topics. Choose the one you are really interested in whether it is  Bullying essay  or  Happiness essay . If you need some ideas for great essay topics, feel free to check out our other articles.  

Step 2. Create a Thematic Essay Outline

We've already covered the main points of theme essay outline concept. When writing it, include all the main parts of your future work. Keep it as short as possible, one paragraph per each key point will be enough. It isn’t even necessary to describe everything with complete sentences! A few words would suffice. Once done, review it first and make necessary corrections. It is advised to review an outline several times. That's how any noticeable gaps or mistakes would be spotted early.

Step 3. Start a Thematic Essay with a Hook

A good thematic essay introduction ought to captivate readers right from the start. That’s why it is always advised to add some ‘hook’ into it. You can begin with an unexpected statement, use wordplay or a plot twist. Then you can explain this in the main body part. This way your audience would be interested to hear those explanations. As a result, your paper will have better chances of success. Apart from that, introduction should contain the main statement and some information about its content.  

Step 4. Write Body Paragraphs for Your Theme Essay

Goal of thematic essay body is to answer all the questions stated in an introduction. You must elaborate the meaning of each key idea. Finally, display your usage of literary devices, as we’ve specified earlier. Common practice is to use at least one paragraph per a literary device disclosure. Besides, the main body is the right place to use all relevant sources that can support your analysis or provide you with helpful analogies. Keep the main body logical, so that every paragraph is somehow connected to the previous and the next ones.  

Step 5. Create a Thematic Essay Conclusion

A strong thematic essay conclusion should highlight all important points from tyourhe essay while avoiding adding new facts or evidence. Just restate your thesis, answer all questions and summarize your arguments. It might be also useful to leave some final note for readers with some deeper analysis of your topic. You can also highlight the need for further exploration of the chosen theme and thus to prepare readers for your future works on this topic.  

Step 6. Proofread Your Thematic Analysis Essay

After completing theme essay, it is highly recommended to review it thoroughly, even several times if possible. The goal is to find mistakes and to spot logical gaps or missing details. Even best essays typically have inconsistencies left at the early stage. Taking a fresh look at your text often reveals some issues. If possible, ask your friends or colleagues to review your text. They might notice something you could not.  

How to Format a Thematic Essay

When it comes to thematic essay format, you need to find out what are the requirements in your assignment or which format is common in the institution you will be presenting your essay for. In case no special requirements were made for you, just choose one of the most popular formats for scholarly papers:  

• APA paper format : typically used in natural sciences, education and psychology fields
• MLA: typically used for works in humanities
• Chicago: typically used in business, history, and fine arts fields.

Thematic Essay Example

Let’s illustrate the explanations above with a few theme essay examples. We’ll provide some real ones here so that your every question would be answered. Hopefully you’ll find some inspiration in these examples for your own winning paper! The examples can be found below. Please scroll down to find them.  

Thematic Essay: Final Thoughts

In this article we have explored the theme essay concept in detail. Its central purpose and main definition were examined and a step by step guide for writing a strong one was suggested. We’ve also provided a few working examples for your convenience. Hopefully, all this information will be useful for your scholarly endeavors!

Feel free to check out our  paper writing services ! We’ve got a team of skilled writers with expertise in different literary areas, ready to help you. They deliver high quality content, always on time.  

Frequently Asked Questions About Theme Essay

1. what is the thematic statement.

A thematic statement typically takes the place of a thesis in a thematic essay. It consists of 1-2 complete sentences that express a theme which you have chosen for your work. This statement must convey the main message and also show what analysis will be done. It should be brief however as most of the details are to be provided in the main body.

2. What is the goal of thematic essay?

The thematic essay goal is to express an idea or some insights about the surrounding world and to change readers' minds about certain issues. As an author, you are expected to illustrate the team, provide all necessary explanations and conduct an analysis if needed. Besides, you typically should demonstrate familiarity with some literary interpretations and methods which are used to examine your theme.

3. How long should a theme essay be?

The minimum length of a theme essay is five paragraphs. One is for introduction, one for conclusion and remaining three for the main body. Of course, it can be more than that, depending on the depth of the theme that was chosen. The main rule is to keep your essay logical and concise, avoiding adding too many details. Otherwise your audience might get tired and the effect produced by your writing would be damaged.

4. What is a thematic essay history?

Thematic essay (history class) should be written to analyze some historical facts or significance of specific literary pieces. A typical case is examining different aspects of a controversial leader from the past or a political event that has produced a number of various important consequences. Or you might argue about a specific role of a certain book during a certain period or its influence on different nations or cultural groups.

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

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How to Write a Thematic Essay With Explanations and Examples

• Icon Calendar 18 May 2024
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Thematic essays are common essay assignments in college across all disciplines. Basically, this guide begins with a definition of a thematic essay and provides sample topics for illustration. Next, the manual deconstructs the process of writing a thematic essay. Moreover, the guide covers three core stages of thematic essay writing: preliminary actions, establishing the paper’s foundation, and writing. Finally, the manual presents a sample outline and an example of a thematic essay to demonstrate a real writing situation where a student implements these guidelines of thematic paper writing correctly. Hence, students need to learn how to write a thematic essay.

Definition of a Thematic Essay

A thematic essay is a form of academic writing that requires an author to react to a particular question or theme. In this case, instructors expect students to develop a written reaction to a question or theme by connecting various pieces of information to reach a reasonable conclusion. Moreover, writing a thematic essay has a high demand for research and a critical examination of subtle relationships that exist between sources. Then, the research process yields a significant amount of information, which learners may use to generate numerous logical relationships that lead to rational inferences. Consequently, students may select any set of evidence with a clear, logical association provided that their central claim centers on a theme of interest.

Sample Topics for Writing Thematic Essays

• A pure democracy.
• Privacy rights in the big data age.
• Life in prison and the ex-convict experience.

2. Sociology

• Major parenting issues of the 21 st century.
• Thematic family bonds in immigrant families.
• Escaping the cycle of poverty.

3. Literature

• The thematic significance of a muse.
• Corruption in 18th-century short stories.
• Female authors who left a mark on classical literature.
• Memories of the holocaust.
• Landmines on the modern political landscape.
• The cause of the collapse of Middle East alliances in the 20 th century.

5. Psychology

• Teenage confidence after the thematic emergence of social media.
• The impact of abuse on the formation of relationships.
• The efficacy of proactive counseling.

How Do You Know if Your Paper Is Thematic?

A student can readily identify a thematic essay topic because it boldly pronounces a writing theme but does not hint at any specific point of view. In particular, the primary goal of a topic of a thematic essay is to inform readers of a theme rather than the particular approach of an author, which becomes more apparent in the introductory paragraph. Specifically, a thematic essay topic does not allow students to develop a particular supposition concerning a theme because authors realize there may be multiple points of view concerning the idea of a thematic essay.

3 Steps For Writing an Effective Thematic Essay

Step 1: preliminary actions, a. define a thematic topic.

The ability of students to define a topic is dependent on the extent to which they understand essay rubric and instructions. Basically, once learners receive thematic essay instructions, they should critically read their prompts to ensure they comprehend all demands of writing requirements. Then, writers should use keywords from their instructions to write one or more questions, which represent the expectations of instructors. Based on developed questions, students can create a topic that adequately captures the content of possible responses holistically. Also, authors must consider the information in the instructions, which establishes the leeway they have in the selection of a topic, for example, choose a theme not covered in-class readings.

B. Identify a Purpose for Writing a Thematic Essay

The procedure of identifying a purpose occurs in two distinct stages: the selection of a general goal and defining a specific purpose. Basically, authors may write a thematic essay to achieve two general purposes: explanation and persuasion. In this case, expectations of instructors influence the choice of the general purpose of a thematic essay to a large extent. After learners pick the general purpose for writing a paper, they should create a specific purpose that shows the particular effect their papers must have on readers. Mostly, writers generate a specific purpose from questions that represent thematic essay instructions. In turn, the early determination of the purpose is crucial because it affects the students’ approach to research and word choice during drafting.

C. Analyze an Audience

Before writing a thematic essay, students need to determine the characteristics and expectations of readers. Basically, knowledge concerning the characteristics and expectations of the audience is valuable because writing allows authors to understand the interaction between the characteristics and attitudes toward a topic, the readers’ level of expertise, and the significance of misconceptions, which aid in selecting the appropriate presentation approach. Specifically, learners can determine the most effective organization patterns, identify the best evidence, and employ an accepted documentation style. Moreover, students ensure a suitable level of explanation accompanies specialized writing terms that appear in a thematic essay.

D. Generate and Write Ideas

After learners define the purpose and comprehend the needs and traits of the audience, they begin to develop ideas for the content of a thematic essay. Mostly, thematic essay assignments for writing a particular subject focus on topics lecturers discuss in classrooms and other course readings. Consequently, students may generate ideas through brainstorming based on the relevant information from the unit and other related units they encounter during their schooling. During brainstorming, writers engage in idea mapping and clustering, which enables them to keep track of relationships between ideas.

Step 2: Establishing a Foundation for Writing a Thematic Essay

A. search for sources.

The author’s initial ideas regarding a topic act as the starting point for acquiring credible sources that support and refine those ideas. Basically, contemporary learners engage in electronic searches to find useful and reliable sources for thematic essays. In this case, students should begin their search on the library’s website, which provides them with material that is reliable for academic writing. Also, library search engines have complex filter functionalities, which make the process of searching for academic sources quite simple. Then, authors turn to open-web searches using Google Scholar or other public search engines that generate a significantly larger number of sources. However, some articles may not be accessible to students. Moreover, the burden of determining the reliability of sources falls on authors when they use open-web search engines. In turn, students rely entirely on keywords or keyword combinations to generate working bibliographies.

B. Evaluate Sources Before Writing

Working bibliographies undergo an intensive evaluation process to establish whether they meet the necessary quality standards for inclusion in writing a college-level thematic essay. In this case, the evaluation process involves two primary stages: relevance determination and reliability test. During relevance determination, authors should examine each source by using three criteria:

• The level of attention that the source gives to the topic.
• The suitability of the sources’ sophistication to the purpose and audience’s needs.
• Impact of publication date on the relevance of its information.

Next, the reliability test investigates five critical writing aspects:

• The origin of the thematic source.
• The level of expertise of authors.
• Biases of a source in the context of existing literature.
• Availability and quality of the evidence supporting the source’s claims.
• Objectivity in the presentation of the author’s claims and handling of evidence.

C. Write a Thematic Annotated Bibliography

At this point, the revised working bibliography now contains fewer sources that are relevant and reliable. In particular, students should engage in critical reading of all sources in the working bibliography to identify useful pieces of information they may incorporate into a thematic essay. After reading each source, learners write an annotation that contains a summary of a source, ideas for using this source, and an assessment of this source. Besides the three main elements of an annotated bibliography entry, writers may choose to mention specific pieces of evidence, which are the most significant contributions of a source to a thematic essay. Typically, writers develop an annotated bibliography from notes they make as they read through a text.

D. Develop an Outline

Based on an annotated bibliography, students create an essay outline. Basically, the content of an annotated bibliography entry allows learners to develop relationships between sources, which is essential because it begins to shape an essay structure. In this case, writers identify and group sources that support a general point, which splits a body of a thematic essay into discernible sections. Then, authors break down each general point into specific points that can exist as a body paragraph and assign appropriate sources to individual body paragraphs. Furthermore, scholars logically organize particular points and establish some form of flow within each section of a body paragraph. In turn, writers document the organization of general and specific ideas and the distribution of evidence in a list, like a format that allows for easy identification of hierarchy.

Step 3: Writing a Thematic Essay

A. design a working thesis.

A student develops a working thesis statement, which presents his or her central claim. Basically, questions that writers derive from assignment instructions and specific minor arguments listed in a thematic essay outline are the main pieces of information they use to generate a thesis statement. Initially, writing a working thesis statement may appear as a simple combination of individual responses to assignment questions in the context of the information that forms an outline. However, authors must unite individual answers under a specific inference that demonstrates the significance of writing a thematic essay. Also, a working thesis statement undergoes multiple revisions, which occur randomly during the writing process.

