Any scholarly paper is, above all, an exercise in stating, developing and defending an idea.
Often, the thesis of a paper is a claim you are making or the answer to a question you are asking. Thinking of your central idea as a reasoned claim or a compelling question will help you avoid mistaking a mere statement of opinion for a good thesis. Before You Find a Thesis Coming up with your central idea is the biggest problem you have to solve before you begin to craft a defense of your ideas or write a draft of your essay, but this does not mean that writing your thesis is the first thing you should do. Even after finding a thesis, they refine and revise their ideas as they write. It can be useful and reassuring to keep in mind that scholars develop as well as discover theses.