or
Because , .
If you are just starting out, and you are still developing an original, evidence-based claim to defend, a simpler formula is probably best. Once you have done the research, and you understand the subject, then a formula like the following won’t look like random words; it will suggest a way to frame a nuanced, complex argument that goes beyond making non-controversial factual statements.
While says , says . While the two authors disagree over , they both share a deep concern over . refusal to accept suggests that is . | |
What really matters is not guessing the magically correct words to fit some secret formula that your mean instructor is refusing to tell you. What matters is that you have researched your subject, that you have found and engaged meaningfully with peer-reviewed academic sources, and that you are developing an evidence-based claim, rather than summarizing or giving unsupported opinion. |
Academic Argument: Evidence-based Defense of a Non-obvious Position
Parts of a Thesis Statement
The thesis statement has 3 main parts : the limited subject , the precise opinion , and the blueprint of reasons .
Make sure you’ve chosen a subject that meets your instructor’s requirements for the assignment. (It never hurts to ask.)
The precise opinion gives your answer to a question about the subject. A good precise opinion is vital to the reader’s comprehension of the goal of the essay .
A blueprint is a plan. It lets the builder know that the foyer will be here, the living room will be to the east, the dining room to the west, and the family room will be north.The blueprint of an essay permits you to see the whole shape of your ideas before you start churning out whole paragraphs.While it’s okay for you to start writing down your ideas before you have a clear sense of your blueprint, your reader should never encounter a list of details without being told exactly what point these details are supposed to support. (For more details on the reasoning blueprint, see Blueprinting .)
The biography challenges the Western genre’s stereotype of the “savage Indian” through . | |
In the blueprint, the author . The author of the example above introduces three different kinds of evidence: Informed by this blueprint, the reader expects to encounter one section (a paragraph or more) devoted to each subtopic.The . |
If your thesis statement introduces three reasons A, B and C, the reader will expect a section on reason A, a section on reason B, and a section on reason C.
For a single paragraph, you might only spend one sentence on each reason. For a 2-3 page paper, each reason might get its own paragraph. For a 10-page paper, each reason might contain its own local thesis statement, with its own list of reasons, so that each section involves several paragraphs.To emphasize the structure of your essay, repeat keywords or paraphrased ideas from the blueprint as you introduce the sections in which you expand on each point. Crafting good transitions is a skill that takes time and practice. ( See Transitions and Reminders of Thesis ).
Note : If you repeat your blueprint phrases and your thesis statement robotically (“The third point I want to talk about is how Black Elk Speaks accurately represents the Indian lifestyle through its direct quotes from Black Elk.”), your writing will be rather dry and lifeless. Dull writing is probably better than aimless rambling, although neither is terribly effective. |
Note : A thesis statement amounts to nothing if the paper is not completely focused on that main point . Blueprinting helps create the coherency of the thesis throughout the entire essay, which makes it a necessary part of the thesis statement.
accurately represents Indian lifestyle through its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. | |
: The representation of Indian lifestyle in the book Black Elk Speaks : the book is accurate : the book pays attention to it uses , and it uses . (The rest of the paper will establish the truth of teach of these supporting points, and then explain why they add up to support the truth of the thesis statement.) |
Is a tragedy? | |
This is a question, not a statement. It’s fine to sit down at the keyboard with the intention of writing a paper to answer this question, but before you start churning out the sentences, you should have a clear idea of what answer you’re trying to support. |
This paper will look at the book’s attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotations from Black Elk, in order to determine whether accurately represents Indian lifestyle. | |
The above sample is slightly better because it offers more detail, but it still doesn’t say what position the author is taking on the topic of whether the book is accurate. |
Because the events in the story emphasize Black Elk’s role as a Sioux Warrior, and do not describe his eventual conversion to Catholicism and membership in the Society of St. Joseph, presents a skewed and simplified view of the complex history of Native Americans. | |
Note that the above sample contains a (the accuracy of Black Elk Speaks), (it is skewed and simplified), and (because the book only tells part of the story). You don’t need to present those three parts in that exact order every time; furthermore, your instructor may have a good reason to ask you for a different organization. But most of the time, including these three parts will help your reader to follow your ideas much more closely. |
Biographies of all types can teach us many things about the past. What was the culture like? What was the language like? And what did the people say? One such book is Black Elk Speaks, which tells the story of a Sioux warrior in the late 1800s. How accurate is this book? This paper will investigate the cultural details, the language, and what Black Elk actually said, in order to determine the answer. | |
The above sample starts off with a wordy, general statement about biographies. But the main topic isn’t about biographies of all types, it’s specifically about one book, Black Elk Speaks. |
17 Oct 2000 — originally posted by Nicci Jordan, UWEC Junior 08 Dec 2000 — first posted here. Maintained by Prof. Jerz. 13 Dec 2003 — links updated 22 Sep 2006 — moderate revisions by Jerz 29 Oct 2011 — updated by Jerz 14 June 2015 — minor adjustments
Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay A blueprint is a rough but specific plan , or outline, which defines the structure of your whole essay. The blueprint, usually located within the thesis statement, is a brief list of the points you plan to make, compressed into just a few words each, in the same order in which they appear in the body of your paper.
Hochstein, Jordan, and Jerz Thesis Reminders A thesis reminder is a direct echo of the thesis statement . In a short paper, the topic sentence of each paragraph should repeat words or phrases from the thesis statement.
Dennis G. Jerz Timed Essays: Planning and Organizing in a Crunch
this did not help at all
I can’t win them all.
Gibberish person may be skimming too fast. This always helps. I’m in the middle of replying to a student email on how to rework her thesis statement and I use your explanation as a clear explanation.
This has helped a lot, thank you.
I find this page helpful. Thank you!
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please I want some more examples of how to construct a very good acedamic essays
From this class,I kind of know what is thesis statement.It is a strong support of a whole passage,it can inform people of what the passage is telling,only by using a few words .It should have the keywords and a good organization to make itself brief but rich.After learning this class,I think I will be better at writing the thesis statement.Thanks
I am doing a project for my MST…but iam finding it difficult in putting up my paragraphs which needs to include my subject and limited subject…..pliz advice me on how to put up my paragraph
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I am doing preparation of ielts exam . but I faface difficulty in grammar and especially in thesis line which I confuse that what should i write in thesis line among all kinds of essay …plz tell me but should I do to improve it.
I think you should read more and write more.After writing,you can ask someone that is good at English learning to help you know what your mistakes are.
Vehicles has become a essential part of human being life. People used to bicycle but by the time mode of commute has been replaced by car .however, still in some cities people prefer to ride bicycle for travelling.
Plz tell me how can I impressive to my intro and how can I improve my writing skill
Jonu, I’d say the most important helpful thing you can do is expose yourself to English as spoken by native English speakers, talking with people who know the language well enough that they can correct you immediately, in casual conversation, when you make one of the word-level errors that only an expert user of the language would spot. There is no shortcut — exposing yourself to a language is the only way to learn it.
I happened to come across this video, which is geared towards a young audience, but is written for English language learners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqxuNrhKhMc
Hi i am doing the preparation of competitive exam , i have to write an Essay of 2500-2800 words, data should be critical and researched base, for example there is Essay on Climate change , then please tell me how i develop a thesis statement, and how we write thesis statement, is it is written in the start of Essay or in the end of introduction, some people said that thesis satement should be written in start other say that this written in end of introductory paragraph. please help me with example thanks
Rab, if you are looking for my advice on thesis statements, you have found the right page. If you have any specific questions or comments about the content of this page, I’d be happy to address them. I’ve already put lots of time into this page, and at the moment I can’t think of a way to present my advice any more clearly.
Although you did say “please,” even so, “tell me how I develop a thesis statement” is asking for quite a lot.
What is your college major or your area of professonal expertise? If I asked you to tell me, right here on my blog, what I need to know in order to succeed in a competitive exam in your field, what would you say?
If I went to a doctor and said “Tell me how to diagnose a patient,” or I went to a judge and said “Tell me how to interpret the law,” or I went to an artist and said “Tell me how to be creative,” do you think they would be able give me a few sentences that completely answer my question and prepare me for professional work as a doctor, judge, or artist? If they had spent years as students learning their subject matter, and additional years teaching or writing a textbook on their specialty, they might be very good in their professions but I’d bet they’d all find it tough to answer such a question in any meaningful way.
I won’t be evaluating your submission, so my opinion on debatable topics such as where the thesis should go won’t be of any specific use to you.
thesis statement should be the last statement in your introductory paragraph, it will consist of a short explanation as to why you are writing the essay and what is involved.
That’s certainly a valid place to put a thesis statement, jentar. If your instructor tells you to put a thesis statement in a certain place, then putting it anywhere else is risky. But it’s also possible to start with a paragraph that grabs the reader’s attention with a gripping example that illustrates what’s at stake, and then give the thesis statement in the second paragraph.
This is great stuff. I wonder if you didn’t mean expansive rather than expensive in the following sentence. “Instead of claiming that a book “challenges a genre’s stereotypes,” you might instead argue that some text “provides a more expensive but more ethical solution than X” or “challenges Jim Smith’s observation that ‘[some quote from Smith here]’” instead.
Thanks for your feedback. I’m glad you found the page useful. I really did mean “expensive” in that example, though I am simply suggesting that considering cost is worth exploring in an argument, depending on the kind of argument you are making.
