your thesis wouldn't get across

Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources.  Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction.  A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments.  Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question.  Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list.  "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.  An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.  "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.  Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• 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

Instantly correct all language mistakes in your text

Upload your document to correct all your mistakes in minutes

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.

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

• Academic style
• Vague sentences
• Style consistency

See an example

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 .

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

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!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy

College essays

• Choosing Essay Topic
• Write a College Essay
• Write a Diversity Essay
• College Essay Format & Structure
• Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

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 .

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, August 15). How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 13, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/thesis-statement/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, how to write an essay introduction | 4 steps & examples, how to write topic sentences | 4 steps, examples & purpose, academic paragraph structure | step-by-step guide & examples, "i thought ai proofreading was useless but..".

I've been using Scribbr for years now and I know it's a service that won't disappoint. It does a good job spotting mistakes”

• Forgot your Password?

First, please create an account

Your thesis: too broad, too narrow, or just right.

• Narrowing a Thesis
• Ask Questions
• Occasion for Writing
• Thesis Questions

1. Narrowing a Thesis

One thing that the best academic essays have in common is a very specific thesis. The most effective academic arguments are based on theses that encompass only what can be effectively addressed in an essay. One of the common mistakes that student writers make is to choose a thesis that is too broad for the assignment. Essays that are based on a thesis that is too broad usually include too much information and, as a result, don't go into enough detail when considering that information. Because of the overly-broad thesis, there's too much to cover in a short essay (e.g., five, seven or ten pages).

However, writers who choose a thesis that is too narrow sometimes find that they don't have enough material to work with. This occurs less frequently, especially among beginning writers. When it seems that your thesis may be too narrow, more research can help you to broaden it. Consider the following examples of thesis statements and determine whether they're too broad or too narrow.

Suppose your assigned subject is "electronic communication." You need to write a persuasive essay about something within this broad subject area. Your essay should not exceed four double-spaced pages in length. Would the following thesis be a good one for this assignment?

Talking to strangers — and even friends — online is becoming more and more common, but we're losing more than we're gaining.

Does that sound like an argument you could make effectively in four pages? Consider this part of the thesis: "talking to strangers — and even friends — online." It encompasses a range of communication types including email, chat, online dating sites, Facebook, comments on YouTube videos and more. All of these forms fall within the range of this thesis and, therefore, all of them must be addressed in those four pages.

Here's another sample thesis, written for the same assignment:

Online video chatting with strangers is a fascinating way to have new experiences.

This thesis is more specific than the preceding example, but is it too narrow? It is focused on an area within the assigned subject, but a writer who defended this claim might have a hard time filling four pages with worthwhile information.

Here's another example of a thesis that was written in response to the assignment above:

Paid online dating sites are changing the way couples meet, and this has in turn changed our understanding of what it means to "date."

This thesis is specific; it is focused on a particular aspect of the broad assigned subject. Its claim — that online dating has changed our understanding of dating — is one that a writer could defend adequately in four pages.

big idea Thesis development, like the other steps in the writing process, must conform to the rhetorical situation and the occasion for writing in order to produce the best results.

2. Tactics for Narrowing a Thesis

The tactics for narrowing theses are the ways in which experienced writers ensure that their writing projects are focused and effective.

2a. Ask Questions The most practical way to focus a thesis statement is to ask questions about it. Asking who, what, when, where, and why about your thesis (and your subject) will enable you to identify a thesis that is too broad, and can help you to understand what you want to write about.

Consider the following working thesis statement:

America needs to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and there are many ways to do so.

This is a broad thesis. The writer will likely want to narrow it before beginning the research or drafting steps of the writing process. To do so, he or she can ask some questions about it:

• What are you arguing, and who are you trying to convince?
• Why are you writing about this topic?

Suppose you are the writer who is making this argument to your classmates. You want to convince them that they should also urge others to cut America's production of greenhouse gases. You want to do this because you believe it would improve the lives of everyone. Based on these assumptions, you might make a stronger argument if you made your thesis more specific and shifted its focus. When trying to convince classmates to change something, the following thesis might better-suited to the task:

Americans cause more carbon dioxide emissions than any other people on the planet, but there are five easy ways that you can reduce them.

By moving the focus of the thesis from "America," the nation, to "Americans," your intended audience, you've narrowed your thesis (making it easier for you to write about in a four-page paper), and you've engaged your intended audience directly.