B. Review an Outline

Once an author writes a working thesis statement, a person subjects an informal outline to a revision that results in the creation of a formal outline for a thematic essay. Basically, body paragraphs of a thematic essay are building blocks for a central claim. Consequently, learners must review an informal outline to ensure there is an apparent logical build-up to the inference, which they announce in a written thesis statement. During this review, students focus on the organization of minor arguments to ensure that body paragraphs contain a single minor idea while maintaining a rational relationship with other body paragraphs. Moreover, writing a formal outline contains a systematic arrangement where information with the same level of significance or roles has identical indentation or numbering.

C. Select Sources for Writing

Based on writing a formal outline, students make a final assessment of sources for each body paragraph. In particular, a formal outline contains some changes in its organization and the framing of minor arguments of a thematic essay. Also, these changes may affect the relevance of sources to each body paragraph’s argument. Then, the subdivision or merging of minor arguments may cause some sources to become inadequate because they do not extensively cover new minor ideas. Therefore, writers should check the suitability of each source to arguments it supports to ensure each source provides strong, relevant, and accurate evidence before commencing the drafting process.

D. Draft a Thematic Paper

During the drafting stage, authors expand a thematic outline into a complete paper by changing statements and brief notes into coherent paragraphs. Basically, there is no fixed approach to the drafting of a thematic essay because students may start writing at any point in a thematic essay with the aid of a formal outline. Nonetheless, it is an excellent practice for learners to begin drafting from a paragraph they understand the best because it ensures writers waste very little time trying to overcome the fear of creating the first draft. In turn, scholars should allocate adequate time for drafting.

How to Perfect a Thematic Essay

1. revision, a. self-critic.

After completing the first draft, students undertake a self-conducted revision process, which involves rethinking and rewriting. Basically, the process of revision focuses on the evaluation of the evidence and organization of body paragraphs to ensure they support a working thesis statement entirely. Further, learners revisit a working thesis statement to refine its wording and the claim it presents. Before starting the revision process, writers should take a break, which allows a human brain to reset and attain a higher level of objectivity while revising. Moreover, scholars should use a checklist to reduce the risk of overlooking various crucial thematic essay dynamics during individual revision.

B. Peer Review

The individual revision process identifies the apparent flaws in content presentation, but numerous flaws may go unnoticed due to the authors’ subconscious biases concerning their writing styles. As a result, students should subject their thematic essays to a peer review by a classmate, tutor, parent, or writing center staff. In this case, learners should select a peer reviewer that best represents a member of the target audience. Moreover, authors may provide peer reviewers with a checklist to guide them through the revision process, especially if a person is not an expert editor. Then, students should assign adequate time to the peer review process to allow reviewers to carry out the revision task comfortably. In turn, once writers receive feedback from peer reviewers, they consider comments when making the final revision of a paper.

A. Clarity and Effectiveness

The first consideration in the editing process is the clarity and effectiveness of sentences in a thematic essay. Basically, authors should edit each sentence to ensure statements convey the intended meaning to readers. In this case, it is advisable to focus on six clarity issues, which are the most common in writing thematic papers: lack of parallelism, dangling modifiers, vague references to pronouns, incomplete sentences, and incorrect separation of sentences. Besides clarity, learners should evaluate the efficacy of each statement separately and as part of a paragraph. In turn, the effectiveness of writing statements revolves around the smoothness of transitions, conciseness, variability in sentence structure and length, the distinctiveness of the author’s voice, and emphasis on core ideas.

B. Surface Errors

The subsequent stage of the editing process involves editing for thematic surface and documentation errors. In particular, students should strive to eliminate all surface errors because they divert the readers’ attention to meaning, although some writing errors do not necessarily change the meaning of sentences. For example, learners can edit surface errors by using six-item criteria: spelling errors, comma splices, sentence fragments, verb errors, punctuation errors, and pronoun errors. Moreover, students should not attempt to conduct clarity and effectiveness editing simultaneously with surface error editing, which may result in poor writing because of the extensive nature of rules governing the English language. In turn, the final step in editing a thematic essay is the correction of any documentation errors while referring to the appropriate style manual.

Sample Outline for Writing a Thematic Essay

I. introduction.

A. Hook sentence. B. Background information. C. Thematic thesis statement.

A. First paragraph

1. The idea for writing the first thematic paragraph. 2. Evidence supporting this paragraph’s claim. 3. Interpretation and analysis of evidence.

• First specific deduction from evidence.
• Second specific deduction from evidence.

4. A concluding statement that demonstrates the link between the first paragraph’s claim and thesis statement.

B. Second body paragraph

1. The idea for writing the second thematic paragraph. 2. Evidence supporting this paragraph’s claim. 3. Interpretation and analysis of evidence.

4. A concluding statement that demonstrates the link between the second paragraph’s claim and thesis statement.

C. Third body paragraph

1. The idea for writing the third thematic paragraph. 2. Evidence supporting this paragraph’s claim. 3. Interpretation and analysis of evidence.

4. A concluding statement that demonstrates the link between the third paragraph’s claim and thesis statement.

III. Conclusion

A. Restatement of the thesis statement written in a thematic essay. B. Summary of the three minor arguments in the body paragraphs. C. Closing remarks emphasizing the significance of the central claim in the context of the three minor arguments.

Commentary on a Thematic Essay Outline

1. identify a central theme.

The audience can determine the central theme of a thematic essay from a thesis statement or an overview of topic statements. Basically, writing a well-composed thesis statement must explicitly mention the central theme or implicitly hint at the central theme. Alternatively, the audience can read through topic sentences and correctly speculate the central theme of a thematic essay because minor arguments in individual body paragraphs are building blocks of a thesis statement. However, the readers’ ability to identify the central theme from a formal outline is dependent on their pre-existing knowledge concerning a topic because an outline uses statements and annotations with writing little explanation.

2. Uniqueness

A thematic essay stands out from other types of essays because of the high level of freedom that writers enjoy during authorship. During the writing of a thematic essay, authors can choose any purpose or a combination of purposes to use in different sections of 5 parts of an essay, which is a luxury that argumentative essays and expository essays do not extend to writers. Also, essay instructions for writing a thematic essay tend to define a broad scope for research, which implies that authors may develop a wide variety of arguments. In turn, the expansive nature of the subject of a paper is not present for argumentative essays, which forces students to choose one of the two sides of a controversial issue.

Outlining a Thematic Essay

The introduction section is the first part of a thematic essay, which consists of three main elements: hook, background information, and thesis statement. Firstly, a hook is the first statement of any paper that plays the role of capturing the audience’s attention through creative wording, which gives them a reason to read the entire paper. Since students know how to write a hook, they provide the essential background information that readers require to understand a thesis statement. Moreover, the background information element does not have a fixed length. Instead, it is dependent on the complexity of a thesis statement and the overall length of a thematic essay. Also, writing a thesis statement is the final item of the introductory paragraph. In turn, the length of introductions is approximately 10% of the essay’s word count.

II. Body Paragraphs

A. topic sentence.

A topic sentence contains a minor claim that an author discusses within a paragraph. For example, its primary role is to establish content boundaries, which ensures students focus on a particular idea in each paragraph. Moreover, a topic statement should present a minor argument and mention a relation that it has to the central idea of writing a thematic essay or make a tacit suggestion of its link to a thesis statement. Therefore, writers should avoid the use of in-text citations in a topic statement because it implies that an idea is not original.

B. Evidence

After a topic sentence, students unveil the evidence that supports their claims. In college writing, an in-text citation should accompany any evidence that learners introduce into a thematic essay to direct readers to its origin. Also, learners should rely heavily on summary and paraphrasing in their writing, as opposed to direct quotations from sources. Nevertheless, some thematic essay instructions may specify a particular technique writers must use when integrating evidence into a paper.

C. Evaluation

This element of a paragraph structure allows authors to explain the significance of the evidence to the paragraph’s argument. In this section of a thematic essay, students provide an interpretation of the evidence, which informs the audience of the meaning of the evidence in the context of a source text. Then, writers explain the value of the evidence in developing a reasonable justification for the idea proposed in topic sentences. In turn, learners should avoid the inclusion of lengthy pieces of evidence because it creates a situation where the voice of sources is more dominant than the author’s voice.

D. Concluding Statement

A concluding statement emphasizes the logical relationship that exists between the topic sentence, evidence, evaluation, and thesis statement. In some cases, it may establish the relationship of a paragraph with the preceding paragraph. Also, students should ensure a concluding sentence of a paragraph does not contain a meaningless summary of the key pieces of evidence. Then, a concluding statement of a thematic essay must not contain any new evidence because there is no opportunity to explain the contribution of the evidence in supporting the paragraph’s argument.

A concluding paragraph has three critical features: a restatement of the main claim, a summary of minor arguments, and closing remarks. Basically, the opening statement of a thematic essay reminds students of the central argument by using new words and syntax. After the opening statement, learners summarize minor claims that appear in individual body paragraphs while maintaining a logical organization, which is identical to the arrangement of ideas in the body. Finally, authors write a strong closing statement that knits together the introduction, thesis statement, and minor claims to create a lasting impression on the audience. Moreover, students should ensure they do not introduce new evidence or arguments in a concluding paragraph. In turn, authors must not apologize for a lack of expertise on a topic or make absolute claims because it diminishes the efficacy of writing a good conclusion.

Example of Writing a Thematic Essay

Topic: Recruitment of Terrorists

I. Sample Introduction of a Thematic Essay

Terrorism is a global problem, which appears to be spreading despite an increment in the efforts to suppress its growth. Basically, the prevention of recruitment is a crucial counterterrorism strategy. Moreover, its efficacy is dependent on the understanding of the terrorists’ recruitment techniques. In turn, the terrorist groups’ recruitment methods focus on the target’s identity crisis, which puts a potential member at risk of falling for the ‘appeal’ of terrorism.

II. Examples of Body Paragraphs in a Thematic Essay

A. motivation.

An individual’s desire to be part of a movement that is effecting a radical change in society is a significant motivator for participation in terrorism. For example, recent studies show that terrorist groups begin conversations with most young recruits on social media platforms, which discuss topics concerning social, political, and economic oppression (Jacks, 2020). Basically, this finding suggests that young people in contemporary society have a desire to correct the ‘wrongs’ in society as a means of identity. Consequently, terrorists use the increased sensitivity to social injustices as a common ground to initiate and build a relationship with a prospective recruit. In turn, the youth’s strong desire to do something to stop social injustices that their respective governments ignore leaves them vulnerable to radicalization by terrorist groups.

B. Religious Beliefs

Fanatical religious belief may drive an individual to support or participate in terrorism for the sake of being part of a group. According to Mohammed (2020), the constant pressure from religious parents causes the blind indoctrination of adolescents and young adults, which enables recruiters from terrorist groups to present religious concepts as justifications for terrorism, for example, the holy war. In this case, Mohammed concedes that the mosque is an ideal site for the recruitment of terrorism because of the presence of youth with highly impressionable minds. Moreover, youths depend on teachings at places of worship for knowledge that defines their perspective of the world. As a result, terrorist recruiters disguised as spiritual leaders can easily nurture fanatical beliefs that endorse terrorist activities. Eventually, a feeling of separation from the conservative believers pushes them to pursue groups that share their fanatical religious beliefs.

C. Recruiting

The loss of a family member to counterterrorism activities may act as a motivation factor for grievers who are trying to re-establish their identities because they no longer fit into the traditional social structures. For instance, Tobias (2020) argues that recruiters prey on the pain of grieving family members by offering them retribution as a solution to the overwhelming feeling of incompleteness. After the death of a family member, the emotional turmoil increases the susceptibility of individuals to the idea that terrorist acts are an appropriate response to the ‘killers’ of their loved ones. Often, recruitment occurs during this unstable state and encourages the individual to relive the pain each day, which results in the permanent erosion of their former identity. Accordingly, grievers may find themselves as sympathizers of terrorism, which leads to active or passive participation.

