GENERATING YOUR THESIS STATEMENT: From Topic to Thesis

Bridge 4: Introduction to Research

 

What is a research paper?

As the term implies, a research paper requires researching a topic. You are gathering information – facts and analyses from different sources about a particular topic. However, you are not merely presenting a summary of your findings, nor are you merely telling a story about your experience searching and collecting information. Rather, a research paper presents analysis of the research and argues a particular point regarding a chosen topic.

 

Your research paper should, thus, present your own thinking via your explanation and your analysis that you support with the ideas and information you found through your research.

 

When you write an essay, you use everything that you personally know and have thought about a subject. When you write a research paper, you build on what you know about a subject and make a deliberate attempt to find out what experts know. A research paper involves surveying a field of knowledge to find the best possible information in that field. You then present your interpretation and analysis of that information in an orderly and focused manner, with each paragraph providing further evidence to support the main claim or argument of your paper – that main claim is your thesis statement.

 

You are providing a particular point of view about a particular aspect of a topic. You are NOT providing your opinion. Instead, you are providing your understanding and interpretation of your research findings. Again, you are NOT describing what you believe, what you feel, or what your opinion is. Rather, you are using your voice to explain a specific issue within the specific topic you have researched to support the specific major claim of your research and analysis.

 

Your analysis is an attempt to convince the reader of the validity of your thesis statement. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state directly and in one sentence the specific position on a specific issue that you will be explaining and providing support for in your research paper. This sentence is your thesis statement – it provides a concise summary of the argument you will make in the rest of your paper.

 

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement does the following:

• Tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of specific topic and subject matter under discussion.
• Provides a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• Provides an interpretation of questions about a topic – it is NOT a summary of the topic itself. For example, the 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 novel. It would not be a statement about some fact about the war or the novel, but rather claim a specific position on a particular issue associated with the war or the novel.
• Makes a claim that others might dispute.
• Explains in a single sentence your main argument. It is included in the first paragraph of your paper. The rest of the paper – the body of the essay – gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

 

How do you generate a thesis statement?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence – this is the research you have done already. You then look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities) and think about the significance of these relationships. 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.

Your thesis statement provides a starting point and a way of organizing your argument. Your understanding may change as you work through your argument. Thus, your thesis will likely need to be revised as you write your essay and develop your argument.

Instructions for Thesis Mapping Experiment

Looking at something from different perspectives helps you see it more completely – or at least in a completely different way, sort of like lying on the floor makes your desk look very different to you.

Part A.

Answer the questions for two of the three perspective prompts provided. Then, look for interesting relationships or mismatches you can explore.

PROMPT A:

My topic revolves around the history of the mermaids and the impact it has had on our society in the past to modern day. It describes the image of the mermaid ranging from myths and legends, sea tales to a cartoon princess and universal role model. There is information about how it used to be a mythological creature that was still not fully understood, to a sensation towards children, especially young girls and how it has become a fantasy, to the extent where young girls would want to become mermaids and grow a tail. From these desires, nowadays there are popular shows featuring mermaids using prosthetic tails, children’s books and television series that additionally teenagers can watch. My topic is unlike any others because it goes over the overlooked facts and ideas on the history of the mermaids. There has been such a big change in our culture and how we think nowadays, with multiple advancements, throughout time we change our perceptions of how we view these half human creatures, and seeing the progress of how we used to view them versus now is completely different.

 

PROMPT B:

My topic, based around the history of the mermaids and the impact it has had on our society in the past to modern day, has had many major moments in time where it has become a myth that has been passed on for centuries, through sightings or through the creativeness of humans, to being a worldwide phenomenon and image to everyone and everything. Ever since I was a child, I remember first watching “The Little Mermaid” and truly being mesmerized by the world of mermaids, the story, the beauty behind the half human half fish concept, and ever since I remember wanting to become one. I would beg my parents to buy me a fish tail, not knowing the full details of how that would come to be, or I would swim in our pool and pretend to be one, overlooking my shadow as the sun created a silhouette onto the tiles. I loved the concept of them floating in the water, with their hair bouncing up and down. Unfortunately, when the reality hit me, that it was truly impossible and the mistaken creatures of the sea were actually sea mammals, it showed me how deeply this image of an mythological yet incredible character had placed such a large impact in my life, what I had looked up to and wanted to become in the future.

PROMPT C:

My topic can be related to many different aspects in the fields of mythology, childhood fantasies, imaginations, even sea animals as it covers a part in every topic. It influences the world, the children, how they perceive their happy worlds to be like, with laughing crabs and signing fish. They get to live in this enjoyable atmosphere and perceive things differently learning about the subject. Reality will always come, no matter what, but it is just amazing to me how big a child’s imagination in and how even something that they have never laid eyes on can become one’s role model or favourite character, even what they want to be when they grow up.

 

Part B. [NOTE: Must complete Part A first.]

Write your thesis statement below, using the relationships you have discovered based on the perspective exercises completed on pages 3 and 4.

Thesis Statement:

Our perception on mermaids has immensely changed over time, and through the years it has grown to become a universal image with children looking up to them, creating this fantasy world of becoming one or believing that they exist. Through advanced science, with factual information on actual mermaids, we have been able to recreate that fantasy, with new innovations that forward that dream of seeing these half human creatures.