I found the information to be very informative and easy to understand. Thank you
Hi. I began an essay on the topic ; reasons why pursuing college education is important. I had it started off this way… Aristotle said it best when he stated, “Education is the best provision for life’s journey.” Pursuing a college education provides individuals with career pportunities, higher income and experiences necessary in the journey of life. Please do you think I started off good or too weak? I need your help as this is a great assignment for me to make up for my mid semester examination which I was unable to attend!
Your instructor is the one who will grade the assignment, so he or she is the best source of feedback. Without knowing what grade/level you are, or what kind of class you are taking, I can’t really advise you. However, unless you have read Aristotle’s works yourself and can place that quote in its context, I would not recommend pulling a random quote from a website and using it to start a paper. The complete quote is “Education is the best provision for the journey to old age,” but what does that mean?
The word “best” means there is at least a “good” and a “better,” and that by some measurement or judgement, a third thing is “best.” What are the two other sayings (at least) that you have compared to Aristotle, and what are the two other things (at least) that Aristotle thinks are not as good provision for life’s journey to old age? Why does your opinion (on at least three different sayings, of which the best is Aristotle’s), and at least three different provisions for old age (of which the best is education) help you to answer your instructor’s prompt about the reasons for pursing a college education?
What we think of as “college” is very different from the education that Aristotle would have received (or provided). I suggest you look into ways that a college education encourages critical thinking, which is a different way of thinking than “Did I get the right answer? Will my teacher approve? What’s the secret ‘correct’ answer in the back of my instructor’s book that I should memorize and spit back?” Maybe your instructor wants you to determine for yourself whether you feel gaining a college education is worth the intellectual effort.
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When (event in book) happened, (character) states, "..."
Ex: When Lady Macbeth kills herself, Macbeth states, "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more (V.V.19-20).
(Character) explains: "..." (citation).
(Your own words) "direct quotes from book" ...
Ex: Macbeth pines over his miserable fate, calling life a "walking shadow" (citation).
Directly look at quote and replace the text with your words. It is vitally important to maintain the same meaning:
Ex: In other words, Macbeth compares his existence to the condition of being a mere ghost. He goes on to compare people to actors who worry about their brief moment in the spotlight only to cease to exist before he realizes his life is over.
Look at the subtle parts of the quote, and explain why the author used them in his writing--Tone, diction, mood, figurative language (metaphors, similes, imagery, alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification...there are A LOT).
Ex: The metaphors Shakespeare uses, comparing life to a "walking shadow" and man to "a poor player" emphasize the fleeting nature of life. Shadows are gone as soon as they appear, and actors only assume their character: the people they represent have no true meaning.
Show the importance of the quote with respect to your argument and your thesis. Explain the significance...Tell the reader why they bothered to read your essay. This is where you tie your thoughts together in a nice bow.
Ex: Here, Macbeth realizes that his pitiful existence, from the moment he decided to kill King Duncan to the moment when his beloved wife killed herself, has been consumed by his reckless ambition. This directly shows the damaging power of ambition. If Macbeth had been content with his previous title, which was prestigious enough, a host of tragedy would have been avoided.
When Lady Macbeth kills herself, Macbeth states, "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more" (V.V.19-28). In other words, Macbeth compares his existence to the condition of being a mere ghost. He goes on to compare people to actors who worry about their brief moment in the spotlight only to cease to exist before they realize it is over. The metaphors Shakespeare uses, comparing life to a "walking shadow" and man to "a poor player" emphasize the fleeting nature of life. Shadows are gone as soon as they appear, and actors only assume their character: the people they represent have no true meaning. Here, Macbeth realizes that his pitiful existence, from the moment he decided to kill King Duncan to the moment when his beloved wife killed herself, has been destroyed by his reckless ambition. This directly shows the damaging power of ambition, a major theme of the play. If Macbeth had been content with his previous title, which was prestigious enough, a wealth of tragedy would have been avoided.
Write your thesis here for reference:
1. Write the quote here, with a way to introduce it:
2. Write a paraphrase here (remember to keep the same meaning):
3. Write your analysis here (look for the subtle, key parts of the quote):
4. Write your evaluation here (prove why the quote is important in relation to your thesis):
5. Repeat for the rest of your text-based essay!!!
Sarah Cohen
Student Learning Center, University of California, Berkeley
©2009 UC Regents
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
In 1977, three years before Umberto Eco’s groundbreaking novel “ The Name of the Rose ” catapulted him to international fame, the illustrious semiotician published a funny and unpretentious guide for his favorite audience: teachers and their students. Now translated into 17 languages (it finally appeared in English in 2015), “How to Write a Thesis” delivers not just practical advice for writing a thesis — from choosing the right topic (monograph or survey? ancient or contemporary?) to note-taking and mastering the final draft — but meaningful lessons that equip writers for a lifetime outside the walls of the classroom. “Your thesis is like your first love” Eco muses. “It will be difficult to forget. In the end, it will represent your first serious and rigorous academic work, and this is no small thing.”
“Full of friendly, no-bullshit, entry-level advice on what to do and how to do it,” praised one critic, “the absolutely superb chapter on how to write is worth triple the price of admission on its own.” An excerpt from that chapter can be read below.
Once we have decided to whom to write (to humanity, not to the advisor), we must decide how to write, and this is quite a difficult question. If there were exhaustive rules, we would all be great writers. I could at least recommend that you rewrite your thesis many times, or that you take on other writing projects before embarking on your thesis, because writing is also a question of training. In any case, I will provide some general suggestions:
You are not Proust. Do not write long sentences. If they come into your head, write them, but then break them down. Do not be afraid to repeat the subject twice, and stay away from too many pronouns and subordinate clauses. Do not write,
The pianist Wittgenstein, brother of the well-known philosopher who wrote the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicusthat today many consider the masterpiece of contemporary philosophy, happened to have Ravel write for him a concerto for the left hand, since he had lost the right one in the war.
Write instead,
The pianist Paul Wittgenstein was the brother of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Since Paul was maimed of his right hand, the composer Maurice Ravel wrote a concerto for him that required only the left hand.
The pianist Paul Wittgenstein was the brother of the famous philosopher, author of the Tractatus. The pianist had lost his right hand in the war. For this reason the composer Maurice Ravel wrote a concerto for him that required only the left hand.
Do not write,
The Irish writer had renounced family, country, and church, and stuck to his plans. It can hardly be said of him that he was a politically committed writer, even if some have mentioned Fabian and “socialist” inclinations with respect to him. When World War II erupted, he tended to deliberately ignore the tragedy that shook Europe, and he was preoccupied solely with the writing of his last work.
Rather write,
Joyce had renounced family, country, and church. He stuck to his plans. We cannot say that Joyce was a “politically committed” writer even if some have gone so far as describing a Fabian and “socialist” Joyce. When World War II erupted, Joyce deliberately ignored the tragedy that shook Europe. His sole preoccupation was the writing of Finnegans Wake.
Even if it seems “literary,” please do not write,
When Stockhausen speaks of “clusters,” he does not have in mind Schoenberg’s series, or Webern’s series. If confronted, the German musician would not accept the requirement to avoid repeating any of the twelve notes before the series has ended. The notion of the cluster itself is structurally more unconventional than that of the series. On the other hand Webern followed the strict principles of the author of A Survivor from Warsaw. Now, the author of Mantra goes well beyond. And as for the former, it is necessary to distinguish between the various phases of his oeuvre. Berio agrees: it is not possible to consider this author as a dogmatic serialist.
You will notice that, at some point, you can no longer tell who is who. In addition, defining an author through one of his works is logically incorrect. It is true that lesser critics refer to Alessandro Manzoni simply as “the author of the Betrothed,” perhaps for fear of repeating his name too many times. (This is something manuals on formal writing apparently advise against.) But the author of The Betrothed is not the biographical character Manzoni in his totality. In fact, in a certain context we could say that there is a notable difference between the author of The Betrothed and the author of Adelchi , even if they are one and the same biographically speaking and according to their birth certificate. For this reason, I would rewrite the above passage as follows:
When Stockhausen speaks of a “cluster,” he does not have in mind either the series of Schoenberg or that of Webern. If confronted, Stockhausen would not accept the requirement to avoid repeating any of the twelve notes before the end of the series. The notion of the cluster itself is structurally more unconventional than that of the series. Webern, by contrast, followed the strict principles of Schoenberg, but Stockhausen goes well beyond. And even for Webern, it is necessary to distinguish among the various phases of his oeuvre. Berio also asserts that it is not possible to think of Webern as a dogmatic serialist.
You are not e. e. cummings. Cummings was an American avant-garde poet who is known for having signed his name with lower-case initials. Naturally he used commas and periods with great thriftiness, he broke his lines into small pieces, and in short he did all the things that an avant-garde poet can and should do. But you are not an avant-garde poet. Not even if your thesis is on avant-garde poetry. If you write a thesis on Caravaggio, are you then a painter? And if you write a thesis on the style of the futurists, please do not write as a futurist writes. This is important advice because nowadays many tend to write “alternative” theses, in which the rules of critical discourse are not respected. But the language of the thesis is a metalanguage , that is, a language that speaks of other languages. A psychiatrist who describes the mentally ill does not express himself in the manner of his patients. I am not saying that it is wrong to express oneself in the manner of the so-called mentally ill. In fact, you could reasonably argue that they are the only ones who express themselves the way one should. But here you have two choices: either you do not write a thesis, and you manifest your desire to break with tradition by refusing to earn your degree, perhaps learning to play the guitar instead; or you write your thesis, but then you must explain to everyone why the language of the mentally ill is not a “crazy” language, and to do it you must use a metalanguage intelligible to all. The pseudo-poet who writes his thesis in poetry is a pitiful writer (and probably a bad poet). From Dante to Eliot and from Eliot to Sanguineti, when avant-garde poets wanted to talk about their poetry, they wrote in clear prose. And when Marx wanted to talk about workers, he did not write as a worker of his time, but as a philosopher. Then, when he wrote The Communist Manifesto with Engels in 1848, he used a fragmented journalistic style that was provocative and quite effective. Yet again, The Communist Manifesto is not written in the style of Capital, a text addressed to economists and politicians. Do not pretend to be Dante by saying that the poetic fury “dictates deep within,” and that you cannot surrender to the flat and pedestrian metalanguage of literary criticism. Are you a poet? Then do not pursue a university degree. Twentieth-century Italian poet Eugenio Montale does not have a degree, and he is a great poet nonetheless. His contemporary Carlo Emilio Gadda (who held a degree in engineering) wrote fiction in a unique style, full of dialects and stylistic idiosyncrasies; but when he wrote a manual for radio news writers, he wrote a clever, sharp, and lucid “recipe book” full of clear and accessible prose. And when Montale writes a critical article, he writes so that all can understand him, including those who do not understand his poems.
