Writing a thesis paper

Center for writing sity of illinois at tion: quick tion: main content te of g across the seminars and l archive of literacy g and working g personal s workshop: writer g tips: thesis ng the thesis ons to ask when formulating your ng the thesis is a thesis statement? The sentence that captures your position on this main idea is what we call a thesis long does it need to be? It should present the topic of your paper and also make a comment about your position in relation to the topic. Your thesis statement should tell your reader what the paper is about and also help guide your writing and keep your argument ons to ask when formulating your is your thesis statement? Should provide a thesis early in your essay -- in the introduction, or in longer essays in the second paragraph -- in order to establish your position and give your reader a sense of : in order to write a successful thesis statement:Avoid burying a great thesis statement in the middle of a paragraph or late in the as clear and as specific as possible; avoid vague te the point of your paper but avoid sentence structures like, “the point of my paper is…”. Normally you will continue to refine your thesis as you revise your argument(s), so your thesis will evolve and gain definition as you obtain a better sense of where your argument is taking : check your thesis:Are there two large statements connected loosely by a coordinating conjunction (i. So, settle on one single focus and then proceed with further your thesis statement too general? Thesis should be limited to what can be accomplished in the specified number of pages. Being specific in your paper will be much more successful than writing about general things that do not say much. Don't settle for three pages of just skimming the opposite of a focused, narrow, crisp thesis is a broad, sprawling, superficial thesis. Compare this original thesis (too general) with three possible revisions (more focused, each presenting a different approach to the same topic):There are serious objections to today's horror e modern cinematic techniques have allowed filmmakers to get more graphic, horror flicks have desensitized young american viewers to pornographic violence in "bloodbath" slasher movies degrades both men and 's slasher movies fail to deliver the emotional catharsis that 1930s horror films your thesis statement clear? Thesis statement is no exception to your writing: it needs to be as clear as possible. By being as clear as possible in your thesis statement, you will make sure that your reader understands exactly what you : in order to be as clear as possible in your writing:Unless you're writing a technical report, avoid technical language. To avoid misunderstandings, be as specific as e the original thesis (not specific and clear enough) with the revised version (much more specific and clear):Original thesis: although the timber wolf is a timid and gentle animal, it is being systematically exterminated.

Thesis: although the timber wolf is actually a timid and gentle animal, it is being systematically exterminated because people wrongfully believe it to be a fierce and cold-blooded your thesis include a comment about your position on the issue at hand? Thesis statement should do more than merely announce the topic; it must reveal what position you will take in relation to that topic, how you plan to analyze/evaluate the subject or the issue. In this way you will tell your reader why your take on the issue al thesis: in this paper, i will discuss the relationship between fairy tales and early d thesis: not just empty stories for kids, fairy tales shed light on the psychology of young making universal or pro/con judgments that oversimplify complex al thesis: we must save the d thesis: because our planet's health may depend upon biological diversity, we should save the you make a (subjective) judgment call, specify and justify your reasoning. Just because” is not a good reason for an al thesis: socialism is the best form of government for d thesis: if the government takes over industry in kenya, the industry will become more merely reporting a fact. Thesis: hoover's administration was rocked by d thesis: the many scandals of hoover's administration revealed basic problems with the republican party's nominating not expect to come up with a fully formulated thesis statement before you have finished writing the paper. The thesis will inevitably change as you revise and develop your ideas—and that is ok! Keep revising until the thesis reflects your real : the point you make in the paper should matter:Be prepared to answer “so what? About your thesis prepared to explain why the point you are making is worthy of a paper. It signals a writer who has intelligence, commitment, and tion: quick for writing studies: 288 english building, 608 s. Point out at least icant all headings and subheadings with page will look something like this:List page numbers of all list should include a short title for each figure but not page numbers of all list should include a short title for each table but not can't write a good introduction until you know what the body paper says. Consider writing the introductory section(s) have completed the rest of the paper, rather than sure to include a hook at the beginning of the is a statement of something sufficiently interesting te your reader to read the rest of the paper, it is ant/interesting scientific problem that your paper or addresses. Statement of the goal of the paper: why the undertaken, or why the paper was written. Vast bodies ical literature became obsolete with the advent of ics; the papers that survived are those in which presented in stand-alone fashion, unmuddied by whatever author might have had about the processes that caused al separation into different sections 't overlay interpretation on top of data l use of phrases such as "we infer that ". Your thesis should y written and in the format described ng ahead for your at all possible, start your thesis research during the n your junior and senior year - or even earlier - with ship, etc.

