Thesis statements & Topic sentences

Script 13

Thesis statements

Effective and complete thesis statements have the following features.

Effective thesis statements:

• are complete, grammatical statements (not phrases or questions)

• are not too specific or too general

• are on one limited subject

• contain the writer's precise opinion (are not just statements of fact).

Complete thesis statements:

• contain the limited essay topic

• are arguable (contain a precise opinion about the limited topic)

• show the method of the paper

• show the audience of the paper

• show the purpose of the paper.

(http://www1.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/outline.htm)

Relevant and convincing support Script 14

Search sources

There are several types of search resources, some free, some fee based most now provided on the Internet. However, before leaping into discussion of electronic search resources, you will be wise to take the time to undertake some preliminary, more traditional steps that will help you understand what you are looking for and recognize it when you see it in search output.

1. Do not to start with computer searches. Doing so may lead to your being inundated with large numbers of references, while you are still ill-prepared to evaluate their significance.

2. Start instead with one or more recent articles or conference papers, perhaps recommended to you by your faculty advisor. If your advisor or department is associated with work in the area you are studying, start with reports and articles emanating from your own department.

3. In your starting articles, notice which other articles and books seem to be cited most frequently and are most central. You may wish to consult relevant textbook chapters as an additional way of identifying classic or central works germane to your topic. Read these other articles and books too, noting what relevant works they cite.

4. Use the Web of Science database to find out which later papers have cited the articles you are starting with, and read the more promising of these as well.

After you have undertaken these four steps, you are prepared to use electronic search engines to conduct an electronic bibliographic search. Make sure to look up abstracts of recent and forthcoming conference papers, as this will give you the most up-to-date information.

(G. David Garson Guide to writing empirical papers, theses, and dissertations New York, 2002)

Outlining Script 15

Can you imagine a construction manager working on a skyscraper without a set of blueprints? No way! Similarly, writers construct essays using sets of blueprints or outlines to guide them in the writing process. Of course writers don't have to use outlines, but the effect is about the same as a construction worker who "free builds."

Drawing up an outline allows you to think before you write. What use is there in writing the entire paper only to realize that, had you done a little more planning beforehand, you would have organized your essay in an entirely different way? What if you realize later, after free-writing the essay, that you should have omitted some paragraphs, restructured the progression of your logic, and used more examples and other evidence?

You can go back and try to insert major revisions into the essay, but the effect may be like trying to add a thicker foundation to a building already constructed. The outline allows you to think beforehand what you're going to write so that when you do write it, if you've done your planning right, you won't have to do as much rewriting. (You will still, of course, need to revise.)

When you construct your outline, keep it brief. The titles, headings, and points in your outline should be about one line each. Remember that you are only drawing an outline of the forest, not detailing each of the trees. Keep each line under a dozen words. If you can't compress your point into a one-liner, you probably don't have a clear grasp of what you're trying to say.

(http://www1.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/outline.htm)