Begin new paragraphs often. Do so when logically necessary, and when the pace of the text requires it, but the more you do it, the better.
Write everything that comes into your head , but only in the first draft. You may notice that you get carried away with your inspiration, and you lose track of the center of your topic. In this case, you can remove the parenthetical sentences and the digressions, or you can put each in a note or an appendix. Your thesis exists to prove the hypothesis that you devised at the outset, not to show the breadth of your knowledge.
Use the advisor as a guinea pig. You must ensure that the advisor reads the first chapters (and eventually, all the chapters) far in advance of the deadline. His reactions may be useful to you. If the advisor is busy (or lazy), ask a friend. Ask if he understands what you are writing. Do not play the solitary genius.
Do not insist on beginning with the first chapter . Perhaps you have more documentation on chapter 4. Start there, with the nonchalance of someone who has already worked out the previous chapters. You will gain confidence. Naturally your working table of contents will anchor you, and will serve as a hypothesis that guides you.
Do not use ellipsis and exclamation points, and do not explain ironies . It is possible to use language that is referential or language that is figurative . By referential language, I mean a language that is recognized by all, in which all things are called by their most common name, and that does not lend itself to misunderstandings. “The Venice-Milan train” indicates in a referential way the same object that “The Arrow of the Lagoon” indicates figuratively. This example illustrates that “everyday” communication is possible with partially figurative language. Ideally, a critical essay or a scholarly text should be written referentially (with all terms well defined and univocal), but it can also be useful to use metaphor, irony, or litotes. Here is a referential text, followed by its transcription in figurative terms that are at least tolerable:
[ Referential version :] Krasnapolsky is not a very sharp critic of Danieli’s work. His interpretation draws meaning from the author’s text that the author probably did not intend. Consider the line, “in the evening gazing at the clouds.” Ritz interprets this as a normal geographical annotation, whereas Krasnapolsky sees a symbolic expression that alludes to poetic activity. One should not trust Ritz’s critical acumen, and one should also distrust Krasnapolsky. Hilton observes that, “if Ritz’s writing seems like a tourist brochure, Krasnapolsky’s criticism reads like a Lenten sermon.” And he adds, “Truly, two perfect critics.”
[ Figurative version :] We are not convinced that Krasnapolsky is the sharpest critic of Danieli’s work. In reading his author, Krasnapolsky gives the impression that he is putting words into Danieli’s mouth. Consider the line, “in the evening gazing at the clouds.” Ritz interprets it as a normal geographical annotation, whereas Krasnapolsky plays the symbolism card and sees an allusion to poetic activity. Ritz is not a prodigy of critical insight, but Krasnapolsky should also be handled with care. As Hilton observes, “if Ritz’s writing seems like a tourist brochure, Krasnapolsky’s criticism reads like a Lenten sermon. Truly, two perfect critics.”
You can see that the figurative version uses various rhetorical devices. First of all, the litotes: saying that you are not convinced that someone is a sharp critic means that you are convinced that he is not a sharp critic. Also, the statement “Ritz is not a prodigy of critical insight” means that he is a modest critic. Then there are the metaphors : putting words into someone’s mouth, and playing the symbolism card. The tourist brochure and the Lenten sermon are two similes , while the observation that the two authors are perfect critics is an example of irony : saying one thing to signify its opposite.
Now, we either use rhetorical figures effectively, or we do not use them at all. If we use them it is because we presume our reader is capable of catching them, and because we believe that we will appear more incisive and convincing. In this case, we should not be ashamed of them, and we should not explain them . If we think that our reader is an idiot, we should not use rhetorical figures, but if we use them and feel the need to explain them, we are essentially calling the reader an idiot. In turn, he will take revenge by calling the author an idiot. Here is how a timid writer might intervene to neutralize and excuse the rhetorical figures he uses:
[ Figurative version with reservations :] We are not convinced that Krasnapolsky is the “sharpest” critic of Danieli’s work. In reading his author, Krasnapolsky gives the impression that he is “putting words into Danieli’s mouth.” Consider Danieli’s line, “in the evening gazing at the clouds.” Ritz interprets this as a normal geographical annotation, whereas Krasnapolsky “plays the symbolism card” and sees an allusion to poetic activity. Ritz is not a “prodigy of critical insight,” but Krasnapolsky should also be “handled with care”! As Hilton ironically observes, “if Ritz’s writing seems like a vacation brochure, Krasnapolsky’s criticism reads like a Lenten sermon.” And he defines them (again with irony!) as two models of critical perfection. But all joking aside …
I am convinced that nobody could be so intellectually petit bourgeois as to conceive a passage so studded with shyness and apologetic little smiles. Of course I exaggerated in this example, and here I say that I exaggerated because it is didactically important that the parody be understood as such. In fact, many bad habits of the amateur writer are condensed into this third example. First of all, the use of quotation marks to warn the reader, “Pay attention because I am about to say something big!” Puerile. Quotation marks are generally only used to designate a direct quotation or the title of an essay or short work; to indicate that a term is jargon or slang; or that a term is being discussed in the text as a word, rather than used functionally within the sentence. Secondly, the use of the exclamation point to emphasize a statement. This is not appropriate in a critical essay. If you check the book you are reading, you will notice that I have used the exclamation mark only once or twice. It is allowed once or twice, if the purpose is to make the reader jump in his seat and call his attention to a vehement statement like, “Pay attention, never make this mistake!” But it is a good rule to speak softly. The effect will be stronger if you simply say important things. Finally, the author of the third passage draws attention to the ironies, and apologizes for using them (even if they are someone else’s). Surely, if you think that Hilton’s irony is too subtle, you can write, “Hilton states with subtle irony that we are in the presence of two perfect critics.” But the irony must be really subtle to merit such a statement. In the quoted text, after Hilton has mentioned the vacation brochure and the Lenten sermon, the irony was already evident and needed no further explanation. The same applies to the statement, “But all joking aside.” Sometimes a statement like this can be useful to abruptly change the tone of the argument, but only if you were really joking before. In this case, the author was not joking. He was attempting to use irony and metaphor, but these are serious rhetorical devices and not jokes.
You may observe that, more than once in this book, I have expressed a paradox and then warned that it was a paradox. For example, in section 2.6.1, I proposed the existence of the mythical centaur for the purpose of explaining the concept of scientific research. But I warned you of this paradox not because I thought you would have believed this proposition. On the contrary, I warned you because I was afraid that you would have doubted too much, and hence dismissed the paradox. Therefore I insisted that, despite its paradoxical form, my statement contained an important truth: that research must clearly define its object so that others can identify it, even if this object is mythical. And I made this absolutely clear because this is a didactic book in which I care more that everyone understands what I want to say than about a beautiful literary style. Had I been writing an essay, I would have pronounced the paradox without denouncing it later.
Always define a term when you introduce it for the first time . If you do not know the definition of a term, avoid using it. If it is one of the principal terms of your thesis and you are not able to define it, call it quits. You have chosen the wrong thesis (or, if you were planning to pursue further research, the wrong career).
Umberto Eco was an Italian novelist, literary critic, philosopher, semiotician, and university professor. This article is excerpted from his book “ How to Write a Thesis .”
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Meryl Alper, ethnographer and author of “Kids Across the Spectrums,” explores the role of media and technology in the everyday lives of children on the autism spectrum. | | |
Educators should ask not who is curious, but how is each person curious? | |
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This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 3,208,786 times.
Whether you’re writing a short essay or a doctoral dissertation, your thesis statement can be one of the trickiest sentences to formulate. Fortunately, there are some basic rules you can follow to ensure your thesis statement is effective and interesting, including that it must be a debatable analytical point, not a general truism.
To write an effective thesis statement, choose a statement that answers a general question about your topic. Check that your thesis is arguable, not factual, and make sure you can back it up your with evidence. For example, your thesis statement could be something like "Computers allow fourth graders an early advantage in technological and scientific education." To learn about writing thesis statements for different types of essays or how to incorporate them into your essay, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No
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Creating a thesis outline might seem like a big job, but it makes the whole writing process a lot easier. This guide will show you each step to make a good thesis outline. From understanding why you need an outline to avoiding common mistakes, this article will help you stay organized and focused. By following these steps, you can make a strong outline that will guide your research and writing.
Creating a thesis outline is a crucial step in the academic writing process. It serves as a roadmap for your research , helping you organize your thoughts and structure your work logically . This section will delve into the purpose of a thesis outline, its importance in academic writing , and how it guides the research process.