III. Sample Conclusion of a Thematic Essay

Most members of terrorist organizations experience an identity crisis at the time of recruitment. Basically, the need to gain membership to a group that fights against social injustices tolerates fanatical religious beliefs or seeks revenge for the death of loved ones is a sign that identity crisis is a common characteristic in recruits. In turn, current counterterrorism initiatives should seek to break the cycle of recruitment, which will weaken terrorist groups.

Takeaway on How to Write a Good Thematic Essay

• Students should define a narrow writing topic to guide them in generating ideas in response to a thematic paper prompt.
• The characteristics and expectations of the audience are vital in determining an appropriate presentation approach.
• Before drafting a thematic essay, authors must write a formal outline and annotated bibliography, which are critical for organization and evidence selection.
• The maintenance of a high level of fluidity during drafting is critical during drafting because it allows writers to experiment with different styles of expression.
• Revision and editing are aspects of the writing process that a student should not take lightly.
• All body paragraphs must adhere to the four-element paragraph structure.
• The conclusion of a thematic essay should not contain any new evidence or arguments.
• Learners must write a thesis statement that captures a theme that instructors highlight in essay prompts.

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Table of contents

• 1 What Is a Thematic Essay?
• 2.1 Introduction
• 2.2 Body Paragraphs
• 2.3 Conclusion
• 3.1 Prepare
• 3.2 Take Notes
• 3.3 Write a Perfect Thematic Essay Introduction
• 3.4 Generate the Main Section
• 3.5 Develop a Perfect Thematic Essay Conclusion and edit your work
• 4.1 How is the dog-human relationship portrayed in the Call of the Wild novel?
• 5.1 What is a good hook for a thematic essay?
• 5.2 How to Write a Thesis for a Thematic Essay?
• 5.3 What is a Perfect Topic Sentence for a Thematic Paper?
• 5.4 What is the difference between a Theme Essay and a Research Paper?

Writing a great thematic essay can be difficult, especially when you are unsure about the topic you want to write about. All you do is find a good thesis statement and ensure you start strong, so readers keep reading.

To get a clear thematic essay definition and what makes it good, we first need to know what makes a good thesis statement . It is the first sentence of your paper that states the main point. It should be clear, concise, and compelling. But are there are tricks on how to compose an excellent thematic paper? What should you do to get the perfect thematic paper? Read on to understand how to write a theme essay.

What Is a Thematic Essay?

A thematic essay is one of the types of academic writing  that focuses on a single topic and analyzes it from various angles. It can be about anything from the environment to something as personal as a person’s life story.

A thematic essay is not just about what you have to say; it’s also about how you say it. This is a similarity this type of paper shares with discursive texts. You must create an authentic voice. If you are good at writing a perfect discursive essay , you are probably good with the thematic kind.

In a thematic essay, the author develops the main ideas of literature using literary devices and techniques like personification, imagery, foreshadowing, etc. Skilled writers tend to identify the main topic, comment on the paper’s literary strategy, and convey the theme’s relevance.

Thematic Essay Outline

This outline gives you a structure and table of contents to follow. The paper outline helps you answer all the assignment questions and organize your points.

Outlines enable you to effectively compare various data and create a thorough and cohesive subject analysis. Some styles could have less strict writing guidelines, like entrepreneurship essay writing, allowing for greater formatting styles innovation. When generating a thematic paper, you need at least five paragraphs. These paragraphs should entail an introduction, body and conclusion format.

Introduction

When developing a thematic paper, focus on your outline: Get a concept of the thesis and how the body will support it. Understand how to synthesize all the information before writing your theme essay.

For the paper’s intro, you must include the thesis statement and relevant background data. Your framework sets the stage for future investigation for responding to a particular query, expressing a specific opinion, or describing why and how something operates. It informs the audience about the main points of your work and what will come next.

This segment should also be captivating enough to reel the reader in and urge them to read more. It is the hook that raises interest, stirs debates, or even poses a simple query to the reader. It offers your thematic essay a focus and a clear goal.

Body Paragraphs

The five-paragraph thematic essay format stipulates a basic framework to follow. Ensure the body has three paragraphs. To make your paper more interesting, include extra illustrative details or instances if it does not have a length requirement. If this seems hard, you can still hire a theme essay writer or expert and pay for your essay to get perfect results.

A thematic essay should be brief and free of wordiness. As the paper’s author, you should concentrate on one sub-topic or argument. The number of body paragraphs for confirming each assertion or outlining the reasoning of the thematic essay might vary. Such variation depends on the intricacy of the topics.

This section strengthens the thesis rather than merely restating it. Therefore, avoid introducing fresh information not covered in the text. Instead, summarize the data discussed in the paper and quickly review the central assertions.

How to Write a Thematic Essay?

Here are the tricks to learn how to write a theme-based essay:

Before writing your paper, find all the source elements and materials you will utilize. Some of the preparation elements may include:

• Reading literature abstract
• Recordings from results of discussions
• Your consideration of the paper’s theme
• Finding the perfect topics

Process all the available materials (arguments, reasoning, and organization) properly to get supporting evidence to support your topics.

When going through source materials, take notes. Taking notes helps you pay more attention to the content you are reading to gain crucial information related to your topic. From the notes, you can easily filter what is relevant and generate your understanding of the literary devices you are using.

Write a Perfect Thematic Essay Introduction

When developing a perfect intro, include a brief description of your approach and understanding of the topic. Mention your goals or what you will cover in the thematic essay. Additionally, include a literary device that plays an important role in the task.

Generate the Main Section

The main part of your paper assumes the generation of the paper’s analysis. It entails the paper’s primary information. At this stage, you should describe your topics.

Develop a Perfect Thematic Essay Conclusion and edit your work

This section is fundamental when you are writing a theme essay. Include a summary of your analysis while writing this section. Make it brief.

After writing the theme essay, review it again to fix any mistakes. You can also give the paper to a friend to confirm any errors. Sometimes you can go online and type, “I want to edit my essay, please help.” You will get online resources to help you fix your professional essay. These resources help individuals edit their theme-based essays to perfection.

How to Write a Thematic Essay: Thematic Essay Example

Here is a sample thematic paper that you can work with:

How is the dog-human relationship portrayed in the Call of the Wild novel?

Dogs are men’s best friends with connected feelings. However, this is a cliché since everyone knows dogs’ role in our lives. We can have police dogs, hunting dogs, guide dogs, herding dogs, etc. This isn’t different from the roles that bucks play. Usually, human beings reciprocate the devotion offered to them with friendship. But is the friendship that humans provide sufficient for the adoration that the dog gives? In Call of the wild, there is a human that shows that humans can provide more than companionship and friendship.

At the start of the Call of the wild, we can see that the crucial part that Buck plays to the Miller family exceeds that of a pet. Buck is relied upon to be a pretty reliable protector and companion. Elmo and Buck were consistent protectors and hunters. No wonder their owner treated them well. However, one expression showed Buck the fierce side of life.

We see how humans tend to treat dogs ruthlessly. They forced the dogs to pull very heavy weights even though they were tired and cold. Moreover, the dogs weren’t compensated sufficiently with food and sleep even though they worked hard each day.

Later on, John Thornton saves Buck and his friends. And for the first time, these dogs experienced true love, the love they were missing while under the care of Judge Miller. Therefore, Buck heads back to Thornton with total devotion. After a while, Thornton dies. Buck joins a pack of wolves. But even when in the pack, Buck always returns to where Thornton died to mourn his loving master.

At the end of the story, we can see that death and time aren’t a hindrance for dogs to show their feelings to their master. Indeed, dogs offer more than love to their masters.

What is a good hook for a thematic essay?

A good hook for a thematic paper should be intriguing to grab the reader’s attention. Moreover, it should introduce the main subject for the theme essay.

How to Write a Thesis for a Thematic Essay?

To write the thesis statement, you should capture the following elements:

• Author (if you know them)
• A simple reference to a certain conflict in the story

What is a Perfect Topic Sentence for a Thematic Paper?

A strong topic sentence should be clear and indicate what to expect in the entire paper. However, it should be brief to avoid giving everything away. Moreover, you should review multiple topics to find the right one.

What is the difference between a Theme Essay and a Research Paper?

A theme paper is short and only includes around five paragraphs. Research papers tend to be pretty long, reaching around eight pages. However, as an author, you can gain help in both of these papers using online writing help by Papersowl . The company has experts who work on your paper and ensure you get perfect results.

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How to Write a Thematic Essay: The Complete Guide

by  Antony W

September 12, 2022

In this guide, you'll learn exactly how to write a thematic essay step-by-step.

Thematic essays, or theme essays, require you to really examine a literary object such as a book, journal, paper, or other art form and pick out the main ideas (themes).

You will then explain how these themes are brought on and what literary devices are used to do that.

Key Takeaways 

To write an outstanding theme essay, you should: 

• Select a literary work to base your thematic analysis on.
• Choose a primary theme.
• Identify supporting evidence and literary devices   used.
• Plan and outline the essay.
• Write the first draft.
• Edit and proofread your work for submission.

What is a Thematic Essay? 

A thematic essay is a one in which you identify the main idea (theme) expressed in a chosen literary object and explore how the writer of that literature chooses to address that theme through various literary devices.

The devices can be metaphors, hyperbole, imagery, allegory, and many others.

Writing a thematic analysis essay is a great way to learn how to pick out themes in the literature you read as well as how to improve your writing skills.

A thematic essay will be at least five paragraphs long , but usually longer depending on the complexity of the work being reviewed.

You can write a thematic essay based on a book, a speech, a magazine article, a video, audio, or any other art form.

Choosing a Theme for a Thematic Essay 

Choosing the main idea or theme of such a work is not a straightforward process.

It is highly subjective, and what you consider the main theme in a book may not be somebody else’s.

You have to make sure that what you pick as your main theme is fully supported throughout the book and makes significant appearances in most chapters, if not all of them.

How to Write a Thematic Essay Step by Step 

Writing a thematic essay is easy. You just have to: 

1. Choose a Literary Object

If your instructor does not provide the topic, think back to a book or article that made a strong impression to you, or think about your favorite pieces of literature.

Another option is to brainstorm. Brainstorming hardly fails, especially if you incorporate the help of your friends and even your instructor.

Collect different ideas and be sure to write each of them down, no matter how unlikely they sound. From there, eliminate most of these the following criteria:

• The topic should be interesting and captivating. Avoid those that are too common and overly used in academia unless you can provide a fresh twist or insight.
• The topic needs to have one or more important themes running through.
• It should be a literary work that is relatively well known and in the public domain.
• Some of the shorter works are best because they guarantee your essay won’t be too long.

This process will likely leave you with one or two possible topics, but make sure to confirm with your instructor that what you choose to focus on is acceptable.

2. Find a Relevant Theme

A theme is a significant idea that recurs throughout the literary work you have chosen. You can think of it as the main message the author is trying to pass across. 

There are major and minor themes differentiated by how much attention the author gives to each.

For the best outcome, your theme should be one of the major themes addressed throughout the work.

There are a few things you can do to figure out what major themes are present: 

• As you read the work, note and write down what tone, setting, language styles, and characterization the writer is using.
• What is the plot of the book and what does it lead to? Think about what you would tell somebody else about the book.
• Identify who the protagonist (main character) is and what they represent. Do they change at all in the book? 

For example, in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch does not change and represents morality, love, fairness, and good reason to the end.

• Put yourself in the author’s shoes and observe from their point of view. What message do you think they want to pass on as the most important?

3. Pick Material for the Essay

Read through the book again with the main theme in mind.

