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• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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How to write a thesis statement + examples

What is a thesis statement?

Is a thesis statement a question, how do you write a good thesis statement, how do i know if my thesis statement is good, examples of thesis statements, helpful resources on how to write a thesis statement, frequently asked questions about writing a thesis statement, related articles.

A thesis statement is the main argument of your paper or thesis.

The thesis statement is one of the most important elements of any piece of academic writing . It is a brief statement of your paper’s main argument. Essentially, you are stating what you will be writing about.

You can see your thesis statement as an answer to a question. While it also contains the question, it should really give an answer to the question with new information and not just restate or reiterate it.

Your thesis statement is part of your introduction. Learn more about how to write a good thesis introduction in our introduction guide .

A thesis statement is not a question. A statement must be arguable and provable through evidence and analysis. While your thesis might stem from a research question, it should be in the form of a statement.

Tip: A thesis statement is typically 1-2 sentences. For a longer project like a thesis, the statement may be several sentences or a paragraph.

A good thesis statement needs to do the following:

• Condense the main idea of your thesis into one or two sentences.
• Answer your project’s main research question.
• Clearly state your position in relation to the topic .
• Make an argument that requires support or evidence.

Once you have written down a thesis statement, check if it fulfills the following criteria:

• Your statement needs to be provable by evidence. As an argument, a thesis statement needs to be debatable.
• Your statement needs to be precise. Do not give away too much information in the thesis statement and do not load it with unnecessary information.
• Your statement cannot say that one solution is simply right or simply wrong as a matter of fact. You should draw upon verified facts to persuade the reader of your solution, but you cannot just declare something as right or wrong.

As previously mentioned, your thesis statement should answer a question.

If the question is:

What do you think the City of New York should do to reduce traffic congestion?

A good thesis statement restates the question and answers it:

In this paper, I will argue that the City of New York should focus on providing exclusive lanes for public transport and adaptive traffic signals to reduce traffic congestion by the year 2035.

Here is another example. If the question is:

How can we end poverty?

A good thesis statement should give more than one solution to the problem in question:

In this paper, I will argue that introducing universal basic income can help reduce poverty and positively impact the way we work.

• The Writing Center of the University of North Carolina has a list of questions to ask to see if your thesis is strong .

A thesis statement is part of the introduction of your paper. It is usually found in the first or second paragraph to let the reader know your research purpose from the beginning.

In general, a thesis statement should have one or two sentences. But the length really depends on the overall length of your project. Take a look at our guide about the length of thesis statements for more insight on this topic.

Here is a list of Thesis Statement Examples that will help you understand better how to write them.

Every good essay should include a thesis statement as part of its introduction, no matter the academic level. Of course, if you are a high school student you are not expected to have the same type of thesis as a PhD student.

Here is a great YouTube tutorial showing How To Write An Essay: Thesis Statements .

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, creating a thesis for ap lit.

This year, I'm taking AP Lit and I'm struggling with writing thesis statements for my essays. Does anyone have any tips or insight on how to write a solid thesis statement for AP Lit essays?

I can definitely give you some advice on how to create a solid thesis statement for your AP Lit essays. In AP Lit, your thesis statement should provide a clear, original, and specific claim about your chosen literary work, which your essay will then analyze and support with textual evidence.

Here are a few steps you can follow to create a strong thesis statement:

1. Read the prompt carefully: Make sure you understand what the prompt is asking you to do, whether it's analyzing a specific aspect of the text, exploring a theme, or discussing a particular character.

2. Choose a clear and specific focus: Decide what aspect of the work you want to explore, such as characterization, theme, symbolism, or structure. Your thesis statement should be specific enough that your analysis doesn't become too broad or unfocused.

3. Make an original claim: Your thesis statement should present an original argument or interpretation, rather than merely stating an obvious fact or restating the prompt. Make sure your claim is one that can be both supported by evidence from the text and challenged by other interpretations.

4. Include some direction for your essay: A strong thesis statement not only makes a claim but also gives some indication of how your essay will support that claim. This helps guide your reader and sets up the organization of your essay.

For example: In The Great Gatsby , F. Scott Fitzgerald uses the contrasting settings of East Egg, West Egg, and the Valley of Ashes to illustrate the corrupting influence of wealth and social class on the characters and their ultimate disillusionment with the American Dream.

In this thesis statement, the focus is on the contrasting settings and their impact on the characters, making a specific claim about the author's intent. It provides direction for the essay, indicating that the writer will explore how Fitzgerald uses these settings to convey his message.

Remember, writing a strong thesis statement takes practice, so keep working at it and tweaking it until you feel confident in your ability to craft a well-argued and coherent claim about the text. Good luck in your AP Lit class!

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Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements

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Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement

1. Determine what kind of paper you are writing:

• An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.
• An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.
• An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

If you are writing a text that does not fall under these three categories (e.g., a narrative), a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader.

2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.

3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.

4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

Thesis Statement Examples

Example of an analytical thesis statement:

The paper that follows should:

• Explain the analysis of the college admission process
• Explain the challenge facing admissions counselors

Example of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement:

• Explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with peers

Example of an argumentative thesis statement:

• Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students should pursue community projects before entering college

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How to Write a Thesis Statement

Last Updated: July 20, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 3,208,077 times.

Whether you’re writing a short essay or a doctoral dissertation, your thesis statement can be one of the trickiest sentences to formulate. Fortunately, there are some basic rules you can follow to ensure your thesis statement is effective and interesting, including that it must be a debatable analytical point, not a general truism.

Crafting Great Thesis Statements

• Thesis: "Computers allow fourth graders an early advantage in technological and scientific education."
• ' Thesis: "The river comes to symbolize both division and progress, as it separates our characters and country while still providing the best chance for Huck and Jim to get to know one another."
• Thesis: "Through careful sociological study, we've found that people naturally assume that "morally righteous" people look down on them as "inferior," causing anger and conflict where there generally is none."

• Ex. "This dynamic between different generations sparks much of the play’s tension, as age becomes a motive for the violence and unrest that rocks King Lear."
• Ex. "The explosion of 1800s philosophies like Positivism, Marxism, and Darwinism undermined and refuted Christianity to instead focus on the real, tangible world."
• Ex. "Without the steady hand and specific decisions of Barack Obama, America would never have recovered from the hole it entered in the early 2000s."

• "While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions."
• "The primary problem of the American steel industry is the lack of funds to renovate outdated plants and equipment."
• "Hemingway's stories helped create a new prose style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and strong Anglo-Saxon words."

• "After the third and fourth time you see him beat himself, one finally realizes that Huck Finn is literature's first full-blown sadomasochist."
• "The advent of internet technology has rendered copyright laws irrelevant -- everyone can and should get writing, movies, art, and music for free."
• "Though they have served admirably for the past two centuries, recent research shows that America needs to ditch the two-party system, and quickly."

• "By owning up to the impossible contradictions, embracing them and questioning them, Blake forges his own faith, and is stronger for it. Ultimately, the only way for his poems to have faith is to temporarily lose it."
• "According to its well-documented beliefs and philosophies, an existential society with no notion of either past or future cannot help but become stagnant."
• "By reading “Ode to a Nightingale” through a modern deconstructionist lens, we can see how Keats viewed poetry as shifting and subjective, not some rigid form."
• "The wrong people won the American Revolution." While striking and unique, who is "right" and who is "wrong" is exceptionally hard to prove, and very subjective.
• "The theory of genetic inheritance is the binding theory of every human interaction." Too complicated and overzealous. The scope of "every human interaction" is just too big
• "Paul Harding's novel Tinkers is ultimately a cry for help from a clearly depressed author." Unless you interviewed Harding extensively, or had a lot of real-life sources, you have no way of proving what is fact and what is fiction."

Getting it Right

• is an assertion, not a fact or observation. Facts are used within the paper to support your thesis.
• takes a stand, meaning it announces your position towards a particular topic.
• is the main idea and explains what you intend to discuss.
• answers a specific question and explains how you plan to support your argument.
• is debatable. Someone should be able to argue an alternate position, or conversely, support your claims.

• "Because of William the Conqueror's campaign into England, that nation developed the strength and culture it would need to eventually build the British Empire."
• "Hemingway significantly changed literature by normalizing simplistic writing and frank tone."

Finding the Perfect Thesis

• A clear topic or subject matter
• A brief summary of what you will say
• [Something] [does something] because [reason(s)].
• Because [reason(s)], [something] [does something].
• Although [opposing evidence], [reasons] show [Something] [does something].
• The last example includes a counter-argument, which complicates the thesis but strengthens the argument. In fact, you should always be aware of all counter-arguments against your thesis. Doing so will refine your thesis, and also force you to consider arguments you have to refute in your paper.

• There are two schools of thought on thesis timing. Some people say you should not write the paper without a thesis in mind and written down, even if you have to alter it slightly by the end. The other school of thought says that you probably won't know where you're going until you get there, so don't write the thesis until you know what it should be. Do whatever seems best to you.

• Never frame your thesis as a question . The job of a thesis is to answer a question, not ask one.
• A thesis is not a list. If you're trying to answer a specific question, too many variables will send your paper off-focus. Keep it concise and brief.
• Never mention a new topic that you do not intend to discuss in the paper.
• Do not write in the first person. Using sentences such as, "I will show...," is generally frowned upon by scholars.
• Do not be combative. The point of your paper is to convince someone of your position, not turn them off, and the best way to achieve that is to make them want to listen to you. Express an open-minded tone, finding common ground between different views.

Sample Thesis and List of Things to Include

Community Q&A

• Think of your thesis as a case a lawyer has to defend. A thesis statement should explain to your readers the case you wish to make and how you will accomplish that. You can also think of your thesis as a contract. Introducing new ideas the reader is not prepared for may be alienating. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 1
• An effective thesis statement controls the entire argument. It determines what you cannot say. If a paragraph does not support your thesis, either omit it or change your thesis. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/how-to-write-a-thesis-statement.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/thesis_statement_tips.html
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/thesis-statements/
• ↑ http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/planning-and-organizing/thesis-statements
• ↑ https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/writing-a-thesis

About This Article

To write an effective thesis statement, choose a statement that answers a general question about your topic. Check that your thesis is arguable, not factual, and make sure you can back it up your with evidence. For example, your thesis statement could be something like "Computers allow fourth graders an early advantage in technological and scientific education." To learn about writing thesis statements for different types of essays or how to incorporate them into your essay, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis

8 straightforward steps to craft an a-grade dissertation.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

Writing a dissertation or thesis is not a simple task. It takes time, energy and a lot of will power to get you across the finish line. It’s not easy – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a painful process. If you understand the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis, your research journey will be a lot smoother.  