Before diving into the creation of your thesis outline, it's essential to take some preliminary steps. These steps will lay a solid foundation for your research and ensure that your outline is both comprehensive and effective.
Creating a well-organized thesis outline is crucial for a successful thesis. It helps you structure your thoughts and ensures a logical flow of information. Here are the key steps to structuring your thesis outline effectively :
Selecting the appropriate format for your thesis outline is the first step. Common formats include alphanumeric, decimal, and full-sentence outlines. Choose a format that best suits your research and writing style. This decision will guide the organization of your major sections and sub-sections.
Divide your thesis into major sections such as the introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. Each section should have a clear purpose and contribute to your overall thesis argument. Use headings and subheadings to break down each section into manageable parts.
A logical flow is essential for maintaining the reader's interest and understanding. Arrange your sections and sub-sections in a way that naturally progresses from one idea to the next. This will help you build a coherent argument and make your thesis more persuasive.
By following these steps, you can create a structured and effective thesis outline that will serve as a roadmap for your research and writing process.
Crafting a compelling opening.
Your introduction should grab the reader's attention right from the start. Use a hook, such as a surprising fact or a thought-provoking question, to draw them in. This section sets the stage for your entire thesis, so make it engaging and relevant.
Clearly state the research question your thesis aims to answer. This question will guide your entire study and keep you focused. Make sure it is specific and researchable.
Provide an overview of the scope of your research. Explain what you will cover and what you will not. This helps set clear boundaries for your study. Additionally, outline the main objectives you aim to achieve with your research. Setting clear objectives will help you stay on track and ensure your research is focused and relevant.
When outlining your literature review , start by summarizing the existing research related to your topic. This involves gathering and synthesizing information from various sources, such as books, journal articles, and online databases. A well-summarized literature review provides a comprehensive overview of what has been done in your field and highlights the key findings and methodologies used by other researchers.
After summarizing the existing research, the next step is to identify the gaps in the literature. These gaps represent areas where further research is needed and can help you position your study within the broader academic context. Look for questions that have not been answered or areas that have not been explored in depth. Identifying these gaps will not only justify the need for your research but also guide your research questions and objectives.
Finally, establish the theoretical frameworks that will underpin your study. This involves selecting and discussing the theories and models that are relevant to your research topic. The theoretical framework provides a foundation for your study and helps to explain the relationships between different variables. By clearly outlining the theoretical frameworks, you can ensure that your research is grounded in established knowledge and contributes to the ongoing academic discourse.
Selecting research methods.
Choosing the right research methods is crucial for the success of your thesis. Start by deciding whether your study will be qualitative, quantitative, or a mix of both. Qualitative methods often include interviews and observations, while quantitative methods might involve surveys and experiments. Your choice should align with your research objectives and the type of data you need to collect.
Once you have selected your methods, it's important to justify why these methods are appropriate for your study. Explain how they will help you answer your research questions and achieve your objectives. This step is vital for gaining approval from stakeholders and ensuring the success of your project.
Detail the process of data collection and analysis . Describe the tools and techniques you will use, such as surveys, interviews, or software for data analysis. Make sure to explain how you will ensure the reliability and validity of your data. This section should provide a clear roadmap of how you will gather and interpret your data, ensuring that your research is both credible and replicable.
Organizing data logically.
When presenting your research findings, it's crucial to organize your data in a logical manner. This can be done by structuring your findings around key questions, hypotheses, or the overall structure of your study. Clear organization helps your audience understand your results without confusion. Consider using tables to present quantitative data succinctly.
Focus on the most significant results of your research. Highlight these key findings to ensure they stand out to your readers. This not only emphasizes the importance of your work but also makes it easier for others to grasp the core contributions of your study. Remember, clarity is essential in effective communication.
Visual aids such as charts, graphs, and tables can greatly enhance the presentation of your research findings. They provide a visual representation of your data, making complex information more accessible. Ensure that your visual aids are well-labeled and directly related to the findings you are discussing. This will help in stripping the dread from data interpretation for your audience.
Interpreting findings.
When you interpret your findings, you need to connect your analysis to your research questions and hypotheses. This involves making sense of statistical significance and drawing meaningful conclusions. Interpreting your findings helps you understand the broader implications of your research and how it contributes to the existing body of knowledge.
To provide context for your results, compare them with similar studies mentioned in your literature review. Highlight whether your findings align with or differ from previous research. This comparison can help validate your results and show how your work fits into the larger academic conversation.
Discuss the broader implications of your findings. Consider how they impact your field of study and what they mean for future research. This section should also address any limitations of your study and suggest areas for further investigation. By doing so, you demonstrate the significance of your research and its potential to influence future work.
Summarizing key points.
In the conclusion, you should summarize the key points of your research. This involves revisiting the main arguments and findings discussed in your thesis. By doing so, you provide a clear and concise overview of your work, ensuring that the reader understands the significance of your research.
Restate your thesis statement in a fresh way , reflecting on how your research has supported or challenged it. This is crucial for reinforcing the main idea of your thesis and demonstrating how your work contributes to the broader field of study. Remember, a well-restated thesis can leave a lasting impression on your readers.
Finally, suggest areas for future research. Identify any gaps or limitations in your study and propose how future research can address these issues. This not only highlights the importance of your work but also encourages further exploration and development in your field.
Seeking feedback.
Before finalizing your thesis outline, it's crucial to seek feedback from your advisor or peers. They can provide valuable insights and identify areas that may need improvement. Don't hesitate to ask for their opinions on the structure and content of your outline. This step ensures that your outline is clear and logical.
After receiving feedback, take the time to make necessary adjustments. This may involve reorganizing sections, adding or removing content, or clarifying certain points. A reverse outline can be particularly helpful in this stage. It involves outlining an existing draft to assess its structure and coherence. This technique allows you to see if your ideas flow logically and if any sections need further development.
Finally, ensure that your outline is cohesive and coherent. Each section should connect logically to the next, and your main points should be clearly articulated. Use a checklist to verify that your outline meets these criteria. This step is essential for creating a well-structured thesis that effectively communicates your research findings.
Overloading with information.
One common mistake is trying to include too much information. This can make your thesis overwhelming and difficult to follow. Focus on the most relevant data and arguments to support your thesis statement. Remember, quality over quantity is key.
A thesis that lacks a clear focus can confuse readers and weaken your argument. Make sure your thesis statement is specific and that each section of your outline directly supports it. Staying focused will help you create a more compelling and coherent thesis.
Feedback from advisors and peers is invaluable. Ignoring it can lead to missed opportunities for improvement. Take the time to consider and incorporate constructive criticism . This will not only enhance the quality of your thesis but also help you grow as a researcher.
Writing a thesis can be tricky, and many students fall into common traps. Don't let stress and confusion hold you back. Our step-by-step Thesis Action Plan is here to guide you through every stage. Ready to make your thesis journey smoother? Visit our website to learn more and get started today!
Creating an effective thesis outline is a vital step in the thesis writing process. It helps you organize your thoughts, stay focused, and ensure that your research is thorough and well-structured. By breaking down your thesis into manageable sections, you can tackle each part with confidence and clarity. Remember, a well-crafted outline not only makes the writing process smoother but also enhances the overall quality of your thesis. Stay dedicated, seek guidance when needed, and take pride in your progress. With a solid outline, you are well on your way to producing a compelling and academically rigorous thesis.
Why do i need a thesis outline.
A thesis outline helps you organize your ideas and ensures your writing is structured and focused. It breaks your project into smaller, manageable parts, making the writing process faster and less stressful.
Before creating a thesis outline, conduct initial research, identify key themes and questions, and set clear objectives for your study.
Your thesis outline should include the major sections: introduction, literature review, methodology, research findings, discussion, and conclusion. Ensure each section flows logically into the next.
Start your introduction with a compelling opening, present your research question, and outline the scope and objectives of your thesis.
Organize your literature review by summarizing existing research, identifying research gaps, and establishing theoretical frameworks relevant to your study.
In the methodology section, describe your research methods, justify your methodological choices, and explain how you collected and analyzed your data.
Present your research findings by organizing data logically, highlighting key results, and using visual aids like charts and graphs to make the information clear and engaging.
If you get stuck, take a break, seek feedback from peers or advisors, and revisit your outline to ensure your thesis remains focused and coherent.
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What if I told you that one sentence in your essay or thesis could be the difference between a First and a Fail?
It may sound absurd – perhaps even unfair – but it’s true. I refer, of course, to the thesis statement. A thesis statement is your entire essay if it were condensed into a single sentence. If your essay title is a question, then your thesis statement is the one-sentence answer.
It tends to arrive near the end of the first paragraph of a thesis.
Let’s take a look at an example from a Master of Education degree thesis:
Thesis title What constitutes ‘good writing’ for GCSE students of English?
Thesis statement The examination rubric by which GCSE English writing performance is assessed, influenced by a long history of variable ‘tastes’, may now be said to describe ‘good writing’ as that which is grammatically accurate, sophisticated, and suited to purpose, genre and audience.
(The thesis statement would be located in paragraph 1, after a brief overview of the subject).
As I mentioned, the way your thesis statement is written can be the difference between a First and a Fail. But how?
To answer that, let’s think about what ‘thesis’ means. From the Greek thésis, meaning ‘proposition’, your thesis is your main argument.
It is the position you have to support and defend for the remainder of your essay. Without something clear to defend, the fortress you build will crumble and the army you deploy will run about like headless chickens.
In essence: without a clear thesis statement, you don’t have an essay.