See how the author plays with it, what literary devices are used to highlight their thematic approach, and write down all these for reference.

What you are doing at this stage is a literary analysis.

The tools in the author’s hands include character development, mood, setting, irony, allegory, simile, alliteration, symbolism, metaphor, among many others.

Think about how effective these tools are in shining the light upon the main theme. It helps to read between the lines as well because sometimes the most important thing is what the author leaves unsaid.

4. Planning: Thematic Essay Outline 

A thematic essay is very simple and straightforward. Like most essays, it will have an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Each of these parts should be considered carefully in the planning stage and map out which ideas will go where.

Introduction

The introduction serves to catch the reader’s interest, set the background, and mention what exactly you intend to discuss in the essay.

The first one or two sentences should be a hook, that is, a statement that will be intriguing enough to make the reader want to keep reading. It can be a clever observation, a surprising statement, or even a relevant question.

Second, provide a very brief background on which to build your essay.

However, you will be assuming that the reader has already read the literary work that is the subject of the essay. So you don’t have to give too much detail.

In winding up the introductory, write your thesis statement . This is a one-sentence statement that tells the reader what your essay is about.

However, don’t say it like this: “My thesis statement is ... “ Instead, let the introduction flow and link smoothly up to this point.

Body paragraphs

You will have three or more body paragraphs detailing your arguments about the main theme. In a thematic essay, each of the body paragraphs will be focusing on one literary device and how it is useful in presenting the theme message.

As with most essays, body paragraphs will follow the TEEL format. 

• Topic Sentence : The introductory sentence introduces the idea that the paragraph is about. Think of it as a mini-thesis statement. The rest of the paragraph will be explaining and supporting this one statement.
• Explanation:  Explain your topic idea clearly.
• Evidence : Give compelling evidence for your claims. It can be a quote, a direct observation, similar use of the same method elsewhere in the book, a citation from an authoritative work, etc.
• Link : Show how the idea you just described links with the rest of the essay and thesis statement. Again, you won’t say, “this idea relates to my thesis statement because …” Instead, let the whole paragraph flow smoothly and seamlessly.

The number of body paragraphs will depend on how much evidence you have collected. However, make sure to keep within the reasonable word count parameters as given by your instructor.

Recap the main arguments in your body and restate your thesis statement.

The purpose of the conclusion is to give your “take-home” argument, what you feel the reader should retain from the whole work.

Customize your theme essay outline accordingly; don’t make it as generic as this example here.

Fill it with details like what ideas you will include in your first paragraph, what your thesis statement will be, and what your introduction hook is. With this thematic essay format, you are now ready to do the write-up.

5. Write the Essay

With a good outline, writing a thematic essay becomes a piece of cake. You will simply be fleshing out the template.

6. Proofreading and Revision

Make sure to read through your essay at least twice.

Note how well your ideas flow, how the arguments and evidence presented link back to the thesis statement, and of course, clear any grammatical errors. 

Thematic Essay Writing Help 

If you don’t have the time to read your subject thoroughly and analytically, you can hire Help for Assessment’s  essay writing service .  We have a suitable writer that can help you get the assignment completed on time. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. how do you start a theme essay.

The introduction of your theme essay should be an intriguing hook about the subject you wish to discuss.

Ensure the hook is concise and strong enough to grab your reader’s attention.

2. What are the Elements of a Thematic Essay? 

The elements of a thematic essay are the introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion.

Ensure the introduction includes a thesis statement. The body paragraphs should support the thesis using relevant examples, evidence, and arguments.

Lastly, the conclusion should be logical enough to tie everything together at the end.

3. What is the Main Point of a Thematic Essay? 

The main point of a thematic essay is to identify themes from a source, present a theme statement, and address a specific issue within the requirement of the assignment. 

About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

How to Write a Thematic Essay?

06 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Kate Smith

The road to graduation from any educational institution is lined with essays and written assignments – and the majority of these happen to be thematic essays, as they are supposed to demonstrate that the students understand the topic or material well. A thematic essay is almost as old as writing is, for it focuses on investigating a topic to provide detailed analysis and evidence of why a certain claim can be made.

What is a Thematic Essay?

Although this type of essay is commonly used to analyze some historical facts or a specific literary piece and its significance, a thematic essay can be assigned on a variety of subjects. It is also a traditional classroom essay that may be a part of different exams, so students may be required to craft a thematic essay within limited time, sticking to the topic provided. This is the main reason why they consider thematic essays difficult, but whenever there’s a longer deadline and a choice of topics, the writing process is easier.

However, there’s an important thing that everyone who’s wondering ‘what is a thematic essay?’ needs to know. This type of essay mainly lets the teacher determine your knowledge of the material, and it should demonstrate your comprehension of the topic that you can back up with solid arguments and relevant examples. But proper structure is just as essential to your writing as the scope of the topic. All of the points you want to make, as well as the supporting evidence must be organized in a clear, consecutive way. If your essay lacks focus or is illogical in its organization, your readers will not be able to recognize neither the thoroughness of your research, nor the significance of your critical thinking. They might even have trouble following what evidence you found to help you arrive at a certain conclusion.

How to Find and Explore the Central Theme?

To tackle this type of essay, you often have to narrow down a topic that’s too broad before getting started on your writing. A theme is what an author portrays in a literary work, or the specific point the author is making. Often, it is the most frequently discussed one, or it is a lesson of the greatest overall significance that can be derived from the work and applied to our lives. Thus, to effectively plan out how you are going to write a thematic essay, identify the theme first. Focus on the main point the author is trying to make about a particular subject, the message he is trying to convey, why it is relevant or important at the moment, and the way the reader can benefit from it.

That’s why having a place to start and an outline to follow lays the groundwork for your thematic essay. It is the most important step in the entire essay writing process.

Thematic Essay Outline

By using an outline to shape your essay, you have a format to follow that ensures knowledge of the topic, addressing all the questions of the assignment, and keeping all of the points you want to make well-organized. A thematic essay outline lets you effectively draw parallels between different facts, formulate a coherent and detailed evaluation of the topic, and see whether something in the essay is lacking or needs to be rearranged and revised.

Some essay types may have less rigid layouts and writing requirements, allowing for more creativity and freedom when it comes to formatting. However, this is not the case with instructions on how to write a thematic essay. Just as with other traditional essays, there should be at least five paragraphs in a thematic essay, including an introduction with a thesis statement, three body paragraphs that will support your thesis with relevant arguments and examples, and a logical conclusion to wrap everything up at the end.

Introduction 

Generally, to write a thematic essay you need to have an idea of what your thesis will be, how your body paragraphs will prove it, and how you are going to summarize all of the arguments detailed in the body of the essay in your conclusion. The introduction has to present the main subject of your essay as well as any necessary background information and your thesis statement. At the same time, it should be interesting enough to make the reader want to learn more about the topic. The opening sentence of the introduction is often referred to as a ‘hook’ because it is supposed to grab the reader’s attention. For this purpose, it can evoke anticipation, controversy, irony, or ask a question. The thesis statement is very important because it gives your topic a direction and a specific purpose.

The thesis statement lays the ground for further analysis, for answering a specific question, asserting an opinion or explaining how and why something works (or has worked/failed to produce an expected result). Think of your thesis statement as a compelling and concise headline that gives the reader a good idea of what the rest of the paper is about and what to expect next. It should be engaging, but not confusing to your audience. Have you ever been extremely disappointed by reading an article or watching a movie because it wasn’t what the headline, magazine cover or a movie trailer promised it to be? To make sure your reader doesn’t feel like that, you want your thesis to be integral to the essay and to all of the evidence that you provide in the following body paragraphs. Quite often, a thesis statement needs a few revisions to acquire more focus and clarity as you add the body paragraphs to your thematic essay.

Body paragraphs 

While the 5-paragraph structure gives you a basic layout to work with, it should have three body paragraphs because the thesis must be supported by at least three significant arguments. However, unless the essay has a required length, you can include more supporting facts or examples. There may be more body paragraphs than just three, depending on the details of the assignment or the points you are required to address, but keep in mind that your essay should be concise and devoid of wordiness. Usually, the essay writer should focus on one point or sub-topic per paragraph, but depending on the complexity of the topic, the quantity of paragraphs for validating each claim or explaining your reasoning may vary. 

You can think of body paragraphs as building blocks that include expert quotes or specific examples to add weight to them, as well as to your arguments. This is the ‘meat of your essay’ as long as you make sure that you explain the logic behind each quotation or evidence supporting your claim, and that it is in sync with your thesis statement. Such connections are essential as they tie not only the evidence and arguments, but an entire essay together. 

The conclusion is not simply a reiterated thesis, but a reinforced one. However, it’s important to keep in mind that it should not introduce any new facts not discussed in the body of a thematic essay. The conclusion has to summarize the information presented in the essay, briefly going over the main ideas or claims and explaining how they influence your thesis. Finally, it should wrap up your essay in the most meaningful way, emphasizing the significance and relevance of your topic.

Thematic Essay Examples

Check the examples of thematic essays to use as writing models:

https://www.template.net/business/essay/five-paragraph-essay-template/

Thematic essay topics

To sum up, reading some properly structured thematic essay examples may be the most helpful tip for understanding what your essay should look like, and how to organize your thoughts into a logical sequence. Besides, a list of the most commonly used thematic essay topics is a frequent search query along with ‘thematic essay examples’, as it helps students to get an idea of what to expect at exams.

US History Thematic Essay

In this essay, there will be fewer words that address the reader. The purpose of this writing is to present a balanced analysis of a topic based on facts, explaining a topic in a logical and straightforward manner.

US History thematic essay example topics:

• Major movements in U.S. history
• Major advances in U.S. history
• Significant government reforms
• U.S. Presidents and their major decisions 
• U.S. wars and conflicts

Global Regents Thematic Essay 

These topics are likely to feature broad concepts, but they usually include tasks and suggestions that are more specific. In your essay, you are supposed to address this detailed task and the issues, concepts or questions it prompts you to explain or interpret. Using examples from your course of global history or geography is also required in your thematic essay. 

Global Regents thematic essay example topics:

• Impact of colonizations on world history
• Migrations of people and their effects
• Major characteristics of world civilizations
• Cultures and their contributions
• Economic Systems
• Political Systems
• The turning points in history (revolutions, conflicts, wars)
• Revolutions and clashing of ideas
• Revolutions and new discoveries
• Scientific development
• Technological progress
• Human rights: impactful leaders and their ideas
• Human rights violations

Belief Systems Thematic Essay

A belief system is a way a group or an individual regards religious or philosophical principles. The beliefs that have formed major religions or a mainstay of a civilization may be similar or different, but each belief system has influenced the lives of its followers as well as the history, culture, politics, or economy of a specific nation or country.

Belief Systems thematic essay example topics:

• How belief systems influenced ancient civilizations?
• How did a belief form a religion?
• Cultures as systems of interconnections between humans
• The role of religion in Ancient Roman society
• The three major monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam
• Judaism: the first monotheistic religion
• The personal belief system and life values
• Compare Christianity to another religion. Are there more similarities or differences?
• Compare two struggles for religious freedom in different countries and time periods
• What makes all struggles for religious freedom similar?

The bottom line

While students often have difficulties writing thematic essays, these are not the most complicated tasks to complete within a certain course or subject. They just require making a detailed examination of the topic using relevant facts, examples or other evidence that you should be able to find in order to make your arguments more solid, and to show that you have gained a thorough understanding of the topic. However, you mustn’t just summarize the well-known facts or what you have learned from a course or book. In a thematic essay, you are supposed to identify and explain or compare issues, causes, patterns, outcomes, and connections between facts or events as well as their consequences or influences.