2b. Occasion for Writing Another similar tactic that writers use to narrow their theses is to think critically about their occasion for writing . By taking into account the rhetorical situation in which they write, and the specific requirements of the writing assignment or prompt, they can determine how their thesis could be changed to better suit their needs. Let's consider the broad thesis from the preceding example:

How can careful consideration of the occasion for writing help this thesis? Suppose the assignment, in addition to the broad topic, included a specific instruction that writers must try to persuade readers to agree with something. Does the current working thesis address this requirement? Yes, but not very well. The only form of persuasion it allows for is an argument that America should cut its emissions. In addition to being an overly-broad argument, it is also one that is probably unnecessary; it is not one that needs to be made to fellow students, most of whom understand that greenhouse gas emissions are bad.

There may, however, be something useful (with respect to the assignment) within that broad claim. For example, if you argued that coal-based electricity production is one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions, but that most coal-producing states have ecologically-sound energy production alternatives, you could write a persuasive argument about this topic for your audience.

2c. Thesis Questions Another tactic used to refine thesis statements involves examining the thesis question (or questions) that your thesis statement answers. Identifying what kind of question it is (i.e., a question of fact, preference, definition, interpretation or policy) will help you to understand not only what kind of argument you're trying to make, but what kind of argument you want to make.

hint Questions of fact and preference tend to be simple and are therefore more likely to involve thesis statements that are less interesting.

One strategy is to turn questions of fact and preference into questions of definition, interpretation, or policy. Doing so often leads to a more specific answer, and a more specific thesis. For example, the broad thesis used in the example above — that America must cut its emissions of greenhouse gases and there are many ways to do it — is an answer to questions of fact:

• Does America need to cut its emissions? Yes.
• How can this be done? Many ways.

If you changed these questions into a question of interpretation, for example, it might look something like this:

• While there are many ways that America could reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide, which ways would be best?

A thesis that answers this question is much more likely to be sufficiently specific for the assignment, as in the following example:

The biggest threat to America's air quality is an easily solved problem: stop burning coal.

This thesis is more specific and defensible than the original, broad thesis.

There are many ways to narrow a thesis. The next time you need to do so, try one (or more) of these tactics to improve your argument, and your essay.

summary This tutorial focused on the narrowing of thesis statements. The ways to identify an overly-broad thesis and three tactics for doing so were provided, along with examples.

• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Terms of Use

© 2024 SOPHIA Learning, LLC. SOPHIA is a registered trademark of SOPHIA Learning, LLC.

Book an appointment for our Online Writing Help.

Are you looking for a customized training for your team?

Contact us, we look forward to supporting you!

Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Thesis

The road to completing a thesis is often a rocky one.

Do pick a topic that aligns with your career interests.

Do start writing early.

Do structure your thesis in accordance with your research design.

Do narrow your research question down.

Do pay attention to using academic terminology and formatting.

Don’t wait till the last stage to start writing it up.

Don’t make any presumptuous statements in your introduction.

Don’t stick to a template at all costs.

Don’t bend over backwards to find a hypothesis.

Don’t rely on a spell-check software only.

10 Rules to Master your Thesis

Writing a thesis to complete a degree is rarely a pleasure. It takes time, experience, and quite a heap of resources to get a thesis done. Younger students usually struggle because of their lack of experience while advanced and working students rather struggle with time and resource management.

I have guided hundreds of students through the process in different functions, from being a supervisor and examiner myself to helping them with their research design, data handling, and writing process from the outside. So, here I go sharing some insights into how to get a thesis done – and how to really not put your foot in it.

Writing a thesis starts with choosing the right topic. This sounds obvious, but it is indeed crucial to work on a topic that is of interest to you and ideally also to your future career. Seeing the practical value of your thesis will boost your inspiration and perseverance, two of the most important ingredients of getting a thesis done.

The process of writing a thesis consists of two parts: structuring your content and writing the text. Part two usually follows part one. Still, it is smarter to start writing things up before the data handling is completed because the writing process is likely to help you spot inconsistencies, gaps, or unexpected flaws that you should address before you get to the final stage.

Structure your Content

Your thesis must be structured in a way that makes sense for your argumentation. So, after choosing your topic, you probably need to narrow your focus down. What exactly will you do? Will you test a theory with new data, or will you open a new, underresearched field? I myself am a rather explorative, data-driven field researcher because I explore underresearched phenomena and analyze what is going on.

Take my dissertation on an Australian community in Paraguay as an example of explorative, data-driven field research. Before beginning my project, I traveled to rural Paraguay to find out what was left of the community there. My initial idea was to describe how the English language had evolved in Paraguay over time. Upon my arrival, I found out that a 1926-born gentleman was the only native speaker of English left while most of the descendants spoke the local indigenous language. So, I followed the data and changed the focus of my research to analyze the history of language shift in New Australia, Paraguay. The data defined the focus of my research. This data-driven kind of approach is common in field research. A rather theory-driven approach, by contrast, implies testing a theory with new data or under new conditions.