In this post, I’m going to outline the big-picture process of how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis, without losing your mind along the way. If you’re just starting your research, this post is perfect for you. Alternatively, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, this article which covers how to structure a dissertation might be more helpful.

How To Write A Dissertation: 8 Steps

• Clearly understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is
• Find a unique and valuable research topic
• Craft a convincing research proposal
• Write up a strong introduction chapter
• Review the existing literature and compile a literature review
• Design a rigorous research strategy and undertake your own research
• Present the findings of your research
• Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Step 1: Understand exactly what a dissertation is

This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but all too often, students come to us for help with their research and the underlying issue is that they don’t fully understand what a dissertation (or thesis) actually is.

So, what is a dissertation?

At its simplest, a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research , reflecting the standard research process . But what is the standard research process, you ask? The research process involves 4 key steps:

• Ask a very specific, well-articulated question (s) (your research topic)
• See what other researchers have said about it (if they’ve already answered it)
• If they haven’t answered it adequately, undertake your own data collection and analysis in a scientifically rigorous fashion
• Answer your original question(s), based on your analysis findings

In short, the research process is simply about asking and answering questions in a systematic fashion . This probably sounds pretty obvious, but people often think they’ve done “research”, when in fact what they have done is:

• Started with a vague, poorly articulated question
• Not taken the time to see what research has already been done regarding the question
• Collected data and opinions that support their gut and undertaken a flimsy analysis
• Drawn a shaky conclusion, based on that analysis

If you want to see the perfect example of this in action, look out for the next Facebook post where someone claims they’ve done “research”… All too often, people consider reading a few blog posts to constitute research. Its no surprise then that what they end up with is an opinion piece, not research. Okay, okay – I’ll climb off my soapbox now.

The key takeaway here is that a dissertation (or thesis) is a formal piece of research, reflecting the research process. It’s not an opinion piece , nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position. Writing a good dissertation involves asking a question and taking a systematic, rigorous approach to answering it.

If you understand this and are comfortable leaving your opinions or preconceived ideas at the door, you’re already off to a good start!

Step 2: Find a unique, valuable research topic

As we saw, the first step of the research process is to ask a specific, well-articulated question. In other words, you need to find a research topic that asks a specific question or set of questions (these are called research questions ). Sounds easy enough, right? All you’ve got to do is identify a question or two and you’ve got a winning research topic. Well, not quite…

A good dissertation or thesis topic has a few important attributes. Specifically, a solid research topic should be:

Let’s take a closer look at these:

Attribute #1: Clear

Your research topic needs to be crystal clear about what you’re planning to research, what you want to know, and within what context. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity or vagueness about what you’ll research.

Here’s an example of a clearly articulated research topic:

An analysis of consumer-based factors influencing organisational trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms.

As you can see in the example, its crystal clear what will be analysed (factors impacting organisational trust), amongst who (consumers) and in what context (British low-cost equity brokerage firms, based online).

Need a helping hand?

Attribute #2:   Unique

Your research should be asking a question(s) that hasn’t been asked before, or that hasn’t been asked in a specific context (for example, in a specific country or industry).

For example, sticking organisational trust topic above, it’s quite likely that organisational trust factors in the UK have been investigated before, but the context (online low-cost equity brokerages) could make this research unique. Therefore, the context makes this research original.

One caveat when using context as the basis for originality – you need to have a good reason to suspect that your findings in this context might be different from the existing research – otherwise, there’s no reason to warrant researching it.

Attribute #3: Important

Simply asking a unique or original question is not enough – the question needs to create value. In other words, successfully answering your research questions should provide some value to the field of research or the industry. You can’t research something just to satisfy your curiosity. It needs to make some form of contribution either to research or industry.

For example, researching the factors influencing consumer trust would create value by enabling businesses to tailor their operations and marketing to leverage factors that promote trust. In other words, it would have a clear benefit to industry.

So, how do you go about finding a unique and valuable research topic? We explain that in detail in this video post – How To Find A Research Topic . Yeah, we’ve got you covered 😊

Step 3: Write a convincing research proposal

Once you’ve pinned down a high-quality research topic, the next step is to convince your university to let you research it. No matter how awesome you think your topic is, it still needs to get the rubber stamp before you can move forward with your research. The research proposal is the tool you’ll use for this job.

So, what’s in a research proposal?

The main “job” of a research proposal is to convince your university, advisor or committee that your research topic is worthy of approval. But convince them of what? Well, this varies from university to university, but generally, they want to see that:

• You have a clearly articulated, unique and important topic (this might sound familiar…)
• You’ve done some initial reading of the existing literature relevant to your topic (i.e. a literature review)
• You have a provisional plan in terms of how you will collect data and analyse it (i.e. a methodology)

At the proposal stage, it’s (generally) not expected that you’ve extensively reviewed the existing literature , but you will need to show that you’ve done enough reading to identify a clear gap for original (unique) research. Similarly, they generally don’t expect that you have a rock-solid research methodology mapped out, but you should have an idea of whether you’ll be undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis , and how you’ll collect your data (we’ll discuss this in more detail later).

Long story short – don’t stress about having every detail of your research meticulously thought out at the proposal stage – this will develop as you progress through your research. However, you do need to show that you’ve “done your homework” and that your research is worthy of approval .

So, how do you go about crafting a high-quality, convincing proposal? We cover that in detail in this video post – How To Write A Top-Class Research Proposal . We’ve also got a video walkthrough of two proposal examples here .

Step 4: Craft a strong introduction chapter

Once your proposal’s been approved, its time to get writing your actual dissertation or thesis! The good news is that if you put the time into crafting a high-quality proposal, you’ve already got a head start on your first three chapters – introduction, literature review and methodology – as you can use your proposal as the basis for these.

Handy sidenote – our free dissertation & thesis template is a great way to speed up your dissertation writing journey.

What’s the introduction chapter all about?

The purpose of the introduction chapter is to set the scene for your research (dare I say, to introduce it…) so that the reader understands what you’ll be researching and why it’s important. In other words, it covers the same ground as the research proposal in that it justifies your research topic.

What goes into the introduction chapter?

This can vary slightly between universities and degrees, but generally, the introduction chapter will include the following:

• A brief background to the study, explaining the overall area of research
• A problem statement , explaining what the problem is with the current state of research (in other words, where the knowledge gap exists)
• Your research questions – in other words, the specific questions your study will seek to answer (based on the knowledge gap)
• The significance of your study – in other words, why it’s important and how its findings will be useful in the world

As you can see, this all about explaining the “what” and the “why” of your research (as opposed to the “how”). So, your introduction chapter is basically the salesman of your study, “selling” your research to the first-time reader and (hopefully) getting them interested to read more.

How do I write the introduction chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this post .

Step 5: Undertake an in-depth literature review

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to do some initial review of the literature in Steps 2 and 3 to find your research gap and craft a convincing research proposal – but that’s just scratching the surface. Once you reach the literature review stage of your dissertation or thesis, you need to dig a lot deeper into the existing research and write up a comprehensive literature review chapter.

What’s the literature review all about?

There are two main stages in the literature review process:

Literature Review Step 1: Reading up

The first stage is for you to deep dive into the existing literature (journal articles, textbook chapters, industry reports, etc) to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of research regarding your topic. While you don’t need to read every single article, you do need to ensure that you cover all literature that is related to your core research questions, and create a comprehensive catalogue of that literature , which you’ll use in the next step.

Reading and digesting all the relevant literature is a time consuming and intellectually demanding process. Many students underestimate just how much work goes into this step, so make sure that you allocate a good amount of time for this when planning out your research. Thankfully, there are ways to fast track the process – be sure to check out this article covering how to read journal articles quickly .

Literature Review Step 2: Writing up

Once you’ve worked through the literature and digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Many students make the mistake of thinking that the literature review chapter is simply a summary of what other researchers have said. While this is partly true, a literature review is much more than just a summary. To pull off a good literature review chapter, you’ll need to achieve at least 3 things:

• You need to synthesise the existing research , not just summarise it. In other words, you need to show how different pieces of theory fit together, what’s agreed on by researchers, what’s not.
• You need to highlight a research gap that your research is going to fill. In other words, you’ve got to outline the problem so that your research topic can provide a solution.
• You need to use the existing research to inform your methodology and approach to your own research design. For example, you might use questions or Likert scales from previous studies in your your own survey design .

As you can see, a good literature review is more than just a summary of the published research. It’s the foundation on which your own research is built, so it deserves a lot of love and attention. Take the time to craft a comprehensive literature review with a suitable structure .

But, how do I actually write the literature review chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this video post .

Step 6: Carry out your own research

Once you’ve completed your literature review and have a sound understanding of the existing research, its time to develop your own research (finally!). You’ll design this research specifically so that you can find the answers to your unique research question.

There are two steps here – designing your research strategy and executing on it:

1 – Design your research strategy

The first step is to design your research strategy and craft a methodology chapter . I won’t get into the technicalities of the methodology chapter here, but in simple terms, this chapter is about explaining the “how” of your research. If you recall, the introduction and literature review chapters discussed the “what” and the “why”, so it makes sense that the next point to cover is the “how” –that’s what the methodology chapter is all about.

In this section, you’ll need to make firm decisions about your research design. This includes things like:

• Your research philosophy (e.g. positivism or interpretivism )
• Your overall methodology (e.g. qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods)
• Your data collection strategy (e.g. interviews , focus groups, surveys)
• Your data analysis strategy (e.g. content analysis , correlation analysis, regression)

If these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these in plain language in other posts. It’s not essential that you understand the intricacies of research design (yet!). The key takeaway here is that you’ll need to make decisions about how you’ll design your own research, and you’ll need to describe (and justify) your decisions in your methodology chapter.

2 – Execute: Collect and analyse your data

Once you’ve worked out your research design, you’ll put it into action and start collecting your data. This might mean undertaking interviews, hosting an online survey or any other data collection method. Data collection can take quite a bit of time (especially if you host in-person interviews), so be sure to factor sufficient time into your project plan for this. Oftentimes, things don’t go 100% to plan (for example, you don’t get as many survey responses as you hoped for), so bake a little extra time into your budget here.

Once you’ve collected your data, you’ll need to do some data preparation before you can sink your teeth into the analysis. For example:

• If you carry out interviews or focus groups, you’ll need to transcribe your audio data to text (i.e. a Word document).
• If you collect quantitative survey data, you’ll need to clean up your data and get it into the right format for whichever analysis software you use (for example, SPSS, R or STATA).