Working in your field area, but ent chers working on the same interval of elsewhere in the other researchers using the same technique your study encompasses an active process,Researchers working on the same process in the sely, if your study is based on the , people studying modem writing a synthesis paper on important pments in your applying earth science to societal problems. Will try to understand your ial reviewers of your manuscript or e of the literature explosion, papers more skimmed than ng involves reading the abstract, and looking at the figure captions. The text fills out the details for the more thesis is not written in the same order as it ted in. The following gives you one idea how organize your paper as a logical argument your figures to illustrate your argument ( main sections are: background to the argument. The main elements: sections, and writing, choosing options in the chy - paragraphs, sentences, and is another up a preliminary version of the n first. Many scientists the abstract, figures, figure captions, tables,Table captions, and conclusions of a paper. Many cited in the literature because they have a n that subsequent authors would like to use writing the discussion session, be sure tely discuss the work of other authors ted data on the same or related ons. If more work for a definitive answer, say final section in the paper is a n. Uction should set the stage for the conclusions paper by laying out the ideas that you will test paper. Now that you know where the paper is leading,You will probably need to rewrite must write your abstract actual figures and tables should ed/inserted in the text, generally on the ing the page where the figure/table is first figures and tables should be numbered and utively in the text as figure 1, figure 2, e a caption for each figure and table, it was constructed (reference citations, s, etc. Figure(s) or table(s) pertaining to data support the textual data contradict the textual data are insufficient to prove or refute data may support the textual statement, but presented in such a way that you can be sure you the same phenomenon in the data that the does one fairly and accurately indicate who has made butions towards the results and interpretations presented paper? Kennedy, 1985, on academic xi, 1984, honor in university pamphlet on 3 final copies: 1 to mentor and 2 to department,So that we can have 2 thesis should be d cleanly on white -spaced using 12-point -sided saves e page barnard writing room provides assistance g senior at other theses on file in the e department, they will give you an idea of course do not hesitate to ask us, or your barnard environmental science department has on scientific writing, ask the strator for assistance in locating . The goal is st possible paper that contains all ary to describe the work and support unnecessary repetition and irrelevant ary repetition: the main theme should be developed introduction as a motivation or working hypothesis. Then developed in the main body of the paper, ned again in the discussion section (and, of course,In the abstract and conclusions).

Suggestions on how to shorten your paper:Use tables for repetitive e only sufficient background material to reader to understand your story, not every written on the figure captions 't describe the contents of the figures and/ in the text item-by-item. Adverbs and gh it varies considerably from project to project,Average thesis length is about 40 pages of text s. Rather than "take the beaker out of : martins@d college writing program | / writing resources / strategies for essay writing /. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "this essay is going to try to convince me of something. A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis. There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you your thesis prominent in your introduction. A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. Dukakis lost the 1988 presidential election because he failed to campaign vigorously after the democratic national statement is on its way to being a thesis.

If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence dukakis' "soft-on-crime" image hurt his chances in the 1988 election, his failure to campaign vigorously after the democratic national convention bore a greater responsibility for his caveats and some examples. Is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in eastern europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in eastern europe. 1999, maxine rodburg and the tutors of the writing center at harvard ght © 2017 the president and fellows of harvard college | accessibility | report copyright e to the purdue ch and citation •. Mla guide -apa guide -how to navigate the new owl -media file index -owl printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice at and examples for writing thesis y: this resource provides tips for creating a thesis statement and examples of different types of thesis butors:elyssa tardiff, allen brizeelast edited: 2014-02-10 10:44: for writing your thesis statement. Determine what kind of paper you are writing: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 expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence you are writing a text that does not fall under these three categories (e. A narrative), a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the statement e of an analytical thesis statement:An analysis of the college admission process reveals one challenge facing counselors: accepting students with high test scores or students with strong extracurricular paper that follows should:Explain the analysis of the college admission n the challenge facing admissions e of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement:The life of the typical college student is characterized by time spent studying, attending class, and socializing with paper that follows should:Explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with e of an argumentative thesis statement:High school graduates should be required to take a year off to pursue community service projects before entering college in order to increase their maturity and global paper that follows should:Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students should pursue community projects before entering the owl you're requesting copies of this the owl you're linking to this ght ©1995-2017 by the writing lab & the owl at purdue and purdue rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair / tips & tools / thesis this handout is handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your g in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying.

This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your is a thesis statement? The reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the ly answers the question asked of you. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be world war ii or moby dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the a claim that others might usually a single sentence near the beginning of your paper (most often, at the end of the first paragraph) that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the s use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on do i know if my thesis is strong? There’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the writing center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following:Do i answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the i taken a position that others might challenge or oppose?

If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an my thesis statement specific enough? If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”? Then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as my thesis pass the “how and why? You turn on the computer and type out the following:The north and south fought the civil war for many reasons, some of which were the same and some weak thesis restates the question without providing any additional information. You write:While both sides fought the civil war over the issue of slavery, the north fought for moral reasons while the south fought to preserve its own you have a working thesis! Included in this working thesis is a reason for the war and some idea of how the two sides disagreed over this reason. As you write the essay, you will probably begin to characterize these differences more precisely, and your working thesis may start to seem too vague. You end up revising the working thesis into a final thesis that really captures the argument in your paper:While both northerners and southerners believed they fought against tyranny and oppression, northerners focused on the oppression of slaves while southerners defended their own right to e this to the original weak thesis. This final thesis presents a way of interpreting evidence that illuminates the significance of the question. There isn’t one right answer; there are only strong and weak thesis statements and strong and weak uses of ’s look at another example. You grab a pad of paper and write:Mark twain’s huckleberry finn is a great american is this thesis weak?

First, the question asks you to pick an aspect of the novel that you think is important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and huckleberry finn, mark twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the ’s a working thesis with potential: you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, twain’s huckleberry finn suggests that to find the true expression of american democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your consulted these works while writing the original version of this handout. May reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout (just click print) and attribute the source: the writing center, university of north carolina at chapel you enjoy using our handouts, we appreciate contributions of acknowledgement.