But the reason why your thesis should be laid out at the beginning is so your reader can see how the separate ideas you develop in each paragraph relate to one another. Always place your thesis statement at the end of your introductory paragraph. Your thesis statement can consist of several sentences. Sometimes you'll have to precede your paragraph points with transitional sentences that make it clear to your reader how you get from one topic or idea to the next. In the following sample, the thesis statement and paragraph points are italicized.
Characters are in italicized boldface.
Important concepts are underlined. Note that each paragraph point mentions right away all the important concepts that are discussed in the body of the paragraph. Although Ishmael's speculations don't provide any conclusive answer to this mystery, nevertheless they are compelling. As for Ahab's madness, though, Ishmael believes that Ahab sees in Moby Dick a malicious agency in nature that could perhaps be the divine itself . Ahab, however, refuses to be pushed around by this supernatural malignancy , and resolves to strike back at it by striking back at the White Whale, its visible, tangible representative .