what is a delayed thesis

Thesis Statements

A thesis statement is the controlling idea in a medium of writing..

• Standardized testing may reduce learning because it discourages risk-taking.
• Reading Hamlet as "insane," and therefore as having hallucinated his father's ghost, completely redefines how we interpret the play's ultimate theme.
• Social media overuse may increase depression among users because social media, as a platform, immerses users into a comparative culture.

Statement of Purpose:

In this paper I will argue that standardized testing, used improperly, reduces learning. To do so I will show that an effective education requires 1). student buy-in, 2). real-world application, and 3). a sort of "educational risk-taking," i.e. a curriculum that encourages thinking outside the learning box rather than teaching to a standard.

Through a psychoanalytical reading of Hamlet as "insane," and therefore as having hallucinated his father's ghost, I posit that Shakespeare's classic play explores themes of 1). perception, 2). rational, 3). manipulation, and 4). consciousness.

• This paper will attempt two arguments. First, that a culture of comparison—in person or online—often leads to feelings of resentment and dissatisfaction. Second, that social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook are programmed to immerse users into such a culture, and should therefore be regulated, at least at the personal level.

Question thesis:

• What impact, if any, does "standardized testing" actually have on education? Is it merely a tool for assessment? Or does it become a detriment to learning?
• But what if we read Hamlet's character as neither rational nor sane? If Hamlet only hallucinated his father's ghost, how does that impact the way we read the rest of the play?
• In spite of its enormous popularity, what are some of the consequences of, say, social media use on teenage mental health? Is social media a 'new scourge,' as Jane Smith argues, or simply a tool for connecting grandma with her favorite grandchild?

Delayed Thesis:

Intro : What impact, if any, does "standardized testing" actually have on education? Is it merely a tool for assessment? Or does it become a detriment to learning?

Conclusion : Thus we see, standardized testing may reduce learning insofar as it discourages risk-taking.

Too Broad, Too Narrow

Here's an example of a broad and ineffective thesis:

• Julius Caesar had an important influence on history.

The concept of this thesis is obstructed by several generic words: important, influence, and history. Important influence could refer to how Caesar became a dictator and brought about a civil war, but it could just as likely describe how he solidified the Roman Republic, laying the groundwork for Rome to rise as an empire. The first step to clarifying this thesis is to figure out the main point it wants to bring out, which can often be accomplished by asking questions about your thesis

Returning to the phrase "important influence," what might that specifically mean? Let’s take the reference to Caesar becoming a dictator. What, exactly, about his process to becoming a dictator is important? And, how does it influence history?

By asking questions like these, intended to narrow the thesis, we come to this example below:

• Julius Caesar’s aggressive leadership at the Battle of Alesia led to his establishment as a dictator.

A strong thesis statement often employs concrete words, which reference explicit ideas. Words like Julius Caesar, aggressive, establishment, and dictator are specific enough to keep your reader from getting confused.

Keep in mind that, though pulling out specifics will solve most issues with vagueness, they might exacerbate issues when there’s a convoluted and complex thesis, especially when that thesis has a lot of qualifiers. Typically, an effective way to clarify a dense thesis is to identify the core idea and set it by itself. After identifying the main idea, identify all the qualifying information used to modify the thesis. How much of it is necessary to begin with? Can some of it be addressed later on?

Though not always an appropriate strategy, sometimes reducing initial complexity will increase clarity.

Are you ready to meet with a Writing Center Consultant? Here are some questions we can help you with:

• Does my thesis effectively explain my argument?
• Is there a disconnect between my thesis and the content of my paper?
• Could my thesis be more clear or concise?
• Should I adapt my thesis statement because of new research I’ve found?
• Thesis Statements Quick Reference- https://rwc.prod.brigham-young.psdops.com/00000188-e4bc-d222-a7ea-eefd82000000/thesis-statement-pdf
• Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements- https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/thesis_statement_tips.html
• Tips and Tools for Thesis Statements- https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/thesis-statements/

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14 Thesis Statement

A thesis or purpose statement:

• Announces the purpose, scope, or direction of a paper
• Tells the reader what to expect by stating  position and supporting points to be discussed
• T3 Strategy
• O/P Strategy

Inquiry-based thesis

The t3 strategy, the o/p strategy.

• O for Observation
• P for Position

Note how the following example fails to properly identify the position in which the writer has taken in response to the context provided through the opening observation regarding societal norms.

How exactly does the author portray isolation in his story?  This becomes clearer in the example that follows, as the writer identifies a theme, main characters, and elements of plot.

The main themes of the essay are defined in the argument presented.  However, it is unclear whether the essay will go on to affirm or refute the claims made in this thesis, establishing a level of intrigue.

Writing That Works Copyright © 2021 by The Writing Center at The University of Baltimore is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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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

Module 5: Writing Process

Thesis statement.

Whether you are writing a short essay or a doctoral dissertation, your thesis statement will be  arguably the most complex part to formulate. An effective thesis statement states the purpose of the paper and, therefore, functions to control, assert, and structure your entire  argument . Without a sound thesis stated clearly at the beginning of your paper, your writing will sound unfocused, and  uninteresting to the reader.

Most college-level writing is analytical, valuing a thesis that arises from close attention to the significance of patterns of evidence that are not stated explicitly. Think of analysis as “value added” reading where you need to move beyond comprehending and summarizing what the text explicitly states.

Start with a question—then make the answer your thesis

Regardless of how complicated the subject is, almost any thesis can be constructed by answering a question. This question-and-answer format encourages you to formulate a claim about a topic, rather than just announcing that a topic exists. An academic thesis must be something that can be argued (and argued against), which means it can’t simply be a statement of fact, or lack any contestable claim.

• Thesis: “Computers allow fourth graders an early advantage in technological and scientific education.”
• Thesis: “The Mississippi River comes to symbolize both division and progress, as it separates the 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 frequently assume that ‘morally righteous’ people look down on them as ‘inferior,’ causing anger and conflict where there generally is none.”

Ensure your thesis is provable

Examples of Good Theses:

Note that because a thesis and an introduction form one structural unit, these thesis statements are only part of what each author would need to write to introduce an argument..

• “By owning up to the impossible contradictions within ‘experienced innocence,’ embracing religious paradox and structuring multiple poems around oxymorons found in the natural world, William Blake forges his own faith, and is stronger for it. Ultimately, the only way for his poems to encourage faith is to temporarily lose it.”
• “Although many working people with autism find flexible employment instructions difficult to manage, and they often struggle with social subtleties or even with the everyday office-life annoyances of fluorescent lights and ringing phones, employers should reconceptualize the disability status of those with an autism spectrum disorder to realize the workplace benefits of hyperfocus and reliability.”

Bad Theses Examples:

• “The wrong people won the American Revolution.” While striking and unique, the claim about 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. “The binding theory” is too absolute. This desire to make a sweeping claim is a very common symptom of a thesis that’s headed for trouble, since the writer can’t possibly live up to the promise of that scope in 5-10 pages and will either collapse into banal generalizations or fail to present a coherent body of evidence (is there anything that wouldn’t count as evidence of “every human interaction”?!?). The good news is that no one expects you to explain the universe in your first year at college; demonstrate instead that you can argue a manageable point well. 
• “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.

This ed.ted.com video on thesis statements makes a useful point about topic, claim, and major points as elements of a thesis, although the necessary generalizing results in thesis statements that lack the complexity expected from college-level writers. Notice how the major points are listed and the claims aren’t very sophisticated: that’s a function of trying to explain thesis statements to a general audience in under two minutes, but the principles of doing more than simply announcing a topic or asserting an opinion are illustrated usefully.

Get the sound right

Example thesis statements with confident, logical, but not blustering statement language include:

• “Because William the Conqueror’s campaign into England initiated Anglo-Norman intermarriage, that nation developed the elite cosmopolitan culture it would need to eventually build the British Empire.”
• “Hemingway challenged the self-satisfied elitism of literature by normalizing simplistic writing and frank tone. However, his deliberate cultivation of short, declarative sentences became its own exclusionary literary standard.”

Know where to place a thesis statement

Because of the role thesis statements play, they appear at the beginning of the paper. Although many people look for the thesis at the end of the first paragraph, its location can depend on a number of factors such as how much background you need before you can introduce your thesis, or the length of your paper. More importantly, since your thesis drives your essay, nothing at all in the introduction should be—or seem—irrelevant to it. You might be able to identify one particular sentence as the most concise statement of your thesis, but even the way you present background information should be framed by the particular thesis you want that background to support. Avoid starting your paper with what sound like decontextualized facts (“An electrode is a conductor through which electricity enters or leaves an electrolyte, gas, or vacuum”) or sweeping generalizations (“Throughout history, Americans. . . “) as if you need to clear your throat before you introduce the point of your paper. Readers are more likely to tolerate the definition of an electrode if they already have the context of a thesis like “Although the automative industry has relied for decades on electrodes to keep drivers safe, . . . ” Now your readers will want to know what an electrode is because they know it has something to do with their safety when they get into a car (which they care about, even if they don’t yet know that they care about developments in the automotive industry), and because the logic signaled by “although” lets them already know that your thesis is going to build from an understanding of electrodes as the starting point to the significance of something new.

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Research Writing Process (Book)

Find the following links to be useful in learning about the research writing process., writing a thesis statement, open thesis vs. closed thesis.

Open Thesis vs. Closed Thesis

Implicit Thesis vs. Explicit Thesis

The thesis is a declarative sentence. It is a clear, specific statement, which states the main point of a the paper, thereby limiting the topic and indicating the researcher’s approach to the topic. For this research paper we will be discussing the difference between the open (implicit) thesis approach, and the closed (explicit) thesis. Open (implicit) thesis: Let’s say you are writing a paper on the relationship between the United States criminal court system and the media. You have read on article related to this topic, but you have not yet begun your research. Still, it is possible for you to arrive at a very basic and general opinion without going into detail, secondary topics, or supporting reasons for your assertion. Broad Topic:  The United States criminal court system and the media. Example of an open (implicit) thesis statement: The media plays too influential a role in criminal court trials. To assist you in formulating your preliminary thesis, ask basic “W” questions that are related to your topic: who, what, when, where, and why? This will help you determine your particular interests and a possible starting point for your research. Based on the topic above, the following list demonstrates the different kinds of questions that can be generated. *Why is the media involved in court cases? *When did the media start reporting court cases? *What is the media’s role in criminal court cases? *What aspects of the media am I going to write about? *What kind of criminal case is it? *When did the case take place? *Where did the case take place? *Who were the people involved in the case? If you are writing a research paper and you have come up with a long list of random questions, select three or four questions that hold the most interest for you. These questions will narrow your focus and help you to plan your research strategy.

Closed (Explicit) Thesis: If you make an assertion and include the reason or reasons which support your assertion, and it is broad enough in scope, yet specific enough to be unified and to perform as a substantial generalization of your essay, you have written a closed thesis statement. The evidence can take many forms: facts, opinions, anecdotes, statistics, analogies, etc., but the essential relationship between the thesis and the major points of support is one of conclusion to reason:   This is believed to be true because… (reasons). Broad Topic:  The United States criminal court system and the media. Example of a closed (explicit) thesis: The media plays a very influential role in criminal court trials because of their access to the people, their bias, and because of the special privileges. Based on the topic that YOU have chosen, ask yourself basic “W” questions that are related to YOUR topic to help you plan your research strategy and form a thesis. (Written by Lisa Tolhurst for the Hunter College Reading/Writing Center, 1998) WHY – WHEN – WHAT – WHERE – WHO – HOW – KEEP GOING!.....

The Fourth Week

Lawrence, Jacqueline, Bingyue, Zhaolong, and Tejia

The Fourth Week - 143-150

Getting to the Draft

Exploration or Argument?

• Organization of Your Draft
• Characteristics of a Research Essay

Delayed Thesis Structure

• Don’t Procrastinate
• Make an Outline
• Work on Writing the Draft From the Outline

Your draft will head in two directions:

• Argument Essay- Convinced you have the answer to your research question. Now you want to prove it
• Exploratory Essay - you are still not ready to make a judgement about the best answer to your research question.
• Say One Freaking Thing
• Every piece of writing should say one thing, while dealing with many issues
• The writer’s job was to find one thing he or she wanted to say about the essay topic.