“Establishing a clear thesis at the start of your essay is crucial for both you and your examiner. For your examiner, it’s evidence that you have answered the question. For you, it can function as an essay plan.”
For both of you, it’s a litmus test for the quality of the argument: if you can’t fit your essay’s arguments into a sentence, they are too diffuse; and if you can’t stick to your thesis statement’s focus throughout your essay, you are not focused.
A precisely focused and well-grounded essay is more worthy of a First Class grade than one with a scattergun approach.
What your thesis statement includes is determined by three things:
1. The subject and topic of the essay. 2. The purpose of the essay. 3. The length of the essay.
Let’s examine each of those in more detail to see how they can help us refine our thesis statement.
Look at this real-life title from an undergraduate Sports Science essay:
What are the key differences between training recommendations for maximising muscular strength and maximising muscular hypertrophy?
The first task is, of course, to determine the subject of the essay.
In this example, that would be ‘training recommendations for maximising muscular strength and training recommendations for maximising muscular hypertrophy’.
Knowing that means that I know I will need to deploy my knowledge about those two similar but distinct areas. It also means that I should be using the specialist terminology relevant to the field, such as load, isotonic and volume.
Next, I need to determine the topic.
Here it would be ‘the key differences’ between training recommendations for those two goals. That phrase ‘key differences’ is likely to be at the heart of my thesis statement, to show that I’m on track.
With that in mind, my thesis statement might look like this:
Whilst both training outcomes require resistance training centred upon isotonic contractions, it is likely that the absolute load requirements may need to be higher for strength purposes, whilst the total training volume may need to be higher for hypertrophy purposes.
It is by no means a complete essay, but it states clearly what the ‘short answer’ to the question is, whilst paving the way for the ‘long answer’ to follow.
But what if the essay isn’t just looking for the facts organised into a specific order? What if the essay is asking for analysis? Or an argument?
Different essay purposes require different thesis statements. Fortunately, there are only three main essay purposes, and they’re pretty easy to recognise:
1. The expository essay: This is an essay type that asks for the key facts on a subject to be laid out, with explanations. The Sports Science question above is an example of this. It asks for the WHAT and HOW of something.
2. The analytical essay: This essay type asks you not only to lay out the facts, but also to analyse and deconstruct them to better understand them. It is typical in subjects such as English Literature and Fine Art. It asks for the WHY of something.
3. The argumentative essay: This type of essay asks you to use the facts available, to analyse them for value, and then to provide a point of view about the subject. It moves more quickly through the WHAT, HOW and WHY of a topic through to: WHY DOES IT MATTER?
All of the above essay types need a thesis statement that includes a proposition (a statement which answers the question or addresses the title).
Beyond that, these three essay types all require different additions.
For the expository essay , you need to add an overview of the details of the conclusion. Let’s look at an example:
Expository essay title: What are the key differences between training recommendations for maximising muscular strength and maximising muscular hypertrophy? (BSc in Sports Science)
Expository thesis statement: Whilst both training outcomes require resistance training centred upon isotonic contractions, it is likely that the absolute load requirements may need to be higher for strength purposes, whilst the total training volume may need to be higher for hypertrophy purposes. (The basic conclusion is that both approaches need isotonic resistance training; the details are teased out in bold.)
For the analytical essay , you need to add an overview of the analysis performed. Here’s an example:
Analytical essay title: Why did England and Wales vote to leave the European Union? (BA in Politics)
Analytical thesis statement: A close consideration of the voter demographics, the populist nature of political messages leading up to the referendum, and the history of Britain’s status in the EU, will demonstrate that Brexit was primarily motivated by the machinations of the Right.
(The basic conclusion is that Brexit was influenced by politicians; the analytical approach is in bold.)
For the argumentative essay , you need to add an overview of your reasoning. Another example:
Argumentative essay title: To what extent do you consider the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays to be in question? (BA in English Literature)
Argumentative thesis statement: Shakespeare’s authorship of his plays is beyond question, given both the entirely unconvincing nature of any counter-theories and the relatively unstable conception of the playwright’s identity as it stands. (The basic conclusion is that Shakespeare did write his plays; the reasoning is in bold.)
As you can see from these examples, the purpose of the essay gives a very clear demand for something beyond a simple answer.
But, there’s more!
The prescribed length of the essay also defines what you need to do with your thesis statement.
Your thesis statement is a microcosm : a miniature, compressed version of your whole essay.
So, it makes sense that the length of the actual essay is going to impact upon the content of the thesis statement.
If, for example, your essay is expected to be 800 words long and on the subject of Eve in the Bible, then it would be overly ambitious for your thesis statement to say: ‘through comprehensive study of the Bible and extant criticism’. For an 800 essay, more precision will be necessary. It would be better for your thesis statement to say: ‘with due awareness of the complexity of the issue, focusing on feminist readings of Genesis .’
“Matching the scope given in your thesis statement to the depth you provide in your essay is a very effective way to ensure precision.”
Contrastingly, if your essay is expected to be 80,000 words long (a PhD thesis, for example), on the subject of stop-motion animation, it would be rather unambitious to suggest that the essay will ‘provide a visual analysis of Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers’, only. For a PhD, we would expect more content to be covered, and multiple approaches to analysis to be considered.
Indeed, matching the scope given in your thesis statement to the depth you provide in your essay is a very effective way to ensure precision.
It’s a simple, three-part process:
1. Identify the question in the title (or make a question from the statement). 2. Answer that question in as few words as possible. 3. Complete the sentence by providing an overview of the foundation behind your answer.
Easy, right? It can be!
That said, there are plenty of traps that essayists can fall into with this part of the essay. Let’s look at some of these pitfalls and how to avoid them.
Pitfall #1: amateurish style.
This is common throughout academic essays written by beginners. It’s not just the thesis statement that falls foul of sounding amateurish. There are plenty of ways this happens, which are beyond the scope of this argument, but the following example is a prime example: In this essay, I will explore the various pieces of evidence before concluding.
This is amateurish for a few reasons. Firstly, it doesn’t actually say anything. You could otherwise word it, ‘I will write an essay which answers the question’ – a rather wasted sentence. The next, and more forgivable issue is the use of the first-person. We want to get a sense that an individual wrote this essay, but we never want to hear them mentioned! Make sense? No? Sorry.
This should instead read more like:
This essay considers evidence from X in light of Y which ultimately reveals Z at the heart of the issue.
(It focuses on the specifics, X, Y, and Z, and is devoid of any mention of its author.)
This is similar to amateurish style. However, empty phrasing is not just amateur-sounding; it’s manipulative-sounding.
Using phrases such as “in order to” instead of, simply, “to” – or “due to the fact that” instead of just “as” – look like attempts to fill up the word count with waffle rather than content. The same goes for phrases that can be substituted for one word: ‘it is evident that’ can (and should) become ‘evidently’.
Watch this thesis statement from a GCSE essay on Music go from hideous to tolerable:
Beethoven was unable to hear his work, due to the fact that he was deaf, so it is evident that he musically conceptualised the notes in order to compose. (Wordy!)
Beethoven was unable to hear his work, as he was deaf, so it is evident that he musically conceptualised the notes to compose. (Slightly less wordy.)
Beethoven’s deafness made him unable to hear his work, so evidently he musically conceptualised the notes to compose. (About as concise as such a complex sentence will get…)
Do not mistake wordiness for sophistication. Your ideas should be sophisticated; your writing should be clear.
For an examiner, the English language is not just a vehicle for your ideas. It should be, but the academic process always involves the assessment of your expression.
So, to satisfy our examiners’ prescriptive tastes, we need to adhere to the basic tenets of Standard English.
Take a look at the following thesis statement example from an A Level Sociology essay: Considering the status of BAME in Internet culture, the demonstrably racist treatment at the hands of the police, and the energy behind the BLM protests, concluding that there is hope for the future.
This sentence has no finite main verb, so it is technically not a sentence. To become a grammatical sentence, we would need to make ‘concluding’ finite: ‘it can be concluded’, or ‘we conclude’.
The writer got lost in this example because the sentence was so long!
Long sentences can also lead to a failure to make subject and verb agree, like in the next thesis statement example from a school Geography essay:
The most populous municipalities of Spain, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, and Zaragoza, does not rank in the top ten most dense populations of the country, with the exception of Barcelona.
Because the subject ‘municipalities’ is separated from the verb ‘does’ by eight words, it is easy to forget that they do not agree. It should, of course, be ‘do, not ‘does’.
The thesis statement, as I said at the start, can be the difference between a First and a Fail. So, take your time with it.
Write it carefully.
Then redraft and refine it several times, until it’s as good as you can make it.
The payoff is a slick, coherent thesis statement that paves the way to a great essay that really impresses your examiner.
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Review or reiterate key points of your work, explain why your work is relevant, a take-away for the reader, more resources on writing thesis conclusions, frequently asked questions about writing an excellent thesis conclusion, related articles.
At this point in your writing, you have most likely finished your introduction and the body of your thesis, dissertation, or research paper . While this is a reason to celebrate, you should not underestimate the importance of your conclusion. The conclusion is the last thing that your reader will see, so it should be memorable.
A good conclusion will review the key points of the thesis and explain to the reader why the information is relevant, applicable, or related to the world as a whole. Make sure to dedicate enough of your writing time to the conclusion and do not put it off until the very last minute.
This article provides an effective technique for writing a conclusion adapted from Erika Eby’s The College Student's Guide to Writing a Good Research Paper: 101 Easy Tips & Tricks to Make Your Work Stand Out .