Once you’ve completed your data prep, you’ll undertake your analysis, using the techniques that you described in your methodology. Depending on what you find in your analysis, you might also do some additional forms of analysis that you hadn’t planned for. For example, you might see something in the data that raises new questions or that requires clarification with further analysis.

The type(s) of analysis that you’ll use depend entirely on the nature of your research and your research questions. For example:

• If your research if exploratory in nature, you’ll often use qualitative analysis techniques .
• If your research is confirmatory in nature, you’ll often use quantitative analysis techniques
• If your research involves a mix of both, you might use a mixed methods approach

Again, if these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these concepts and techniques in other posts. The key takeaway is simply that there’s no “one size fits all” for research design and methodology – it all depends on your topic, your research questions and your data. So, don’t be surprised if your study colleagues take a completely different approach to yours.

Step 7: Present your findings

Once you’ve completed your analysis, it’s time to present your findings (finally!). In a dissertation or thesis, you’ll typically present your findings in two chapters – the results chapter and the discussion chapter .

What’s the difference between the results chapter and the discussion chapter?

While these two chapters are similar, the results chapter generally just presents the processed data neatly and clearly without interpretation, while the discussion chapter explains the story the data are telling  – in other words, it provides your interpretation of the results.

For example, if you were researching the factors that influence consumer trust, you might have used a quantitative approach to identify the relationship between potential factors (e.g. perceived integrity and competence of the organisation) and consumer trust. In this case:

• Your results chapter would just present the results of the statistical tests. For example, correlation results or differences between groups. In other words, the processed numbers.
• Your discussion chapter would explain what the numbers mean in relation to your research question(s). For example, Factor 1 has a weak relationship with consumer trust, while Factor 2 has a strong relationship.

Depending on the university and degree, these two chapters (results and discussion) are sometimes merged into one , so be sure to check with your institution what their preference is. Regardless of the chapter structure, this section is about presenting the findings of your research in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

Importantly, your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions (which you outlined in the introduction or literature review chapter). In other words, it needs to answer the key questions you asked (or at least attempt to answer them).

For example, if we look at the sample research topic:

In this case, the discussion section would clearly outline which factors seem to have a noteworthy influence on organisational trust. By doing so, they are answering the overarching question and fulfilling the purpose of the research .

For more information about the results chapter , check out this post for qualitative studies and this post for quantitative studies .

Step 8: The Final Step Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Last but not least, you’ll need to wrap up your research with the conclusion chapter . In this chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and explaining what the implications of these findings are.

What exactly are key findings? The key findings are those findings which directly relate to your original research questions and overall research objectives (which you discussed in your introduction chapter). The implications, on the other hand, explain what your findings mean for industry, or for research in your area.

Sticking with the consumer trust topic example, the conclusion might look something like this:

Key findings

This study set out to identify which factors influence consumer-based trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms. The results suggest that the following factors have a large impact on consumer trust:

While the following factors have a very limited impact on consumer trust:

Notably, within the 25-30 age groups, Factors E had a noticeably larger impact, which may be explained by…

Implications

The findings having noteworthy implications for British low-cost online equity brokers. Specifically:

The large impact of Factors X and Y implies that brokers need to consider….

The limited impact of Factor E implies that brokers need to…

As you can see, the conclusion chapter is basically explaining the “what” (what your study found) and the “so what?” (what the findings mean for the industry or research). This brings the study full circle and closes off the document.

Let’s recap – how to write a dissertation or thesis

You’re still with me? Impressive! I know that this post was a long one, but hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to write a dissertation or thesis, and are now better equipped to start your own research.

To recap, the 8 steps to writing a quality dissertation (or thesis) are as follows:

• Understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is – a research project that follows the research process.
• Find a unique (original) and important research topic
• Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal
• Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter
• Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review
• Undertake your own research
• Present and interpret your findings

Once you’ve wrapped up the core chapters, all that’s typically left is the abstract , reference list and appendices. As always, be sure to check with your university if they have any additional requirements in terms of structure or content.  

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This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

20 Comments

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Thank you, it was really helpful

unquestionably, this amazing simplified way of teaching. Really , I couldn’t find in the literature words that fully explicit my great thanks to you. However, I could only say thanks a-lot.

Great to hear that – thanks for the feedback. Good luck writing your dissertation/thesis.

This is the most comprehensive explanation of how to write a dissertation. Many thanks for sharing it free of charge.

Very rich presentation. Thank you

Thanks Derek Jansen|GRADCOACH, I find it very useful guide to arrange my activities and proceed to research!

Thank you so much for such a marvelous teaching .I am so convinced that am going to write a comprehensive and a distinct masters dissertation

It is an amazing comprehensive explanation

This was straightforward. Thank you!

I can say that your explanations are simple and enlightening – understanding what you have done here is easy for me. Could you write more about the different types of research methods specific to the three methodologies: quan, qual and MM. I look forward to interacting with this website more in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions 🙂

Hello, your write ups is quite educative. However, l have challenges in going about my research questions which is below; *Building the enablers of organisational growth through effective governance and purposeful leadership.*

Very educating.

Just listening to the name of the dissertation makes the student nervous. As writing a top-quality dissertation is a difficult task as it is a lengthy topic, requires a lot of research and understanding and is usually around 10,000 to 15000 words. Sometimes due to studies, unbalanced workload or lack of research and writing skill students look for dissertation submission from professional writers.

Thank you 💕😊 very much. I was confused but your comprehensive explanation has cleared my doubts of ever presenting a good thesis. Thank you.

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Hi. Where is the excel spread sheet ark?

could you please help me look at your thesis paper to enable me to do the portion that has to do with the specification

my topic is “the impact of domestic revenue mobilization.

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How to Structure a Dissertation – A Step by Step Guide

Published by Owen Ingram at August 11th, 2021 , Revised On September 20, 2023

A dissertation – sometimes called a thesis –  is a long piece of information backed up by extensive research. This one, huge piece of research is what matters the most when students – undergraduates and postgraduates – are in their final year of study.

On the other hand, some institutions, especially in the case of undergraduate students, may or may not require students to write a dissertation. Courses are offered instead. This generally depends on the requirements of that particular institution.

If you are unsure about how to structure your dissertation or thesis, this article will offer you some guidelines to work out what the most important segments of a dissertation paper are and how you should organise them. Why is structure so important in research, anyway?

One way to answer that, as Abbie Hoffman aptly put it, is because: “Structure is more important than content in the transmission of information.”

Also Read:   How to write a dissertation – step by step guide .

How to Structure a Dissertation or Thesis

It should be noted that the exact structure of your dissertation will depend on several factors, such as:

• Your research approach (qualitative/quantitative)
• The nature of your research design (exploratory/descriptive etc.)
• The requirements set for forth by your academic institution.
• The discipline or field your study belongs to. For instance, if you are a humanities student, you will need to develop your dissertation on the same pattern as any long essay .

This will include developing an overall argument to support the thesis statement and organizing chapters around theories or questions. The dissertation will be structured such that it starts with an introduction , develops on the main idea in its main body paragraphs and is then summarised in conclusion .

However, if you are basing your dissertation on primary or empirical research, you will be required to include each of the below components. In most cases of dissertation writing, each of these elements will have to be written as a separate chapter.

But depending on the word count you are provided with and academic subject, you may choose to combine some of these elements.

For example, sciences and engineering students often present results and discussions together in one chapter rather than two different chapters.

If you have any doubts about structuring your dissertation or thesis, it would be a good idea to consult with your academic supervisor and check your department’s requirements.

Parts of  a Dissertation or Thesis

Your dissertation will  start with a t itle page that will contain details of the author/researcher, research topic, degree program (the paper is to be submitted for), and research supervisor. In other words, a title page is the opening page containing all the names and title related to your research.

The name of your university, logo, student ID and submission date can also be presented on the title page. Many academic programs have stringent rules for formatting the dissertation title page.

Acknowledgements

The acknowledgments section allows you to thank those who helped you with your dissertation project. You might want to mention the names of your academic supervisor, family members, friends, God, and participants of your study whose contribution and support enabled you to complete your work.

However, the acknowledgments section is usually optional.

Tip: Many students wrongly assume that they need to thank everyone…even those who had little to no contributions towards the dissertation. This is not the case. You only need to thank those who were directly involved in the research process, such as your participants/volunteers, supervisor(s) etc.

Perhaps the smallest yet important part of a thesis, an abstract contains 5 parts:

• A brief introduction of your research topic.
• The significance of your research.
•  A line or two about the methodology that was used.
• The results and what they mean (briefly); their interpretation(s).
• And lastly, a conclusive comment regarding the results’ interpretation(s) as conclusion .

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Tip: Make sure to highlight key points to help readers figure out the scope and findings of your research study without having to read the entire dissertation. The abstract is your first chance to impress your readers. So, make sure to get it right. Here are detailed guidelines on how to write abstract for dissertation .

Table of Contents

Table of contents is the section of a dissertation that guides each section of the dissertation paper’s contents. Depending on the level of detail in a table of contents, the most useful headings are listed to provide the reader the page number on which said information may be found at.

Table of contents can be inserted automatically as well as manually using the Microsoft Word Table of Contents feature.

List of Figures and Tables

If your dissertation paper uses several illustrations, tables and figures, you might want to present them in a numbered list in a separate section . Again, this list of tables and figures can be auto-created and auto inserted using the Microsoft Word built-in feature.

List of Abbreviations

Dissertations that include several abbreviations can also have an independent and separate alphabetised  list of abbreviations so readers can easily figure out their meanings.

If you think you have used terms and phrases in your dissertation that readers might not be familiar with, you can create a  glossary  that lists important phrases and terms with their meanings explained.

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Introduction

Introduction chapter  briefly introduces the purpose and relevance of your research topic.

Here, you will be expected to list the aim and key objectives of your research so your readers can easily understand what the following chapters of the dissertation will cover. A good dissertation introduction section incorporates the following information:

• It provides background information to give context to your research.
• It clearly specifies the research problem you wish to address with your research. When creating research questions , it is important to make sure your research’s focus and scope are neither too broad nor too narrow.
• it demonstrates how your research is relevant and how it would contribute to the existing knowledge.
• It provides an overview of the structure of your dissertation. The last section of an introduction contains an outline of the following chapters. It could start off with something like: “In the following chapter, past literature has been reviewed and critiqued. The proceeding section lays down major research findings…”
• Theoretical framework – under a separate sub-heading – is also provided within the introductory chapter. Theoretical framework deals with the basic, underlying theory or theories that the research revolves around.