Organizing the Draft

• 5 paragraph structure
• Good for organizing
• Structure is important when writers begin a draft with a lot of information

Certain Characteristics of a Research Essay

• SOFT - A point, claim, a thesis - one main thing you are trying to say about the research question
• A review of what has already been said by others about your topic
• Specific information - data, conclusion
• Method of reasoning through the question, some pattern or thought
• Exploration or Argumentative Essay?
• The writer and reader find a convincing way to try and get at the truth of things
• You essentially tell the story of your thinking so that your paper is a kind of a “narrative of thought”

WHAT DO I WANT TO KNOW

WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN SAID?

WHAT DO I THINK OF WHAT’S BEEN SAID?

WHAT DO I NOW KNOW THAT I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND BEFORE?

WHAT ONE THING DO I MOST WANT TO SAY ABOUT WHAT I NOW UNDERSTAND?

Preparing to Write the Draft

151-158 Lawrence Sobson

Making a Claim

Exploring or Arguing

Preparing the Draft

Refining the Question

Refining the Thesis

Sharpening Your Point

• Question-Claim Structure
• Introduce the research problem then explain your motive.
• Establish the significance
• Describe and analyze what others have said
• Explain what you find to be the most persuasive answer to your research question
• Describe what you’ve come to understand about the topic.

What is the problem the paper will focus on?

What have other people said about it?

What is significant about my claim?

What is my thesis?

What are my reasons and what evidence do I have?

• Research papers could be divided up into two types
• Exploring: Presenting research about your question
• Arguing: Persuading the audience to a side of your thesis
• The difference between the two is organization

Structure for an Argument

• Introduce problem
• Provide factual background
• State thesis or claim
• Review the Literature
• Cite published studies and address popular assumptions
• State reasons for your choice
• State the significance of your claim and why your audience should care
• Research is like soup making; make it hearty, not thin.
• Don’t slack on focused knowledge
• The most common problem in student work is lack of good research
• Before you begin the draft make sure you have enough to make it ‘hearty’
• Before you judge your info, ask yourself if you're comfortable with your research question
• Do you find it interesting?
• Is it focused enough?
• Did you change it as you learned more?
• Are you asking the right question?

Categories of Questions

• Informative or Definition: What is it?
• Policy: What should be done?
• Interpretation: What does it mean?
• Hypothesis: Might this be true?
• Question of Value: Good or bad?
• Relationship: Causes and effects?

The answers to these questions are key to a well written research essay.

• Your thesis should change as you continue writing and researching
• A thesis should include a judgement
• It should be in one of the category of questions listed on the other page
• You can always change your mind just like you can always change your thesis
• Create an outline for potential thesis based on what type of question you want to ask
• When you are finally done with your research then you can make a solid thesis
• Deciding whether to say “ I”

159-166 Tejia Zhang

Making your Presence Felt

• The Beginning at Beginning

Writing multiple Beginning

Presence Felt

Deciding whether to say “I”

Academic writing is supposed to be faceless, impersonal and objective, and the best way to maintain this pretense is to religiously avoid ever using the first person in an academic essay

The reason why “ I” is banned

• Being based on the assumption that this is simply the only way to write scholarship, a myth that studies of academic writing prove wrong again and again
• It encourages students to write with needless self-references such as “ In my opinion” or “ I believe that”
• Control question. Carefully consider how you use the voices of others----where your essay and for what purpose----as well as what you choose to emphasize in what those voices said
• Finding your own way of saying things. Even when talking about what someone else has said, say it in a way that only you can
• Finding your own way of seeing things. How do others usually see your topic, and how do you see it differently?
• Seize opportunities to comment. More than anything else. what you do with information-----evaluating it, relating it defining it, interpreting it, establishing its significance-----gives the essay your signature.

Starting to Write the Draft: Beginning at the Beginning

The opening is not only your first chance to capture your reader’s attention, but also will have a significant impact on the rest rest of it. The beginning of an essay starts the essay going in a particular direction; it also establishes the tone, or writing voice, and the writer’s relationships to the subject and the reader

• Anecdote . Think of a little story that nicely frames what your paper is about.
• Scence. Begin by giving your readers a look at some revealing aspect of your topic
• Profile. Try a lead that introduces someone who is important to your topic.
• Background . Maybe you could begin by providing important and possibly surprising background information on your topic.
• Quotation. Sometimes, you encounter a great quote that beautifully captures the question our paper will explore or the direction it will take.
• Dialogue. Open with dialogue between people involved in your topic
• Question. Pointedly ask your readers the questions you asked that launched your research or the questions your readers might raise about your topic.
• Contrast. Try a lead that compares two apparently unlike things that highlight the problem or dilemma the paper will explore.
• Announcement. Sometimes the most appropriate beginning is the one which announces what the paper is about

Exercise: step one

Compose three different beginnings, or leads, to your research paper.Think about many different ways to begin and experiment.

Exercise: Step Two

Get some help deciding which opening is strongest. Circulate your beginning in class, or show them to friends. Ask each person to check the one beginning he likes best, that most makes him want to read.

Exercise: Step Three

Choose the beginning you like. To determine how well it prepares your readers for what follows, ask a friend or classmate to answer these questions:

• What do you predict this paper is about? What might be its focus?
• Can you guess what central question I’m trying to answer”
• Can you predict what my thesis might be?
• How would you characterize the tone of the paper?

Writing for Reader Interest

-Bingyue Xu(167-172)

●Working the common Ground

●Putting people on the page

●Writing a strong ending

●Using surprise

Working the Common Ground

-Figuring out what reader’s own experiences with topic

-Find some way in paper that help reader see that it’s relevant to them

-Help reader see what they may already know

Topics for Which Common Ground Is Hard to Find

-Comparing to other more popular works that readers may know can also be a way to establish some common ground

-Imagine the ways in which your topic intersects with the life of a typical reader, and then use your insights to bring the information to life.

Putting People on the Page

Essayist E.B White once advised that when you want to write about humankind, you should write about a human.

-Using Case Studies

-Using Interviews

Writing a Strong Ending

-Endings to Avoid

• Avoid conclusions that simply restate what you’ve already said
• Avoid endings that begin with in conclusion or thus
• Avoid endings that don’t feel like endings

Using Surprise

The research process can be filled with discovery for the writer if he approaches the topic with curiosity and openness.

-Think about unusual specifics you may have left out

-Don’t include information that doesn’t serve purpose.

Writing With Sources (173-182)

Zhaolong Xu

Blending Kinds of Writing and Sources

Handling Quotes

Quick Tips for Controlling Quotations

• Grafting Quotes
• Sandwiching Quotes

Billboarding Quotes

Splicing Quotes

Handling Interview Material

Citing Sources

Research essay can draw on all four sources:

• Observation

And the four notetaking strategies:

• Analysis and commentary
• “Handing quotes” is the most common fumble in student papers.
• It is a sentence or two within quotation marks
• No indication of who said it.
• Writer was uncertain about how to summarize or paraphrase the quotation.
• Whenever you quote, attribute the source, and work with it.
• Comment on what was said
• What is interesting about the quote
• Why is it significant in the context of what you’re talking about
• What would you emphasize?
• Try to avoid long, unintegrated quotes.
• If the quotes is helpful, it should be blocked.
• A quotation longer than 4 lines should be blocked.

Grafting Quotes:

• The best way to use quoted material is to graft it onto your own words.
• When you want to add emphasis to what a source has said, you might give over parts of several sentences to a source.

Sandwiching Quotes:

• When you use a quotation, it should be surrounded by your comments.
• Introduce the quotation
• who said it
• why is he or she relevant
• when did this person say it and in what context
• how does the quote relate to the current discussion in your essay
• Follow up the quotation:
• what do you think is important
• how does it address an important idea or question
• what does the person quoted fail to say or see
• Another way you can control quotation is by adding emphasis to billboard parts of a particular quote
• Typically you do this by italicizing the phrase or sentence.
• Sometimes you want to prune away unnecessary information from a quotation
• (...) is used to omit information
• When you are quoting an interview subject, ask yourself:
• should you enter your essay as a participant on the conversation
• or should you stay out of the way
• should you describe the scene of the interview, your subject’s manner of responding, or your immediate reaction

In the current system, borrowed material is parenthetically cited in the paper.

• Indicate the author of the original work

Two methods of citing sources:

• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• American Psychological Association (APA)

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How to Structure a Thesis: A Complete Guide

Writing a thesis can be an overwhelming task for many college and graduate students. Managing all the elements associated with a thesis while ensuring that the quality is not compromised can be challenging. However, what is even more strenuous is deciding on a thesis's layout. "How to structure a thesis" is a question that several final-year students struggle to answer. And understandably so, as all colleges and universities have their guidelines for drafting a thesis. However, there is an immutable structure that's common for every thesis. In this brief guide, we will take a look at this structure and analyze each of its components.

This guide discusses how to structure a thesis effectively. To give you an opportunity to practice proofreading, we have left a few spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors in the text. See if you can spot them! If you spot the errors correctly, you will be entitled to a 10% discount.  

A thesis or dissertation is a long academic document that a master's or doctoral candidate writes to obtain a relevant academic degree. Hence, writing a quality thesis is crucial for college and university students. A good thesis demonstrates a student's academic prowess in their field of study as well as helps hone their analytical and research skills. Writing a thesis can be an overwhelming task for many college and graduate students. Managing all the elements associated with a thesis while ensuring that the quality is not compromised can be challenging. However, what is even more strenuous is deciding on a thesis's layout.

"How to structure a thesis" is a question that several final-year students struggle to answer. And understandably so, as all colleges and universities have their guidelines for drafting a thesis. However, there is an immutable structure that's common for every thesis. In this brief guide, we will take a look at this structure and analyze each of its components. If you are also struggling to initiate the writing process for your thesis, follow this guide and get over your writer’s block.

How to Structure a Thesis: Examining the Constituents of a Thesis Structure

Here we have a list of all major sections that a thesis structure generally comprises. The entire thesis structure is segregated into 3 sections, with each section comprising its relevant subsections to facilitate greater legibility.

Front/Preliminary Matter of a Thesis Structure

1. abstract.

An abstract is a concise summary of an entire thesis and consists of the condensation of your entire thesis. A good abstract  is precise, concise (usually not more than 250 words) and emphasizes the importance of the document. When writing an abstract, make sure you explicitly mention the crux of your thesis. Also, avoid reiterating what you have mentioned in the title of your document.

Body of a Thesis Structure

2. introduction/preface.

The introduction chapter of your thesis outlines its core arguments, hypotheses, and results. It is longer than the abstract and contains adequate background information on your topic of interest. Furthermore, it establishes the relevance of your thesis by highlighting its contribution to the knowledge base of its topic. Writing a gripping introduction helps the readers understand the context of your thesis. According to USNSW Sydney, the introduction of a thesis should have the following stages:

State the general topic and give some background

Provide a review of the literature related to the thesis subject

Define the terms and scope of the thesis topic

Outline the existing situation

Evaluate the current situation and identify the gap in the literature

Identify the importance of the proposed research

State the main research questions

State the purpose of the study and/or research objectives

State the study hypotheses

Outline the order of information in the thesis

Outline the methodology.

3. Literature review

The literature review chapter sets the premise of your thesis. It examines and evaluates the research works that’s been conducted so far on your thesis topic and passively highlights the contributions of your thesis.

A literature review is a survey of academic sources on a specific subject, providing an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to discuss relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research. Writing a literature review contains finding relevant publications, critically analyzing the sources, and explaining your findings in the literature. A well-written literature review doesn’t only summarize sources, it also aims to analyze, synthesize, and critically evaluate to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the topic.

To write an impeccable literature review, consult a plethora of sources and mention the canon related to your thesis topic. Also, put forward your review in a logical, chronological, and structured manner to better outline the knowledge gaps in your field of study and how your thesis will fill them.

The following simple and straightforward tips can act as the exhaustive rubric and offer meaningful insight to prospective authors on how to formulate a flawless literature review:

Step 1. Probe similar works for a well-structured literature review

Step 2. Analyze, not just synthesize: Authors should provide a detailed critique of the subject

Step 3. Organize your literature review systematically

Step 4. Establish the purview: Authors should specify the scope of the literature review

Step 5. Abstain from plagiarism

Step 6 . Be mindful of the language

4. Methodology

As the name suggests, the methodology section of a thesis consists of all methods and procedures you have used in your thesis. A well-written methodology accentuates the plausibility of your research methods. In addition, it enables your readers to understand why you chose specific methods and how they are justified for your research.

