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Thesis Worksheet
Step #1: Define your purpose
To explain? To argue? To entertain? (Note here: the
best research papers are argumentative- -few instructors want to
read a paper that simply lists and describes information on your
topic.)
Step #2: Choose your Topic, then Narrow It
To choose, base your decision on your purpose. If your essay
is explanatory, your topic should be conceptual. If your purpose
is argumentative, your topic should be controversial. To narrow,
ask specific questions: who? why? where? when?
how?
Step #3: Develop your Specific Topic
Some brainteasers: use your senses; see from an alternate viewpoint;
break stereotypes and unquestioned ideas; classify or divide; compare
and contrast; list examples; ask questions; make a "bug list."
Step#4: Write a "Working Thesis"
The thesis you form for your paper before you write it is called
a working, or tentative thesis, because as the paper develops it
may change. This is normal. Writing about a subject
is a way of learning about it; as you research and write, your understanding
of the subject will most certainly deepen.
Step #5: Check Thesis for Effectiveness
Your thesis should be a generalization, not a fact; it should be
limited, not too broad; and it should be sharply focused, not vague.
Too factual: The first polygraph was developed by Dr. John A. Larson
in 1921.
Revised: Because the polygraph has not been proved reliable, even
under the most controlled conditions, its use by private employers
should be banned.
Too general: Many drugs are now being used successfully to treat
mental illness.
Revised: Despite its risks and side effects, lithium is an effective
treatment for depression.
Too vague: Many of the songs played on WKGI are disgusting.
Revised: Of the songs played on WKGI, all too many depict sex crudely,
sanction the beating or rape of women, or foster gang violence.
Problem Checklist:
Are you trying to write the thesis by itself?
- Try writing the whole introduction, placing the thesis sentence
in context (usually at the end of the introduction). Do you underestimate
the importance of a clear thesis?
- Consider the goals of the academic world in which you are writing:
to seek truth, to argue a point, to propose solutions, to deepen
insights, to clarify a theory, and to challenge conventional wisdom.
Do you feel that a thesis will not be significant unless it makes
a grand, sweeping statement about life?
- Aim to do less and you will do more.
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