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Ethical Research Paper Topics

Writing a research paper on ethics is not an easy task, especially if you do not possess excellent writing skills and do not like to contemplate controversial questions. But an ethics course is obligatory in all higher education institutions, and students have to look for a way out and be creative. When you find an […]

Art Research Paper Topics

Students obtaining degrees in fine art and art & design programs most commonly need to write a paper on art topics. However, this subject is becoming more popular in educational institutions for expanding students’ horizons. Thus, both groups of receivers of education: those who are into arts and those who only get acquainted with art […]

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How To Write A Thematic Essay

Firstly, it should be noted that every piece of writing should serve a particular purpose. That is why it every essay needs to have a central theme that you will build your paper around. That central theme ranges from educating the readers about something, getting a reaction out of something to just plainly presenting the value of something.

The best pieces of literature do not reveal this hidden agenda straight away but rather engage the reader and force him to read between the lines. When this is properly executed the reader will be filled with a sense of accomplishment, and this is how the first step towards thematic essay writing is taken.

What is a Thematic Essay

Thematic essay writing can be defined as any writing in which a central theme is developed by the author using literary devices. Literary devices are structures such as foreshadowing, imagery, personification, and others that are used to convey the writer's message to the readers in a simple manner.

To use literary devices efficiently, the writer must present the primary subject and clearly express the overall significance of the theme by using the above-mentioned as evidence. It is easy for the writer to get lost in the vast sea of different subjects and that is why finding the most meaningful and impactful one can be challenging.

Every essay writer is different and has his own unique style, and every reader is just as different. Different readers might interpret different ideas and notions in a radically different way, and this is precisely why it is so important to wholesomely agree on a generic central theme. A well written thematic essay accomplishes this through a rock-solid main idea which is supported by concrete evidence and logical arguments via literary devices.

Thematic Essay Example Topics

• George Orwell's portrayal of a "Perfect Utopia" in 1984. What is its meaning?
• George Orwell's representation of Communism in Animal Farm.
• The notion of innocence in Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird.
• Loneliness and isolation in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men?
• The American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby?

Finding and Exploring the Central Theme

Choosing the central theme and the main subject of a paper is the core if a thematic essay. Sometimes, due to a growing number of options that can be hard to do. Here are some guides that will be useful in making the right choice.

Summarize the literature: Focus on the core of the book. Regularly ask yourself what point you went over? The author will usually make this obvious so it should not pose a problem. Taking notes while you go over it is always advisable as it will help you paint a clearer picture of a message. Stay focused while you are doing this so you avoid missing some vital clues that the writer might give.

Pick the most prevalent subject: We have advised you to focus on the subject and on the theme of the essay, and you might wonder how to differentiate them. A subject can be defined as a general topic of conversation, and it can be anything from courage, betrayal, loyalty, etc.

On the other hand, a theme is more specific and is the elaboration on the said subject.

When in doubt look for the most frequently brought up talking point, and you will find the essence of the essay.

Read between the lines: Once you have uncovered the most suitable subject focus on the main point the author is trying to make. Don't be alarmed if the main point does not become clear right away. It is not supposed to.

Overall significance: This is something that a lot of people overlook and is, in fact, the most important part. What is that author's point? What message is he trying to convey to the reader and how can the reader benefit from it? What is the lesson you have learned from it?

Thematic essay outline

There are several rules when it comes to thematic essays, and they should be followed as closely as possible if you want to know how to make a good hook for an essay .

• Firstly, depending on the complexity of the topic, the essay should be at least five paragraphs long.
• Secondly, you must never lose sight of what is important and allow yourself to go into unnecessary intricacies. The essay must have a concrete thesis as the thematic statement must come from the main subject.
• Thirdly, your essay must have a clear structure. The introduction should be to the point and used to present the subject as well as the thesis statement. The body paragraphs should be clearly divided and each one should tackle one different literary element or more to give sustenance to your arguments and provide as many supporting details as possible.
• Lastly, the conclusion should be a summarization of all the arguments presented. This should be done with a sentence or two that carry the strength of your work.

Introduction

The introduction can be difficult to write as it must present the main subject of your essay clearly but in an engaging and captivating way.

The opening sentence should be interesting enough to hook the reader and make him want to learn more about whatever topic you are covering. It is ok to make it a bit over the top. This will serve a dual purpose. To grab the reader's attention and to make clear from the beginning that you know what you are writing about, that you have done your research and that you can back it up with solid arguments.

After you have done this, provide the reader with any and all necessary background information from relevant literature in order to help your audience understand your claims.

Lastly, you should put a together a thesis statement that is consistent with the central theme of your paper. Make sure that your thesis statement is well researched.

Body Paragraphs

Certain essay types allow for a higher degree of freedom when it comes to body paragraph formatting, but that is not the case when it comes to thematic essays. Thematic essays adhere to a strict format when it comes to body paragraphs. Every paragraph in a thematic essay serves to present a literary device such as evidence. For example, the topic sentence should serve as an introduction to the presentation of your evidence.

Due to everything previously stated, every sentence should have the name of the author and his connection to the claim you are making as well as a literary device. The safest way of validating your claims and explaining your reasoning is to strengthen them with an example from a book. This can be done with actions or quotations that are closely connected to the central theme of your essay.

Make sure that you explain the logic behind the quotation or claim and that it is in sync with your thesis statement .

Another thing to remember is the importance of using a literary device. By using literary devices, you minimize the risk of losing the thread of the essay. Thematic essays backbone is proving the thesis statement, and the most reliable way of doing precisely that is through the use of literary devices.

The conclusion should consist of three equally important parts in order the wrap up your essay in the most meaningful way.

• Never include new information in the conclusion. It should summarize of all the facts that you have presented up until that point.
• Firstly, go back to your original thesis statement by using a transition such as “in conclusion.”
• Secondly, pick three claims that you feel are the most important and summarize them. Once you have done so, you can briefly go over how they influence your thesis statement. Great point for argumentative essay conclusion .
• Lastly, give a wide analysis of the subject by presenting an overall concluding statement.

Wrap Things Up

After you are done typing, possibly in the middle of the night, don't hit the send button right away. An essay can never be polished enough.

Make sure that the central theme you analyzed is really the one you have decided on from the start. It is always better to rewrite the whole piece than to submit one with a missed central theme.

Always proofread your essay as it can make all the difference. Grammatical errors can make a paper unreadable and get you a low mark instead of a high one.

Another thing that is always good to do is to get somebody else to read your paper. You could be subjective when it comes to it, and fresh pair of eyes could easily spot obvious mistakes you have overlooked.

discover our blog further and find out about mla format for college application essay .

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650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing

By Michael Gonchar

• Oct. 20, 2016

Update, Sept. 4, 2019: Check out our newest evergreen collection of “ 550 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing ” that includes dozens of new prompts.

Update, Feb. 15, 2019: Learn more about how to use our 1000s of writing prompts by watching our free on-demand webinar: “ Give Them Something to Write About: Teach Across the Curriculum With New York Times-Inspired Daily Prompts. ”

Every school day since 2009 we’ve asked students a question based on an article in The New York Times.

Now, seven years later, and in honor of the Oct. 20 National Day on Writing , we’ve collected 650 of them that invite narrative and personal writing and listed them by category below. Consider it an update of a previous post, and a companion to the list of 301 argumentative writing prompts we published in 2015.

Here is a PDF of all 650 prompts , and we also have a related lesson plan, From ‘Lives’ to ‘Modern Love’: Writing Personal Essays With Help From The New York Times .

Below, a list that touches on everything from sports to travel, education, gender roles, video games, fashion, family, pop culture, social media and more. Like all our Student Opinion questions , each links to a related Times article and includes a series of follow-up questions. All questions published since May 2015 are still open to comment by any student 13 or older.

So dive into this admittedly overwhelming list and pick the questions that most inspire you to tell an interesting story, describe a memorable event, observe the details in your world, imagine a possibility, or reflect on who you are and what you believe.

Overcoming Adversity

1. What Challenges Have You Overcome? 2. What Are Your Secret Survival Strategies? 3. What Do You Do When You Encounter Obstacles to Success? 4. When Have You Failed? What Did You Learn From It? 5. When Have You Ever Succeeded When You Thought You Might Fail? 6. What Life Lessons Has Adversity Taught You? 7. What Work Went Into Reaching Your Most Difficult Goals? 8. How Often Do You Leave Your ‘Comfort Zone’? 9. When Was the Last Time You Did Something That Scared or Challenged You? 10. What Are You Afraid Of? 11. What Are Your Fears and Phobias? 12. What Are Your Personal Superstitions? 13. Do You Like Being Alone? 14. How Often Do You Cry? 15. Do You Ever Feel Overlooked and Underappreciated? 16. How Have You Handled Being the ‘New Kid’? 17. How Do You Deal With Haters? 18. How Do You React When Provoked? 19. What Role Does Stress Play in Your Life? 20. Does Stress Affect Your Ability to Make Good Decisions? 21. How Do You Relieve Stress? 22. How Do You Find Peace in Your Life? 23. Does Your Life Leave You Enough Time to Relax? 24. Do You Set Rules for Yourself About How You Use Your Time? 25. Is ‘Doing Nothing’ a Good Use of Your Time? 26. What Did You Once Hate but Now Like? 27. What Kind of Feedback Helps You Improve? 28. Is Trying Too Hard to Be Happy Making You Sad? 29. Do Adults Who Are ‘Only Trying to Help’ Sometimes Make Things Worse?

Your Personality

30. What Is Your Personal Credo? 31. What Motivates You? 32. What Makes You Happy? 33. What Are You Good At? 34. When in Your Life Have You Been a Leader? 35. How Well Do You Perform Under Pressure? 36. How Well Do You Take Criticism? 37. Are You Hard or Easy on Yourself? 38. How Full Is Your Glass? 39. Do You Have a Hard Time Making Decisions? 40. How Much Self-Control Do You Have? 41. How Good Are You at Waiting for What You Really Want? 42. What Role Does Procrastination Play in Your Life? 43. How Good Are You at Time Management? 44. How Productive and Organized Are You? 45. Under What Conditions Do You Do Your Best Work? 46. How Do You Express Yourself Creatively? 47. Are You a Good Listener? 48. How Competitive Are You? 49. Do You Perform Better When You’re Competing or When You’re Collaborating? 50. How Emotionally Intelligent Are You? 51. Do You Take More Risks When You Are Around Your Friends? 52. Do You Unknowingly Submit to Peer Pressure? 53. Do You Think You’re Brave? 54. How Much of a Daredevil Are You? 55. What Pranks, Jokes, Hoaxes or Tricks Have You Ever Fallen For or Perpetrated? 56. How Impulsive Are You? 57. Are You a Novelty-Seeker? 58. How Do You Deal With Boredom? 59. What Annoys You? 60. Do You Apologize Too Much? 61. Do You Have Good Manners? 62. How Materialistic Are You? 63. Are You a Saver or a Tosser? 64. Are You a Hoarder or a Minimalist? 65. Are You an Introvert or an Extrovert? 66. Are You Popular, Quirky or Conformist? 67. Are You a Nerd or a Geek? 68. What Would Your Personal Mascot Be? 69. What Assumptions Do People Make About You? 70. How Good Are You at Saying Goodbye?

Role Models

71. Who Is Your Role Model? 72. Who Inspires You? 73. Who Are the People – Famous or Not – You Admire Most? 74. Who Are Your Heroes? 75. What Heroic Acts Have You Performed or Witnessed? 76. What’s the Best Advice You’ve Gotten? 77. What Are Some ‘Words of Wisdom’ That Guide Your Life? 78. Who Outside Your Family Has Made a Difference in Your Life? 79. If You Had Your Own Talk Show, Whom Would You Want to Interview? 80. To Whom, or What, Would You Like to Write a Thank-You Note? 81. What Leader Would You Invite to Speak at Your School? 82. What Six People, Living or Dead, Would You Invite to Dinner? 83. Who’s Your ‘Outsider Role Model’?