While the thesis introduction starts out with broad statements about the topic, and then narrows it down to the thesis statement , a thesis conclusion does the same in the opposite order.
Tip: Don’t just copy and paste your thesis into your conclusion. Restate it in different words.
The best way to start a conclusion is simply by restating the thesis statement. That does not mean just copying and pasting it from the introduction, but putting it into different words.
You will need to change the structure and wording of it to avoid sounding repetitive. Also, be firm in your conclusion just as you were in the introduction. Try to avoid sounding apologetic by using phrases like "This paper has tried to show..."
The conclusion should address all the same parts as the thesis while making it clear that the reader has reached the end. You are telling the reader that your research is finished and what your findings are.
I have argued throughout this work that the point of critical mass for biopolitical immunity occurred during the Romantic period because of that era's unique combination of post-revolutionary politics and innovations in smallpox prevention. In particular, I demonstrated that the French Revolution and the discovery of vaccination in the 1790s triggered a reconsideration of the relationship between bodies and the state.
Tip: Try to reiterate points from your introduction in your thesis conclusion.
The next step is to review the main points of the thesis as a whole. Look back at the body of of your project and make a note of the key ideas. You can reword these ideas the same way you reworded your thesis statement and then incorporate that into the conclusion.
You can also repeat striking quotations or statistics, but do not use more than two. As the conclusion represents your own closing thoughts on the topic , it should mainly consist of your own words.
In addition, conclusions can contain recommendations to the reader or relevant questions that further the thesis. You should ask yourself:
Also, try to reference your introduction in your conclusion. You have already taken a first step by restating your thesis. Now, check whether there are other key words, phrases or ideas that are mentioned in your introduction that fit into your conclusion. Connecting the introduction to the conclusion in this way will help readers feel satisfied.
I explored how Mary Wollstonecraft, in both her fiction and political writings, envisions an ideal medico-political state, and how other writers like William Wordsworth and Mary Shelley increasingly imagined the body politic literally, as an incorporated political collective made up of bodies whose immunity to political and medical ills was essential to a healthy state.
Tip: Make sure to explain why your thesis is relevant to your field of research.
Although you can encourage readers to question their opinions and reflect on your topic, do not leave loose ends. You should provide a sense of resolution and make sure your conclusion wraps up your argument. Make sure you explain why your thesis is relevant to your field of research and how your research intervenes within, or substantially revises, existing scholarly debates.
This project challenged conventional ideas about the relationship among Romanticism, medicine, and politics by reading the unfolding of Romantic literature and biopolitical immunity as mutual, co-productive processes. In doing so, this thesis revises the ways in which biopolitics has been theorized by insisting on the inherent connections between Romantic literature and the forms of biopower that characterize early modernity.
Tip: If you began your thesis with an anecdote or historical example, you may want to return to that in your conclusion.
End your conclusion with something memorable, such as:
Ultimately, you want readers to feel more informed, or ready to act, as they read your conclusion.
Yet, the Romantic period is only the beginning of modern thought on immunity and biopolitics. Victorian writers, doctors, and politicians upheld the Romantic idea that a "healthy state" was a literal condition that could be achieved by combining politics and medicine, but augmented that idea through legislation and widespread public health measures. While many nineteenth-century efforts to improve citizens' health were successful, the fight against disease ultimately changed course in the twentieth century as global immunological threats such as SARS occupied public consciousness. Indeed, as subsequent public health events make apparent, biopolitical immunity persists as a viable concept for thinking about the relationship between medicine and politics in modernity.
Need more advice? Read our 5 additional tips on how to write a good thesis conclusion.
The conclusion is the last thing that your reader will see, so it should be memorable. To write a great thesis conclusion you should:
The basic content of a conclusion is to review the main points from the paper. This part represents your own closing thoughts on the topic. It should mainly consist of the outcome of the research in your own words.
The length of the conclusion will depend on the length of the whole thesis. Usually, a conclusion should be around 5-7% of the overall word count.
End your conclusion with something memorable, such as a question, warning, or call to action. Depending on the topic, you can also end with a recommendation.
In Open Access: Theses and Dissertations you can find thousands of completed works. Take a look at any of the theses or dissertations for real-life examples of conclusions that were already approved.
Quoting and Paraphrasing
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College writing often involves integrating information from published sources into your own writing in order to add credibility and authority–this process is essential to research and the production of new knowledge.
However, when building on the work of others, you need to be careful not to plagiarize : “to steal and pass off (the ideas and words of another) as one’s own” or to “present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.”1 The University of Wisconsin–Madison takes this act of “intellectual burglary” very seriously and considers it to be a breach of academic integrity . Penalties are severe.
These materials will help you avoid plagiarism by teaching you how to properly integrate information from published sources into your own writing.
1. Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1993), 888.
When using sources in your papers, you can avoid plagiarism by knowing what must be documented.
If you use an author’s specific word or words, you must place those words within quotation marks and you must credit the source.
Even if you use your own words, if you obtained the information or ideas you are presenting from a source, you must document the source.
Information : If a piece of information isn’t common knowledge (see below), you need to provide a source.
Ideas : An author’s ideas may include not only points made and conclusions drawn, but, for instance, a specific method or theory, the arrangement of material, or a list of steps in a process or characteristics of a medical condition. If a source provided any of these, you need to acknowledge the source.
You do not need to cite a source for material considered common knowledge:
General common knowledge is factual information considered to be in the public domain, such as birth and death dates of well-known figures, and generally accepted dates of military, political, literary, and other historical events. In general, factual information contained in multiple standard reference works can usually be considered to be in the public domain.
Field-specific common knowledge is “common” only within a particular field or specialty. It may include facts, theories, or methods that are familiar to readers within that discipline. For instance, you may not need to cite a reference to Piaget’s developmental stages in a paper for an education class or give a source for your description of a commonly used method in a biology report—but you must be sure that this information is so widely known within that field that it will be shared by your readers.
If in doubt, be cautious and cite the source. And in the case of both general and field-specific common knowledge, if you use the exact words of the reference source, you must use quotation marks and credit the source.
Should i paraphrase or quote.
In general, use direct quotations only if you have a good reason. Most of your paper should be in your own words. Also, it’s often conventional to quote more extensively from sources when you’re writing a humanities paper, and to summarize from sources when you’re writing in the social or natural sciences–but there are always exceptions.
In a literary analysis paper , for example, you”ll want to quote from the literary text rather than summarize, because part of your task in this kind of paper is to analyze the specific words and phrases an author uses.
In research papers , you should quote from a source
You should summarize or paraphrase when
General advice.
If you find that you can’t do A or B, this may mean that you don’t understand the passage completely or that you need to use a more structured process until you have more experience in paraphrasing.
The method below is not only a way to create a paraphrase but also a way to understand a difficult text.
Consider the following passage from Love and Toil (a book on motherhood in London from 1870 to 1918), in which the author, Ellen Ross, puts forth one of her major arguments:
Children of the poor at the turn of the century received little if any emotional or intellectual nurturing from their mothers, whose main charge was family survival. Working for and organizing household subsistence were what defined mothering. Next to this, even the children’s basic comfort was forced into the background (Ross, 1995).
According to Ross (1993), poor children at the turn of the century received little mothering in our sense of the term. Mothering was defined by economic status, and among the poor, a mother’s foremost responsibility was not to stimulate her children’s minds or foster their emotional growth but to provide food and shelter to meet the basic requirements for physical survival. Given the magnitude of this task, children were deprived of even the “actual comfort” (p. 9) we expect mothers to provide today.
You may need to go through this process several times to create a satisfactory paraphrase.
Paraphrasing is often defined as putting a passage from an author into “your own words.” But what are your own words? How different must your paraphrase be from the original?
The paragraphs below provide an example by showing a passage as it appears in the source, two paraphrases that follow the source too closely, and a legitimate paraphrase.
The student’s intention was to incorporate the material in the original passage into a section of a paper on the concept of “experts” that compared the functions of experts and nonexperts in several professions.
Critical care nurses function in a hierarchy of roles. In this open heart surgery unit, the nurse manager hires and fires the nursing personnel. The nurse manager does not directly care for patients but follows the progress of unusual or long-term patients. On each shift a nurse assumes the role of resource nurse. This person oversees the hour-by-hour functioning of the unit as a whole, such as considering expected admissions and discharges of patients, ascertaining that beds are available for patients in the operating room, and covering sick calls. Resource nurses also take a patient assignment. They are the most experienced of all the staff nurses. The nurse clinician has a separate job description and provides for quality of care by orienting new staff, developing unit policies, and providing direct support where needed, such as assisting in emergency situations. The clinical nurse specialist in this unit is mostly involved with formal teaching in orienting new staff. The nurse manager, nurse clinician, and clinical nurse specialist are the designated experts. They do not take patient assignments. The resource nurse is seen as both a caregiver and a resource to other caregivers. . . . Staff nurses have a hierarchy of seniority. . . . Staff nurses are assigned to patients to provide all their nursing care. (Chase, 1995, p. 156)
Critical care nurses have a hierarchy of roles. The nurse manager hires and fires nurses. S/he does not directly care for patients but does follow unusual or long-term cases. On each shift a resource nurse attends to the functioning of the unit as a whole, such as making sure beds are available in the operating room , and also has a patient assignment . The nurse clinician orients new staff, develops policies, and provides support where needed . The clinical nurse specialist also orients new staff, mostly by formal teaching. The nurse manager, nurse clinician, and clinical nurse specialist , as the designated experts, do not take patient assignments . The resource nurse is not only a caregiver but a resource to the other caregivers . Within the staff nurses there is also a hierarchy of seniority . Their job is to give assigned patients all their nursing care .