All the information presented under this section should be relevant, clear, and engaging. The readers should be able to figure out the what, why, when, and how of your study once they have read the introduction. Here are comprehensive guidelines on how to structure the introduction to the dissertation .

“Overwhelmed by tight deadlines and tons of assignments to write? There is no need to panic! Our expert academics can help you with every aspect of your dissertation – from topic creation and research problem identification to choosing the methodological approach and data analysis.”

Literature Review 

The  literature review chapter  presents previous research performed on the topic and improves your understanding of the existing literature on your chosen topic. This is usually organised to complement your  primary research  work completed at a later stage.

Make sure that your chosen academic sources are authentic and up-to-date. The literature review chapter must be comprehensive and address the aims and objectives as defined in the introduction chapter. Here is what your literature research chapter should aim to achieve:

• Data collection from authentic and relevant academic sources such as books, journal articles and research papers.
• Analytical assessment of the information collected from those sources; this would involve a critiquing the reviewed researches that is, what their strengths/weaknesses are, why the research method they employed is better than others, importance of their findings, etc.
• Identifying key research gaps, conflicts, patterns, and theories to get your point across to the reader effectively.

While your literature review should summarise previous literature, it is equally important to make sure that you develop a comprehensible argument or structure to justify your research topic. It would help if you considered keeping the following questions in mind when writing the literature review:

• How does your research work fill a certain gap in exiting literature?
• Did you adopt/adapt a new research approach to investigate the topic?
• Does your research solve an unresolved problem?
• Is your research dealing with some groundbreaking topic or theory that others might have overlooked?
• Is your research taking forward an existing theoretical discussion?
• Does your research strengthen and build on current knowledge within your area of study? This is otherwise known as ‘adding to the existing body of knowledge’ in academic circles.

Tip: You might want to establish relationships between variables/concepts to provide descriptive answers to some or all of your research questions. For instance, in case of quantitative research, you might hypothesise that variable A is positively co-related to variable B that is, one increases and so does the other one.

Research Methodology

The methods and techniques ( secondary and/or primar y) employed to collect research data are discussed in detail in the  Methodology chapter. The most commonly used primary data collection methods are:

• questionnaires
• focus groups
• observations

Essentially, the methodology chapter allows the researcher to explain how he/she achieved the findings, why they are reliable and how they helped him/her test the research hypotheses or address the research problem.

You might want to consider the following when writing methodology for the dissertation:

• Type of research and approach your work is based on. Some of the most widely used types of research include experimental, quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
• Data collection techniques that were employed such as questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, observations etc.
• Details of how, when, where, and what of the research that was conducted.
• Data analysis strategies employed (for instance, regression analysis).
• Software and tools used for data analysis (Excel, STATA, SPSS, lab equipment, etc.).
• Research limitations to highlight any hurdles you had to overcome when carrying our research. Limitations might or might not be mentioned within research methodology. Some institutions’ guidelines dictate they be mentioned under a separate section alongside recommendations.
• Justification of your selection of research approach and research methodology.

Here is a comprehensive article on  how to structure a dissertation methodology .

Research Findings

In this section, you present your research findings. The dissertation findings chapter  is built around the research questions, as outlined in the introduction chapter. Report findings that are directly relevant to your research questions.

Any information that is not directly relevant to research questions or hypotheses but could be useful for the readers can be placed under the  Appendices .

As indicated above, you can either develop a  standalone chapter  to present your findings or combine them with the discussion chapter. This choice depends on  the type of research involved and the academic subject, as well as what your institution’s academic guidelines dictate.

For example, it is common to have both findings and discussion grouped under the same section, particularly if the dissertation is based on qualitative research data.

On the other hand, dissertations that use quantitative or experimental data should present findings and analysis/discussion in two separate chapters. Here are some sample dissertations to help you figure out the best structure for your own project.

Sample Dissertation

Tip: Try to present as many charts, graphs, illustrations and tables in the findings chapter to improve your data presentation. Provide their qualitative interpretations alongside, too. Refrain from explaining the information that is already evident from figures and tables.

The findings are followed by the  Discussion chapter , which is considered the heart of any dissertation paper. The discussion section is an opportunity for you to tie the knots together to address the research questions and present arguments, models and key themes.

This chapter can make or break your research.

The discussion chapter does not require any new data or information because it is more about the interpretation(s) of the data you have already collected and presented. Here are some questions for you to think over when writing the discussion chapter:

• Did your work answer all the research questions or tested the hypothesis?
• Did you come up with some unexpected results for which you have to provide an additional explanation or justification?
• Are there any limitations that could have influenced your research findings?

Here is an article on how to  structure a dissertation discussion .

Conclusions corresponding to each research objective are provided in the  Conclusion section . This is usually done by revisiting the research questions to finally close the dissertation. Some institutions may specifically ask for recommendations to evaluate your critical thinking.

By the end, the readers should have a clear apprehension of your fundamental case with a focus on  what methods of research were employed  and what you achieved from this research.

Quick Question: Does the conclusion chapter reflect on the contributions your research work will make to existing knowledge?

Answer: Yes, the conclusion chapter of the research paper typically includes a reflection on the research’s contributions to existing knowledge.  In the “conclusion chapter”, you have to summarise the key findings and discuss how they add value to the existing literature on the current topic.

Reference list

All academic sources that you collected information from should be cited in-text and also presented in a  reference list (or a bibliography in case you include references that you read for the research but didn’t end up citing in the text), so the readers can easily locate the source of information when/if needed.

At most UK universities, Harvard referencing is the recommended style of referencing. It has strict and specific requirements on how to format a reference resource. Other common styles of referencing include MLA, APA, Footnotes, etc.

Each chapter of the dissertation should have relevant information. Any information that is not directly relevant to your research topic but your readers might be interested in (interview transcripts etc.) should be moved under the Appendices section .

Things like questionnaires, survey items or readings that were used in the study’s experiment are mostly included under appendices.

An Outline of Dissertation/Thesis Structure

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FAQs About Structure a Dissertation

What does the title page of a dissertation contain.

The title page will contain details of the author/researcher, research topic , degree program (the paper is to be submitted for) and research supervisor’s name(s). The name of your university, logo, student number and submission date can also be presented on the title page.

What is the purpose of adding acknowledgement?

The acknowledgements section allows you to thank those who helped you with your dissertation project. You might want to mention the names of your academic supervisor, family members, friends, God and participants of your study whose contribution and support enabled you to complete your work.

Can I omit the glossary from the dissertation?

Yes, but only if you think that your paper does not contain any terms or phrases that the reader might not understand. If you think you have used them in the paper,  you must create a glossary that lists important phrases and terms with their meanings explained.

What is the purpose of appendices in a dissertation?

Any information that is not directly relevant to research questions or hypotheses but could be useful for the readers can be placed under the Appendices, such as questionnaire that was used in the study.

Which referencing style should I use in my dissertation?

You can use any of the referencing styles such as APA, MLA, and Harvard, according to the recommendation of your university; however, almost all UK institutions prefer Harvard referencing style .

What is the difference between references and bibliography?

References contain all the works that you read up and used and therefore, cited within the text of your thesis. However, in case you read on some works and resources that you didn’t end up citing in-text, they will be referenced in what is called a bibliography.

Additional readings might also be present alongside each bibliography entry for readers.

You May Also Like

A literature review is a survey of theses, articles, books and other academic sources. Here are guidelines on how to write dissertation literature review.

Stuck on the recommendations section of your research? Read our guide on how to write recommendations for a research study and get started.

Do dissertations scare you? Struggling with writing a flawless dissertation? Well, congratulations, you have landed in the perfect place. In this blog, we will take you through the detailed process of writing a dissertation. Sounds fun? We thought so!

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How to Write the AP Lit Prose Essay + Example

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What is the ap lit prose essay, how will ap scores affect my college chances.

AP Literature and Composition (AP Lit), not to be confused with AP English Language and Composition (AP Lang), teaches students how to develop the ability to critically read and analyze literary texts. These texts include poetry, prose, and drama. Analysis is an essential component of this course and critical for the educational development of all students when it comes to college preparation. In this course, you can expect to see an added difficulty of texts and concepts, similar to the material one would see in a college literature course.

While not as popular as AP Lang, over 380,136 students took the class in 2019. However, the course is significantly more challenging, with only 49.7% of students receiving a score of three or higher on the exam. A staggeringly low 6.2% of students received a five on the exam. 

The AP Lit exam is similar to the AP Lang exam in format, but covers different subject areas. The first section is multiple-choice questions based on five short passages. There are 55 questions to be answered in 1 hour. The passages will include at least two prose fiction passages and two poetry passages and will account for 45% of your total score. All possible answer choices can be found within the text, so you don’t need to come into the exam with prior knowledge of the passages to understand the work. 

The second section contains three free-response essays to be finished in under two hours. This section accounts for 55% of the final score and includes three essay questions: the poetry analysis essay, the prose analysis essay, and the thematic analysis essay. Typically, a five-paragraph format will suffice for this type of writing. These essays are scored holistically from one to six points.

Today we will take a look at the AP Lit prose essay and discuss tips and tricks to master this section of the exam. We will also provide an example of a well-written essay for review.  

The AP Lit prose essay is the second of the three essays included in the free-response section of the AP Lit exam, lasting around 40 minutes in total. A prose passage of approximately 500 to 700 words and a prompt will be given to guide your analytical essay. Worth about 18% of your total grade, the essay will be graded out of six points depending on the quality of your thesis (0-1 points), evidence and commentary (0-4 points), and sophistication (0-1 points). 

While this exam seems extremely overwhelming, considering there are a total of three free-response essays to complete, with proper time management and practiced skills, this essay is manageable and straightforward. In order to enhance the time management aspect of the test to the best of your ability, it is essential to understand the following six key concepts.

1. Have a Clear Understanding of the Prompt and the Passage

Since the prose essay is testing your ability to analyze literature and construct an evidence-based argument, the most important thing you can do is make sure you understand the passage. That being said, you only have about 40 minutes for the whole essay so you can’t spend too much time reading the passage. Allot yourself 5-7 minutes to read the prompt and the passage and then another 3-5 minutes to plan your response.

As you read through the prompt and text, highlight, circle, and markup anything that stands out to you. Specifically, try to find lines in the passage that could bolster your argument since you will need to include in-text citations from the passage in your essay. Even if you don’t know exactly what your argument might be, it’s still helpful to have a variety of quotes to use depending on what direction you take your essay, so take note of whatever strikes you as important. Taking the time to annotate as you read will save you a lot of time later on because you won’t need to reread the passage to find examples when you are in the middle of writing. 