84. Who Is Your Family? 85. How Do You Define ‘Family’? 86. What Have You and Your Family Accomplished Together? 87. What Events Have Brought You Closer to Your Family? 88. What’s Your Role in Your Family? 89. Have You Ever Changed a Family Member’s Mind? 90. How Well Do You Get Along With Your Siblings? 91. What Are Your Family Stories of Sacrifice? 92. What Possessions Does Your Family Treasure? 93. What Hobbies Have Been Passed Down in Your Family? 94. What’s the Story Behind Your Name? 95. What Are Your Favorite Names? 96. How Have You Paid Tribute to Loved Ones? 97. What Do You Know About Your Family’s History? 98. Did Your Parents Have a Life Before They Had Kids? 99. What Family Traditions Do You Want to Carry On When You Get Older?

Parents & Parenting

100. How Close Are You to Your Parents? 101. How Are You and Your Parents Alike and Different? 102. How Much Freedom Have Your Parents Given You? 103. How Permissive Are Your Parents? 104. Do You Have Helicopter Parents? 105. How Do Your Parents Teach You to Behave? 106. How Do You Make Parenting Difficult for Your Parents? 107. How Often Do You Fight With Your Parents? 108. What Advice Would You Give to Your Mom, Dad or Guardian on How to Be a Better Parent? 109. Is Your Family Stressed, Tired and Rushed? 110. Do Your Parents Try Too Hard to Be Cool? 111. Do You Ever Feel Embarrassed by Your Parents? 112. Do Your Parents Support Your Learning? 113. Do You Talk About Report Cards With Your Parents? 114. Do You Want Your Parents to Stop Asking You ‘How Was School?’ 115. How Much Do Your Parents Help With Your Homework? 116. How Has Your Family Helped or Hindered Your Transition to a New School? 117. Have Your Parents and Teachers Given You Room to Create?

Your Neighborhood

118. How Much Does Your Neighborhood Define Who You Are? 119. What’s Special About Your Hometown? 120. What Marketing Slogan Would You Use for Your Town or City? 121. What Would You Name Your Neighborhood? 122. Who Are the ‘Characters’ That Make Your Town Interesting? 123. Who Is the ‘Mayor’ of Your School or Neighborhood? 124. What Would a TV Show About Your Town Spoof? 125. What ‘Urban Legends’ Are There About Places in Your Area? 126. Do You Know Your Way Around Your City or Town? 127. How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors? 128. What Is Your Favorite Place? 129. What’s Your Favorite Neighborhood Joint? 130. What Is Your Favorite Street? 131. Do You Hang Out in the Park? 132. How Much Time Do You Spend in Nature? 133. What Small Things Have You Seen and Taken Note Of Today? 134. What Buildings Do You Love? What Buildings Do You Hate? 135. What Are the Sounds That Make Up the Background Noise in Your Life? 136. What Sounds Annoy You? 137. What Public Behavior Annoys You Most? 138. Have You Ever Interacted With the Police? 139. What Local Problems Do You Think Your Mayor Should Try to Solve? 140. What Ideas Do You Have for Enhancing Your Community? 141. Where Do You Think You Will Live When You Are an Adult? 142. Would You Most Want to Live in a City, a Suburb or the Country?

143. Is Your Bedroom a Nightmare? 144. What is Your Favorite Place in Your House? 145. How Important Is Keeping a Clean House? 146. Do You Need to De-Clutter Your Life? 147. Do You Plan on Saving Any of Your Belongings for the Future? 148. With Your Home in Danger, What Would You Try to Save? 149. What Would You Grab in a Fire? 150. What Would You Put in Your Emergency ‘Go-Bag’? 151. Who Lived Long Ago Where You Live Now? 152. What Would Your Dream Home Be Like?

Childhood Memories

153. What Was Your Most Precious Childhood Possession? 154. What Objects Tell the Story of Your Life? 155. What Do You Collect? 156. What Were Your Favorite Childhood Shows and Characters? 157. Do You Have Childhood Memories of Being Read Aloud To? 158. What Were Your Favorite Picture Books When You Were Little? 159. What Things Did You Create When You Were a Child? 160. What Places Do You Remember Fondly From Childhood? 161. What Food or Flavor Do You Remember Tasting for the First Time? 162. What Do You Wish You Could See, Hear, Read or Experience for the First Time All Over Again? 163. Have You Ever Felt Embarrassed by Things You Used to Like? 164. Do You Wish You Could Return to Moments From Your Past? 165. Was There a Toy You Wanted as a Child but Never Got? 166. What’s the Best Gift You’ve Ever Given or Received? 167. What’s the Most Memorable Thing You Ever Got in the Mail? 168. Have You Ever Lost (or Found) Something Valuable? 169. What Nicknames Have You Ever Gotten or Given? 170. What Are Your Best Sleepover Memories? 171. What Old, Worn Out Thing Can You Just Not Part With? 172. What Is Your Most Prized Possession?

173. What Have You Learned in Your Teens? 174. What Do You Remember Best About Being 12? 175. What Personal Achievements Make You Proud? 176. What Are Some Recent Moments of Happiness in Your Life? 177. What Rites of Passage Have You Participated In? 178. What Are You Grateful For? 179. What Advice Would You Give Younger Kids About Middle or High School? 180. What Have You Learned From Older People? 181. What Can Older People Learn From Your Generation? 182. What Do Older Generations Misunderstand About Yours? 183. Do You Recognize Yourself in Descriptions of ‘Generation Z’?

184. What Ethical Dilemmas Have You Faced? 185. Have You Ever Had to Make a Sacrifice to Help Someone You Care About? 186. Have You Ever Donated Your Time, Talents, Possessions or Money to Support Anyone in Need? 187. When Is the Last Time You Did Something Nice for a Stranger? 188. Have You Ever ‘Paid It Forward’? 189. How Trustworthy Are You? 190. How Comfortable Are You With Lying? 191. When Do You Lie? 192. Have You Ever Lied to Your Parents or Done Something Behind Their Backs? 193. If You Drink or Use Drugs, Do Your Parents Know? 194. Have You Ever Taken Something You Weren’t Supposed To? 195. Do You Ever Eavesdrop? 196. How Much Do You Gossip?

Religion & Spirituality

197. What Is the Role of Religion or Spirituality in Your Life? 198. How Important Is Your Spiritual Life? 199. Do You Believe That Everything Happens for a Reason? 200. How Much Control Do You Think You Have Over Your Fate? 201. Can You Be Good Without God? 202. Are You Less Religious Than Your Parents? 203. Can You Pass a Basic Religion Test? 204. What Can You Learn From Other Religions?

Gender & Sexuality

205. How Do Male and Female Roles Differ in Your Family? 206. Do Parents Have Different Hopes and Standards for Their Sons Than for Their Daughters? 207. How Do Your Parents Share the Responsibilities of Parenting? 208. Is There Too Much Pressure on Girls to Have ‘Perfect’ Bodies? 209. How Much Pressure Do Boys Face to Have the Perfect Body? 210. How Did You Learn About Sex? 211. What Experiences Have You Had With Gender Bias in School? 212. What Have Been Your Experiences With Catcalling or Other Kinds of Street Harassment? 213. What Does it Mean to Be ‘a Real Man’? 214. Do You Consider Yourself a Feminist? 215. What Does Feminism Mean to You?

Race & Ethnicity

216. What Is Your Racial and Ethnic Identity? 217. Have You Ever Tried to Hide Your Racial or Ethnic Identity? 218. How Often Do You Interact With People of Another Race or Ethnicity? 219. Do You Ever Talk About Issues of Race and Class With Your Friends? 220. Is Your Generation Really ‘Postracial’? 221. What’s the Racial Makeup of Your School? 222. Does Your School Seem Integrated? 223. Have You Experienced Racism or Other Kinds of Discrimination in School?

Money & Social Class

224. What Are Your Attitudes Toward Money? 225. Are You a Saver or a Spender? 226. What Have Your Parents Taught You About Money? 227. Do You Expect Your Parents to Give You Money? 228. How Important a Role Has Money, Work or Social Class Played in Your Life? 229. Do You See Great Disparities of Wealth in Your Community? 230. Can Money Buy You Happiness? 231. What Are the Best Things in Life and Are They Free?

232. Are You Distracted by Technology? 233. Are You Distracted by Your Phone? 234. Are You ‘Addicted’ to Texting? 235. Do You Always Have Your Phone or Tablet at Your Side? 236. Do Screens Get in the Way of the Rest of Your Life? 237. Do You Experience FOMO When You Unplug? 238. Does Your Digital Life Have Side Effects? 239. Do You Spend Too Much Time on Smartphones Playing ‘Stupid Games’? 240. Do Apps Help You or Just Waste Your Time? 241. What Tech Tools Play the Biggest Role in Your Life? 242. What New Technologies or Tech Toys Are You Most Excited About? 243. To What Piece of Technology Would You Write a ‘Love Letter’?

The Internet

244. What’s So Great About YouTube? 245. What Has YouTube Taught You? 246. What Are Your Favorite Viral Videos? 247. What Are Your Favorite Internet Spoofs? 248. What Would You Teach the World in an Online Video? 249. Do You Ever Seek Advice on the Internet? 250. Would You Share an Embarrassing Story Online? 251. How Do You Know if What You Read Online Is True? 252. What Are Your Experiences With Internet-Based Urban Legends? 253. How Much Do You Trust Online Reviews? 254. How Do You Use Wikipedia? 255. How Careful Are You Online? 256. What Story Does Your Personal Data Tell? 257. Do You Worry About the Lack of Anonymity in the Digital Age? 258. Would You Mind if Your Parents Blogged About You? 259. Do You Wish You Had More Privacy Online? 260. Have You Ever Been Scammed? 261. Whom Would You Share Your Passwords With?

Social Media

262. How Do You Use Facebook? 263. What Is Your Facebook Persona? 264. How Real Are You on Social Media? 265. What Memorable Experiences Have You Had on Facebook? 266. Does Facebook Ever Make You Feel Bad? 267. Would You Consider Deleting Your Facebook Account? 268. Do You Have ‘Instagram Envy’? 269. Do You Use Twitter? 270. Why Do You Share Photos? 271. How Do You Archive Your Life? 272. Have You Ever Posted, Emailed or Texted Something You Wish You Could Take Back? 273. Have You Ever Sent an Odd Message Because of Auto-Correct? 274. Would You Want Your Photo or Video to Go Viral? 275. Do You Worry Colleges or Employers Might Read Your Social Media Posts Someday? 276. What Advice Do You Have for Younger Kids About Navigating Social Media?

277. What Are You Listening To? 278. What Songs Are on Your Favorite Playlist? 279. What Musicians or Bands Mean the Most to You? 280. What Music Inspires You? 281. Who in Your Life Introduces You to New Music? 282. How Much Is Your Taste in Music Based on What Your Friends Like? 283. What Role Does Hip-Hop Play in Your Life? 284. Which Pop Music Stars Fascinate You? 285. Who Is Your Favorite Pop Diva? 286. What’s Your Karaoke Song? 287. Which Artists Would You Like to See Team Up? 288. How Closely Do You Listen to Lyrics? 289. What Are Your Earliest Memories of Music?

290. What Are the Best Things You’ve Watched, Read, Heard or Played This Year? 291. What Are Your TV Habits? 292. Do Your Television Viewing Habits Include ‘Binge-Watching’? 293. What Role Does Television Play in Your Life and the Life of Your Family? 294. What Television Shows Have Mattered to You? 295. How Often Do You Watch a Television Show When It Originally Airs? 296. Have You Fallen Into ‘Friends’ or Any Other Older Television Shows? 297. What Old Television Shows Would You Bring Back? 298. Why Do We Like Reality Shows So Much? 299. What Ideas Do You Have for a Reality Show? 300. What Reality TV Show Would You Want to Be a Guest Star On? 301. What Are Your Favorite Cartoons? 302. What Are Your Favorite Commercials? 303. How Much Are You Influenced by Advertising?

