The black death

I have to write a paper due next week on the black death. I can't think of a good thesis statement. Please help!

Could you be a little more specific? That's a very broad topic.

Your thesis statement should summarize your whole paper. Some people recommend writing the thesis statement last, after you have written the whole paper, while others say to come up with it first and build your whole paper around that.

Either way, the steps end up pretty similar. It's just whether or not you write the actual line of your thesis at the beginning or at the end.

Figure out what you want to discuss. I'm usually writing persuasive papers, so my thesis statements are arguments. One of my thesis statements (university level) was about how university degrees in Canada are prestigious but pointless for employable skills.

It's unlikely you're writing a persuasive essay, so narrow your topic down to what you want to teach people: do you want to focus on doctors/their outfits, the death toll, treatments, spread? As Spark said, the Black Death is a huge topic and you'll have to narrow it down.

Think of what you're supposed to do. Does your assignment specify what you have to cover? That's a good place to start for good topics.

You might have to research your topic first, to find out what information exists and what you gravitate towards. What do you want to learn about? This is where being curious is really useful, because it makes coming up with thesis topics so much easier. Nothing's too silly. If you want to find out why doctors wore those ridiculous outfits, go for it. If you want to find out how the illness traveled and why it skipped over certain parts of the population, research that instead.

Start with your assignment sheet and figure out what the teacher is asking you to do, first off, then figure out what part of that interests you the most. Research it, determine what you want to talk about within the framework, and come up with either a full blown thesis statement that narrows your focus to just that, or simply have a topic and build your thesis statement after the body. Then build your outline (here's an article to help with that) and go write!

If you write the thesis first, then you'll have a polished line to support your body paragraphs with. If you write the body of the essay first, then you'll have to summarize what their overreaching theme is to write your thesis.