New Australia's last native English speaker

The Research Question

Once the focus is clear, you need the right research question. The research question is the backbone of your thesis because your thesis is your scientific answer to your research question. It determines how long the thesis will be, what secondary literature you need, what data set you need, and whether you need a hypothesis or not.

If your plan is to look at the impact of a new policy on society, for example, you may be unable to answer your research question because it’s too broad for the scope of a thesis. If you look at the economic effects of the policy on a specific part of the population and during a certain period of time, your research question will be manageable. Formulating a precise research question takes time, and it may even need minor adjustments at a later stage.

The research question also structures your thesis. Remember that your thesis has the purpose of answering your research question. Nowadays, most research is based on quantitative data. A quantitative analysis entails that you will be counting phenomena and providing numerical results, like proportions, distributions, correlations, or probabilities. This kind of thesis requires less text and more data visualizations and tables. In this case, your thesis will probably consist of the following five parts:

• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Method and Data

If you stick to this structure, you’ll be on the safe side. The structure will only vary if you are doing a qualitative analysis. Qualitative analyses differ from quantitative ones in that they describe and analyze individual phenomena and often rely on more text. So, if you are writing a discourse analytic paper, a cultural study, a literature review, a historical overview, or an essayistic paper, your thesis is likely to be longer and have a different structure. Parts 1 and 5, however, are always the same.

If your institution provides you with a template, do not take it as rocket science either. Rather, take a moment to assess whether the structure of the template really serves your purpose. If not, go ahead and change it. Because you are the master of your thesis.

The introduction, by the way, should go without any presumptuous statements along the lines of “it is a widely acknowledged fact that”. Instead, be concrete and support your claims with data and references. Also, guide your readership and mention what the novelty of your research is – are you proposing a new method? Are you revisiting an old assumption? Or do you want to add more data to an ongoing debate? At the end of your introduction, you present your research question and how your data will answer it.

Hypothesis: yes or no?

I often get asked by students and clients alike if they need to formulate a hypothesis . It is a common misbelief to assume that every paper needs a hypothesis. You only need a hypothesis if your field, research question, or research design requires one. If you decide to work with a hypothesis, you may mention it in your introduction if you have space available; otherwise, elaborate on the hypothesis in your literature review once you have outlined its background.

Writing in Academic Style

Academic language is precise, unequivocal, and factual. It requires the use of full sentences and specialized terminology without unnecessary synonyms. Unfortunately, few students are provided with proper writing instructions, so it is important not to underestimate the time it takes to write a good academic text.

Academic language is often satirized as being stilted. “That’s how they speak in the ivory tower”, people say. It is indeed the case that certain academic texts are unintelligible or unnecessarily abstract. A good academic text, however, is clear to the point of not leaving any doubts about what is meant without needing any further information.

Writing in academic language can be nerve-racking. I have seen students and clients struggle with the same paragraph for hours. Do not despair. Try to talk to someone about your project because this can help you unchain your thoughts.

Proofreading and Spell-Check

Finally, professional revision is vital. It may take a substantial amount of time because professional revision doesn’t only look at linguistic correctness but also at cohesion, coherence, logic, completeness, formatting, and consistency.

Be wary of relying on a spell-check software only. A software may spot typos, yet it is unlikely to handle the challenges of academic texts. The software may not know the specialized vocabulary of your discipline, so it will either fail at spotting mistakes or autocorrection may ruin your point. Also, the software cannot check whether the content is connected convincingly, and it will miss terminological and formatting inconsistencies.

In certain cases, it also makes a meaningful difference whether you capitalize, hyphenize, or italicize a word. I remember a term paper written by a student in a linguistics course of mine. The paper analyzed the use of so-called infixes, i.e. parts of words that are inserted in the middle of another word. In English, we know “bloody” or “fucking” as playful infixes, as in the words “kanga-bloody-roo” and “fan-fucking-tastic”. In the paper, the student forgot to italicize the key word, so his argument on “the fucking infix” came across as a slur. A human proofreader will spot these inconsistencies while a software is likely to let you down.

In a nutshell, writing a thesis is a lot of work. Calculate your resources for each of the steps, and keep in mind that most supervisors have limited time available to guide their students. This brings us back to the two key ingredients you need to get your thesis done: inspiration and perseverance.

Find more information on how to write a successful thesis here.

Share this Post!

Follow this link to our “Science Communication” page.

How we Help Clients Write an Excellent Thesis

At Anaphora, we have vast experience helping clients in a customized format. Our expertise in research and publishing allows us to provide comprehensive support during each phase of the process, from individual research advisory to writing consulting and publishing support.