Movies & Theater

304. What Are Your Favorite Movies Ever? 305. What Were the Best Movies You Saw in the Past Year? 306. What Movies Do You Watch, or Reference, Over and Over? 307. What Movies, Shows or Books Do You Wish Had Sequels, Spinoffs or New Episodes? 308. Do You Like Horror Movies? 309. What Is Your Favorite Comedy? 310. Who Are Your Favorite Movie Stars? 311. Would You Pay Extra for a 3-D Movie? 312. Where, and How, Do You Watch Movies? 313. What Are the Best Live Theatrical Performances You’ve Ever Seen? 314. Have You Ever Stumbled Upon a Cool Public Performance?

Video Games

315. What Are Your Favorite Video Games? 316. What Have You Learned Playing Video Games? 317. Do You Play Violent Video Games? 318. When Should You Feel Guilty for Killing Zombies? 319. Who Are Your Opponents in Online Gaming? 320. Do You Like Watching Other People Play Video Games? 321. How Excited Are You About the Possibilities of Virtual Reality?

Books & Reading

322. Read Any Good Books Lately? 323. What Are the Best Books You’ve Read This Year? 324. What Are Your Favorite Books and Authors? 325. What Are Your Favorite Young Adult Novels? 326. Do You Read for Pleasure? 327. What Memorable Poetry Have You Ever Read or Heard? 328. What Magazines Do You Read, and How Do You Read Them? 329. Do You Enjoy Reading Tabloid Gossip? 330. When Have You Seen Yourself and Your Life Reflected in a Book or Other Media? 331. Has a Book, Movie, Television Show, Song or Video Game Ever Inspired You to Do Something New? 332. Do You Prefer Your Children’s Book Characters Obedient or Contrary? 333. Do You Read E-Books? 334. Would You Trade Your Paper Books for Digital Versions? 335. To What Writer Would You Award a Prize?

336. Why Do You Write? 337. Are You a Good Storyteller? 338. What’s Your Favorite Joke? 339. Do You Keep a Diary or Journal? 340. Do You Have a Blog? 341. Do You Want to Write a Book? 342. When Do You Write by Hand? 343. Do You Write in Cursive? 344. Do You Write in Your Books? 345. What ‘Mundane Moments’ From Your Life Might Make Great Essay Material? 346. What Is Your Most Memorable Writing Assignment? 347. Do You Ever Write About Challenges You Face in Life?

348. What’s the Coolest Thing You’ve Ever Seen in a Museum? 349. What Are the Most Memorable Works of Visual Art You Have Seen? 350. What Are Your Favorite Works of Art? 351. How Important Is Arts Education? 352. What Has Arts Education Done For You?

Language & Speech

353. What Words Do You Hate? 354. What Words or Phrases Do You Think Are Overused? 355. How Much Slang Do You Use? What Are Your Favorite Words? 356. What Current Slang Words and Expressions Do You Think Will Endure? 357. Why Do So Many People Say ‘Like’ and ‘Totally’ All the Time? 358. Do You Say ‘Kind of, Sort of’ More Than You Realize? 359. How Much Do You Curse? 360. How Good Are You at Coming Up With Witty Comebacks? 361. When Did You Last Have a Great Conversation? 362. How Often Do You Have ‘Deep Discussions’? 363. Do You Wish Your Conversations Were Less Small Talk and More ‘Big Talk’? 364. When Do You Choose Making a Phone Call Over Sending a Text? 365. How Much Information Is ‘Too Much Information’? 366. Do You Sometimes ‘Hide’ Behind Irony? 367. How Good Is Your Grammar? 368. Do You Speak a Second, or Third, Language? 369. When Do You Remember Learning a New Word? 370. What Does Your Body Language Communicate?

371. Do You Like School? 372. Are You Stressed About School? 373. Are High School Students Being Worked Too Hard? 374. What Are You Really Learning at School? 375. What Are You Looking Forward To, or Dreading, This School Year? 376. Would You Want to Be Home-Schooled? 377. Would You Like to Take a Class Online? 378. Would You Rather Attend a Public or a Private High School? 379. How Much Does It Matter to You Which High School You Attend? 380. How Would You Grade Your School? 381. What Can Other Schools Learn — and Copy — From Your School? 382. What Would You Miss if You Left Your School? 383. Is Your School Day Too Short? 384. What Do You Hope to Get Out of High School?

Learning & Studying

385. Do You Have Too Much Homework? 386. Does Your Homework Help You Learn? 387. Do You Participate in Class? 388. What Is Your Best Subject? 389. What’s the Most Challenging Assignment You’ve Ever Had? 390. What Memorable Experiences Have You Had in Learning Science or Math? 391. Are You Afraid of Math? 392. Do We Need a Better Way to Teach Math? 393. What Are the Best Ways to Learn About History? 394. How Would You Do on a Civics Test? 395. Does Your School Offer Enough Opportunities to Learn Computer Programming? 396. Does Your School Value Students’ Digital Skills? 397. Do You Know How to Code? Would You Like to Learn? 398. What Career or Technical Classes Do You Wish Your School Offered? 399. What Was Your Favorite Field Trip? 400. What Are Your Best Tips for Studying? 401. Do You Use Study Guides? 402. Is Everything You’ve Been Taught About Study Habits Wrong? 403. What Would You Like to Have Memorized? 404. How Well Do You Think Standardized Tests Measure Your Abilities? 405. Do Your Test Scores Reflect How Good Your Teachers Are?

406. What Do You Wish Your Teachers Knew About You? 407. When Has a Teacher Inspired You? 408. What Teacher Would You Like to Thank? 409. What Makes a Good Teacher? 410. Have You Ever Been Humiliated by a Teacher? How Did it Affect You? 411. Have Your Teachers or Textbooks Ever Gotten It Wrong? 412. Do Your Teachers Use Technology Well? 413. Do You Have a Tutor?

School Life

414. How Do You Feel About Proms? 415. Do You Want to Be ‘Promposed’ To? 416. Is Prom Worth It? 417. What Role Do School Clubs and Teams Play in Your Life? 418. How Big a Problem Is Bullying or Cyberbullying in Your School or Community? 419. Would You Ever Go Through Hazing to Be Part of a Group? 420. Is Your School a ‘Party School’? 421. Have You Been To Parties That Have Gotten Out of Control? 422. How Common Is Drug Use in Your School? 423. Can Students at Your School Talk Openly About Their Mental Health Issues? 424. How Does Your School Deal With Students Who Misbehave? 425. Do You Know People Who Cheat on High-Stakes Tests? 426. How Much Does Your Life in School Intersect With Your Life Outside School? 427. Do You Ever ‘Mix It Up’ and Socialize With Different People at School? 428. What Fads Are You and Your Friends Into Right Now?

429. Where Do You Want to Go to College? 430. What Are Your Sources for Information About Colleges and Universities? 431. What Role Has Community College Played in Your Life or the Life of Someone You Know? 432. Is College Overrated? 433. How Much Do You Worry About Taking the SAT or ACT? 434. What Personal Essay Topic Would You Assign to College Applicants? 435. What Qualities Would You Look For in a College Roommate? 436. Would You Want to Take a Gap Year After High School? 437. What Makes a Graduation Ceremony Memorable?

Work & Careers

438. What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? 439. Do You Have a Life Calling? 440. What’s Your Dream Job? 441. What Are Your Longtime Interests or Passions? 442. Do You Think You Will Have a Career That You Love? 443. What Do You Want More From a Career: Happiness or Wealth? 444. What Investment Are You Willing to Make to Get Your Dream Job? 445. Would You Consider a Nontraditional Occupation? 446. Would You Rather Work From Home or in an Office? 447. Would You Want to Be a Teacher? 448. What Hidden Talents Might You Have? 449. What ‘Back-to-the-Land’ Skills Do You Have, or Wish You Had? 450. What Skill Could You Teach in Two Minutes? 451. What Have You Made Yourself? 452. Do You Have an Idea for a Business or App? 453. What Would You Create if You Had Funding? 454. How Did You Start Doing Something You Love? 455. Did You Ever Take a Break From Doing Something You Love? 456. What Have You Done to Earn Money? 457. Do You Have a Job? 458. Would You Quit if Your Values Did Not Match Your Employer’s? 459. What Do You Hope to Be Doing the Year After You Graduate From College? 460. Where Do You See Yourself in 10 Years?

461. Do You Have a Best Friend? 462. How Often Do You Spend One-on-One Time With Your Closest Friends? 463. How Do You Feel About Introducing Friends from Different Parts of Your Life? 464. Do You Find It Easier to Make New Friends Online or In Person? 465. How Good a Friend Are You? 466. How Have You Helped a Friend in a Time of Need? 467. Do You Like Your Friends? 468. Is Competitiveness an Obstacle to Making or Keeping Friendships? 469. How Should You Handle the End of a Friendship? 470. Have You Ever Felt Left Out?

471. Have You Ever Been in Love? 472. What Are the Most Meaningful Relationships in Your Life? 473. What Advice Would You Give to Somebody Who Just Started Dating? 474. Are You Allowed to Date? 475. Is Dating a Thing of the Past? 476. Is Hookup Culture Leaving Your Generation Unhappy and Unprepared for Love? 477. What Are the Basic ‘Rules’ for Handling Breakups? 478. What’s the Best Way to Get Over a Breakup? 479. What Are Your Beliefs About Marriage?

Sports & Games

480. What’s the Most Impressive Sports Moment You’ve Seen? 481. Who Are Your Sports Heroes? 482. What Sports Teams Do You Root For? 483. Does Being a Fan Help Define Who You Are? 484. How Far Would You Go to Express Loyalty to Your Favorite Teams? 485. Are You a Fair-Weather Fan? 486. When Has a Sports Team Most Disappointed You? 487. Do You Watch the Super Bowl? 488. What Fan Memorabilia Would You Pay Big Bucks For? 489. What Extreme Sports Interest You Most? 490. Why Do You Play Sports? 491. What Rules Would You Like to See Changed in Your Favorite Sports? 492. Do You Enjoy Playing Games or Solving Puzzles? 493. What Are Your Favorite Board Games? 494. What Are Your Favorite Games? 495. What Game Would You Like to Redesign?

496. Where in the World Would You Most Like to Travel? 497. What Is Your Fantasy Vacation? 498. What Would Your Fantasy Road Trip Be Like? 499. What Crazy Adventure Would You Want to Take? 500. What Local ‘Microadventures’ Would You Like to Go On? 501. What’s Your Perfect Family Vacation? 502. How Has Travel Affected You? 503. What Kind of Tourist Are You? 504. What Are the Best Souvenirs You’ve Ever Collected While Traveling? 505. What Famous Landmarks Have You Visited? 506. What’s the Coolest Thing You’ve Ever Seen in Nature? 507. How Much Do You Know About the Rest of the World? 508. Would You Like to Live in Another Country? 509. Would You Want to Be a Space Tourist? 510. If You Could Time-Travel, Where Would You Go?

Looks & Fashion

511. What Is Your All-Time Favorite Piece of Clothing? 512. Do You Have a Signature Clothing Item? 513. What’s Your Favorite T-Shirt? 514. Do You Care What You Wear? 515. Does What You Wear Say Anything About You as a Person? 516. What Does Your Hairstyle Say About You? 517. What’s on Your Fashion Shopping List? 518. How Far Would You Go for Fashion? 519. What Are the Hot Fashion Trends at Your School Right Now? 520. What Current Trends Annoy You? 521. Would You Ever Consider Getting a Tattoo? 522. What Are Your Opinions on Cosmetic Surgery? 523. Do Photoshopped Images Make You Feel Bad About Your Own Looks? 524. Have You Inherited Your Parents’ Attitudes Toward Their Looks? 525. Has Anyone Ever Said That You Look Like Someone Famous?