To garner more credibility, you can include the pitfalls and difficulties associated with your choice of research methods. The methodology section is an unavoidable part of a thesis or a research paper. Considering errors in the methodology section enervates the entire thesis.

Follow the steps below to write a perfect methodology for a thesis: 

a. Give an outline of the research design

b. Don’t forget to define the philosophy behind the research

c. Mention the research approach

d. Introduce the research methods

e. Note the following points to highlight in the methodology. No matter what methodology you have chosen, you have to focus on the following points:

Explain sampling strategy.

Clearly state the procedure of the research paper.

Mention how you collect the data. (Data collection)

Explain how data are analyzed for your research. (Data analysis). Suppose you have written in qualitative strategy like thematic analysis, mention the researcher you have followed.

Mention the validity of the data and result.

Discuss all ethical aspects of your research paper.

f. Avail professional proofreading and editing services

g. Most important tips to compose an impactful methodology for a dissertation

Don’t drift from your objective and the purpose of your dissertation.

Explore scholarly research papers and their methodology sections to have a better idea.

Plan a proper writing structure.

Understand your audience and target group.

Don’t make mistakes in citing relevant sources. You may use  APA  and  MLA citation

Refer to all the hurdles you have experienced while writing your dissertation.

Make sure to rectify grammatical and punctuation errors.

Ensure that the section is readable and doesn’t consist of long and complex sentences. Long sentences can hamper the tone of the methodology.

This section comprises the outcomes of your research work. It includes all the observations you made and the answers to all your hypotheses in the thesis. When writing the “results” chapter, include only factual data and format it to be distinguishable. Use tables, graphs, subheadings, and generic comments for the results. The aim is to enable your readers to discern the result of your research.

6. Discussion

The discussion chapter of your thesis should begin with a brief summarization of the outcome of your research work. It should explain how your results address your hypotheses and highlight any repetitions in your observations. You can also add comments on how you want the readers to interpret your results and about your agreements and disagreements with the available research work in your field. 

Writing a flawless thesis requires much more than only subject matter expertise. It requires expertise, experience, and in-depth thinking, along with sharp intelligence. Though most students add a discussion chapter in their thesis or dissertation, many of them end up messing up the essay or missing out on the central issues.

A discussion chapter in a thesis is a place where you have the chance to delving into the analysis, importance, and relevance of your research. This section focuses on explaining and analyzing what you have researched, presenting how it is associated with the existing literature. It is also a place for argument supporting your entire discussion.

We often find that people seek thesis writing help from experienced editing and proofreading services to prepare a flawless discussion chapter. However, the following helpful tips can help you design a perfect master's or Ph.D.. thesis with an excellent discussion chapter: 

Understand the objective of your thesis

Determine a clear structure

Usage of grammar and tense

Refer to hypotheses and literature review

Evaluate your results and compare them with existing studies

Understand the limitation of your research

Don’t be afraid to be unique

Don’t forget to avail a professional thesis editing and proofreading service 

Click here to review the details of the aforementioned tips. 

The following 5 questions might be helpful to write a sound discussion section: 

How well do you understand the objective of your study? 

What message is conveyed by your results? 

How do your findings compare to findings in literature? 

Why should your findings matter? 

In what light should your findings be viewed?

7. Conclusion

The final section of your document consists of a precise answer to your hypothesis. In addition, the “conclusion” chapter of your thesis should stress the achievement of the aims of your thesis. You should also include certain limitations of your research to convey the fact that there is still scope for further research in your field. 

The end matter of a thesis structure

The components of this section include an acknowledgment, a bibliography, and (occasionally) an appendix. 

Parting words

The first step to writing a thesis is to chalk out its layout. Doing so not only helps you deal with the writing process one step at a time but also enables you to better attend to each component of a thesis structure.

Also, before you follow this thesis structure, make sure to check with your university for “how to structure a thesis” guidelines. If the guidelines offered by your institution deviate slightly from what’s mentioned in this guide, then make sure to prioritize the former.

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Academic essay writing is an essential part of college life since writing essays is one of the most common assignments in colleges or universities. Some claim that it is an easy job while others assert it is very challenging. International students, particularly, find the task very compelling. No doubt it is a challenging issue because one has to devote considerable time to studying, reading, and examining the evidence. That requires self-sacrifice to learn how to write an academic essay. Although it seems challenging at first, it will get easier with practice and by following the steps detailed in this article.

This reference guide explains how to format your academic documents in Microsoft Word 2022, giving you the fundamental rules for formatting your academic papers as described in most guidelines, such as MLA and APA styles. The rules discussed in this guide apply to most of the academic papers you will submit as college assignments or articles for journals.

Maintaining parallel structure prevents writers from making grammatically incorrect sentences and helps them to improve their writing styles. Although lack of parallelism is not always strictly incorrect, sentences with the parallel structure are easier to read and add a sense of balance to your academic writing. In this article, we will focus on what is parallel structure and how to use parallel structure in academic writing.

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Writing a Paper: Thesis Statements

Basics of thesis statements.

The thesis statement is the brief articulation of your paper's central argument and purpose. You might hear it referred to as simply a "thesis." Every scholarly paper should have a thesis statement, and strong thesis statements are concise, specific, and arguable. Concise means the thesis is short: perhaps one or two sentences for a shorter paper. Specific means the thesis deals with a narrow and focused topic, appropriate to the paper's length. Arguable means that a scholar in your field could disagree (or perhaps already has!).

Strong thesis statements address specific intellectual questions, have clear positions, and use a structure that reflects the overall structure of the paper. Read on to learn more about constructing a strong thesis statement.

Being Specific

This thesis statement has no specific argument:

Needs Improvement: In this essay, I will examine two scholarly articles to find similarities and differences.

This statement is concise, but it is neither specific nor arguable—a reader might wonder, "Which scholarly articles? What is the topic of this paper? What field is the author writing in?" Additionally, the purpose of the paper—to "examine…to find similarities and differences" is not of a scholarly level. Identifying similarities and differences is a good first step, but strong academic argument goes further, analyzing what those similarities and differences might mean or imply.

Better: In this essay, I will argue that Bowler's (2003) autocratic management style, when coupled with Smith's (2007) theory of social cognition, can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover.

The new revision here is still concise, as well as specific and arguable.  We can see that it is specific because the writer is mentioning (a) concrete ideas and (b) exact authors.  We can also gather the field (business) and the topic (management and employee turnover). The statement is arguable because the student goes beyond merely comparing; he or she draws conclusions from that comparison ("can reduce the expenses associated with employee turnover").

Making a Unique Argument

This thesis draft repeats the language of the writing prompt without making a unique argument:

Needs Improvement: The purpose of this essay is to monitor, assess, and evaluate an educational program for its strengths and weaknesses. Then, I will provide suggestions for improvement.

You can see here that the student has simply stated the paper's assignment, without articulating specifically how he or she will address it. The student can correct this error simply by phrasing the thesis statement as a specific answer to the assignment prompt.

Better: Through a series of student interviews, I found that Kennedy High School's antibullying program was ineffective. In order to address issues of conflict between students, I argue that Kennedy High School should embrace policies outlined by the California Department of Education (2010).

Words like "ineffective" and "argue" show here that the student has clearly thought through the assignment and analyzed the material; he or she is putting forth a specific and debatable position. The concrete information ("student interviews," "antibullying") further prepares the reader for the body of the paper and demonstrates how the student has addressed the assignment prompt without just restating that language.

Creating a Debate

This thesis statement includes only obvious fact or plot summary instead of argument:

Needs Improvement: Leadership is an important quality in nurse educators.

A good strategy to determine if your thesis statement is too broad (and therefore, not arguable) is to ask yourself, "Would a scholar in my field disagree with this point?" Here, we can see easily that no scholar is likely to argue that leadership is an unimportant quality in nurse educators.  The student needs to come up with a more arguable claim, and probably a narrower one; remember that a short paper needs a more focused topic than a dissertation.

Better: Roderick's (2009) theory of participatory leadership  is particularly appropriate to nurse educators working within the emergency medicine field, where students benefit most from collegial and kinesthetic learning.

Here, the student has identified a particular type of leadership ("participatory leadership"), narrowing the topic, and has made an arguable claim (this type of leadership is "appropriate" to a specific type of nurse educator). Conceivably, a scholar in the nursing field might disagree with this approach. The student's paper can now proceed, providing specific pieces of evidence to support the arguable central claim.

Choosing the Right Words

This thesis statement uses large or scholarly-sounding words that have no real substance:

Needs Improvement: Scholars should work to seize metacognitive outcomes by harnessing discipline-based networks to empower collaborative infrastructures.

There are many words in this sentence that may be buzzwords in the student's field or key terms taken from other texts, but together they do not communicate a clear, specific meaning. Sometimes students think scholarly writing means constructing complex sentences using special language, but actually it's usually a stronger choice to write clear, simple sentences. When in doubt, remember that your ideas should be complex, not your sentence structure.

Better: Ecologists should work to educate the U.S. public on conservation methods by making use of local and national green organizations to create a widespread communication plan.

Notice in the revision that the field is now clear (ecology), and the language has been made much more field-specific ("conservation methods," "green organizations"), so the reader is able to see concretely the ideas the student is communicating.

Leaving Room for Discussion

This thesis statement is not capable of development or advancement in the paper:

Needs Improvement: There are always alternatives to illegal drug use.

This sample thesis statement makes a claim, but it is not a claim that will sustain extended discussion. This claim is the type of claim that might be appropriate for the conclusion of a paper, but in the beginning of the paper, the student is left with nowhere to go. What further points can be made? If there are "always alternatives" to the problem the student is identifying, then why bother developing a paper around that claim? Ideally, a thesis statement should be complex enough to explore over the length of the entire paper.

Better: The most effective treatment plan for methamphetamine addiction may be a combination of pharmacological and cognitive therapy, as argued by Baker (2008), Smith (2009), and Xavier (2011).

In the revised thesis, you can see the student make a specific, debatable claim that has the potential to generate several pages' worth of discussion. When drafting a thesis statement, think about the questions your thesis statement will generate: What follow-up inquiries might a reader have? In the first example, there are almost no additional questions implied, but the revised example allows for a good deal more exploration.

Thesis Mad Libs

If you are having trouble getting started, try using the models below to generate a rough model of a thesis statement! These models are intended for drafting purposes only and should not appear in your final work.

• In this essay, I argue ____, using ______ to assert _____.
• While scholars have often argued ______, I argue______, because_______.
• Through an analysis of ______, I argue ______, which is important because_______.

Words to Avoid and to Embrace

When drafting your thesis statement, avoid words like explore, investigate, learn, compile, summarize , and explain to describe the main purpose of your paper. These words imply a paper that summarizes or "reports," rather than synthesizing and analyzing.

Instead of the terms above, try words like argue, critique, question , and interrogate . These more analytical words may help you begin strongly, by articulating a specific, critical, scholarly position.

Read Kayla's blog post for tips on taking a stand in a well-crafted thesis statement.

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Thesis Statements

A strong component of academic writing that all writers must understand is the difference between subject, topic, and thesis. Knowing the difference between these three terms will help you create a strong argument for your paper. This handout is designed to help inform you about these three distinct introductory elements, and it will also help you transition from deciding on a subject you are writing about, to the essay’s topic, and finally to your overall thesis.

The subject of your paper is a broad idea that stands alone. At this point, there is no detailed information associated with it or any kind of argumentation. It serves, in essence, as a launching pad for you to form an idea, or argument, which will eventually become the purpose of your paper.

Example: Women

The topic of your paper is an evolved, narrower version of your subject. Here is where you add a detailed, more conclusive area of focus for your paper so that you can eradicate vagueness.

Example: Women in late 1990s television

The thesis acts as the final idea on which the entirety of your paper will focus. It is the central message that ties the whole paper together into one definitive purpose that prepares readers for what you are arguing.

Example : Although people may argue that television in the late 1990s helped portray women in a more honest and intrepid light, programs including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed , and Sex and the City failed to illustrate the depth and truth of womanhood, choosing to focus heavily on clichéd romantic entanglements, unbecoming pathetic quarrels, and thin temptresses adorned with fashionable costumes and bare midriffs.