We give inspiring keynote speeches for students and talents on how to write a thesis.

We support clients with individual coaching to ensure efficiency and focus from the outset.

To provide quick answers during the writing process in our writing help sessions.

We write concise metatexts in one or several languages for our clients to promote their work.

We revise our clients’ text for them to meet highest standards.

You’ll find all information on these services on our science communication page. Or get in touch with us for a free consultation.

About the Author

Dr. danae perez, consultant | coach | writer.

Danae Perez is a versatile language expert with vast experience in both research as well as the corporate world and a contagious passion for languages and people. She holds a PhD in linguistics and has published her research on the evolution of languages in multilingual contexts with the most renowned publishing houses. Danae Perez has been providing language services and communication consultancy for corporate clients for nearly two decades and has worked in a myriad of countries, cultures, and industries. She has the rare gift of quickly grasping the essence of a message and putting it into the right words to facilitate communication between people, cultures, and disciplines.

Anaphora GmbH Birchstrasse 1 8542 Wiesendangen Switzerland

• UID CHE-473.899.190
• +41 41 711 44 66

[email protected]

• Monday – Friday: 8:00 – 12:00 | 13:30 – 17:00

Quick Links

Recent posts.

• Focus Is Everything
• Management Meeting in the Vehicle Hall
• Workshop in Basel on Reporting in the Social Sector
• The Skill of Writing a Good Report

© Copyright 2021 – 2024 | Anaphora GmbH | All Rights Reserved

Recent Articles

Important Addresses

Harvard College

University Hall Cambridge, MA 02138

Harvard College Admissions Office and Griffin Financial Aid Office

86 Brattle Street Cambridge, MA 02138

Social Links

If you are located in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway (the “European Economic Area”), please click here for additional information about ways that certain Harvard University Schools, Centers, units and controlled entities, including this one, may collect, use, and share information about you.

• Application Tips
• Navigating Campus
• Preparing for College
• How to Complete the FAFSA
• What to Expect After You Apply
• View All Guides
• Parents & Families
• School Counselors
• Información en Español
• Undergraduate Viewbook
• View All Resources

Search and Useful Links

Search the site, search suggestions, to thesis or not to thesis.

For many students at Harvard, whether or not to write a thesis is a question that comes up at least once during our four years.

For some concentrations, thesising is mandatory – you know when you declare that you will write a senior thesis, and this often factors into the decision-making process when it comes to declaring that field. For other concentrations, thesising is pretty rare – sometimes slightly discouraged by the department, depending on how well the subject lends itself to independent undergraduate research. 

In my concentration, Neuroscience on the Neurobiology track, thesising is absolutely optional. If you want to do research and writing a thesis is something that interests you, you can totally go for it, if you like research but just don’t want to write a super long paper detailing it, that’s cool too, and if you decide that neither is for you, there’s no pressure. 

Some Thesis Work From My Thesis That Wasn't Meant To Be

This is from back when I thought I was writing a thesis! Yay data! Claire Hoffman

While this is super nice from the perspective that it allows students to create the undergraduate experiences that work best for them, it can be really confusing if you’re someone like me who can struggle a little with the weight of such a (seemingly) huge decision. So for anyone pondering this question, or thinking they might be in the future, here’s Claire’s patented list of advice:

1.    If you really want to thesis, thesis.

If it’s going to be something you’re passionate about, do it! When it comes to spending that much time doing something, if you’re excited about it and feel like it’s something you really want to do, it will be a rewarding experience. Don’t feel discouraged, yes it will be tough, but you can absolutely do this!

2.    If you really don’t want to write one, don’t let anyone tell you you should.  This is more the camp I fell into myself. I had somehow ended up writing a junior thesis proposal, and suddenly found myself on track to thesis, something I hadn’t fully intended to do. I almost stuck with it, but it mostly would have been because I felt guilty leaving my lab after leading them on- and guilt will not write a thesis for you. I decided to drop at the beginning of senior year, and pandemic or no, it was definitely one of the best decisions I made.

3.    This is one of those times where what your friends are doing doesn’t matter. I’m also someone who can (sometimes) be susceptible to peer pressure. Originally, I was worried because so many of my friends were planning to write theses that I would feel left out if I did not also do it. This turned out to be unfounded because one, a bunch of my friends also dropped their theses (senior year in a global pandemic is hard ok?), and two, I realized that even if they were all writing them and loved it, their joy would not mean that I could not be happy NOT writing one. It just wasn’t how I wanted to spend my (limited) time as a senior! On the other hand, if none of your friends are planning to thesis but you really want to, don’t let that stop you. Speaking from experience, they’ll happily hang out with you while you work, and ply you with snacks and fun times during your breaks.