Notice that the writer has not only “borrowed” Chase’s material (the results of her research) with no acknowledgment, but has also largely maintained the author’s method of expression and sentence structure. The phrases in red are directly copied from the source or changed only slightly in form.
Even if the student-writer had acknowledged Chase as the source of the content, the language of the passage would be considered plagiarized because no quotation marks indicate the phrases that come directly from Chase. And if quotation marks did appear around all these phrases, this paragraph would be so cluttered that it would be unreadable.
Chase (1995) describes how nurses in a critical care unit function in a hierarchy that places designated experts at the top and the least senior staff nurses at the bottom. The experts — the nurse manager, nurse clinician, and clinical nurse specialist — are not involved directly in patient care. The staff nurses, in contrast, are assigned to patients and provide all their nursing care . Within the staff nurses is a hierarchy of seniority in which the most senior can become resource nurses: they are assigned a patient but also serve as a resource to other caregivers. The experts have administrative and teaching tasks such as selecting and orienting new staff, developing unit policies , and giving hands-on support where needed.
This paraphrase is a patchwork composed of pieces in the original author’s language (in red) and pieces in the student-writer’s words, all rearranged into a new pattern, but with none of the borrowed pieces in quotation marks. Thus, even though the writer acknowledges the source of the material, the underlined phrases are falsely presented as the student’s own.
In her study of the roles of nurses in a critical care unit, Chase (1995) also found a hierarchy that distinguished the roles of experts and others. Just as the educational experts described above do not directly teach students, the experts in this unit do not directly attend to patients. That is the role of the staff nurses, who, like teachers, have their own “hierarchy of seniority” (p. 156). The roles of the experts include employing unit nurses and overseeing the care of special patients (nurse manager), teaching and otherwise integrating new personnel into the unit (clinical nurse specialist and nurse clinician), and policy-making (nurse clinician). In an intermediate position in the hierarchy is the resource nurse, a staff nurse with more experience than the others, who assumes direct care of patients as the other staff nurses do, but also takes on tasks to ensure the smooth operation of the entire facility.
The writer has documented Chase’s material and specific language (by direct reference to the author and by quotation marks around language taken directly from the source). Notice too that the writer has modified Chase’s language and structure and has added material to fit the new context and purpose — to present the distinctive functions of experts and nonexperts in several professions.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that a number of phrases from the original passage appear in the legitimate paraphrase: critical care, staff nurses, nurse manager, clinical nurse specialist, nurse clinician, resource nurse.
If all these phrases were in red, the paraphrase would look much like the “patchwork” example. The difference is that the phrases in the legitimate paraphrase are all precise, economical, and conventional designations that are part of the shared language within the nursing discipline (in the too-close paraphrases, they’re red only when used within a longer borrowed phrase).
In every discipline and in certain genres (such as the empirical research report), some phrases are so specialized or conventional that you can’t paraphrase them except by wordy and awkward circumlocutions that would be less familiar (and thus less readable) to the audience.
When you repeat such phrases, you’re not stealing the unique phrasing of an individual writer but using a common vocabulary shared by a community of scholars.
Chase, S. K. (1995). The social context of critical care clinical judgment. Heart and Lung, 24, 154-162.
Introducing a quotation.
One of your jobs as a writer is to guide your reader through your text. Don’t simply drop quotations into your paper and leave it to the reader to make connections.
Integrating a quotation into your text usually involves two elements:
Often both the signal and the assertion appear in a single introductory statement, as in the example below. Notice how a transitional phrase also serves to connect the quotation smoothly to the introductory statement.
Ross (1993), in her study of poor and working-class mothers in London from 1870-1918 [signal], makes it clear that economic status to a large extent determined the meaning of motherhood [assertion]. Among this population [connection], “To mother was to work for and organize household subsistence” (p. 9).
The signal can also come after the assertion, again with a connecting word or phrase:
Illness was rarely a routine matter in the nineteenth century [assertion]. As [connection] Ross observes [signal], “Maternal thinking about children’s health revolved around the possibility of a child’s maiming or death” (p. 166).
Short direct prose.
Incorporate short direct prose quotations into the text of your paper and enclose them in double quotation marks:
According to Jonathan Clarke, “Professional diplomats often say that trying to think diplomatically about foreign policy is a waste of time.”
Begin longer quotations (for instance, in the APA system, 40 words or more) on a new line and indent the entire quotation (i.e., put in block form), with no quotation marks at beginning or end, as in the quoted passage from our Successful vs. Unsucessful Paraphrases page.
Rules about the minimum length of block quotations, how many spaces to indent, and whether to single- or double-space extended quotations vary with different documentation systems; check the guidelines for the system you’re using.
Quotations of up to 3 lines of poetry should be integrated into your sentence. For example:
In Julius Caesar, Antony begins his famous speech with “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears; / I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him” (III.ii.75-76).
Notice that a slash (/) with a space on either side is used to separate lines.
More than 3 lines of poetry should be indented. As with any extended (indented) quotation, do not use quotation marks unless you need to indicate a quotation within your quotation.
Parenthetical citations.
With short quotations, place citations outside of closing quotation marks, followed by sentence punctuation (period, question mark, comma, semi-colon, colon):
Menand (2002) characterizes language as “a social weapon” (p. 115).
With block quotations, check the guidelines for the documentation system you are using.
Place inside closing quotation marks when no parenthetical citation follows:
Hertzberg (2002) notes that “treating the Constitution as imperfect is not new,” but because of Dahl’s credentials, his “apostasy merits attention” (p. 85).
Place outside of closing quotation marks (or after a parenthetical citation).
Place inside closing quotation marks if the quotation is a question/exclamation:
Menand (2001) acknowledges that H. W. Fowler’s Modern English Usage is “a classic of the language,” but he asks, “Is it a dead classic?” (p. 114).
[Note that a period still follows the closing parenthesis.]
Place outside of closing quotation marks if the entire sentence containing the quotation is a question or exclamation:
How many students actually read the guide to find out what is meant by “academic misconduct”?
Use single quotation marks for the embedded quotation:
According to Hertzberg (2002), Dahl gives the U. S. Constitution “bad marks in ‘democratic fairness’ and ‘encouraging consensus'” (p. 90).
[The phrases “democratic fairness” and “encouraging consensus” are already in quotation marks in Dahl’s sentence.]
Quoting only a portion of the whole.
Use ellipsis points (. . .) to indicate an omission within a quotation–but not at the beginning or end unless it’s not obvious that you’re quoting only a portion of the whole.
Within quotations, use square brackets [ ] (not parentheses) to add your own clarification, comment, or correction.
Use [sic] (meaning “so” or “thus”) to indicate that a mistake is in the source you’re quoting and is not your own.
Information on summarizing and paraphrasing sources.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). (2000). Retrieved January 7, 2002, from http://www.bartleby.com/61/ Bazerman, C. (1995). The informed writer: Using sources in the disciplines (5th ed). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Leki, I. (1995). Academic writing: Exploring processes and strategies (2nd ed.) New York: St. Martin?s Press, pp. 185-211.
Leki describes the basic method presented in C, pp. 4-5.
Spatt, B. (1999). Writing from sources (5th ed.) New York: St. Martin?s Press, pp. 98-119; 364-371.
The Writing Center has handouts explaining how to use many of the standard documentation systems. You may look at our general Web page on Documentation Systems, or you may check out any of the following specific Web pages.
If you’re not sure which documentation system to use, ask the course instructor who assigned your paper.
You may also consult the following guides:
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Gathering the necessary material for a large and saturated project is just half the battle, to set up everything and format the work properly is a real deed, challenging and exacting. There are a lot of specific requirements and rules to be born in mind. But don't take it so hard, we give you all the fundamental information concerning thesis paper format. You'll find out
So, get ready to remember all the important principles in terms of paper finalization.
In the process of thesis creation, everyone should set up the data in a specific way. The general structure and stylistic patterns are usually the same everywhere, though some minor issues may vary from one department to another.
When working with the material it is crucial to stick to the thesis writing format in order to:
The thesis structure format implies such parts, obligatory for a good consistent work.
Title Page | It is the first page, forming the impression of the whole work. There should be the title itself, the writer's name, academic information (institution, department, and others), and submission date. There may be some additional local requirements as well, just check the local guidelines. |
Abstract | It is a summarized copy of the project, usually consisting of 170-300 words. A key target, chosen methods, results, and finalizing inference should be introduced here. |
Acknowledgments | It is a paragraph to express gratitude towards your tutor, professor – or any person – who helped you during the work. |
Table of Contents | It is a significant part of a basic thesis format, reflecting the project structure. There is a recommendation to create it with the help of the automatic updating function, presented in the word-processing app. |
Figures and Tables | If there is any visual material (tables, schemes, charts, and whatnot) in the work, make up a list of all issues. Index them and add relevant page numbers to it. |
Introduction | Due to the introduction thesis format, here the author gives some background data, a hypothesis, and key points of the work. |
Literature Review | This part is devoted to literary sources, a person took as the basis of the research. Here it is advisable to analyze existing investigations and point out what is explored insufficiently. |
Methodology | It is a section where methods of work should be presented (including information about participants of the experiment, used instruments, and data collecting). |
Results | It is a place for all the findings the author has got. The best way of presenting is visual (charts, schemes, etc.).The format of a thesis insists on adding them sufficiently. |
Discussion | In the section the author should analyze the results of the researching activity, offer the way of their implication, and formulate ideas for future investigation. |
Conclusion | This part is the summary of the writer's results and ideas, underlining the significance of the work and its benefit for the followers. |
References | It is a list of all cited sources a person used while creating the project. Check the local format rules to avoid any mistakes while writing this section. |
Appendices | Here the writer should add any supplementary he needs for supporting the project, especially if they are too overwhelming for the main body. |
Having discussed the standard structure of the paper, it's high time to discuss useful rules and tips on how to complete the processing.