Subject to Topic

The following are some suggestions to help you shift from a broad subject area to a narrow, focused topic.

Seek out narrow topics

Inappropriate.

Subject:  Women

Topic:  Women in history

Note:  In this case, the topic is too large to create a complex thesis statement worthy of a paper. The broader the topic, the more difficulty you will have narrowing your argument enough to affect readers.

Appropriate

Topic:  Famous women aviators of WWII

Note:  Here the topic as narrowed down the subject by focusing on women belonging to a specific profession in a particular historical period. It is thorough enough to discover a thesis statement.

Choose arguable topics

Subject:  Toni Morrison

Topic:  Biography

Note:  This idea does not allow for speculation or disagreement, which gives it an underdeveloped quality.

Topic:  Literary merits of the novel Tar Baby

Note:  This idea allows for speculation or disagreement, which gives it a strong, developed quality.

Choose topics within your comfort zone

Subject:  Linguistics

Topic:  OE Northumbrian dialects

Note:  Unless you have studied OE Northumbrian dialects at length, it perhaps poses too high of a research challenge to pursue.

Subject:  College Freshmen

Topic:  The Freshman Fifteen

Note:  This topic is narrow enough and familiar enough to most college students to purse as a topic.

Rules for Thesis Statements

• Needs to correspond to the assignment’s expectations
• Usually, but not always, one sentence
• Typically appears that the end of the introduction
• More often than not, it is explicitly stated
• Establishes an argument
• Establishes the criteria for scrutiny of the topic (previews the structure of the paper)
• Write for an audience. Your paper should be catchy enough to retain readers’ attention.

Determine a "Research Question"

Determining a research question is a crucial aspect of your writing. In order to stay focused on the assignment, you must form a clear and concise argument. Choose one major idea you want to concentrate on, and expand from there.

When your instructor assigns a paper, try and find some angle that makes you inspired to fulfill the assignment to the best of your abilities. For example, if your history professor assigns you to write about a historical figure who changed the world for the better, write about an individual whose work you can relate to. If you are interested in the supernatural, you could write about Joan of Arc, who became a crusader because of the visions she claimed to have had from God.

Next, ask yourself a series of questions to help form your research question. Try to avoid questions you can answer with “yes” or “no” because these will not allow you to explore your topic as thoroughly or as easily as questions that begin with “who,” “what,” “why,” or “how.”

• When did Joan rise to prominence?
• Did she develop a strong following that her enemies felt threatened by?
• How did her gender play a part in her tragic demise?
• What does Joan’s execution say about female leaders of the 15th century?

Once you have developed a series of questions, consider which questions allow you to form an argument that is not too broad that you cannot write a sufficient paper, but not too narrow that it prevents you from crafting an interesting and compelling piece of writing. Decide which question represents this criteria, then you can start researching. In this case, from the above examples, you may select “How did Joan’s gender play a part in her tragic demise?” This question will allow you to develop a complex thesis with argumentative points to pose to readers. Below is a way to develop a thesis statement from the simply worded question that was just brainstormed.

The answer to your research question can become the core of your thesis statement.

Research Question:

How did Joan of Arc’s gender play a part in her tragic demise?

Thesis Statement:

Joan of Arc’s gender played a significant role in her tragic demise because of the laws and social customs concerning women during France’s 15th century, which included social ideals that perceived women as secular citizens; political standards that favored men to hold positions of power over women; as well as religious ideals that perceived Joan’s alleged clairvoyant gifts as a natural trait of witchcraft, a crime of heresy also associated with women.

Note:  Beginning writers are taught to write theses that list and outline the main points of the paper. As college students, professors might expect more descriptive theses. Doing this will illustrate two points: 1) Readers will be able to isolate your argument, which will keep them more inclined to focus on your points and whether or not they agree with you. They may find themselves questioning their own thoughts about your case. 2) A descriptive thesis serves as a way to show your understanding of the topic by providing a substantial claim.

Troubleshooting your Thesis Statement

The following are some suggestions to help you scrutinize your working draft of your thesis statement to develop it through further revisions.

Specify your details

Example:  In today’s society, beauty advertisements are not mere pictures that promote vanity in the public, but instead, they inspire people to make changes so that they can lead better lifestyles.

• Uses cliché phrases like “In today’s society.”
• What kind of beauty advertisements are you referring to? All of them? Or specific kinds?

Note:  Who is this targeting? Women? Men? Adolescents? Being more specific with the targeted audience is going to strengthen your paper.

Example:  Makeup, clothing, and dieting advertisements endorse American ideals of female beauty and show the public that women should possess full ownership of their bodies and fight the stigma of physical and sexual repression which has been placed upon them.

• Identifies specific forms of beauty advertisements for the sake of clearly expressing a strong argument.
• Uses descriptive language.

Note:  By signifying that women’s beauty is the main topic being argued in the paper, this author clearly identifies their main, targeted audience.

Make arguable claims

Undeveloped.

Example:  Social media is not conducive to people’s personal growth because of the distractions, self-doubt, and social anxiety it can cause to its users.

• “Social media” and “personal growth” both encompass a large span of topics and so they leave the reader confused about the particular focus of this paper.

Note:  The thesis is too broad to form a well-constructed argument. It lacks details and specificity about the paper’s points.

Example:  Although Facebook allows people to network personally and professionally, the procrastination and distraction from one’s demanding responsibilities can lead people to invest more time in narcissistic trivialities, resulting in severe cases of anxiety and low self-esteem.

• It alludes to some kind of counterargument in the opening dependent clause.
• The thesis specifies several points that makes a thesis credible. The argument connects all the points (distractions, self-doubt, and social anxiety) together into one linear train of thought, relating the ideas to one another.

Note:  The thesis is more focused. It concentrates on the idea that social media plays up on a person’s self-worth.

Preview the paper’s structure

Example:  College is a crucial stage in one’s life that will help them become more sophisticated individuals upon entering the harsh world as an adult.

Note:  Not only does this statement lack specificity and excitement, but it fails to present an idea of what the paper will look like, and how the argument is set up. As readers, we know this writer believes college is an imperative part of one’s life, but we have no idea how they are going to go about arguing that claim.

Example:  College is a crucial stage in a young adult’s life because it is the time in which they begin to transition from childhood to adulthood, learn to live away from their parents, budget their own finances, and take responsibility for their successes and failures, which will force them to make more responsible decisions about their lives.

Note:  The thesis points to different aspects of college life that help students ease into adulthood, which shows the reader the points the writer will explore throughout the body of the paper.

• transition from childhood to adulthood
• learn to live away from their parents
• budget their own finances
• take responsibility for their successes and failures

Final Thoughts

When you are asked to write a paper in college, there may not be as many detailed descriptions telling you what subject or argument to write about. Remember, the best way to pick your subject is to write about something that interests you. That way, the assignment will be more promising and passionate for you and may help you feel more in control of your writing.

As you venture closer to crafting your thesis, make sure your subject is narrowed down to a specific enough topic so that you can stay focused on the task. If your topic is specific enough, you will be able to create an argument that is concentrated enough for you to provide sufficient argumentative points and commentary.

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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!

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

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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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What’s a thesis or dissertation embargo, and when to use it?

As part of the degree requirements for theses and dissertations, students hold a public defense and will have their document published electronically in the ASU Digital Repository and with ProQuest. Publication in the ASU Digital Repository is required; however, students may elect to delay (known as “embargo”) publication of their thesis/dissertation for a period of two years with support from their committee.

Why embargo a thesis/dissertation?

Delayed publication can protect:

• information of commercial value
• patentable rights
• sensitive or classified information
• academic or commercial press from acquiring publishing rights
• other relevant scholarly issues related to the release of your work

How can a student establish an embargo?

• Consult with committee at the time of the defense (or earlier) to decide whether an embargo is necessary
• Complete the Delaying Publication of Thesis/Dissertation form and include the chair’s (or a co-chair’s) signature.
• Include the embargo form with the completed Pass/Fail form that will be submitted to the Graduate College.

If approved, an embargo allows for a temporary delay of the publication of your document for two years through the ASU Digital Repository, KEEP. Embargo requests made after publication cannot guarantee non-viewing or downloading.

Other considerations

In unique cases, students may be granted an embargo of their document for an additional two years by emailing [email protected] before the original embargo expires. The maximum allowable embargo period for the ASU Digital Repository is four years, while ProQuest may allow for an indefinate embargo. Those requests are to be emailed to [email protected] .

These embargo guidelines apply to other culminating experience documents (such as bound documents and DMA research papers) that are required to go through format review and submission to ProQuest. Please check with your academic unit if unsure if this applies to your culminating experience.

Embargo questions can be directed to [email protected] .  

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I realize I made a huge mistake in my thesis and am not sure what to do. I'm defending very soon (days away). What should I do?

I realize there is a somewhat similar question posted, but my question is different in that I found a pretty big mistake in my thesis. It's such a big problem, it changes my results. I almost wish I hadn't noticed, and been so careful to go back and check every thing, because I really don't know what to do about it except fix the errors/interpretation errors and discussion (today). I defend very soon (in days). It's possible that my committee won't notice it, but I feel like the guilt might drive me insane. I'm worried that my chair noticed it in the past, but they didn't correct me because they feel I'm incompetent (which I feel in ways I am when it comes to stats). Should I re-write it and let my chair know and ask what to do? I need to defend soon in any case. I wonder if I could just present as though I'd already corrected it and e-mail the revised manuscript beforehand. I'm just not sure how they would perceive someone who overlooked such a obvious mistake. Any advice would be appreciated.

• 112 Talk to your supervisor as soon as possible! –  dsfgsho Commented Mar 26, 2017 at 20:45
• 136 The most praise I ever got was for pointing out flaws in my thesis during the defense. It shows integrity, which is the most important quality to have in research imo. –  Minix Commented Mar 26, 2017 at 20:51
• 35 Is it a PhD, MSc or BSc thesis? –  Dmitry Savostyanov Commented Mar 26, 2017 at 20:53
• 73 Take a deep breath, put it as far from your mind as possible, and go to bed early. None of this is stuff where being in a panic helps. In the morning, talk to your supervisor as early as you can and ask her to go over your concerns first thing in the morning. It can very well happen that it's you misinterpreting the data right now and that there isn't a mistake at all (it happened to me a good six weeks after I'd defended, with the corresponding paper under referee consideration). If there is a mistake, it's not something that a weekend panic will help solve. –  E.P. Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 0:32
• 41 @Gellen I'm very interested in knowing how things turned out. Please let us know! –  solalito Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 5:43

10 Answers 10

The thesis and thesis defense is less about having the results you wanted to have, and more about demonstrating that you know how to do good quality research and can work on that somewhat independently. It's about figuring out what questions to ask and what methods can be used to find the answers, and then applying those methods to come up with answers. What the answers actually are is not as important [for the purposes of passing a thesis] as the process you took to get those answers. Your discovering this issue and taking prompt action to fix it shows attention to important details and integrity in the knowledge-discovery process. Sure, it would've been better if you'd caught that earlier, but you've caught it now, before your defense, and you're rewriting the discussion and conclusions to reflect your best analysis of the data.

In my opinion, your having found this and your efforts now to promptly fix it say more [positively] about what a thesis is supposed to evaluate than most completed theses.

Don't panic. Talk to your supervisor and committee. Tell them what you found. Revise your document to reflect the new understanding. Maybe you'll have to delay the defense a bit, but more likely you'll present at the same time and talk about what you found; the committee might require you to deliver a revised document [some weeks after the presentation] reflecting that before they sign off. That might take you some time to do but it should be OK, and will leave you with work you can feel is more solid.

Kudos to you for finding the issue and having the integrity to stand up for it. This should help you in the long run and the core evaluation at issue here, at the cost of some extra work to revise and maybe some scrambling to re-practice your revised presentation.

Edit: Congratulations on passing!