Overall, deciding to write a thesis can be an intensely personal choice. At the end of the day, you just have to do what’s right for you! And as we come up on thesis submission deadlines, good luck to all my amazing senior friends out there who are turning in theses right now.  

• Student Life

Claire Class of '21 Alumni

Student Voices

My unusual path to neuroscience, and research.

Raymond Class of '25

How I Organized a Hackathon at Harvard

Kathleen Class of '24

Dear homesick international student at Harvard College

David Class of '25

Have an account?

Suggestions for you See more

Past Simple Negative & Questions

5th -  7th  , reported speech quiz, flyers test, 5th -  6th  , regular past tense verbs, 18.8k plays, university  , past perfect.

Unit 9 E 9 English in the World-XUAN HOA...

Unit 9 E 9 English in the World-XUAN HOANG.MLH

40 questions

Introducing new   Paper mode

No student devices needed.   Know more

Learning the English parts of _______ is a must if you want to learn grammar.

a. speech b. accent

c. dialogue d. tone

Your thesis( luận án) wouldn’t get across( thành công) if you used too many _______ terms in it.

a. legal b. technical

c. general d. specific

Chinese and English are both ____ languages of Hong Kong under the Hong Kong Basic Law.

a. original b. foreign

c. official d. first

Australian English is spoken as the _______ language by most people in Australia.

a. foreign b. first

c. second d. international

In China, Japan and Vietnam, English is spoken as a(n) _______ language.

a. second b. foreign

c. official d. primary

Another feature is _______ of vocabulary that allows English to admit words freely from other languages and to create compounds and derivatives.

a. flexibility b. dominance

c. openness d. establishment

_______ to the United States have to pass a test of competence in English.

a. Migrants b. Migration

c. Immigration d. Immigrants

A _______ dictionary is a specialized dictionary used to translate words or phrases from one language to another.

a. monolingual b. bilingual

c. trilingual d. multilingual

Besides Spanish, her _______ tongue, she can also speak Portuguese and English.

a. accient b. foreign

c. first d. mother

If I _______ (be) you, I would practice English more often in order not to be rusty.

I would forget my worksheet at home if my mother _______ (not remind) me.

If Amy _______ (can) speak two languages, she would apply for a job at the Multicultural Center.

If you lost your Iphone, what _______ (you/ do)?

You will be fined heavily if you _______ the speed limit.

a. have exceed b. are exceeding

c. will exceed d. exceed vượt quá

If John _______ hard, he could pass the examination.

a. works b. worked

c. has worked d. had worked

I can’t understand what he is saying.

If he spoke clearly, I _______ more.

a. will understand

b. wouldn’t understand

c. could understand

d. didn’t understand

If the weather _______ fine tomorrow, we may go for a swim.

a. is b. were

c. will be d. would be

You will fail your exams if you _______ working harder.

a. start b. will start

c. don’t start d. didn’t started

If my modem _______ I would send you an email.

a. broke down

b. didn’t break down

c. were broken down

d. weren’t broken down

You can start looking at the next unit if you _______ Exercise 5.

a. finished b. have finished

c. would finish d. will finish

If there _______ any water on the Earth, life _______.

a. isn’t - will not begin

b. was - would begin

c. weren’t - wouldn’t begin

d. not be - won’t begin

Fill in the blank with a suitable relative pronoun.

This is the town _______ I spent my summer vacation.

 He wore a mask _______ made him look like Mickey Mouse.

 The student _______ father is a professor told us to register for this course.

 Enter the address of the person to _______ you want to forward the message.

The children, _______ are shouting in the street, are not from our school.

Fill in the blank with a suitable relative pronoun

 I really enjoyed the time _______ we went to English class together.

 I saw John in the shop _______ you bought your watch.

Nobody knows the reason _______ he tried to master his English.

Brussels, _______ I’ve visited several times recently, is a good place to spend a weekend.

I’ve never seen anyone _______ can kick the ball as hard as David can!

1969 was _______ the first men went to the Moon.

After the port there is a row of fisherman’s houses, _______ lights can be seen from across the bay.

Kate love being in London, _______ there was so much to do.

Fill in each blank with a suitable preposition.

1. Linda picked _____ ........ __ a bit of Italian when she was staying in Pisa.

One of the characteristic features of English is its openness ......___ vocabulary

Many of the students are bilingual ........_____ Spanish and English.

I could just about get _........____ in English when I first went to the UK.

Fill in each blank with a suitable preposition

She’s fluent _.............. Polish and French and can speak a little Italian.

English is taught at school _.......__ a second language in many countries.

