how to find the thesis statement in an essay

The thesis statement is that sentence or two in your text that contains the focus of your essay and tells your reader what the essay is going to be about. Although it is certainly possible to write a good essay without a thesis statement (many narrative essays, for example, contain only an implied thesis statement), the lack of a thesis statement may well be a symptom of an essay beset by a lack of focus. Many writers think of a thesis statement as an umbrella: everything that you carry along in your essay has to fit under this umbrella, and if you try to take on packages that don’t fit, you will either have to get a bigger umbrella or something’s going to get wet.
Avoid announcing the thesis statement as if it were a thesis statement. In other words, avoid using phrases such as “The purpose of this paper is . . . . ” or “In this paper, I will attempt to . . . .” Such phrases betray this paper to be the work of an amateur. If necessary, write the thesis statement that way the first time; it might help you determine, in fact, that this is your thesis statement. But when you rewrite your paper, eliminate the bald assertion that this is your thesis statement and write the statement itself without that annoying, unnecessary preface.

Compare the original thesis (not specific and clear enough) with the revised version (much more specific and clear):
Every paper you write should have a main point, a main idea, or central message. The argument(s) you make in your paper should reflect this main idea. The sentence that captures your position on this main idea is what we call a thesis statement.

Statement of fact:
You can read chapter four of Schaum’s Quick Guide to Writing Great Research Papers an eBook in our online collection, click the title to open: “How Do I Write a Thesis Statement?”.

When searching for a new home, realtors will tell you there are three important factors: location, location, and location. When developing your one-sentence thesis statement, it is important for you to be: specific, specific, specific. Write your thesis statement once and then rewrite it again with greater specificity.
A good thesis statement is developed from the point of view of the reader. Be very careful you’re not developing a topic that is of interest to you alone. This is a harsh yet necessary question to ask yourself: will my readers have any reason to care about what I’m writing?

Write a brief paragraph describing the main purpose or objective of the essay. Use the notes you took to back up why you think what you’ve written is the meaning. Ask yourself if the essay is explaining a topic, analyzing a subject, or arguing a debatable point. Look for claims being made, detailed explanations, or statistical evidence that give clues to the thesis.
A thesis statement lays the groundwork for an essay. It tells the reader what the essay is about and what to expect as he reads through the essay. Locating and understanding the thesis statement, however, isn’t always easy. Sometimes it requires that you read the entire essay, find the thesis statement and then read the essay again. The second time you read, you can then compare what the thesis statement said the essay was about to your thoughts about the essay’s meaning.

References:

http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/thesis/
http://rasmussen.libanswers.com/faq/32467
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/thesis-statement-examples.html
http://classroom.synonym.com/thesis-essay-8152750.html
http://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/essay-writing-tips-strong-argument/