• 8 Thanks, you're perspective makes me feel a little better! It'll definitely cost me some sleep in the coming days to prepare, but it's worth it. Hopefully my advisor and committee won't be too annoyed. –  Gellen Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 5:06
• 6 I think you need to be careful not to generalize in your first paragraph. Where the thesis and thesis defense is most common (or required) is for a PhD - in that case if an error invalidates all or the majority of the stated contributions, graduation is unlikely. The fact that the poster is completing an MS thesis should be placed in the question itself of in your response. –  user58322 Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 8:19
• 4 @jrh A MS thesis is research with training wheels, this is a way for you to learn how research is conducted and show that you have mastered the skills. A dissertation at the Ph.D. level is much more about demonstrating your ability to independently drive the field forward. The test there is not do you know how to conduct research, but can you successfully apply those skills to an appropriate problem. –  Ukko Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 14:30
• 4 @jrh Ukko has the right of it. While making some level of sufficient contribution is necessary for a PhD, I have not seen a similar strict requirement applied for a MS. Indeed, in the US, generally the exact same Masters degree is given to those students who take the coursework option, project-based (thesis) option, or do a direct PhD and receive the MS after finishing qualifiers. Novel contributions (and from them published papers) are great and have significant impact on the success of a later PhD application, but are above and beyond the minimum required to graduate with a MS. –  user58322 Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 16:47
• 2 @jrh My program uses the thesis as mostly a learning experience for the most part. They didn't expect for me to have made 0 methodological mistakes, but my committee pointed them out and discussed them with me. That being said, there are people who have failed during the proposal if their project is especially unoriginal and basic. So, in my program anyway, there is an expectation that you'll do something more advanced than you might have at an undergraduate level. –  Gellen Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 21:11

Get off of Stack Exchange and contact your advisor, right now. He/she is the most qualified person to help you understand what is going on and what to do about it.

It's possible you might have to delay your defense in order to fix it. That would be unfortunate, but not the end of the world.

On the other hand, if you know about a serious error and defend anyway in the hopes that your committee doesn't notice, that is deeply unethical. We are talking "kick you out of grad school", "revoke your degree years later" unethical. That is not an option. Forget about it.

It seems to me unlikely that your committee knows about the error but is intentionally ignoring it in order to "trap" you. That would be very inappropriate behavior on their part, and I've never heard of it happening. There would be nothing for them to gain by doing so. And even if this were the case, pretending you don't know about the error would only make things worse.

• 16 Thanks Nate, I've e-mailed them. I know they probably won't check until tomorrow morning (they don't answer emails on the weekends). I definitely won't try to defend and not tell them! I think I'm just panicking and thinking illogically. –  Gellen Commented Mar 26, 2017 at 21:40
• 15 its just a MS thesis ^^ no big deal. –  Rüdiger Commented Mar 26, 2017 at 22:33
• 17 @Rüdiger These people are going to be OP's academic references, for one thing, and given that there is an ethical question here, resolving that incorrectly could affect a career very negatively, could it not? –  msouth Commented Mar 26, 2017 at 23:48
• 7 @Rüdiger Just wondering, could you explain why this being a MS thesis makes a mistake like this "not as bad" as a mistake in a PHD thesis? I hear stuff like "It's just a MS thesis" somewhat often but I don't really understand why they're not as much of a "big deal". For some reason I've heard sky high expectations of MS theses and rock bottom expectations presented with equal validity and not much reasoning as to why. Even between departments at my own school I hear both sides... –  jrh Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 13:49
• 28 Hi guys, yea, I was able to correct my thesis and send it to my chair via an all-nighter. I'm sure they were annoyed, but they reviewed it and suggested some wording changes here and there.I can't imagine that my thesis is anything remotely like a dissertation, but it's still been challenging due to ADHD (I overlook details all of the time!) and my father passed away last semester unexpectedly. I wanted to go straight into a PhD program after this degree, but I'm delaying a year since I think I need to improve myself in some areas. –  Gellen Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 23:12

This happened to me. I found an error in a complicated mathematical proof in the appendix to one of my papers. As I flew home to defend it I was fixing the mistake on the plane. In the defence, I told them about the error. They told me to fix it and awarded me the degree. This was a formal political theory paper; I doubt if they even read the appendix, but I'm glad I told them.

Unless this mistake blows away your results, it's best to be honest. (Actually, it's best to be honest in any case. There are lots of bullshitter academics out there; don't be one of them.)

• 36 Yea, it changed my results, BUT it made them better. It took me all night to edit my thesis, but I sent the revised copy to my chair this morning, and they asked me to reword some things here and there, but that's it. –  Gellen Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 23:15
• 14 No, especially if it blows away your results ! Do you really want an erroneous outcome to remain, and quite possibly screw up someone else who depends on your research to further his? –  Carl Witthoft Commented Mar 31, 2017 at 12:05

I'll add a suggestion to the excellent answers provided already:

When we find an error in our proof or even our claims - especially in something as significant in our lives as a these (even if it's an M.Sc. thesis) - we tend to believe that everything is ruined and the research is useless. It's really not. Even if you can't fix it in a day. I would go into details regarding why that is, but that doesn't matter now.

The important thing to remember is: Don't make the reporting of the mistake the focus of your thesis presentation. You should definitely be fair and open: When you get to the part which directly relies on the error, tell the committee that as you were preparing for your defense, you found a mistake in that claim / in the proof of that claim. Don't start going on and on about the mistake and how you made it and how it invalidates everything ; make your presentation like you would if you hadn't found your mistake, and when you get to where the mistake actually happens, that's when you say what the mistake was instead of presenting the erroneous argument. Let the committee decide if they want to focus on it or whether they would rather hear the rest.

Andrew Wiles' famous proof on Elliptical Curves also proves Fermat's last theorem 356 years after Fermat proposed it. The 1993 proof contained an error that took Wiles over a year to fix with the help of his assistant Richard Taylor. Even the greats make mistakes or overlook things. This is why papers are peer reviewed in the first place. Even with the mistake, the original proof was valuable as it showed innovative approaches to the problem.

If you could fix the thesis in under a day, it wasn't a major error. In the words of Benjamin Franklin "When in doubt, tell the truth. It will amaze your friends and confound your enemies." Just be glad for word processors. Back when I was in college, I had to type out my papers by hand on a typewriter, and created the graphs using rulers, triangles, and Rapidograph pens.

First, Speak to your advisor immediately. That person is in the best position to guide you. Second, realize that the most valuable stock-in-trade in academic life along with competency is integrity. Research mistakes WILL happen, that's a fact of life and the imperfect world we live in. [Albert Einstein did not get General Relativity right the first time he published it and save for WWI, experimental data would have disproved the incorrect version of GR.]

Needing or waiting for someone else to point your error out (especially since you discovered it already) speaks poorly of both one's competence AND integrity and surely you don't want that outcome.

If it's too late to amend the thesis prior to its defense, it's better that they learn from you of the error than having someone else point it out. That would demonstrate both your competence AND integrity.

A good academic committee will recognise the positive significance of a candidate who proactively checks their work and takes errors seriously . They would see it as a plus for you, not a minus, whatever the effect on your thesis, because the thesis itself is a tool to assess you as a researcher in the field, and this action will indeed reflect well on you. (And you won't have to worry about someone else noticing it in future!)

Write them a formal note explaining what you found, and your initial assessment of its impact - extra time, any changes to the paper, etc - and tell them what you'd like (an extra week or month to rewrite that section, or update it to fix the issue, or to consider if any other part is affected and needs changing as a result).

Be matter-of-fact and cordial - and have a verbal chat with your supervisor in which you show him/her the note you have drafted and check it looks OK to them. That also gives your supervisor a heads up so they don't look foolish or caught by surprise, and a chance to give any other advice.

• 1 Hi! Thanks for your advice. That's pretty much what I did and it worked out fine. I passed my defense last week!! –  Gellen Commented Apr 3, 2017 at 20:49
• Oh congratulations!!! –  Stilez Commented Mar 16, 2021 at 17:37

In independent study as an undergrad I reviewed draft MS and PHD papers for Math errors. Every paper had some error or errors, some were minor, and some were major. It was never a big deal unless the grad student got defensive. Accepting the criticism and moving on was part of the process. The students who positively engaged with my adviser to understand the flaws and gain a deeper understanding were really appreciated by their adviser and the committee.

Are you (1) a life scientist and (2) worried about the stats?

I worked as a statistical advisor for several high-profile journals in the life sciences. Your hunch that your stats is wrong is probably right. Your hunch that the examiners may not have noticed is probably also... well, I should not say too much.

Be frank about your misgivings. If you are able to make coherent arguments during your defence, that will in itself be a positive thing.

And learn stats properly, for crying out loud.

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9.3 Putting It Together: Steps to Complete Your Introduction

Learning objectives.

• Clearly identify why an audience should listen to a speaker.
• Discuss how you can build your credibility during a speech.
• Understand how to write a clear thesis statement.
• Design an effective preview of your speech’s content for your audience.

Erin Brown-John – puzzle – CC BY-NC 2.0.

Once you have captured your audience’s attention, it’s important to make the rest of your introduction interesting, and use it to lay out the rest of the speech. In this section, we are going to explore the five remaining parts of an effective introduction: linking to your topic, reasons to listen, stating credibility, thesis statement, and preview.

Link to Topic

After the attention-getter, the second major part of an introduction is called the link to topic. The link to topic is the shortest part of an introduction and occurs when a speaker demonstrates how an attention-getting device relates to the topic of a speech. Often the attention-getter and the link to topic are very clear. For example, if you look at the attention-getting device example under historical reference above, you’ll see that the first sentence brings up the history of the Vietnam War and then shows us how that war can help us understand the Iraq War. In this case, the attention-getter clearly flows directly to the topic. However, some attention-getters need further explanation to get to the topic of the speech. For example, both of the anecdote examples (the girl falling into the manhole while texting and the boy and the filberts) need further explanation to connect clearly to the speech topic (i.e., problems of multitasking in today’s society).

Let’s look at the first anecdote example to demonstrate how we could go from the attention-getter to the topic.

In July 2009, a high school girl named Alexa Longueira was walking along a main boulevard near her home on Staten Island, New York, typing in a message on her cell phone. Not paying attention to the world around her, she took a step and fell right into an open manhole. This anecdote illustrates the problem that many people are facing in today’s world. We are so wired into our technology that we forget to see what’s going on around us—like a big hole in front of us.

In this example, the third sentence here explains that the attention-getter was an anecdote that illustrates a real issue. The fourth sentence then introduces the actual topic of the speech.

Let’s now examine how we can make the transition from the parable or fable attention-getter to the topic:

The ancient Greek writer Aesop told a fable about a boy who put his hand into a pitcher of filberts. The boy grabbed as many of the delicious nuts as he possibly could. But when he tried to pull them out, his hand wouldn’t fit through the neck of the pitcher because he was grasping so many filberts. Instead of dropping some of them so that his hand would fit, he burst into tears and cried about his predicament. The moral of the story? “Don’t try to do too much at once.” In today’s world, many of us are us are just like the boy putting his hand into the pitcher. We are constantly trying to grab so much or do so much that it prevents us from accomplishing our goals. I would like to show you three simple techniques to manage your time so that you don’t try to pull too many filberts from your pitcher.

In this example, we added three new sentences to the attention-getter to connect it to the speech topic.

Reasons to Listen

Once you have linked an attention-getter to the topic of your speech, you need to explain to your audience why your topic is important. We call this the “why should I care?” part of your speech because it tells your audience why the topic is directly important to them. Sometimes you can include the significance of your topic in the same sentence as your link to the topic, but other times you may need to spell out in one or two sentences why your specific topic is important.

People in today’s world are very busy, and they do not like their time wasted. Nothing is worse than having to sit through a speech that has nothing to do with you. Imagine sitting through a speech about a new software package you don’t own and you will never hear of again. How would you react to the speaker? Most of us would be pretty annoyed at having had our time wasted in this way. Obviously, this particular speaker didn’t do a great job of analyzing her or his audience if the audience isn’t going to use the software package—but even when speaking on a topic that is highly relevant to the audience, speakers often totally forget to explain how and why it is important.

Appearing Credible

The next part of a speech is not so much a specific “part” as an important characteristic that needs to be pervasive throughout your introduction and your entire speech. As a speaker, you want to be seen as credible (competent, trustworthy, and caring/having goodwill). As mentioned earlier in this chapter, credibility is ultimately a perception that is made by your audience. While your audience determines whether they perceive you as competent, trustworthy, and caring/having goodwill, there are some strategies you can employ to make yourself appear more credible.