Explore all questions with a free account

Continue with email

Continue with phone

• Top1000 word
• Top5000 word
• Conjunction
• Sentence into pic

Thesis in a sentence

• 某某   2016-01-13 联网相关的政策
• inspiring  (150+5)
• refulgent  (22)
• antediluvian  (12)
• pastoral  (146+7)
• jovially  (11)
• contiguous  (94+2)
• peremptorily  (13)
• anon  (33)
• rotogravure  (7)
• glabrous  (31)
• florid  (47+2)
• ectoplasm  (12)
• effete  (18)
• anachronism  (42+2)
• dolorous  (22+1)
• dispassionate  (28+1)
• inconsistent  (208+11)
• crossbreed  (24)
• sclerosis  (169)
• tuber  (89+1)

Tìm kiếm với hình ảnh

Vui lòng chỉ chọn một câu hỏi

Hoidap247.com Nhanh chóng, chính xác

Hãy đăng nhập hoặc tạo tài khoản miễn phí!

Danh mục mới

• Chưa có nhóm
• hsudeu8 - 20:48:55 03/03/2021

Giúp mình với mình cần gấp lắm

• Hỏi chi tiết

Hãy luôn nhớ cảm ơn và vote 5* nếu câu trả lời hữu ích nhé!

• Khoa24082006

Xin ctrl hay nhất cho club ạ.Thanks

Hãy giúp mọi người biết câu trả lời này thế nào?

• lehoangkhanhdangkid1

Cho tui xin ctlhn được ko ạ 

Bổ sung từ chuyên gia

1. A part of speech ~ từ loại

2. B technical term ~ thuật ngữ/danh từ chuyên môn

3. C official language: ngôn ngữ chính thức

4. B first: đầu tiên

5. B foreign: nước ngoài

6. D immersion: nhúng, ngâm mình

7. C openness: sự cởi mở, mở

8. D Immigrants ~ dân nhập cư

9. B bilingual: song ngữ

10. D mother tongue: tiếng mẹ đẻ

Bạn muốn hỏi điều gì?

Tham Gia Group 2K10 Ôn Thi Vào Lớp 10 Miễn Phí

Lý do báo cáo vi phạm?

Gửi yêu cầu Hủy

Cơ quan chủ quản: Công ty Cổ phần Công nghệ Giáo dục Thành Phát

Tải ứng dụng

• Hướng dẫn sử dụng
• Điều khoản sử dụng
• Nội quy hoidap247

Get the Reddit app

Help others attain self-discipline, by sharing what helps you. Meet your goals and improve your life, reddit style!

[NeedAdvice] Master-Thesis deadline in six weeks. I've got nothing right now.

Hey guys, so here I am: I've sucessfully procrastinated myself into the situation that I'm expected to hand in my ~70 page Thesis and I have jack shit right now. If I get this done, I'll graduate in Business Law and I would really like to try and make it, despite the limited amount of time left. I'm extremely angry at myself for being so fucking lazy even during the most important task of my life (Thesis makes up almost 30% of my grade). But reading this sub has taught me not to hate myself right now but to look forward to improve my situation in the future. So I need advice on how to turn my habits around completely at least for six weeks.

I've cleared my schedule for the upcoming weeks and got rid of most distractions except for visits to the gym every other night. I know that it's on the brink of being too late to start, but I know that, if I manage to force myself into the grind from 8 am to 8 pm I can pull it off. I've always performed well under pressure and I'm fairly confident I might still have a shot. The only problem is I need to get started real quick and I don't have time to slowly adjust to a need schedule. I need to go from 0 to 100 right now but I have no idea how to stop myself from making excuses not to start right now. Even writing this feels like procrastination as I could be reading articles instead...

So how do I pull my brain out of the procrastination pit that it's been in for the last 3 month and skip all the middle stages to get right into full-on workmachine mode? I bet some of you have pulled of drastic changes like this at least for a short amount of time, what helped you do it?

Thanks and sorry for my bad english ;)

By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy .

Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app

You’ve set up two-factor authentication for this account.

Enter a 6-digit backup code

Create your username and password.

Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what you’ll go by here. Choose wisely—because once you get a name, you can’t change it.

Reset your password

Enter your email address or username and we’ll send you a link to reset your password

Check your inbox

An email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account

Choose a Reddit account to continue

Learning the English parts of --------------------- is a must if you want to learn grammar.

Cập nhật ngày: 13-08-2022

Chia sẻ bởi: Nguyễn Đăng An

Chủ đề liên quan

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

I found out my master's thesis topic has already been done (exactly), and my advisor didn't mention this when suggesting it to me - how to proceed?

I am really frustrated, I have started my research for my master thesis 6 months ago and I have to submit the final draft after 2 months.

I was interested in a specific topic and I looked for a supervisor with the same research interests.

