When thinking about writing a thesis statement for an assigned paper, I feel that many students at the college level have no idea where to start.  I find it fascinating that so many upper level students have never been taught how to write a successful thesis statement to place in an assigned paper.  After having a lecture on how to write a thesis statement, I began to contemplate over why a large portion of college students are unable to write a thesis statement.  Is it because middle schools and high schools are not teaching their students this important aspect of writing during English classes?  Are they not teaching it in a way that students are able to grasp and understand?  When thinking about trying to teach how one should write a thesis statement as a furture teacher, I find this task to be extremely difficult.  It is not a simple thing students can read and memorize, or do examples of until they get that one correct answer.  It is something that students have to understand the importance of, and how they need to make a successful claim that a reader could argue with.  How do you explain to students, without losing their interest, that a thesis statement is not just a fact or statement, and that it must be something arguable?  By passing out handouts and giving them practice examples to read, I do not feel students will be able to read and completely understand how to write a thesis.  I also do not think practicing in their own writing is effective because students will not understand exactly why what they wrote in not a thesis statement.