Cleveland State UniversityESC 720

Research Communications

Lecture 5 – State Your ThesisDan Simon

State Your Thesis

• Thesis = Focus– A one-sentence statement of the main message of

your report• How to define a strong thesis statement– You are starting with a topic, but topic thesis– You have sources and summaries, and they should

provide input to your thesis statement

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State Your Thesis

What do you know about your topic?Absolute view:• History• Major subtopics• Cultural issues• Controversies• Contrasting theories or approaches• Current research directions

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State Your Thesis

What do you know about your topic?Relative view:• Under what classifications does your topic fall?• What are some important subtopics?• What are some related topics?

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State Your Thesis

• Based on the following …– What you know about your topic– The questions you asked in your source summaries

• … ask a question you want to answer in your paper– The question must point to your references– The question must be challenging to you– The question must be interesting to you– The answer must fill a significant number of pages– The answer must be able to be summarized in one sentence

• The answer to your question is your thesis (focus)

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State Your Thesis

Qualities of a Good Thesis Question•Requires explanation – Not a yes/no question; not trivial– Not answerable with well-known facts– Requires analysis, synthesis, experiment, etc.

•Specific – not too general

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Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you.

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Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you.

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Too General

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you. •The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.

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Too General

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you. •The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.

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Too General

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you. •The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.•Hydrogenated oils deposit fatty acids and clog arteries.

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Too General

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you. •The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.•Hydrogenated oils deposit fatty acids and clog arteries.

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Too General

Too Factual

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you. •The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.•Hydrogenated oils deposit fatty acids and clog arteries. •We should get the FDA to label every package of cookies with the content of hydrogenated oils.

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Too General

Too Factual

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you. •The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.•Hydrogenated oils deposit fatty acids and clog arteries. •We should get the FDA to label every package of cookies with the content of hydrogenated oils.

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Too General

Too Factual

Too Informal

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you. •The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.•Hydrogenated oils deposit fatty acids and clog arteries. •We should get the FDA to label every package of cookies with the content of hydrogenated oils. •Scientific studies link hydrogenated oils to cancer and heart disease.

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Too General

Too Factual

Too Informal

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Hydrogenated oils are bad for you. •The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.•Hydrogenated oils deposit fatty acids and clog arteries. •We should get the FDA to label every package of cookies with the content of hydrogenated oils. •Scientific studies link hydrogenated oils to cancer and heart disease.

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Too General

Too Factual

Too Factual

Too Informal

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.

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Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.

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Too General

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control in prosthetic legs.

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Too General

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control in prosthetic legs.

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Too General

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control in prosthetic legs.•Prosthetic legs should be made more widely available in third-world countries.

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Too General

Good

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control in prosthetic legs.•Prosthetic legs should be made more widely available in third-world countries.

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Too General

Good

Too General

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control in prosthetic legs.•Prosthetic legs should be made more widely available in third-world countries.•Prosthetic leg research is a waste of time because people need to take better care of their own health so they don’t have to get their legs amputated.

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Too General

Good

Too General

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control in prosthetic legs.•Prosthetic legs should be made more widely available in third-world countries.•Prosthetic leg research is a waste of time because people need to take better care of their own health so they don’t have to get their legs amputated.

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Too General

Good

Too General

Too Informal

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control in prosthetic legs.•Prosthetic legs should be made more widely available in third-world countries.•Prosthetic leg research is a waste of time because people need to take better care of their own health so they don’t have to get their legs amputated.•Prosthetic legs have greatly advanced in capability since the introduction of the microprocessor.

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Too General

Good

Too General

Too Informal

Thesis Examples

Analyze the following thesis examples:•Impedance control is better than position control for prosthetic legs.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control in prosthetic legs.•Prosthetic legs should be made more widely available in third-world countries.•Prosthetic leg research is a waste of time because people need to take better care of their own health so they don’t have to get their legs amputated.•Prosthetic legs have greatly advanced in capability since the introduction of the microprocessor.

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Too General

Good

Too General

Too Informal

Too Factual

Make Your Thesis Strong and Focused

• It should be a product of your literature review• It should be the answer to an interesting question• It should have a clear wider significance• It should be as short as possible, while still being long

enough to be specific• It should be reworded five times to sharpen it;

start with a long thesis, and then try to shorten it

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Make Your Thesis Strong and Focused

• It should be interesting to your audience– What does your audience know about your topic?– How does your audience feel about your topic?– Assume that tour audience is open-minded.– Assume that tour audience wants to learn.

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Thesis Examples

“Impedance control is good.”

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Thesis Examples

“Impedance control is good.”•Too broad•No criteria for “good”

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Thesis Examples

“I decided to research impedance control because it is an interesting and important topic, a lot of papers have been written about it, and I think it can help a lot of amputees.”

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Thesis Examples

“I decided to research impedance control because it is an interesting and important topic, a lot of papers have been written about it, and I think it can help a lot of amputees.”•Too long•Too personal•Not formal enough•Not specific enough

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Thesis Examples

“American students are prone to plagiarism in their writing because of the laziness that is inherent in American culture.”

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Thesis Examples

“American students are prone to plagiarism in their writing because of the laziness that is inherent in American culture.”•Prejudicial and biased•Too broad to make a strong case

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Thesis Examples

“There are big differences between the ADRC and PID control approaches.”

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Thesis Examples

“There are big differences between the ADRC and PID control approaches.”•Too general

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Thesis Examples

“Model-free control is a way to control an engineering system without having a mathematical model for the system.”

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Thesis Examples

“Model-free control is a way to control an engineering system without having a mathematical model for the system.”•Too factual•Does not include the writer’s viewpoint

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State Your Thesis

Your thesis can include broader implications•The government should regulate the use of hydrogenated oils in fried fast foods because scientific studies have linked these oils to cancer and heart disease.•Impedance control can optimize a wider range of cost functions than position control, and is thus a more flexible and effective control method for prosthetic legs.

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Acknowledgments• CSU Writing Center

www.csuohio.edu/academic/writingcenter

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