Exercise, Health & Sleep

526. Do You Like to Exercise? 527. Do You Get Enough Exercise? 528. How Has Exercise Changed Your Health, Your Body or Your Life? 529. How Much Do You Think About Your Weight? 530. How Often Do You Engage in ‘Fat Talk’? 531. Do You Pay Attention to Calorie Counts for Food? 532. Do You Pay Attention to Nutrition Labels on Food? 533. How Concerned Are You About Where Your Food Comes From? 534. Are Your Eating Habits Healthy? 535. Do You Eat Too Quickly? 536. What Are Your ‘Food Rules’? 537. What Are Your Healthy Habits? 538. What Health Tips Have Worked for You? 539. What Rules Do You Have for Staying Healthy? 540. How Careful Are You in the Sun? 541. What Are Your Sleep Habits? 542. How Much of a Priority Do You Make Sleep? 543. Do You Get Enough Sleep?

Meals & Food

544. What Are the Most Memorable Meals You’ve Ever Had? 545. What’s Your Favorite Holiday Food Memory? 546. What’s Your Comfort Food? 547. What Are Your Favorite Junk Foods? 548. What’s Your Favorite Candy? 549. What’s Your Favorite Sandwich? 550. Do You Prefer Your Tacos ‘Authentic’ or ‘Appropriated’? 551. What Food Would You Like to Judge in a Taste-Off? 552. Do You Cook? 553. What Would You Most Like to Learn to Cook or Bake? 554. What Messages About Food and Eating Have You Learned From Your Family? 555. How Often Does Your Family Eat Together? 556. What Are Your Favorite Restaurants? 557. What Restaurant Would You Most Like to Review? 558. What Do You Eat During the School Day? 559. Do You Eat Cafeteria Food? 560. Is School Lunch Really All That Bad?

Holidays & Seasons

561. How Do You Celebrate Your Birthday? 562. Will You Be Wearing a Halloween Costume This Year? 563. Do You Like Scary Movies and Books? 564. Do You Believe in Ghosts? 565. What Are Your Thanksgiving Traditions? 566. What Do You Look Forward to Most – and Least – During the Holiday Season? 567. What Are Your Tips for Enjoying the Holiday Season? 568. How Will You Spend the Holiday Break? 569. What Does Santa Claus Mean to You? 570. Do You Look Forward to New Year’s Eve? 571. Do You Make New Year’s Resolutions? 572. How Do You Fight the Winter Blues? 573. What Would You Do on a Snow Day? 574. What Are Your Experiences With Severe Weather? 575. How Do You Feel About Valentine’s Day? 576. How Do You Celebrate Spring? 577. What Would Your Fantasy Spring Break Be Like? 578. What Are You Looking Forward to This Summer? 579. What Would Your Ideal Summer Camp Be Like? 580. What Are Your Favorite Summer Hangouts? 581. What’s Your Favorite Summer Food? 582. What Is Your Favorite Summer Movie? 583. What’s on Your Summer Reading List? 584. Do You Have a Summer Job? 585. Do You Choose Summer Activities to Look Good on Applications? 586. What Are the Best Things You Did This Summer? 587. How Do You Prepare to Go Back to School? 588. How Can People Make the Most of Long Holiday Weekends? 589. What’s Your Sunday Routine?

590. What’s Your Favorite Store? 591. To What Company Would You Write a Letter of Complaint or Admiration? 592. To What Business Would You Like to Give Advice? 593. Do You Ever Hang Out at the Mall? 594. How Would You Make Over Your Mall? 595. Do You Shop at Locally Owned Businesses? 596. What Are the Best Things You’ve Acquired Secondhand?

Cars & Driving

597. How Important Is It to Have a Driver’s License? 598. Are You a Good Driver? 599. Do You Have a Dream Car? 600. Would You Like to Ride in a Car That Drives Itself?

Animals & Pets

601. What Are the Animals in Your Life? 602. What’s Your Relationship Like With Your Pet? 603. How Well Do You Know Your Pet? 604. What Are Your Thoughts on Cats? 605. Would You Want to Hang Out at a Cat Cafe? 606. Why Do We Love Watching Animal Videos So Much? 607. What Are Your Most Memorable Stories About Wildlife? 608. How Do You Feel About Zoos?

Environmental Issues

609. How Green Are You? 610. How Do You Try to Reduce Your Impact on the Environment? 611. Do You Ever Feel Guilty About What, or How Much, You Throw Away? 612. How Much Food Does Your Family Waste? 613. What Could You Live Without? 614. How Do You Celebrate Earth Day?

Politics & Beliefs

615. How Would You Like to Help Our World? 616. What Cause Would Get You Into the Streets? 617. Have Your Ever Taken Part in a Protest? 618. What Would You Risk Your Life For? 619. When Have You Spoken Out About Something You Felt Had to Change? 620. What Would You Invent to Make the World a Better Place? 621. Given Unlimited Resources, What Scientific or Medical Problem Would You Investigate? 622. What Organizations Do You Think People Should Give to This Holiday Season? 623. Do You Trust Your Government? 624. When You Are Old Enough to Vote, Will You? 625. Do You Consider Yourself a Republican, Democrat or Independent?

History & Current Events

626. What Event in the Past Do You Wish You Could Have Witnessed? 627. What Are the Most Important Changes, in Your Life and in the World, in the Last Decade? 628. What National or International Events That You Lived Through Do You Remember Best? 629. Why Should We Care About Events in Other Parts of the World? 630. What News Stories Are You Following? 631. How Do You Get Your News? 632. Is Your Online World Just a ‘Filter Bubble’ of People With the Same Opinions? 633. Do Your Friends on Social Media All Have the Same Political Opinions You Do?

634. What Would You Do if You Won the Lottery? 635. What Superpower Do You Wish You Had? 636. What Era Do You Wish You Had Lived In? 637. Would You Want to Be a Tween or Teen Star? 638. Would You Want to Be a Child Prodigy? 639. Would You Want to Grow Up in the Public Eye? 640. What Kind of Robot Would You Want? 641. What Would You Outsource if You Could? 642. What Would You Like to Learn on Your Own? 643. What Would You Be Willing to Wait in a Really Long Line For? 644. If You Were a Super Rich Philanthropist, What Causes Would You Support? 645. What Would You Do if You Were President? 646. What Famous Person Would You Like to Visit Your School? 647. Who Would Be the Ideal Celebrity Neighbor? 648. What Do You Want to Be Doing When You’re 80? 649. Do You Want to Live to 100? 650. What Do You Want Your Obituary to Say?

How to Write a Thematic Essay

Publication Date: 11 May 2018

So, you’ve got a thematic essay assigned, and the only thing you have is your prompt. Once you’ve read your prompt, you may get more questions about this task, so let’s start from the first and the most important question.

What Is a Thematic Essay?

The thematic essay is an academic assignment that requires you to answer a certain question stated in your prompt. It may be also focused on the analysis of a certain argument. You need to consider various specific concepts related to your field of study. The main purpose of such a paper is to demonstrate your critical thinking and analytical skills so you will need to provide logical links between different ideas and facts. Here are a few things that your trainer will consider important when reading your paper:

• Foreshadowing;
• Figurative language;
• Rhetorical devices;

All these literary devices are used as evidence in essay writing , helping you develop a central idea.

How to Find a Central Theme

It’s often hard to understand what the central theme of your essay is, without looking at the prompt. However, we have some tips that may help you in any situation.

• Summarize the used literature. Books and articles usually hide many hints on what their central idea is.
• Select the main subject of the discussion. There is a difference between your central theme and a subject. Usually, the main theme is a narrowed version of the subject that highlights its specific details.
• Read between the lines. To get more examples and ideas related to your sources, get deep into every source and think what can be useful for the question from your prompt.

Analyze Your Prompt

The most challenging part of writing isn’t writing itself, but your need to interpret the prompt and to understand what you’ve been asked to do. We suggest re-reading your prompt a few times to determine what your main task is. It may be:

• Description — you have to illustrate the topic of the essay, focusing on details;
• Explanation — you must explain ideas of the essay in a plain, logical way, providing links between reasons and causes;
• Discussion — you have to use logic, facts, arguments, and statistics to discuss certain details of the concept;
• Showing — highlight the author’s main point by providing evidence from the source.

Write Your Introduction

In general, thematic essays require you to write an outline of main points. Thus, your introduction must serve this purpose as well. Some kinds of academic essays imply highlighting more points than others. Thus, sometimes you may need to present more primary sources. You will also need to prepare several supporting arguments for your essay.

In order for you not to get lost, we suggest noting key arguments while writing the first draft. Once you’ve prepared a list of your main points, you need to develop a strong thesis statement . Here comes another problem: the thesis statement must be concise, but this essay type requires you to describe several points. In this case, you can just check your prompt once again and decide what idea is the most important for your essay.

Write a Body and a Conclusion

The body of the essay must include at least three arguments that support your thesis statement. The most common essay structure implies writing five paragraphs , so you need one paragraph of the introduction, three body paragraphs, and another paragraph of the conclusion. Each body paragraph focuses on a particular argument and describes it in detail. To make your arguments stronger, we suggest using quotes. To do it properly, familiarize yourself with a required citation format.

Given that your main goal is to respond to a certain question, write your answer at the end so that the whole essay will illustrate how you came to such a conclusion. The last section of your essay must also summarize your arguments and remind your audience the thesis statement. Make sure you don’t just repeat your thesis statement from the introduction word-for-word. Instead, you can emphasize something important from the body section. A good way to write a conclusion is to present the idea of your essay in a broader context, in order to point out its significance.

After this, read your essay and make sure your ideas are clear and concise. Your essay must analyze the subject, summarizing basic arguments and addressing questions stated in the prompt. The introduction and the conclusion must be strong and interesting for readers.

There are some common mistakes that may prevent you from getting an A. Among the most popular mistakes, there are the lack of accuracy in the analysis, weak introductions and conclusions, evaluation that isn’t supported by any evidence, and improper citing.

• New Visions Social Studies Curriculum
• Curriculum Development Team
• Content Contributors
• Getting Started: Baseline Assessments
• Getting Started: Resources to Enhance Instruction
• Getting Started: Instructional Routines
• Unit 9.1: Global 1 Introduction
• Unit 9.2: The First Civilizations
• Unit 9.3: Classical Civilizations
• Unit 9.4: Political Powers and Achievements
• Unit 9.5: Social and Cultural Growth and Conflict
• Unit 9.6: Ottoman and Ming Pre-1600
• Unit 9.7: Transformation of Western Europe and Russia
• Unit 9.8: Africa and the Americas Pre-1600
• Unit 9.9: Interactions and Disruptions
• Unit 10.0: Global 2 Introduction
• Unit 10.1: The World in 1750 C.E.
• Unit 10.2: Enlightenment, Revolution, and Nationalism
• Unit 10.3: Industrial Revolution
• Unit 10.4: Imperialism
• Unit 10.5: World Wars
• Unit 10.6: Cold War Era
• Unit 10.7: Decolonization and Nationalism
• Unit 10.8: Cultural Traditions and Modernization
• Unit 10.9: Globalization and the Changing Environment
• Unit 10.10: Human Rights Violations
• Unit 11.0: US History Introduction
• Unit 11.1: Colonial Foundations
• Unit 11.2: American Revolution
• Unit 11.3A: Building a Nation
• Unit 11.03B: Sectionalism & the Civil War
• Unit 11.4: Reconstruction
• Unit 11.5: Gilded Age and Progressive Era
• Unit 11.6: Rise of American Power
• Unit 11.7: Prosperity and Depression
• Unit 11.8: World War II
• Unit 11.9: Cold War
• Unit 11.10: Domestic Change
• Resources: Regents Prep: Global 2 Exam
• Regents Prep: Framework USH Exam: Regents Prep: US Exam
• Find Resources

Students will deconstruct a prompt in order to identify what should be written about in an essay and to create a pre-writing graphic organizer.

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