If your paper doesn't have a workable thesis, it's likely to drift. Among these were imperialism, militarism, and an unstable alliance system. Sometimes it pays to be narrow minded.
Students get into trouble when they try to do too much.
You can't possibly write about everything there is to say about a subject. Notice how the sample thesis above limits the paper to just three aspects of World War I. 8. Sink rocks, don't skip stones. Pursue a few things in detail. The usual rule of thumb is that it's better to say a lot about a few things than a very little about many things.