First, to make yourself appear competent, you can either clearly explain to your audience why you are competent about a given subject or demonstrate your competence by showing that you have thoroughly researched a topic by including relevant references within your introduction. The first method of demonstrating competence—saying it directly—is only effective if you are actually a competent person on a given subject. If you are an undergraduate student and you are delivering a speech about the importance of string theory in physics, unless you are a prodigy of some kind, you are probably not a recognized expert on the subject. Conversely, if your number one hobby in life is collecting memorabilia about the Three Stooges, then you may be an expert about the Three Stooges. However, you would need to explain to your audience your passion for collecting Three Stooges memorabilia and how this has made you an expert on the topic.

If, on the other hand, you are not actually a recognized expert on a topic, you need to demonstrate that you have done your homework to become more knowledgeable than your audience about your topic. The easiest way to demonstrate your competence is through the use of appropriate references from leading thinkers and researchers on your topic. When you demonstrate to your audience that you have done your homework, they are more likely to view you as competent.

The second characteristic of credibility, trustworthiness, is a little more complicated than competence, for it ultimately relies on audience perceptions. One way to increase the likelihood that a speaker will be perceived as trustworthy is to use reputable sources. If you’re quoting Dr. John Smith, you need to explain who Dr. John Smith is so your audience will see the quotation as being more trustworthy. As speakers we can easily manipulate our sources into appearing more credible than they actually are, which would be unethical. When you are honest about your sources with your audience, they will trust you and your information more so than when you are ambiguous. The worst thing you can do is to out-and-out lie about information during your speech. Not only is lying highly unethical, but if you are caught lying, your audience will deem you untrustworthy and perceive everything you are saying as untrustworthy. Many speakers have attempted to lie to an audience because it will serve their own purposes or even because they believe their message is in their audience’s best interest, but lying is one of the fastest ways to turn off an audience and get them to distrust both the speaker and the message.

The third characteristic of credibility to establish during the introduction is the sense of caring/goodwill. While some unethical speakers can attempt to manipulate an audience’s perception that the speaker cares, ethical speakers truly do care about their audiences and have their audience’s best interests in mind while speaking. Often speakers must speak in front of audiences that may be hostile toward the speaker’s message. In these cases, it is very important for the speaker to explain that he or she really does believe her or his message is in the audience’s best interest. One way to show that you have your audience’s best interests in mind is to acknowledge disagreement from the start:

Today I’m going to talk about why I believe we should enforce stricter immigration laws in the United States. I realize that many of you will disagree with me on this topic. I used to believe that open immigration was a necessity for the United States to survive and thrive, but after researching this topic, I’ve changed my mind. While I may not change all of your minds today, I do ask that you listen with an open mind, set your personal feelings on this topic aside, and judge my arguments on their merits.

While clearly not all audience members will be open or receptive to opening their minds and listening to your arguments, by establishing that there is known disagreement, you are telling the audience that you understand their possible views and are not trying to attack their intellect or their opinions.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is a short, declarative sentence that states the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech. A strong, clear thesis statement is very valuable within an introduction because it lays out the basic goal of the entire speech. We strongly believe that it is worthwhile to invest some time in framing and writing a good thesis statement. You may even want to write your thesis statement before you even begin conducting research for your speech. While you may end up rewriting your thesis statement later, having a clear idea of your purpose, intent, or main idea before you start searching for research will help you focus on the most appropriate material. To help us understand thesis statements, we will first explore their basic functions and then discuss how to write a thesis statement.

Basic Functions of a Thesis Statement

A thesis statement helps your audience by letting them know “in a nutshell” what you are going to talk about. With a good thesis statement you will fulfill four basic functions: you express your specific purpose, provide a way to organize your main points, make your research more effective, and enhance your delivery.

Express Your Specific Purpose

To orient your audience, you need to be as clear as possible about your meaning. A strong thesis will prepare your audience effectively for the points that will follow. Here are two examples:

• “Today, I want to discuss academic cheating.” (weak example)
• “Today, I will clarify exactly what plagiarism is and give examples of its different types so that you can see how it leads to a loss of creative learning interaction.” (strong example)

The weak statement will probably give the impression that you have no clear position about your topic because you haven’t said what that position is. Additionally, the term “academic cheating” can refer to many behaviors—acquiring test questions ahead of time, copying answers, changing grades, or allowing others to do your coursework—so the specific topic of the speech is still not clear to the audience.

The strong statement not only specifies plagiarism but also states your specific concern (loss of creative learning interaction).

Provide a Way to Organize Your Main Points

A thesis statement should appear, almost verbatim, toward the end of the introduction to a speech. A thesis statement helps the audience get ready to listen to the arrangement of points that follow. Many speakers say that if they can create a strong thesis sentence, the rest of the speech tends to develop with relative ease. On the other hand, when the thesis statement is not very clear, creating a speech is an uphill battle.

When your thesis statement is sufficiently clear and decisive, you will know where you stand about your topic and where you intend to go with your speech. Having a clear thesis statement is especially important if you know a great deal about your topic or you have strong feelings about it. If this is the case for you, you need to know exactly what you are planning on talking about in order to fit within specified time limitations. Knowing where you are and where you are going is the entire point in establishing a thesis statement; it makes your speech much easier to prepare and to present.

Let’s say you have a fairly strong thesis statement, and that you’ve already brainstormed a list of information that you know about the topic. Chances are your list is too long and has no focus. Using your thesis statement, you can select only the information that (1) is directly related to the thesis and (2) can be arranged in a sequence that will make sense to the audience and will support the thesis. In essence, a strong thesis statement helps you keep useful information and weed out less useful information.

Make Your Research More Effective

If you begin your research with only a general topic in mind, you run the risk of spending hours reading mountains of excellent literature about your topic. However, mountains of literature do not always make coherent speeches. You may have little or no idea of how to tie your research all together, or even whether you should tie it together. If, on the other hand, you conduct your research with a clear thesis statement in mind, you will be better able to zero in only on material that directly relates to your chosen thesis statement. Let’s look at an example that illustrates this point:

Many traffic accidents involve drivers older than fifty-five.

While this statement may be true, you could find industrial, medical, insurance literature that can drone on ad infinitum about the details of all such accidents in just one year. Instead, focusing your thesis statement will help you narrow the scope of information you will be searching for while gathering information. Here’s an example of a more focused thesis statement:

Three factors contribute to most accidents involving drivers over fifty-five years of age: failing eyesight, slower reflexes, and rapidly changing traffic conditions.

This framing is somewhat better. This thesis statement at least provides three possible main points and some keywords for your electronic catalog search. However, if you want your audience to understand the context of older people at the wheel, consider something like:

Mature drivers over fifty-five years of age must cope with more challenging driving conditions than existed only one generation ago: more traffic moving at higher speeds, the increased imperative for quick driving decisions, and rapidly changing ramp and cloverleaf systems. Because of these challenges, I want my audience to believe that drivers over the age of sixty-five should be required to pass a driving test every five years.

This framing of the thesis provides some interesting choices. First, several terms need to be defined, and these definitions might function surprisingly well in setting the tone of the speech. Your definitions of words like “generation,” “quick driving decisions,” and “cloverleaf systems” could jolt your audience out of assumptions they have taken for granted as truth.

Second, the framing of the thesis provides you with a way to describe the specific changes as they have occurred between, say, 1970 and 2010. How much, and in what ways, have the volume and speed of traffic changed? Why are quick decisions more critical now? What is a “cloverleaf,” and how does any driver deal cognitively with exiting in the direction seemingly opposite to the desired one? Questions like this, suggested by your own thesis statement, can lead to a strong, memorable speech.

Enhance Your Delivery

When your thesis is not clear to you, your listeners will be even more clueless than you are—but if you have a good clear thesis statement, your speech becomes clear to your listeners. When you stand in front of your audience presenting your introduction, you can vocally emphasize the essence of your speech, expressed as your thesis statement. Many speakers pause for a half second, lower their vocal pitch slightly, slow down a little, and deliberately present the thesis statement, the one sentence that encapsulates its purpose. When this is done effectively, the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech is driven home for an audience.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

Now that we’ve looked at why a thesis statement is crucial in a speech, let’s switch gears and talk about how we go about writing a solid thesis statement. A thesis statement is related to the general and specific purposes of a speech as we discussed them in Chapter 6 “Finding a Purpose and Selecting a Topic” .

Choose Your Topic

The first step in writing a good thesis statement was originally discussed in Chapter 6 “Finding a Purpose and Selecting a Topic” when we discussed how to find topics. Once you have a general topic, you are ready to go to the second step of creating a thesis statement.

Narrow Your Topic

One of the hardest parts of writing a thesis statement is narrowing a speech from a broad topic to one that can be easily covered during a five- to ten-minute speech. While five to ten minutes may sound like a long time to new public speakers, the time flies by very quickly when you are speaking. You can easily run out of time if your topic is too broad. To ascertain if your topic is narrow enough for a specific time frame, ask yourself three questions.

First, is your thesis statement narrow or is it a broad overgeneralization of a topic? An overgeneralization occurs when we classify everyone in a specific group as having a specific characteristic. For example, a speaker’s thesis statement that “all members of the National Council of La Raza are militant” is an overgeneralization of all members of the organization. Furthermore, a speaker would have to correctly demonstrate that all members of the organization are militant for the thesis statement to be proven, which is a very difficult task since the National Council of La Raza consists of millions of Hispanic Americans. A more appropriate thesis related to this topic could be, “Since the creation of the National Council of La Raza [NCLR] in 1968, the NCLR has become increasingly militant in addressing the causes of Hispanics in the United States.”

The second question to ask yourself when narrowing a topic is whether your speech’s topic is one clear topic or multiple topics. A strong thesis statement consists of only a single topic. The following is an example of a thesis statement that contains too many topics: “Medical marijuana, prostitution, and gay marriage should all be legalized in the United States.” Not only are all three fairly broad, but you also have three completely unrelated topics thrown into a single thesis statement. Instead of a thesis statement that has multiple topics, limit yourself to only one topic. Here’s an example of a thesis statement examining only one topic: “Today we’re going to examine the legalization and regulation of the oldest profession in the state of Nevada.” In this case, we’re focusing our topic to how one state has handled the legalization and regulation of prostitution.

The last question a speaker should ask when making sure a topic is sufficiently narrow is whether the topic has direction. If your basic topic is too broad, you will never have a solid thesis statement or a coherent speech. For example, if you start off with the topic “Barack Obama is a role model for everyone,” what do you mean by this statement? Do you think President Obama is a role model because of his dedication to civic service? Do you think he’s a role model because he’s a good basketball player? Do you think he’s a good role model because he’s an excellent public speaker? When your topic is too broad, almost anything can become part of the topic. This ultimately leads to a lack of direction and coherence within the speech itself. To make a cleaner topic, a speaker needs to narrow her or his topic to one specific area. For example, you may want to examine why President Obama is a good speaker.

Put Your Topic into a Sentence

Once you’ve narrowed your topic to something that is reasonably manageable given the constraints placed on your speech, you can then formalize that topic as a complete sentence. For example, you could turn the topic of President Obama’s public speaking skills into the following sentence: “Because of his unique sense of lyricism and his well-developed presentational skills, President Barack Obama is a modern symbol of the power of public speaking.” Once you have a clear topic sentence, you can start tweaking the thesis statement to help set up the purpose of your speech.

Add Your Argument, Viewpoint, or Opinion

This function only applies if you are giving a speech to persuade. If your topic is informative, your job is to make sure that the thesis statement is nonargumentative and focuses on facts. For example, in the preceding thesis statement we have a couple of opinion-oriented terms that should be avoided for informative speeches: “unique sense,” “well-developed,” and “power.” All three of these terms are laced with an individual’s opinion, which is fine for a persuasive speech but not for an informative speech. For informative speeches, the goal of a thesis statement is to explain what the speech will be informing the audience about, not attempting to add the speaker’s opinion about the speech’s topic. For an informative speech, you could rewrite the thesis statement to read, “This speech is going to analyze Barack Obama’s use of lyricism in his speech, ‘A World That Stands as One,’ delivered July 2008 in Berlin.”

On the other hand, if your topic is persuasive, you want to make sure that your argument, viewpoint, or opinion is clearly indicated within the thesis statement. If you are going to argue that Barack Obama is a great speaker, then you should set up this argument within your thesis statement.