Once you have a good grasp on the passage and a solid array of quotes to choose from, you should develop a rough outline of your essay. The prompt will provide 4-5 bullets that remind you of what to include in your essay, so you can use these to structure your outline. Start with a thesis, come up with 2-3 concrete claims to support your thesis, back up each claim with 1-2 pieces of evidence from the text, and write a brief explanation of how the evidence supports the claim.

2. Start with a Brief Introduction that Includes a Clear Thesis Statement

Having a strong thesis can help you stay focused and avoid tangents while writing. By deciding the relevant information you want to hit upon in your essay up front, you can prevent wasting precious time later on. Clear theses are also important for the reader because they direct their focus to your essential arguments. 

In other words, it’s important to make the introduction brief and compact so your thesis statement shines through. The introduction should include details from the passage, like the author and title, but don’t waste too much time with extraneous details. Get to the heart of your essay as quick as possible. 

3. Use Clear Examples to Support Your Argument 

One of the requirements AP Lit readers are looking for is your use of evidence. In order to satisfy this aspect of the rubric, you should make sure each body paragraph has at least 1-2 pieces of evidence, directly from the text, that relate to the claim that paragraph is making. Since the prose essay tests your ability to recognize and analyze literary elements and techniques, it’s often better to include smaller quotes. For example, when writing about the author’s use of imagery or diction you might pick out specific words and quote each word separately rather than quoting a large block of text. Smaller quotes clarify exactly what stood out to you so your reader can better understand what are you saying.

Including smaller quotes also allows you to include more evidence in your essay. Be careful though—having more quotes is not necessarily better! You will showcase your strength as a writer not by the number of quotes you manage to jam into a paragraph, but by the relevance of the quotes to your argument and explanation you provide.  If the details don’t connect, they are merely just strings of details.

4. Discussion is Crucial to Connect Your Evidence to Your Argument 

As the previous tip explained, citing phrases and words from the passage won’t get you anywhere if you don’t provide an explanation as to how your examples support the claim you are making. After each new piece of evidence is introduced, you should have a sentence or two that explains the significance of this quote to the piece as a whole.

This part of the paragraph is the “So what?” You’ve already stated the point you are trying to get across in the topic sentence and shared the examples from the text, so now show the reader why or how this quote demonstrates an effective use of a literary technique by the author. Sometimes students can get bogged down by the discussion and lose sight of the point they are trying to make. If this happens to you while writing, take a step back and ask yourself “Why did I include this quote? What does it contribute to the piece as a whole?” Write down your answer and you will be good to go. 

5. Write a Brief Conclusion

While the critical part of the essay is to provide a substantive, organized, and clear argument throughout the body paragraphs, a conclusion provides a satisfying ending to the essay and the last opportunity to drive home your argument. If you run out of time for a conclusion because of extra time spent in the preceding paragraphs, do not worry, as that is not fatal to your score. 

Without repeating your thesis statement word for word, find a way to return to the thesis statement by summing up your main points. This recap reinforces the arguments stated in the previous paragraphs, while all of the preceding paragraphs successfully proved the thesis statement.

6. Don’t Forget About Your Grammar

Though you will undoubtedly be pressed for time, it’s still important your essay is well-written with correct punctuating and spelling. Many students are able to write a strong thesis and include good evidence and commentary, but the final point on the rubric is for sophistication. This criteria is more holistic than the former ones which means you should have elevated thoughts and writing—no grammatical errors. While a lack of grammatical mistakes alone won’t earn you the sophistication point, it will leave the reader with a more favorable impression of you. 

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Here are Nine Must-have Tips and Tricks to Get a Good Score on the Prose Essay:

• Carefully read, review, and underline key instruction s in the prompt.
• Briefly outlin e what you want to cover in your essay.
• Be sure to have a clear thesis that includes the terms mentioned in the instructions, literary devices, tone, and meaning.
• Include the author’s name and title  in your introduction. Refer to characters by name.
• Quality over quantity when it comes to picking quotes! Better to have a smaller number of more detailed quotes than a large amount of vague ones.
• Fully explain how each piece of evidence supports your thesis .  
• Focus on the literary techniques in the passage and avoid summarizing the plot. 
• Use transitions to connect sentences and paragraphs.
• Keep your introduction and conclusion short, and don’t repeat your thesis verbatim in your conclusion.

Here is an example essay from 2020 that received a perfect 6:

[1] In this passage from a 1912 novel, the narrator wistfully details his childhood crush on a girl violinist. Through a motif of the allure of musical instruments, and abundant sensory details that summon a vivid image of the event of their meeting, the reader can infer that the narrator was utterly enraptured by his obsession in the moment, and upon later reflection cannot help but feel a combination of amusement and a resummoning of the moment’s passion. 

[2] The overwhelming abundance of hyper-specific sensory details reveals to the reader that meeting his crush must have been an intensely powerful experience to create such a vivid memory. The narrator can picture the “half-dim church”, can hear the “clear wail” of the girl’s violin, can see “her eyes almost closing”, can smell a “faint but distinct fragrance.” Clearly, this moment of discovery was very impactful on the boy, because even later he can remember the experience in minute detail. However, these details may also not be entirely faithful to the original experience; they all possess a somewhat mysterious quality that shows how the narrator may be employing hyperbole to accentuate the girl’s allure. The church is “half-dim”, the eyes “almost closing” – all the details are held within an ethereal state of halfway, which also serves to emphasize that this is all told through memory. The first paragraph also introduces the central conciet of music. The narrator was drawn to the “tones she called forth” from her violin and wanted desperately to play her “accompaniment.” This serves the double role of sensory imagery (with the added effect of music being a powerful aural image) and metaphor, as the accompaniment stands in for the narrator’s true desire to be coupled with his newfound crush. The musical juxtaposition between the “heaving tremor of the organ” and the “clear wail” of her violin serves to further accentuate how the narrator percieved the girl as above all other things, as high as an angel. Clearly, the memory of his meeting his crush is a powerful one that left an indelible impact on the narrator. 

[3] Upon reflecting on this memory and the period of obsession that followed, the narrator cannot help but feel amused at the lengths to which his younger self would go; this is communicated to the reader with some playful irony and bemused yet earnest tone. The narrator claims to have made his “first and last attempts at poetry” in devotion to his crush, and jokes that he did not know to be “ashamed” at the quality of his poetry. This playful tone pokes fun at his childhood self for being an inexperienced poet, yet also acknowledges the very real passion that the poetry stemmed from. The narrator goes on to mention his “successful” endeavor to conceal his crush from his friends and the girl; this holds an ironic tone because the narrator immediately admits that his attempts to hide it were ill-fated and all parties were very aware of his feelings. The narrator also recalls his younger self jumping to hyperbolic extremes when imagining what he would do if betrayed by his love, calling her a “heartless jade” to ironically play along with the memory. Despite all this irony, the narrator does also truly comprehend the depths of his past self’s infatuation and finds it moving. The narrator begins the second paragraph with a sentence that moves urgently, emphasizing the myriad ways the boy was obsessed. He also remarks, somewhat wistfully, that the experience of having this crush “moved [him] to a degree which now [he] can hardly think of as possible.” Clearly, upon reflection the narrator feels a combination of amusement at the silliness of his former self and wistful respect for the emotion that the crush stirred within him. 

[4] In this passage, the narrator has a multifaceted emotional response while remembering an experience that was very impactful on him. The meaning of the work is that when we look back on our memories (especially those of intense passion), added perspective can modify or augment how those experiences make us feel

More essay examples, score sheets, and commentaries can be found at College Board .

While AP Scores help to boost your weighted GPA, or give you the option to get college credit, AP Scores don’t have a strong effect on your admissions chances . However, colleges can still see your self-reported scores, so you might not want to automatically send scores to colleges if they are lower than a 3. That being said, admissions officers care far more about your grade in an AP class than your score on the exam.

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An Investor's Look at Toast and Shopify

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We also talk about how to write an investment thesis and how a journal can help when markets get choppy.

In this podcast, Motley Fool host Ricky Mulvey and analyst Tim Beyers discuss:

• Toast 's quarter and its move into convenience stores.
• Shopify 's impressive profitability and what could put a damper on the e-commerce platform's growth story.

Then, Motley Fool host Mary Long and analyst Asit Sharma discuss how to write an investment thesis.

To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center . To get started investing, check out our quick-start guide to investing in stocks . A full transcript follows the video.

This video was recorded on August 08, 2024.

Ricky Mulvey: Toast isn't playing ball, but you're listening to Motley Fool Money. I'm Ricky Mulvey, joined today by Tim Beyers. Tim. How you doing?

Tim Beyers: Doing well, fully caffeinated, ready to go.

Ricky Mulvey: I'm going to ask you that question a second time because, the market's been a little nuts this week, and Mary and Asit are going to talk about mindset later in the show. How are you right now as an investor? How's this past week been for you?

Tim Beyers: This is the market that is great for me. I know it's not good for a lot of people, and I will not dismiss that, Ricky. But for me, this is when I am at my absolute best as an investor. I get nervous and anxious when the market is going up into the right for reasons that I cannot explain. When we have irrational sell offs, I'm great, man. I've bought two stocks, new positions this week, which I can't talk about because of our disclosure rules. You can ask me about that another time, maybe next week. This is when I am at my absolute best. I love it when the market decides to do full Kermit and run around with its hands in the air and just cannot figure out which way is up.

Ricky Mulvey: Have also been buying. I talked about it with Gillies a couple of days ago. Let's dive into some individual companies you can talk about. One of them your favorites, I should say. I don't know if it's your favorite.

Tim Beyers: That's still my favorite.

Ricky Mulvey: That is the payment software that asks you a question after you check out and get your cup of coffee. Tim, before I get into the numbers, there was a moment in the Q&A, where an analyst asked the CEO, basically, about the international and retail expansion. I was hoping you could touch on that and maybe use a baseball analogy. What inning are we in in terms of building out the platform for these new verticals? I think that's a fair question. I'm not going to use a baseball analogy. Yep. Then described what was happening. Let me throw that at you, Tim. When you look at Toasts quarter, how would you describe it using a baseball analogy?

Tim Beyers: I would say it's very early innings. I'd say, you know, first or second inning. I think to Aman Narang's credit, he's one of the co founders, said, I'm not going to use a baseball analogy, but I will say that, our core business is 11-12 years old, we're one, not even really two years in, so you could draw a similar conclusion here. We've barely talked about the first 10% of the opportunity here, and we may be even earlier than that. I think in terms of their expansion opportunity outside their core business, we've barely scratched the surface. Overall, remember, this is a company that originally targeted 800,000 US restaurant locations as its core market. That's an immediately serviceable market. Now they have said, and I know we're going to get to this a little bit later. There are some other areas they can expand into that open up another 220,000 locations to them. Now we're talking over one million. Right now they're at 120,000 locations. Are we in the earliest of early innings? Yes, we are. Absolutely.