I was looking for something related to internet security (Botnet Detection); luckily, my supervisor gave me a research plan exactly about what I wanted to do. However, a month later and after I submitted the proposal and started to read deeply about the topic; I found that exactly the same research had already done by another two PhD students and what I was supposed to do was 100% repeating what they already had done 2 years ago.

I directly contacted my supervisor explaining to him the situation. I discovered that my research plan is exactly the same (word by word, someone copied from other). Moreover, the topic itself is very specific and is not easy to build or modify on it, he said "No problem, you just repeat it and we will try to slightly modify something.", then he added "If you can not do that, it is enough to repeat it." and I just agreed (trying to be positive and avoiding problems).

Now, after I started my writing I found myself repeating the same ideas and the same experiments, the same statements and the same conclusions. Later on, I discovered that this research supposed to be done by adviser with the group who already published the work and for some reasons they excluded him.

In short, the supervisor did not mention that this work is already published and did not mention that he was team member with them.

What I shall do?

Now I feel this work is 100% not original and I will not add and contribute anything. I am not feeling happy by wasting my time doing something like that.

Shall I escalate the story to the general adviser for master's students? Should I change the topic or should I continue and defend others work claiming that this is my own work?

I am not scared of rejecting my thesis, I am totally not satisfied about what I do write now. I am doing my masters to add something to my knowledge, experience and to feel really I will be one step a head.

Note: I work in industry field and I have no experience in academic and research fields.

• research-process

• 5 What's this "research plan" you say is copied - could that have come from a grant proposal your advisor was a participant in with this other group? –  ff524 Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 13:15
• You say in the title that your advisor already knew that the topic had been treated before, but there's nothing in your question to back that up. –  Sverre Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 17:40
• 1 this title has been modified by someone else.... –  user2085339 Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 17:49
• If you're not sure, you should definitely find out for certain whether or not your advisor knew before suggesting the topic to you, that the work had already been published by someone else. –  ff524 Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 18:09
• 9 Is this a "taught masters", where you take classes for 2-3 semesters and then do a final project, or is it a "research masters", where pretty much all you do is research (aside from perhaps a class or two)? If it's the former, then what you have described may not be an issue. –  mhwombat Commented Aug 30, 2014 at 19:22

3 Answers 3

Note that there is no way anyone knows about your precise situation, except you and your advisor, so I am making some wild guesses on what actually happened.

Perhaps your advisor is hoping to have an efficient implementation of the ideas / algorithms already expressed on the past paper, with the notion that he (or you and him) may later build on your implementation to create something new. In order to create anything new, you have to compare with existing approaches and therefore you still have to implement previous methods. He has given you two options a) Try to expand the ideas of the past paper b) If you cannot do that, just creating a NEW implementation of the original paper is enough for him. This is a MSc thesis and not all MSc theses lead to publishable results. But it still seems like an important project and as such, it seems it could still turn out to be a good MSc thesis and you will have a lot to learn from it.

So, your main problem is that you think that you cannot expand the original paper to new directions. But if you want to do research this is exactly what you are going to have to do. You should find a topic that interests you (" my supervisor gave a research plan exactly about what i want to do "), study previous literature (which you should have done before choosing the topic) and then expand on previous ideas. Note that since you have worked in industry, you may as well be a better programmer than those 2 PHD students and therefore your implementation might be much more efficient than theirs. This is still a significant contribution which may eventually be published.

• Talk to your advisor and state your doubts and clarify the situation.
• Implement the paper's ideas as fast and efficient as possible
• Compare your implementation with the paper's results. You should at least aim for a more efficient implementation
• Check related literature that cites this paper. Is this paper, still state-of-the-art? Is this paper cited by anyone? This will show if this project has been picked up by anyone. If it is not, it is reasonable that your advisor wants to build upon the previous paper to further expand it. If someone has extended it or applied it to other use-cases, your assumption that it cannot be improved is wrong and you should think what you can do to further expand it. Either way, you will have an answer about how to proceed.
• Think of any other possible improvements, what else could be done better, in a more efficient way or how this idea could be used in other use-cases.

Also, you have learnt a valuable lesson. What you want to do in research should correlate with what is already been done. You should study previous research very carefully and exhaustively. If you believe that previous works have already done everything to perfection (which BTW is rarely the case) then you should choose a new topic. Otherwise you are the one that should think what can be improved. I think you pretty much expected that your advisor had a new research idea waiting just for you and all you needed to do was just to implement it. But this was really an unrealistic expectation on your part.

