A thesis should be a very well put-together, effective, and demonstrative line in your research paper. It needs special attention because of how much it can set the tone for your work. However, when was the last time you were taught how to write a solid thesis? Have you spent any time in college working on how to write a collegiate-acceptable thesis?
No?
So, how about I offer up some guidance!
Your thesis should focus on your research, so ask yourself this:
- What are you researching?
- Why did you research it?
- Are you trying to persuade your audience with an opinion backed-up with research? Are you trying to inform your audience about what you know that they don’t?
After you decide your answer to those questions, begin to generate some solid points to base your thesis around, and consider these questions:
- Generally, what is your research essay going to cover?
- What is the goal of your paper?
After you decide your answers for THOSE questions, try to toy around with what your thesis could be. It helps if you plan out a few ideas, almost as if you’re working with a rough draft, and then tweak all your ideas to make one awesome one. I’ll map this out using an example of me following my process above:
- I am writing a research paper about the impact of technology on students in the classroom.
- My research focuses on the facts surrounding the negative effects of technology on students, and I am also taking a look at sources that back up the adverse impacts of those negative effects on students and their quality of learning.
- I am researching this to inform my audience about how dangerous too much technology can be to young minds who are trying to learn new things and how teachers can combat it.
- My research essay is going to cover the statistics surrounding technology use with children, how it shows up in the classroom negatively, and how teachers can help students learn around the age of constant technology use.
- The goal of my paper is for my audience to become aware of how much technology can impact student learning, and I want them to become familiar with ways that teachers can help their students.
- Here are some thesis ideas:
- Children spend an excessive amount of time using technology, and because of this, they are experiencing adverse impacts on their quality of education.
- Teachers’ lack of resources to help students’ education is alarming, and there is research necessary to support the negative impacts that technology is having on students in this day and age.
- Attention needs to be spent on how to cure the age of addiction to technology in students, young and old, and this can be done with researched practices to support educators responsible for teaching this generation of students.
Some of my ideas take on a more persuasive approach to my paper. Since I want to inform my audience, I want to stay away from thesis #2. It has its strengths, but I use opinionated language like “alarming” that insinuates I am making a claim that I want my audience to support. Of my other theses, I like how straightforward thesis #1 is, but I also don’t hear my voice in my writing. I like how I can hear my passion in thesis #3, while also sticking to facts that I want to inform my audience on. So in this example, I would choose thesis #3.
Overall, writing a thesis is challenging because it’s like a recipe of ideas that need to be just right to articulate your paper perfectly in one sentence. If you’re someone who struggles with writing a thesis or can’t find the right words to use, try mapping your process out and being more intentional about where your ideas for your thesis are coming from.
AND, the Writing Center is always a great resource to get some advice or draft a thesis statement!
~ Lauren