Ricky Mulvey: Let's look at some of the highlights from the quarter, adding 8,000 new locations, so the total now stands at $120,000 positive gap operating income by a SMIG, $5 million, but that's enough to make it positive Tim, and annualized recurring revenue at $1.5 billion. That is a 30% increase from last year. Sounds like good numbers to me, but what from the quarter really stands out to you?

Tim Beyers: Toast has said that one of the ways you want to measure them is on their core profitability metric. Their core profitability metric. I'm going to say this twice so you can do this math for yourself because they report all of these numbers. They take adjusted EBITDA. That is the numerator. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, they report that on every press release. This quarter, it was $92 million. You take that and divide it by the sum of their subscription gross profit. That's a core piece of their business. They sell subscriptions to the core Toast software, the platform that restaurants subscribe to, and then the FinTech gross profit, which is their share of the business that they help process at all of their restaurant customers. They believe they can get that margin, Ricky up to somewhere between 30 and 35%. They said they can get that stable at that level over the long term. In the latest quarter that is now up to 27.88%. That was a year ago at 5.79%. This is one of those businesses where Toast is saying, here's our target, here's where we think we can get to, and they have unrelentingly marched toward that goal. They haven't slowed down. It's interesting to me that the market says, we don't care about that.

Ricky Mulvey: What is that I heard the formula for it? What is that profitability metric? What's the story behind it?

Tim Beyers: The story behind that profitability metric is, let me put it this way. When Toast goes into a new restaurant group, They will essentially add a loss. They'll do this as a loss leader. They will deploy a bunch of people to help you install their software, and they'll put hardware in your hands, those little tablets that you have seen, if you've gone to a restaurant and you've checked out with Toast, and a server has come up and had a little tablet in their hand, and it says Toast on it. That's all stuff they sell at a loss. Then on the back end, they believe that they will make a significant long term profit, by doing right by you and getting their software and hardware into your hands and helping you do more business at your restaurant group over time. The subscription gross profit and the FinTech gross profit reflect that belief. That the more that you use our products, the more subscription gross profit, the more you will make inside your restaurant group, FinTech gross profit, and for us, once you strip out all of the things that we spend in order to put all this stuff in your hands, the core profits, the adjusted EBITDA, we're going to make a lot of money and so are you. Everybody's going to win here. It's a metric that's designed to reflect what that win, win, win dynamic of the Toast business actually looks like financially.

Ricky Mulvey: One of the stories we got in the earnings call was Taziki's, and they explained how they're able to help them, essentially with the Toast Point of Sale system. They upsell different food items that go well with different drinks. Tim sounds like you're pretty happy with Toast right now, but it doesn't seem like the market is happy with Toast after this earnings release. You said they were unrelentingly going toward this profitability goal. That's usually a good sign for a company. What's the market so unhappy with?

Tim Beyers: I have no idea. The market seems like a teenager that you cannot say anything right like, we're going to get pizza tonight. I'm a vegetarian, and all you ever do is order pepperoni pizza. It's that sort of thing. It feels ridiculous. I do not understand it. I think the guidance was reasonable. It was in line. They didn't beat guidance by any means, Ricky. But the last two quarters, when they have issued guidance on adjusted EBITDA, they've smashed it. They have absolutely smashed their guidance numbers. I don't get it. I don't know why there's so much angst here, but I will say this. I do think this is a good sign for anybody who has not yet opened a Toast position because the market has not yet chosen to believe that what Toast says defines value inside the business. The market is not valuing the company according to those metrics. They're just ignoring it. What I told you about, that core profitability metric, the market doesn't care. They're not paying attention to it. That is not how the market is valuing this business. They're using something else. I don't know exactly what else they're using, Ricky, but they are using that core profitability metric. The institutional investors, do not believe that Toast can scale up its free cash flow margins to much higher than they are today. They just don't believe it. If it does happen, which I believe it will, then I'm going to get paid, and other Toast investors are going to get paid quite well.

Ricky Mulvey: I hope so as a Toast investor. Let's talk about the new verticals. Toast is trying to move into grocery convenience stores, bottle shops. So far, they've got 1,000 new customers in this space. I think of Toast as a restaurant company, but what do you think about this move, and does it affect your thesis for the company?

Tim Beyers: It doesn't affect my thesis yet. It's way too early. I like the idea, especially the idea of putting Toast into liquor stores, because liquor stores have something in common with small restaurant groups that have dedicated owners, because that's really where Toast sweet spot is. It's not in the one, like, somebody who has a bakery shop in one location. That's not Toast score market, nor is it like RBs? It's not that, either. It's in the middle, sit down restaurant, Bistro restaurant group of, 5-20 locations. Liquor stores are like this. Liquor stores, like in a regional area, you might have a group that owns, 5-8 liquor stores. That's actually a great market for Toast, and they tend to use really old Point of Sale technology, and they could benefit. They have to manage a lot of logistics inside those liquor stores because that's a high turnover business. People come in, and they're buying wine, beer, hard liquor, they're buying it all the time. You have lots of supply chain logistics. You have payroll and inventory, just like anything else. You have the other common things that are, areas of interest and or pain for a retail business. I think it's a very smart idea. Regional grocery stores, small markets, local liquor store groups, I think that's an excellent place for Toast to strategically expand.

Ricky Mulvey: Let's move on to Shopify where we are getting a free cash flow story. Yesterday was some welcome relief for Shopify Investors. Last quarter, shop told investors to expect some margin pressure, and this quarter it beat expectations handedly. Free cash flow is up about 250% from the prior year. Tim, I know you like talking about unit economics. That's a unit economic story. What's going on at Shopify?

Tim Beyers: We hope so. It does seem like it. I think it's more a cost management story. I think they've done a really good job of getting on the other side of selling the logistics business and getting back to core principles, so in that sense, sure, it absolutely is a unit economic story here. But what we're seeing is that Shopify is expanding its influence and it's doing good things to capture a larger market. There's just more business being done on Shopify. As they scale up, they do get the benefit of it. As long as they keep their unit economics relatively steady, they are going to get that benefit of rising cash flows, rising margins, as their customers take them up on, just give more responsibility to Shopify overall. You could certainly see that. The gross merchandise volume was up substantially to $67.2 billion, I believe. Now you are at, what is that? $252 billion in annualized gross merchandise volume. That is that's serious business, Ricky.

Ricky Mulvey: Shopify crossed 1 trillion total in gross merchandise volume. President Harley Finkelstein would like us to reflect on that. I think there's another number you want to reflect on. You're giving me a shrug of emoji right now, Tim.

Tim Beyers: Harley Finkelstein is a terrific salesperson, and he he is a brilliant hype man for Shopify. I think you need to know that that he's a brilliant hype man and not take him exactly at his word. He's very good, though. He's a really good servant for Shopify. I don't think that one trillion metric matters all that much. What I will say is that the value that, Shopify can compound value for investors is when that gross merchandise volume number grows, and with it, the attach rate. As really the way that Shopify goes up into the right and gets real hockey stick growth for investors is if there's more business being done on the platform, more sales, more payments processed. Then more of that activity accrues to Shopify. It's roughly stayed stable, though, Ricky. The attach rate isn't going up. It's going down, but I would say it's largely flat. In the latest quarter, that attach rate was 2.98%. The way you get that is two billion in revenue. Divided by 67.2 billion in gross merchandise volume. It's about 2.98%. A year ago, it was at 3.09%. Down a little bit. I would call that roughly flat. The way that Shopify from here at its valuation. If you want today's valuation to look cheap, get that attached rate up to 3.5%, get it up to 4%. If you have vendors, shoppers, the entire ecosystem of people that are participating in the Shopify experience. If they are giving more dollars to Shopify, look out. Today's valuation will look very cheap. If the attached rate doesn't move that much, Ricky, then I think you could make an argument that Shopify is maybe not outrageously priced, but probably at least fairly priced. You need that attached rate to go up.

Ricky Mulvey: You're saying you need them to flex their pricing power a little bit for some hockey stick growth?

Tim Beyers: Yes, I need them to be involved in more parts of the transaction. Yes.

Ricky Mulvey: Any yellow or warning flags in Shopify's quarter. You said Harley Finkelstein is a great salesperson, but, this is also a company where less so to do with the company, more to do with the valuation. It's gotten ahead of its snowboard before. Any signs of caution stand out to you.

Tim Beyers: I don't know that this is a cautionary note, but it is something to be aware of. Payments are now 61% of gross merchandise volume. The business that's being done on the Shopify platform, all of those dollars, a lot of it that, Shopify gets credit for is there, not because there's a lot more commerce being done on the platform. Although there is, there is more commerce being done on the platform. The growth is coming from Shopify being involved in more of the payments, more of the transactions. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is at least a risk because it puts Shopify at conflict with payments processors. They do need to not forget their roots. Shopify needs more commerce to happen on its platform, not just more involvement in payments on its platform. I think that'll happen. They are talking about, greasing the skids for things like international sales. That would be good. You need that. You need more commerce on the Shopify platform, and you need Shopify getting involved in more of those payments transactions. If those things happen, and they don't need to happen overnight, Ricky. This can be slow and steady wins the race here. A little bit at a time. We're expanding the reach of the commerce platform. We're seeing more commerce from more regions on the Shopify. That's a good thing. Then if there's more payments, and there's more Shopify involvement in those payments, that is also a good thing. You don't need much. Like, little incremental improvements will generate big leaps in cash flows. I am cautiously optimistic about the way that Shopify is going about its business. Let's not pretend that this is, smooth sailing from here. There's work still to do.

Ricky Mulvey: Good place to end it. Tim Beyers. Appreciate coming on, and thank you for your time and your insight.

Tim Beyers: Thanks for Ricky.

Ricky Mulvey: As we wrap up, just wanted to note our latest premium podcast launched this week. It's called Epic Opportunities. This is available to members of Epic and the Motley Fools advanced investing services. You can catch the show on Spotify by linking your Motley Fool account or through the Motley Fool App. We'll put links to all of those in the show notes for today's episode.

Ricky Mulvey: All right, up next. We've got a volatile market, and Motley Fool Senior Analyst Asit Sharma joined my colleague, Mary Long to discuss how to write an investment thesis and how a journal can help when markets get choppy.