Use the Thesis Checklist

Once you have written a first draft of your thesis statement, you’re probably going to end up revising your thesis statement a number of times prior to delivering your actual speech. A thesis statement is something that is constantly tweaked until the speech is given. As your speech develops, often your thesis will need to be rewritten to whatever direction the speech itself has taken. We often start with a speech going in one direction, and find out through our research that we should have gone in a different direction. When you think you finally have a thesis statement that is good to go for your speech, take a second and make sure it adheres to the criteria shown in Table 9.1 “Thesis Checklist”

Table 9.1 Thesis Checklist

Preview of Speech

The final part of an introduction contains a preview of the major points to be covered within your speech. I’m sure we’ve all seen signs that have three cities listed on them with the mileage to reach each city. This mileage sign is an indication of what is to come. A preview works the same way. A preview foreshadows what the main body points will be in the speech. For example, to preview a speech on bullying in the workplace, one could say, “To understand the nature of bullying in the modern workplace, I will first define what workplace bullying is and the types of bullying, I will then discuss the common characteristics of both workplace bullies and their targets, and lastly, I will explore some possible solutions to workplace bullying.” In this case, each of the phrases mentioned in the preview would be a single distinct point made in the speech itself. In other words, the first major body point in this speech would examine what workplace bullying is and the types of bullying; the second major body point in this speech would discuss the common characteristics of both workplace bullies and their targets; and lastly, the third body point in this speech would explore some possible solutions to workplace bullying.

Key Takeaways

• Linking the attention-getter to the speech topic is essential so that you maintain audience attention and so that the relevance of the attention-getter is clear to your audience.
• Establishing how your speech topic is relevant and important shows the audience why they should listen to your speech.
• To be an effective speaker, you should convey all three components of credibility, competence, trustworthiness, and caring/goodwill, by the content and delivery of your introduction.
• A clear thesis statement is essential to provide structure for a speaker and clarity for an audience.
• An effective preview identifies the specific main points that will be present in the speech body.
• Make a list of the attention-getting devices you might use to give a speech on the importance of recycling. Which do you think would be most effective? Why?
• Create a thesis statement for a speech related to the topic of collegiate athletics. Make sure that your thesis statement is narrow enough to be adequately covered in a five- to six-minute speech.
• Discuss with a partner three possible body points you could utilize for the speech on the topic of volunteerism.
• Fill out the introduction worksheet to help work through your introduction for your next speech. Please make sure that you answer all the questions clearly and concisely.

Stand up, Speak out Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Melius Research Concedes That It Is Hearing Muted “Whispers” Heading Into NVIDIA’s Earnings

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

In what is turning out to be the technology sector's " most important " event in years, at least according to the latest commentary from Wedbush Securities, NVIDIA is slated to report its earnings for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2025 on the 28th of August. And, investors are predictably anxious, especially given the persistent rumors around the GPU manufacturer's supposed struggles with achieving the mainstream production cadence of its new Blackwell architecture.

Melius on $NVDA : 'Shares Could March Towards Our $160 Target Pretty Quickly' "Training Still Strong: Yes, we were concerned when we first heard about issues with the new Blackwell chips in the supply chain and from customers—that included commentary around a 3-month delay due to… — Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) August 23, 2024

Related Story NVIDIA Blackwell Is Up & Running In Data Centers: NVLINK Upgraded To 1.4 TB/s, More GPU Details, First-Ever FP4 GenAI Image

Today, Melius Research has added a bit of color to the ongoing monotony of rumors and counter-rumors surrounding NVIDIA's Blackwell GPU architecture.

As per unverified reports , NVIDIA's new architecture supposedly suffers from a design flaw related to its "interconnect" technique. For its part, NVIDIA continues to deny the impression of any production upheaval. This, however, has not stopped analysts from incorporating a possible delay in Blackwell shipments within their respective theses for NVIDIA shares.

Coming back, Melius Research concedes that its analysts were concerned when they first heard of a possible delay in Blackwell shipments:

"Yes, we were concerned when we first heard about issues with the new Blackwell chips in the supply chain and from customers — that included commentary around a 3-month delay due to potential overheating, a design issue, and some packaging issues."

Nonetheless, the research house believes that this delay, even if it materializes, does not pose a significant threat to NVIDIA's bullish thesis, especially as the demand for training LLMs remains robust. Melius Research does flag the slow ramp-up of inference demand as a possible point of concern in the future.

Moreover, according to the research house, any Blackwell-related sales deficit will be overcompensated by the rip-roaring demand for NVIDIA's H100 and H200 series GPUs:

"Nvidia's sales of H100s and H200s seem to be benefiting from brisk efforts at Meta to train Llama 4, OpenAI for GPT-5, and (the remaining) well-funded labs. When training is brisk —you need Nvidia."

Interestingly, there appears to be a consensus around the Hopper architecture's strength on Wall Street. Just yesterday, Rosenblatt and KeyBanc reiterated their conviction regarding this view by penning dedicated investment notes.

Melius Research then tries to temper expectations by noting that even though a Triple Lindy - an allusion to Rodney Dangerfield's iconic swimming dive in the 1986 comedy 'Back to School' that involved three springboards - is certainly possible, such an outcome is not necessary in the greater scheme of things.

To achieve a Triple Lindy, NVIDIA will have to "beat F2Q25 by $2B, guide up F3Q25 by $2B q/q, and say enough to imply that F4Q25 grows q/q by another ~$2B. Nvidia basically did this last quarter with one of the best conference calls we've ever heard."

Critically, Melius Research concedes that it is hearing muted "whispers" heading into the earnings announcement next week, which only serves to moderate the odds of a Triple Lindy.

Further Reading

KeyBanc Believes That NVIDIA Has “Effectively Canceled” The B100 Chip

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 560.94 Driver Adds Black Myth Wukong, Star Wars Outlaws, Space Marine 2 & Final Fantasy XVI Support

MediaTek & NVIDIA Partnership Brings G-Sync Technology To A Lot More Gamers, No Dedicated Modules To Bring Down Monitor Prices

NVIDIA Announces GeForce RTX 40 “Star Wars Outlaws” Bundle, Free Copy Available With RTX 40 Desktop GPUs & Laptops

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2 Stock-Split Stocks to Buy Before They Soar 47% and 57%, According to Certain Wall Street Analysts

• Since 1980, stocks have more than doubled the performance of the S&P 500 during the 12-month period following a stock split announcement.
• Walmart annouced a 3-for-1 stock split in January, and Simeon Gutman at Morgan Stanley sees a bull-case scenario in which shares surge 47% during the next year.
• Nvidia announced a 10-for-1 stock split in May, and Hans Mosesmann at Rosenblatt Securities expects the stock to skyrocket 57% during the next year.
• Motley Fool Issues Rare “All In” Buy Alert

NASDAQ: NVDA

Walmart and Nvidia announced (and completed) stock splits earlier this year.

Smart investors pay attention to stock splits because they are often an indirect indicator of quality businesses. To elaborate, forward stock splits are only necessary after substantial and sustained share price appreciation, and that rarely happens to mediocre businesses.

Not surprisingly, stocks that split tend to beat the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC 1.15% ) , at least temporarily, according to Bank of America . Since 1980, stocks have generated an average return of 25% during the one-year period following a stock split announcement, while the S&P 500 returned 12% during the same period.

This year, Walmart ( WMT 0.16% ) announced a 3-for-1 stock split on Jan. 30, and completed the split after market close on Feb. 23. Shares have surged 35% since the announcement, but Simeon Gutman at Morgan Stanley has set a bull-case target of $109 per share. That forecast implies 47% upside from its current share price of $74.

Similarly, Nvidia ( NVDA 4.55% ) announced a 10-for-1 stock split on May 22, and completed the split after market close on June 7. Shares have surged 34% since the announcement, but Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann has set a target of $200 per share. That forecast implies 57% upside from its current share price of $127.

Here's what investors should know about Walmart and Nvidia.

Walmart is the largest retailer in the world and the second-largest e-commerce business in the United States. That scale affords the company an important cost advantage. It can buy inventory from suppliers in bulk and pass savings to consumers. In turn, Walmart can sell a wide assortment of products at low prices, including perishable groceries that online retailers typically lack.

The promise of bargain prices across a broad range of goods brings consumers to Walmart more frequently than any other superstore. The company accounted for 62% of superstore visits during the first four months of 2024, according to Placer.ai. That consistent foot traffic reinforces the ubiquity of the Walmart brand, keeping the company top of mind for consumers.

Walmart reported encouraging financial results in the second quarter. Revenue increased 4.8% to $169 billion on particularly strong sales growth in e-commerce, membership fees, and advertising. Meanwhile, gross profit margin expanded 43 basis points because of pricing power, lower delivery costs per order, and a sales mix shift toward more profitable products like advertising services. In turn, non-GAAP net income increased 10% to $0.67 per diluted share.

CEO Doug McMillon said, "Each part of our business is growing -- store and club sales are up, e-commerce is compounding as we layer on pickup and even faster growth in delivery as our speed improves." He also said new businesses like advertising, memberships, and the online marketplace for third-party merchants are "diversifying profits and reinforcing the resilience of our business model."

Going forward, Wall Street expects adjusted earnings to grow at 10% annually through fiscal 2027 (ends January 2027). That consensus estimate makes the current valuation of 31 times earnings look expensive, which makes the 47% return implied by Morgan Stanley's bull-case price target seem unlikely. Personally, I would keep Walmart on my watchlist until shares look a little cheaper.

Nvidia accounted for 98% of data center graphics processing unit (GPU) shipments last year, and its market share was similar in the previous year. GPUs can perform technical calculations more quickly and efficiently than central processing units (CPUs), which makes them good at accelerating demanding workloads like rendering 3D graphics, training machine learning models, and running artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Nvidia's long-standing dominance in data center GPUs means the company was perfectly positioned to benefit when ChatGPT launched in 2022, eliciting an exponential increase in demand for AI infrastructure. Nvidia holds over 80% market share in AI chips, and Forrester Research recently wrote, "Nvidia sets the pace for AI infrastructure worldwide. Without Nvidia GPUs, modern AI wouldn't be possible."

Nvidia reported first-quarter financial results that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines. Revenue surged 262% to $26 billion on momentum in the data center segment. That was fueled by "strong and accelerating demand for generative AI training and inference on the Hopper platform," according to CEO Jensen Huang. Meanwhile, non-GAAP net income jump 461% to $6.12 per diluted share.

Investors should know that shipments of Nvidia Blackwell GPUs -- chips that offer faster training and inference speeds than the previous Hopper architecture -- will be delayed by three months. Technology-focused news company The Information broke the story earlier this month, citing design flaws discovered "unusually late in the production process" as the reason for the delay.

Management will likely address the issue when the company announces second-quarter financial results on Aug. 28. The stock could move sharply in either direction depending on the context, so shareholders should be ready. That said, the long-term investment thesis remains intact. Nvidia GPUs are the industry standard in AI computing, and the graphics processor market is forecasted to grow at 28% annually through 2030, according to Grand View Research.

Wall Street expects Nvidia's adjusted earnings to grow at 39% annually through fiscal 2027 (ends January 2027). In that context, the current valuation of 71 times adjusted earnings looks a little expensive, so I doubt Nvidia will return 57% in the next 12 months. However, I think investors can buy a small position in the stock today, provided they are comfortable with the possibility of a significant decline post earnings.

Bank of America is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Trevor Jennewine has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bank of America, Nvidia, and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

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Rivian: 2025 May Be A Painful Transition Year

• RIVN's lack of bullish support continues despite the $5B investment from VWAGY, attributed to the former's projected lack of profitability until 2027.
• While the management guides "modest positive gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2024," we believe that it may be a rather slim profit margin indeed, if not break even.
• RIVN's "normal facility will not be producing vehicles for more than one month during the second half of 2025 year" as well, with it implying further cash burn.
• While we remains optimistic about its highly competitive pickup truck, EDV, and eventual R2/ R3 pipelines, we believe that the intermediate term boost on its prospects is likely to be limited.
• Combined with the downtrend observed in RIVN's stock prices, we believe that things may get much worse before getting better.

photoschmidt

We previously covered Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: NASDAQ: RIVN ) in May 2024, discussing the stock's painful underperformance which had discredited our numerous Buy ratings thus far.