• 36 Your answer seems to sidestep the issue that the OP's advisor may be committing some kind of academic fraud: e.g. he provided the OP with a research plan that was copied word for word from a preexisting research plan and did not mention this to the OP. It seems to me that any good answer to this question should engage with this point (more than just admonishing the OP to check the literature more carefully: he did check the literature, which is how he found out about this). –  Pete L. Clark Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 12:44
• 1 @PeteL.Clark That is why I propose to clarify the situation with the advisor. Is there anything else anyone can do? Or do you directly suggest that he selects another advisor and a new topic? –  Alexandros Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 12:49
• 1 I don't know: it's hard to argue against tying to clarify the situation. But you give a lot of specific ("spastic"??) advice to the OP about how to carry through this project, and to me it seems totally unclear whether he should continue to work on this project and/or with this advisor. And you seem to want view the OP as being at fault here: I also find that less than clear. If we suspect that the advisor may have done something inappropriate, shouldn't we discuss that explicitly? –  Pete L. Clark Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 12:55
• 2 I do not say that I need something ready to implement. I can easily re do the same implementation and do or even fake some slight modification, then it will be fine. the main point is that not what i was looking for and now I have to accept less than what i hoped. plus why the adviser did that? my feeling from the few discussions with him is that he is trying to use me to carefully study their research in order to find something wrong in that paper or maybe what i notice is that he is very busy and he wants to give something almost ready so he will not spend much time with me –  user2085339 Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 13:50
• however, this is could be wrong, and maybe he did not know that the paper is already published. Now if I want to change the topic I have to extend my master one more semester (another 6 months). what I will do now is something I do not like which make my performance very low. thanks –  user2085339 Commented Aug 29, 2014 at 13:53

For a master's thesis it is nice but not completely essential to do something original. I'm sorry that it feels like you're rediscovering what is already known.

Now that you're in that situation, though, the best option is likely to write your results as a test of the published results or a comparison between the published results and something else. For example, you can use different data, compare some aspect that wasn't covered before (resource usage?), write more of a review or try to get different other partial/possible solutions running to compare against. Is the other code open source? If not, open-source yours (assuming your advisor is okay with it). Are there missing steps that are important? Describe them well.

Also, although it feels like a waste of time to repeat the same stuff (and often it is), there is a benefit to thoroughly testing out and verifying what is supposedly known. Just because something's published it isn't necessarily true or useful or accurate. In this case from what you've said it sounds like it is--but if you believe this was useful work for someone to have done, it is also useful for it to be independently verified, which you have done. I wish this were done more in academia, honestly. Too much poorly-verified and over-hyped stuff gets through. But it's hard to publish a paper saying, "I checked important result X and yep!...it was right on target."

It's harder to know what precisely to do about the academic honesty issue. You may wish to discreetly contact whoever is in charge of administrative ethics at your school (preferably some sort of grad student ethics advisor, so they can advise you on whether this sounds like a big problem). But if it's a problem it's a problem for your professor; I wouldn't let it derail your thesis unless absolutely necessary.

In mathematics it's often OK to have a master's thesis be expository, of course as long as it is clearly indicated that it is expository, and it is (of course) written in one's own words, well-referenced, etc. Usually in this case it's better if the expository work provides either a new proof of a known result, or a new perspective on the old result.

I'm sorry if this doesn't answer the academic honesty concerns, but is there any way you can take this spin?

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged research-process thesis advisor ..

• Featured on Meta
• Bringing clarity to status tag usage on meta sites
• We've made changes to our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy - July 2024
• Announcing a change to the data-dump process

Hot Network Questions

• Function for listing processes holding a specified file open
• Can I use "Member, IEEE" as my affiliation for publishing papers?
• Density matrices and locality
• Sulphur smell in Hot water only
• Name of a YA book about a girl who undergoes secret experimental surgery that makes her super smart
• Did the Space Shuttle weigh itself before deorbit?
• DIN Rail Logic Gate
• Many and Many of - a subtle difference in meaning?
• How predictable are the voting records of members of the US legislative branch?
• Trace operation as contraction - how can we contract only contravariant indices?
• What's the airplane with the smallest wingspan to fuselage ratio?
• What does it mean to have a truth value of a 'nothing' type instance?
• Colorless Higgs
• What majority age is taken into consideration when travelling from country to country?
• Function to find the most common numeric ordered pairings (value, count)
• What was the reason for not personifying God's spirit in NABRE's translation of John 14:17?
• Stargate "instructional" videos
• What are these commands in the code?
• Has anybody replaced a LM723 for a ua723 and experienced problems with drift and oscillations
• Referencing colored item
• Word to classify what powers a god is associated with?
• How do you "stealth" a relativistic superweapon?
• Difference between "backpedal" and "change your tune"
• If Venus had a sapient civilisation similar to our own prior to global resurfacing, would we know it?