Mary Long: Asit, it won't come as any surprise to you when I say that this week opened with a whole lot of market turbulence. For today, we're going to focus less on what happened, why that happened, and more talk about what do you do when this stuff happens? Because whether the market stays in correction territory, reverts, re corrects, goes up, goes down, what have you. The fact of the matter is that when you're investing, there will be times when the stock market gets spooked. There will also be times when it gets unspooked, and then spooked again. With all that in mind, what do you do when volatility and uncertainty seem to be everywhere you turn.

Asit Sharma: Mary, there are a few things that I do. One is just totally related to the investing side of it. I try to double down on businesses that I like. Few reasons for this. One is the obvious. If volatility is in full swing, prices are all over the map, then maybe you get some buying opportunities for companies that you already have conviction in. It pays to go back to your watch lists or businesses that you've studied. The second is more of a mindset thing. The market's going crazy. Where do you want to focus your attention on like the flashy news sites that are trying to draw you into more angst? Or do you want to go to a safe place, which is like let me go back to that transcript where Satya Nadella talked about how Microsoft was going to destroy its competition. He didn't use those exact words, but he talked about all that great CapEx investment. That's a place where my mind should be, I think, in times of volatility, focusing on what's going to make money. It's the business results, not the share price.

Mary Long: Fair point, but I have to hone in on something. Is Satya Nadella really your happy place? The Microsoft Earnings call transcript is your happy place?

Asit Sharma: Not really, but this is an investment focus podcast. People don't want to hear about the mundane ways that I get to my happy place. Which is this zig zagy route. Sometimes it starts with just cleaning the inside of my grill. I think I'm starting to resonate here with some people. It may end in a paperback novel, I don't know. This is off topic for us. This is not what folks want to talk about. The market is so volatile You want to hear about that investing happy place. [laughs] That's why I went first.

Mary Long: The investing happy place. We can bring it back to the investing happy place. Here, I'll make a smooth segue. You mentioned Paperback Novels. The other day, on our Members only Live Stream, right in the midst of this Monday, market, mania, whatever we want to call it. You talked a bit about keeping an investment journal and the importance of that and how the idea was that, when times are tough, you've got this written record of why you believe in a company that you can return to. Talk to us a little bit about your investment journal and what goes into it. How do you write an investment thesis right off the bat?

Asit Sharma: So many great questions. First of all, an investing journal it means different things to different people. For some of us, it's a place to deal with our emotions when the markets are really coasting and we see our wealth expanding. It could be a way to just keep ourselves grounded. Just jot down those emotions. I feel really great, but I'm scared at how well this is going, or it could be the opposite. It could be a time like this where you see so much volatility in the markets, and you just want to document that it's unsettling. Maybe just write down what those long term goals are, the ones that got you into your whole investing journey, that's always helpful. For other people, these aren't exclusive sets. It could be more about trying to document why you like a company, what you think its characteristics are that are going to advance it past other competitors in the business world and that's the share price should follow why the share price will rise versus other companies or the market in general. That's always fun to return to, which gets us to your third question here, which is, how do you write a business thesis? What is it? I will tell you when I started in this game, I thought it was about a lot of facts and figures. In fact, if you'd asked me to write a business thesis or an investment thesis about a company, I don't know 10, 15 years ago, I probably would have returned you three pages to prove a point. What's that point? I'm Smart.

Mary Long: I'm smart. Look at your numbers.

Asit Sharma: Exactly. You should listen to me. Look at all this stuff. Look at these reams of data. I'm supporting my points. Sharma, what are your points? I don't know. [laughs] Stocks are going to go up. I learned over time that an investment thesis is really simple. There was a great investor who used to work at the Motley Fool. Some of you may know him if you are in the gaming world. His name is Aaron Bush. At one time he posted on Twitter now X, really succinct bullet pointed list of things you should do as investor. One of the main tenets of that list is like, just narrow it down, dial it down, make it more succinct. Don't overthink this. That is very true as I've come across other investors and learned from so many great investors here at the Motley Fool. An investment thesis should be simple, easy to grasp. You and I should be able to explain in this conversation, Mary, before people stop listening, two or three investment theses to each other, because what you're trying to identify is the crux of why a company should succeed, and that usually is pointing to two or three advantages in the marketplace, how that company is going to capitalize on them. If there are a gazillion advantages that a company has, I will tell you that's too good to be true. There's something on the other side of that coin you may not have looked at. In my mind, it is something very simple.

Mary Long: In preparation for this conversation, I had asked you if there was a company or a stock that maybe you were revisiting in light of all the ups and downs over the past few days. If you wouldn't mind sharing the thesis of that company with us, you took what should have been maybe a simple request, and you challenge yourself because you picked a company that's hard to explain. Let's see if you can do it. Could you share that thesis with us that you drafted up before this?

Asit Sharma: Sure. I want to talk about Lam Research . This company is a leader in the semiconductor industry. It makes machines that make silicon. You need complex machines to build integrated circuits. Lam sells these machines to companies that manufacture integrated circuits. I like this company because it's yes, somewhat cyclical. Mary most of its equipment is used to make electronics. Computers, memory, etc. It's cyclical, but it has a tailwind and an advantage in this economy, which is shifting toward Gen AI products. There are really a few things behind that. One is that Generative AI is increasing demand for a type of storage called N-A-N-D flash storage. That's a type of memory that Lam's tools specialize in. Also, Generative AI is pushing up demand for something called high bandwidth memory. This is really stacking memory on a chip that often surrounds the compute functions of the chip. It's something that NVIDIA is requesting more of and AMD is requesting more of. Companies that make this type of memory or the tools to make this type of memory are going to benefit. Lam is going to benefit from that. It's trading at really attractive forward multiples. The stock is down due to this volatility and a few other factors. I don't know, Macro economic acceleration, more angst in the market, and some slacking off of Generative AI demand, which is going to happen at some point could push shares down further. Maybe they're not such a bargain here. Also, I should note this geopolitical picture we have with China and the semiconductor back and forth between our two countries is going to catch some companies, perhaps like Lam in the middle, Lam has about 39% of its latest revenue [laughs] out of the greater China region. With that, I think my initial thought right now for Lam Research is actually to buy a few shares to dollar-cost average in. I don't own any shares right now.

Mary Long: My next question was going to be, has your mind changed on this, but it sounds like maybe it's a newer idea that's been on your watch list for a minute that now makes sense to jump into.

Asit Sharma: Yeah I think my mind is changing because I've had it on a watch list for a long time. I've studied this company. It is a recommendation in Stock Advisor. There's some free IP for those of you who aren't members of Stock Advisor. We like this company very much. I've looked at it for other services. For me personally, I'm warming to it. The thesis is changing somewhat. Probably the price falling a bit is pushing that. Also, the more I learn about the trends within the Gen AI industry, the more I see that Lam is an essential player. It's not that it doesn't have competition, it does. I wouldn't put it quite on the level of companies like ASML . Another specialized company which has literally no competition right now, but not a bad one to look at.

Ricky Mulvey: As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about. The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against buyer sell anything based solely on what you hear. I'm Ricky Mulvey. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.

Asit Sharma has positions in Advanced Micro Devices and Microsoft. Mary Long has positions in Shopify. Ricky Mulvey has positions in ASML, Shopify, and Toast. Tim Beyers has positions in Shopify and Toast. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends ASML, Advanced Micro Devices, Lam Research, Microsoft, Shopify, and Toast. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

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Three Reasons Why You Should Hold On To Apple Despite Many 'Sell' Recommendations

• With Berkshire Hathaway's decision to significantly cut AAPL position, many voices emerged stating that Apple is a 'sell'.
• Apple ticks all the boxes regarding cash-flow-generating potential, shareholder rewards, sustainability and quality of the business model, as well as valuation.
• Investors who claim AAPL is overvalued based on its stock price increases seem to miss two crucial factors: share repurchases and the multiple-based approach to assess the valuation.

Shahid Jamil

I've held on to Apple ( NASDAQ: AAPL ) for quite some time, and the Company has served me and my portfolio well. With recent noise around Apple and Berkshire Hathaway's ( BRK.A ) ( BRK.B ) decision to significantly cut its AAPL position , many voices emerged stating that AAPL is a sell. When writing this article, I can see four recent, consecutive analyses of Apple declaring either a 'sell' or a 'strong sell' rating, which is uncanny for me for such a quality business.

I am a long-term-oriented investor with a buy-and-hold approach who concentrates on cash-generating businesses that offer attractive shareholder rewards - preferably paying dividends. Apple fits really well into my portfolio, with a strong 'brand' factor accompanying its technology-driven business and cash-flow machine characteristic.

Hold on to top-tier businesses and let the noise be noise - investment thesis

Apple has a well-deserved place in my portfolio. It is a 'hold' for me. It also has a noticeable position in my portfolio that limits my willingness to add more, but I'll certainly consider adding at a potential pullback. I highly admire its:

• brand value component attached to the attractive, technology-driven segment
• ability to generate cash flows and reward its shareholders
• high profitability
• product ecosystem, ensuring cross-sell and up-sell opportunities

Many things should be considered upon making investment decisions, but for me, they often tend to come down to three factors:

• Are shareholders rewarded?
• Is the business model sustainable?
• How is the business valued? Spoiler alert: Apple is not overvalued as many portray it to be - I'll discuss it further

Answering these questions ensures a wide enough margin of safety and a good night's sleep by concentrating on cash-generating businesses with stable business models that are not going anywhere in the upcoming years. Apple is one of these businesses.

Let me present to you Three Reasons Why You Should Hold On To Apple Despite Many 'Sell' Recommendations .

Enjoy the read; cheers!

Reason #1: Apple Is A Cash-Flow Beast

We don't have to do much research to find one of the main reasons why Apple deserves a higher multiple than some of its peers: profitability . Naturally, profitability reflects all the other good things going on in the Enterprise, starting from supplier/customer relationships, management decisions, unique value proposition, pricing power, brand awareness, supply chain management, technological edge, etc...

Business is supposed to make money, and Apple took that to heart. Its EBITDA margin usually exceeds 30%, which is outstanding compared to some of its peers. For details regarding the last five years, please review the chart below.

Naturally, when combined with other factors (e.g., negotiating position with suppliers and customers regarding procurement), high profitability directly affects the business' capability to generate cash flow.

Apple is a true cash-flow beast , as the Company generated over $866B in cash from operating activities during the 2015-2024 YTD period. At the same time, AAPL provided outstanding shareholder rewards through:

• Common stock share repurchases (over $632B)
• Dividends (over $134B)

Please review the chart below for further details.