Combined with the massive pessimism embedded in the EV sector, its negative profit margins, deteriorating balance sheet, and uncertain cash flow bridging through 2026, it appeared that its investment thesis had soured with no floor in sight, warranting a downgrade to Hold instead.

Since then, RIVN has risen drastically attributed to the unexpected Joint Venture [JV] announcement with Volkswagen Group ( OTCPK:VWAGY ), with the $5B investment temporarily bolstering its balance sheet.

Even so, with the automaker's gross margins still at high double digit negatives and the management guiding a transition period in H2'25, we believe that there may be more pain in the intermediate term, as observed in the stock's sustained downtrend thus far.

We shall discuss further.

RIVN's Path To Positive Gross Profit May Be Painful In H2'25

RIVN YTD Stock Price

Trading View

As demand for EV stalls, it is unsurprising that pure-play EV stocks, including RIVN, Lucid ( LCID ), and Tesla ( TSLA ) have had underwhelming YTD performances, with legacy players such as General Motors ( GM ) exceeding expectations and Ford ( F ) temporarily impacted by the FQ2'24 top/ bottom-line misses .

On the one hand, RIVN has announced the JV on a timely basis, with the former's $4.4B gain in market cap nearly matching the total expected deal size of $5B - lifting other EV stocks as observed in the late June 2024 rally.

On the other hand, it is also apparent that much of those gains have been moderated by now, thanks to the market rotation from growth stocks by mid July 2024 as RIVN also reports a mixed FQ2'24 earning performance .

This is with deliveries of 13,790 ( +1.4% QoQ / +9% YoY ), total revenues of $1.15B (-4.1% QoQ/ +2.6% YoY), and impacted gross profit margins of -38.9% (+4.8 points QoQ/ -2.2 YoY).

While RIVN continues to guide " modest positive gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2024 and for the full year of 2025," we believe that it may be a rather slim profit margin indeed, if not break even, partly aided by the $200M in regulatory credits guided for FY2024.

This is because FQ2'24 still brings forth a GAAP gross profit loss per vehicle at -$33K and adj gross profit loss per vehicle at -$14.4K (after discounting depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, and other revenue efficiency initiatives).

While RIVN has highlighted the possible of saving "additional capital on components, such as chipsets, printed circuit board assemblies and other hardware" through its strategic JV with VWAGY, it is uncertain how much impact we may see in H2'24, since the JV is only expected to be finalized by Q4'24.

Perhaps the key to RIVN's FQ4'24 positive gross profit margins is attributed to the retooling upgrade in its Normal facility, which has already contributed to a +30% increase in its production line rate - with it likely triggering lower manufacturing/ operating costs.

Therefore, the automaker's FQ3'24 performance will be highly telling about the gross margin bridge to FQ4'24 results, with it likely being a pivotal show-me-the-money moment.

Readers may want to pay attention indeed, since we may see RIVN's stock prices drastically impacted either way.

Even so, investor may also want to temper their near-term expectations, since the automaker is not expected to be cash flow positive over the next few years, as it looks to launch R2 in 2026.

Most importantly, RIVN has highlighted that its "normal facility will not be producing vehicles for more than one month during the second half of the year as we upgrade and integrate new equipment into the plant ahead of our first half of 2026 R2 launch."

While the management has reiterated their FY2024 production guidance of 57K vehicles ( inline YoY ) and capex of $1.2B (+17.6% YoY), we may see FY2025 bring forth drastically lower deliveries, impacted H2'25 top/ bottom-lines, and elevated cash burn from the planned factory upgrade in H2'25.

As a result, we can understand why RIVN has fallen by -92% from the November 2021 heights, especially since the automaker may potentially require even more cash injection after the cash/ equivalents of $7.86B on its balance sheet (inline QoQ/ -22.9% YoY) are drained over the next six quarters.

While we remain optimistic about its R2 mid-sized platform and R3 smaller crossover ambitions, attributed to the expansion of its total addressable market beyond the current pickup truck and delivery vans, it is now apparent that things may get much worse before getting better.

This is especially since it is uncertain if these efforts may be instrumental to RIVN's plans to achieve " positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2027," with positive free cash flow generation still uncertain and more cash burn likely.

Consumer trends continue to highlight growing hybrid vehicle demand along with commercial electric vehicles (including school buses , delivery vans , semi trucks , etc), as numerous legacy automakers increasingly launch new EV models while cutting prices.

This is also why Ford ( F ) has announced its plans to delay its EV launches while prioritizing "the development of hybrid models ," to deliver a "profitable, capital-efficient and growing" electric vehicle business - with it suggesting that RIVN's entry into the EV mid-sized/ crossover market may not pay off as handsomely as expected.

So, Is RIVN Stock A Buy , Sell, or Hold?

RIVN 2Y Stock Price

As a result of these developments, we can understand why RIVN is back on the downtrend after the recent VGAWY boost, worsened by the " paused production of the electric commercial van it makes for Amazon ( AMZN ) due to a parts shortage."

With FQ3'24 top lines likely impacted by the delayed AMZN deliveries, it is unsurprising that the stock is currently retesting the previous support levels of $13s with a further pullback to $10s likely in the near-term.

While we remains optimistic about RIVN's highly competitive pickup truck and electric van offerings, as the management conducts test EDV pilots for interested enterprises, we believe that the near term boost on its prospects is likely to be limited, prior to widespread electrification adoption and the completion of its Normal factory upgrade by the end of 2025.

As a result of the unattractive risk/ reward ratio and the uncertain market sentiments surrounding pure-play EV stocks, we prefer to prudently maintain our Hold rating here.

This article was written by

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. 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 analysis is provided exclusively for informational purposes and should not be considered professional investment advice. Before investing, please conduct personal in-depth research and utmost due diligence, as there are many risks associated with the trade, including capital loss.

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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Hadrian CEO and founder Chris Power told Breaking Defense he envisions the company building “10 to 20 mega factories in all of the core manufacturing space in the country,” producing parts for “all the primes and neo-primes."

Advanced manufacturing machines on Hadrian’s production floor at its headquarters in Torrence, Calif. (Hadrian)

WASHINGTON — Almost every day, the founder and CEO of California-based manufacturing startup Hadrian says he gets a phone call from a defense prime struggling to figure out how to keep weapons production on track as one of its core suppliers goes out of business.

The request is always the same: “We need you to help us migrate that manufacturing to your facility so that we don’t delay the program,” said Hadrian founder and CEO Chris Power in an interview with Breaking Defense.

Aerospace and defense supply chains are on a slow path to recover from historic issues amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but businesses spanning from large first-tier suppliers to small machine shops are still feeling the pain of inflation, labor instability and lack of manufacturing capacity, with those obstacles even more acute for small mom-and-pop vendors, according to the Pentagon’s defense industrial strategy released earlier this year. Meanwhile, weapons producers are under pressure to ramp up production of key munitions and platforms as the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza propel demand.

But that tension means opportunity for Hadrian, which is set to launch a second production facility next year as Power says the company is seeing explosive demand for parts it claims it can build 10 times faster than its competitors — and at half the cost — due to the high levels of automation and AI it has incorporated in its factories.  Power declined to into detail about what kinds of parts it has already made in the defense world, but said they include components for major missile, fighter jet, space and shipbuilding programs — with defense making up about half of its current business.

Hadrian is still quite small compared to more-established defense startups, booking $3 million in revenue last year. (For comparison, Anduril reportedly told investors it had doubled revenue to $500 million in 2023, according to Tech Crunch .)

However, Power said Hadrian is quickly growing, with expected revenue on track to increase by 10 times in 2024. In February, the company announced it had secured $117 million in a Series B financing round, including an unspecified level of investment from RTX’s venture capital arm.

Power’s ambition doesn’t stop there. He told Breaking Defense he wants Hadrian to ramp up to the point where the company has “10 to 20 mega factories in all of the core manufacturing spaces in the country,” producing parts for “all the primes and neo-primes,” referring to both legacy defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and RTX as well as other defense tech startups like Anduril.

Power’s vision of Hadrian is a company that can produce parts so cheaply, quickly and efficiently that it can take over production and supply chain management for defense startups, allowing them to concentrate on developing new tech that Hadrian has the expertise to churn out at high rates.

“What I would hope to see over the next three years is: As you see many, many more companies that are small startups being awarded DoD contracts, there’s much less hesitancy for those companies that are winning prototyping awards to win real production contracts by partnering with companies like Hadrian that can get them from prototyping to production scale,” Power said.

Hadrian’s current factory — a 100,000-square-foot facility in Torrance, Calif., which the company moved to after growing out of its first factory in Hawthorne, Calif.— has enough capacity to produce the volumes of components expected for this year’s orders. A new factory “about two to three times the size” of the Torrance production line is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2025, with a location to be decided by the end of March, Power said.

Hadrian has also begun scooping up other technology firms, announcing last week that it had acquired Datum Source, a software-as-a-service company that links customers to machine shops capable of making small batches of parts. Power said the deal positions Hadrian to work with defense and aerospace companies seeking to produce a couple prototypes before scaling up to full-rate production of parts that Hadrian can manufacture itself.

Manufacturing Robots Vs ‘One Guy Named Bob’

Hadrian was founded in 2020 after Power — who hails from Australia — observed the geopolitical competition between the United States and China and grew concerned about how America’s industrial strength measured up.

“If you look at the macroeconomics of great powers, usually what success comes down to is the industrial base . And I had this thesis that the industrial base had been in massive decline,” Power said. “So I moved to the US and spent a good six months learning everything that I could, and then quickly realized the situation was a lot worse than I had thought from the outside in.”

Specifically, Power said he toured production facilities and saw what he viewed as “a ton of fragmentation and a ton of weakness,” particularly regarding human capital. As one ventures deep into the aerospace and defense supply chain, Power said, it’s not uncommon to see small manufacturers that are reliant on the expertise of its blue-collar laborers, with few standard processes to guide new employees on how to produce components and no answer for how to retain knowledge as its aging workforce retires.

“You realize that the F-16 or F-35 ultimately rely on one guy named Bob knowing how to make the component in his head 10 layers deep in the supply chain,” he said. “That’s not a unique situation. It’s really 99 percent of the case — that’s what the industrial base is.”

“If you look at the types of factories China builds, they’re very automated. It’s not just low-cost labor, they’re far ahead of us on manufacturing technology in general,” he said.

RELATED: Should the US tame the ‘million monkeys’ of innovative startups in its tech race with China

To get the speed and efficiency Hadrian boasts, the company relies on a laundry list of artificial intelligence and robotics technologies that it says simplify the process of making parts and running a factory. For instance, one AI-enabled software turns legacy, hand-drawn blueprints and computer assisted drawings of parts into a digital blueprint, while other software helps automate factory scheduling and inspections. The production of a part is also highly automated, with advanced robotics allowing workers to run machines for “four times the uptime with 10 percent of the labor normally required,” Hadrian stated.

Power declined to comment on which defense companies it counts among its customers. He also declined to comment on whether Hadrian was working with the Pentagon on specific initiatives like the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue Manufacturing effort , which seeks to establish a list of advanced manufacturing companies that can be tapped by the Defense Department to surge production if needed.

More generally, he said, Hadrian is “working with them on pretty large-scale initiatives that hopefully we can start talking about publicly in the next 15 months, on how do you do large-scale production manufacturing in the US?”

Defense startups — which Power said need Hadrian’s help transitioning from fabricating prototypes to manufacturing products en masse — make up the largest part of its client base, with orders from major defense primes and first-tier suppliers making up the second-largest portion.

But that doesn’t mean that defense primes are only using Hadrian as a stopgap — a position that could leave Hadrian vulnerable if surge demand for weapons decreases as conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza draw on.

“Eighty percent of our revenue is long term, three-to-seven-year production contracts,” Power said.

The defense and aerospace industry is a notoriously strict manufacturing apparatus, where parts must sometimes meet measurement standards within fractions of millimeters to ensure the safety of military operators or airplane passengers. But despite the emphasis on quality and compliance, Power said that most legacy defense and aerospace companies are willing to take a chance on Hadrian, in part because the current state of the supply chain is so exposed to unpredictability.

“It sounds unbelievable,” he said. But “usually, once people have experienced what we can do once or twice, that’s when we start getting awarded these large production contracts very quickly.”

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