Well, how to format a thesis correctly? The most important points are presented in the table.
Font | Times New Roman, 12 pt |
Margins | 1 inch from every side of the page |
Spacing | Double, throughout all the text |
Citing | It depends on the formatting style (APA, MLA, or Chicago) |
Headings and Subheadings | Format them in a consistent way throughout the whole work |
Tables and Figures | Every issue should have its own number and a clear legend, and be included in the list mentioned above |
Page numbers | Every page should have a sequential number, placed as it is described in the local guideline (upper right, center, etc.) |
Page Break | It is used to divide all the material into sections and chapters. |
These recommendations are general, and every writer must look through the local guidelines in all cases. Almost every department has a thesis format example, and by getting acquainted with it everyone is certain to get rid of potential mistakes. It doesn't take much time but accentuates your interest and thoroughness, so important for a perfect researcher.
Apart from answering the question 'What is the thesis format?', we'd like to present some additional recommendations and tips concerning the work. It is useful to remind that visual division helps to acquire information in a better way
Studying general rules of formatting is crucial for students, researchers, and other specialists of the sphere. But every time you are also to look into the guidelines offered by your local headmen. The correct paperwork is pleasant to read. Moreover, it underlines the author's professionalism and preciseness.
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Creating various topical texts is an obligatory assignment during studies. For a majority of students, it seems like a real headache. It is quite difficult to write a smooth and complex work, meeting all the professors' requirements. However, thanks to modern technologies there appeared a good way of getting a decent project – using AI to write essays. We'd like to acquaint you with Aithor, an effective tool of this kind, able to perform fine and elaborated texts, and, of course, inspiration, i ...
Plagiarism has been a challenge for a long time in writing. It's easy to find information online, which might make some people use it without saying where it came from. But plagiarism isn't just taking someone else's words. Sometimes, we might do it by accident or even use our own old work without mentioning it. When people plagiarize, they can get into serious trouble. They might lose others' trust or even face legal problems. Luckily, we now have tools to detect plagiarism. But what about PDF ...
Academic assignments require much knowledge and skill. One of the most important points is rendering and interpreting material one has ever studied. A person should avoid presenting word-for-word plagiarism but express his or her thoughts and ideas as much as possible. However, every fine research is certain to be based on the previous issues, data given, or concepts suggested. And here it's high time to differentiate plagiarism and paraphrasing, to realize its peculiarities and cases of usage. ...
When we write something for school, work, or just for fun, we often use ideas and facts from other places. This makes us ask: what is a citation in writing? Let's find out what this means and why it's really important when we write. What is Citation? Citation in research refers to the practice of telling your readers where you got your information, ideas, or exact words from. It's like showing them the path to the original information you used in your writing. When you cite something, you us ...
A correct usage of dialogues in essays may seem quite difficult at first sight. Still there are special issues, for instance, narrative or descriptive papers, where this literary technique will be a good helper in depicting anyone's character. How to add dialogues to the work? How to format them correctly? Let's discuss all relevant matters to master putting conversation episodes into academic essays. Essay Dialogue: Definition & Purpose A dialogue is a literary technique for presenting a con ...
Have you ever thought about whether using your own work again could be seen as copying? It might seem strange, but self-plagiarism is a real issue in school and work writing. Let's look at what this means and learn how to avoid self-plagiarism so your work stays original and ethical. What is self-plagiarism? Self-plagiarism, also called auto-plagiarism or duplicate plagiarism, happens when a writer uses parts of their old work without saying where it came from. This isn't just about copying w ...
Your professor says that it is necessary to avoid plagiarism when writing a research paper, essay, or any project based on the works of other people, so to say, any reference source. But what does plagiarism mean? What types of it exist? And how to formulate the material to get rid of potential bad consequences while rendering original texts? Today we try to answer these very questions. Plagiarism: Aspect in Brief Plagiarism is considered to be a serious breach, able to spoil your successful ...
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Placement of the thesis statement. Step 1: Start with a question. Step 2: Write your initial answer. Step 3: Develop your answer. Step 4: Refine your thesis statement. Types of thesis statements. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about thesis statements.
A thesis statement is a sentence in a paper or essay (in the opening paragraph) that introduces the main topic to the reader. As one of the first things your reader sees, your thesis statement is one of the most important sentences in your entire paper—but also one of the hardest to write! In this article, we explain how to write a thesis ...
An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.; An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.; An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an ...
A thesis statement . . . Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic. Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper. Is focused and specific enough to be "proven" within the boundaries of your paper. Is generally located near the end ...
This is a strong thesis because it takes a stand, and because it's specific. 2. A strong thesis statement justifies discussion. Your thesis should indicate the point of the discussion. If your assignment is to write a paper on kinship systems, using your own family as an example, you might come up with either of these two thesis statements:
It is a brief statement of your paper's main argument. Essentially, you are stating what you will be writing about. Organize your papers in one place. Try Paperpile. No credit card needed. Get 30 days free. You can see your thesis statement as an answer to a question. While it also contains the question, it should really give an answer to the ...
1. Underline key words in the question. 2. Note down relevant topics/themes. 3. Decide on the argument you want to present in your thesis statement. 4. Turn that argument into a thesis statement. Common mistakes that students make in their thesis statements.
A thesis statement: tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself.
Step 4: Revise and refine your thesis statement before you start writing. Read through your thesis statement several times before you begin to compose your full essay. You need to make sure the statement is ironclad, since it is the foundation of the entire paper. Edit it or have a peer review it for you to make sure everything makes sense and ...
A thesis is an in-depth research study that identifies a particular topic of inquiry and presents a clear argument or perspective about that topic using evidence and logic. Writing a thesis showcases your ability of critical thinking, gathering evidence, and making a compelling argument. Integral to these competencies is thorough research ...
Step 2: Do Your Research. A strong thesis statement will be clear and specific, and it will be later supported by evidence from your research. You won't be able to write a statement like this until you do your research. The research will look different depending on your task.
Teachers will have different preferences for the precise location of the thesis, but a good rule of thumb is in the introduction paragraph, within the last two or three sentences. Strength: Finally, for a persuasive thesis to be strong, it needs to be arguable. This means that the statement is not obvious, and it is not something that everyone ...
An outline is the skeleton of your essay, in which you list the arguments and subtopics in a logical order. A good outline is an important element in writing a good paper. An outline helps to target your research areas, keep you within the scope without going off-track, and it can also help to keep your argument in good order when writing the ...
A thesis statement is the single, specific claim that your essay supports. A strong thesis answers the question you want to raise; it does so by presenting a topic, the position you wish to defend, and a reasoning blueprint that sketches out your defense of your chosen position. A good thesis is not merely a factual statement, an observation, a personal opinion or preference, or the question ...
Write your thesis here for reference: 1. Write the quote here, with a way to introduce it: 2. Write a paraphrase here (remember to keep the same meaning): 3. Write your analysis here (look for the subtle, key parts of the quote): Type; Importance; 4. Write your evaluation here (prove why the quote is important in relation to your thesis): 5.
Your thesis exists to prove the hypothesis that you devised at the outset, not to show the breadth of your knowledge. Use the advisor as a guinea pig. You must ensure that the advisor reads the first chapters (and eventually, all the chapters) far in advance of the deadline. His reactions may be useful to you.
Never frame your thesis as a question. The job of a thesis is to answer a question, not ask one. A thesis is not a list. If you're trying to answer a specific question, too many variables will send your paper off-focus. Keep it concise and brief. Never mention a new topic that you do not intend to discuss in the paper.
Choose a format that best suits your research and writing style. This decision will guide the organization of your major sections and sub-sections. Organizing Major Sections. Divide your thesis into major sections such as the introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion.
examine why thesis statements are crucial to a paper. For a Reader Thesis statements act as a roadmap that drive readers from one paragraph to another. Having a thesis statement gives the reader a "notice" on points that will be discussed in the paper. Moreover, having a thesis statement gives the reader a reason to continue reading. Without a
What your thesis statement includes is determined by three things: 1. The subject and topic of the essay. 2. The purpose of the essay. 3. The length of the essay. Let's examine each of those in more detail to see how they can help us refine our thesis statement.
Include an opposing viewpoint to your main idea, if applicable. A good thesis statement acknowledges that there is always another side to the argument. So, include an opposing viewpoint (a counterargument) to your opinion. Basically, write down what a person who disagrees with your position might say about your topic.
A good conclusion will review the key points of the thesis and explain to the reader why the information is relevant, applicable, or related to the world as a whole. Make sure to dedicate enough of your writing time to the conclusion and do not put it off until the very last minute. Organize your papers in one place. Try Paperpile.
Methods of Paraphrasing. Look away from the source then write. Read the text you want to paraphrase several times until you feel that you understand it and can use your own words to restate it to someone else. Then, look away from the original and rewrite the text in your own words. Take notes.
Gathering the necessary material for a large and saturated project is just half the battle, to set up everything and format the work properly is a real deed, challenging and exacting. There are a lot of specific requirements and rules to be born in mind. But don't take it so hard, we give you all the fundamental information concerning thesis paper format. You'll find out * what parts a ...