Author based on AAPL

That's exactly what I'm looking for in a business:

• Competitive edge
• High profitability, beating its peers
• Significant shareholder rewards

Reason #2: The Business Model Is Not Going Anywhere

Apple operates globally, including in the Americas, Europe, China, Japan, and other Asia-Pacific regions. The Company distinguished two segments of its distribution structure: direct channels consisting of its retail and online stores, as well as its direct salesforce, and indirect channels, including its B2B clients that further resell its products. What's worth mentioning is that Apple is not completely reliant on its B2B partners, as its direct distribution channels accounted for 37% of its net sales in fiscal 2023 .

One wouldn't have to review AAPL's SEC filings to guess that most of the Company's business revolves around iPhone sales, which typically generated from 45% to 60% of the sales, depending on the quarter, as seasonality applies to Apple. For reference, please review the sales structure in the chart below.

The Company is accompanied by relatively high sales seasonality leaning towards calendar Q4 (fiscal Q1) each year, which is related primarily to the new iPhone releases :

• iPhone 8 - September 2017
• iPhone X - November 2017
• iPhone XS - September 2018
• iPhone XR - October 2018
• iPhone 11 - September 2019
• iPhone SE (2nd Gen) - April 2020
• iPhone 12 - October 2020
• iPhone 13 - September 2021
• iPhone SE (3rd Gen) - March 2022
• iPhone 14 - September 2022
• iPhone 15 - September 2023

Please review the quarterly total and iPhone sales in the chart below for details (calendar periods).

Regarding the seasonality, please review the table below depicting the average quarterly sales structure for the 2018-2023 period (please note that these are calendar periods, not fiscal ones).

We can clearly see that most of AAPL's segment sales are concentrated within either (calendar) Q4 or Q3 and Q4, except for Services, which are quite evenly distributed throughout the year (not surprisingly). Looking at the (calendar) YTD performance of 2024, AAPL generated $90.7B and $85.8B of revenue in Q1 2024 and Q2 2024, respectively. Considering the average quarterly sales structure and the upcoming release of iPhone 16, there's way more to come.

Should we assume (according to the table above) that Apple's YTD sales revenue equal to $176.5B represents ~44% of a whole calendar year's revenue, one could expect the next two quarters to bring around $226B revenue (to a total of $402.5B for calendar 2024), which is my base scenario. However, that's naturally highly dependent on the upcoming iPhone 16 release, but given AAPL's track record and the power of its brand and technological ecosystem, I am not overly concerned.

For a brief expectations summary from TechRadar , please review the screen below.

Apple continues to build upon its technological ecosystem, creating great cross-sell potential. The effectiveness of its operations, not only regarding the products and brand but also the supply chain and relationship management with its counterparties, is well-reflected within its outstanding profitability (discussed in the previous point). Businesses that are so well put, offering industry-leading products and generating top-tier results, don't just go away or lose their competitive edge earned over time and proven through consistent and sustainable track record. To summarize this point, let me provide you with two quotes that speak volumes about AAPL's cutting-edge enterprise from Q4 2023 and Q3 2024 Earning Calls (bold added).

Q4 2023: Apple's unique ecosystem of hardware, software, and services delivers an unparalleled user experience. Q3 2024: With each innovation, we're unlocking new ways of working, new ways of learning, and new ways of tapping into the unlimited promise of human potential. We are doing that across every product and every service.

Reason #3: Overvalued? By What Standards?

I've noticed many voices raising the matter of Apple's 'overvaluation', justified by the growth of its stock price. There's no argument about the fact that its stock price increased, considering the recent level of ~$227 per share and the level recorded in late August 2014 of ~$25.6 per share. The stock price recorded a CAGR of 24.4% during that period. Naturally, that's an over-exaggeration and low-base effect, but AAPL's stock price has also performed well in recent years.

What's the problem with the above approach? It doesn't factor in two crucial aspects:

• The development of the business
• Substantial share repurchases mentioned earlier

Let's begin with the latter. Share repurchases typically lead to stock price appreciation, especially when financed through the Company's operating activities. As mentioned earlier, the Company spent $632B on share repurchases during the 2015-2024 YTD period. Looking at the last 10 years, AAPL's average diluted shares outstanding recorded a negative CAGR of ~4.5%.

Let's look at the former. Analyzing the value of any business CAN NOT be detached from its financial results. That's why multiples have become common in the transactional market. When we collect NBOs (non-binding offers, which indicate interest to acquire a given company) or bid one, the offer is generally structured as 'X' times a given financial metric, leading to Enterprise Value, which is later subject to certain adjustments.

Therefore, as an M&A advisor, I usually rely on a multiple valuation method, a leading tool in transaction processes. This method allows for accessible and market-driven benchmarking. Numerous metrics are available for valuing a company, with EV/EBITDA being a rule of thumb for most sectors.

Please review Apple's Enterprise Value (EV) and EBITDA developments during the last 10 years. We can see the correlation, as both metrics increased steadily until 2020 and then experienced dynamic upscaling.

The above metrics allow us to observe the EV/EBITDA multiple assigned to Apple, and that's how one should approach its valuation—not simply by observing its stock price, as you can't see the whole picture this way.

Numerous factors may impact the EV/EBITDA level assigned to a given Company, inter alia:

• Leadership position
• Profitability
• Diversification aspects (product, clients, geography, etc.)
• Cross-sell, up-sell, and expansion potential
• Growth prospects

Given the quality of Apple, reflected in its:

• High profitability
• One of the strongest brands globally
• Cash-flow machine characteristic
• Continuing shareholder rewards
• Sustainable business model within an attractive, technology-driven segment

I consider AAPL fairly valued, and should it witness a pullback - I will be happy to add. For reference, Wall St. analysts expect the stock price to hover around $234, but the spread between 'low' and 'high' price targets is quite wide. For transparency, should Apple reach the 'low' price target, constituting an EV/EBITDA multiple of 20x or lower (should the EBITDA increase), that would be a 'strong buy' for me.

Seeking Alpha

Risk Factors and The Bottom Line

Some market-specific and company-specific risk factors accompany each investment in the stock market. For instance:

• The potential inability for a 'soft landing' could result in a recession, weighing on the consumers' strength
• Unsatisfactory results of iPhone 16 release would significantly impact AAPL's financial results
• With global operations, AAPL is subject to numerous geopolitical risks across different regions
• With such a substantial brand factor to its business, any potential misdeliveries could significantly impact the consumers' approach to Apple's products going forward
• Apple operates within an ever-changing, technology-driven sector, which involves a constant race for innovation and getting ahead of the competition

Also, I am aware that Berkshire's decision to substantially trim its AAPL position is not reassuring. I will leave that to your personal interpretation; however, I would be far from claiming that AAPL is in trouble based on these transactions.

Buffett at Berkshire's annual meeting in May had expressed confidence that Apple would most likely remain the conglomerate's largest stake at the end of the year.

Regarding my thesis, I will hold on to my stake in AAPL and gladly add during any potential pullbacks. The Company showcases:

• High profitability: significantly outperforming some of its competitors, usually exceeding 30% EBITDA margin
• Cash-flow machine effect: proving the effectiveness of AAPL's business model and resulting in substantial shareholder rewards
• Strong brand factor: resulting in a high degree of consumer loyalty and uncanny brand awareness
• Unique technological ecosystem: creating cross-sell opportunities
• Fair valuation: considering AAPL's leadership position and many other factors mentioned earlier

I believe that its shareholders will do relatively well in the future. Apple is a 'hold' for me. Thank you!

This article was written by

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of AAPL either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. The information, opinions, and thoughts included in this article do not constitute an investment recommendation or any form of investment advice.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

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Is Suncor Stock a Buy for Its 4% Dividend Yield?

Suncor Energy is a high dividend stock that offers you a yield of 4%. Let’s see if the TSX stock is a good buy right now?

Image source: Getty Images

Suncor Energy ( TSX:SU ) is among Canada’s most popular dividend stocks . Valued at a market cap of almost $70 billion, Suncor Energy has returned close to 5,000% to shareholders in the past 30 years after adjusting for dividend reinvestments. It means a $1,000 investment in Suncor stock in August 1994 would be worth close to $50,000 today, easily outpacing the broader market returns. Despite these outsized gains, Suncor Energy offers shareholders a dividend yield of 4%, given an annual dividend of $2.18 per share.

As historical gains don’t matter much to current or future investors, let’s see if Suncor Energy can continue to outpace the TSX index in the next 10 years.

An overview of Suncor Energy

Suncor Energy is an integrated energy company that develops petroleum resource basins. It has three primary business segments, including:

• Oil Sands: The business operates assets in the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta.
• Exploration and Production: It consists of offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and the U.K.
• Refining and Marketing: The business includes infrastructure that supports the marketing, supply, and risk management of refined products, crude oil, natural gas, and byproducts.

A strong performance in Q2 2024

Suncor reported adjusted operating earnings of $1.6 billion, or $1.27 per share, in Q2 of 2024, compared to $1.3 billion, or $0.96 per share in the year-ago quarter. This increase was due to higher crude oil prices, increased sales volumes from oil sands, and higher refinery production. However, higher royalties, lower exploration and production volumes, and lower refined product realizations offset this earnings growth.

Suncor’s adjusted funds from operations in Q2 stood at $3.4 billion, or $2.65 per share, compared to $2.7 billion, or $2.03 per share last year. Its operating cash flow stood at $3.8 billion, or $2.98 per share, compared to $2.8 billion, or $2.14 per share, in the same period last year.

Suncor’s widening operating cash flows allow the company to strengthen its balance sheet and reinvest in capital expenditures. In the last 12 months, its capital expenditures totalled $6.4 billion, while its free cash flow stood at $8.1 billion, or $6.68 per share. Given that Suncor pays shareholders an annual dividend of $2.18 per share, its payout ratio is less than 50%, which increases its financial flexibility significantly.

Suncor Energy ended Q2 with net debt of $9.1 billion, almost $500 million lower than Q1 2024.

Is Suncor’s dividend safe?

In the last 20 years, Suncor Energy has raised its dividends by 16% annually, enhancing the yield-at-cost in this period. While Suncor’s dividend growth is impressive, the company was forced to cut its payouts by 55% when crude oil prices fell off a cliff at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its Q2 presentation, Suncor aims to grow its dividends between 3% and 5% annually going forward while focusing on reducing its long-term debt.

Priced at 10 times forward earnings , Suncor Energy is relatively cheap and trades at a discount of 11% compared to consensus price target estimates. If we adjust for dividends, total returns could be closer to 15%.

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