what is a thesis statement ?

Your thesis statement tells the reader exactly what the point of your essay is. It is difficult to just give you a thesis statement on house arrest without knowing what point about the subject you are trying to make.

House arrest is a scam created by liberals in order to allow criminals access to the communities they victimize.

And no, that is not an opinion. That is an example of a thesis statement you might use for a paper on that topic that might actually have some value.

A good working definition of a thesis statement is that it is the conclusion of the argument you are going to make in your paper.

By definition, a thesis statemnet is a proposition to be defended in an argument. (according to Webster's New World Dictionary) A possible thesis statement concerning house arreste could be:

Offenders sentenced to house arrest are no less likely to recommit the same crime or another type of crime in the future after their sentence has expired.

A thesis statement is an assertion, not a statement of fact or an observation.

Fact or observation: People use many lawn chemicals.

Thesis: People are poisoning the environment with chemicals merely to keep their lawns clean

Well my English teacher wants our thesis statement to describe what the paper will be about, be in the first paragraph, and be the last sentcence in the first paragraph. Here is an example:

Have you ever heard of Yahoo! Answers? Have you ever wondered how it works? Many people have, so you are not alone. YAHOO! ANSWERS IS AN ONLINE COMMUNITY WHERE PEOPLE CAN ASK QUESTIONS AND GET ANSWERS FROM ORDINARY PEOPLE.

The last sentece was my thesis.

a thesis statement is your opinion boiled down to one arguable statement. so your thesis statement would depend on what you think of house arrest.

The three main concerns with house arrest are the level of the offense the criminal has been charged with, the economic cost, and the impact on the neighbourhood where the criminal is living.

How Musician's in the Civil Rights era helped open the lines of communication and pave the way of the Civil Rights movement with music and non-violence

Incidence of higher house arrest statistics for minorities.

A thesis satatement is one sentence telling the reader what your whole paper is about.