FORMULATING A THESIS

Once you have decided what your project is going to discuss, your next job is to formulate a thesis. Your topic determines what your research is about; your thesis states your work’s main idea, your specific point about the topic. A THESISis usually a single sentence and most often appears at the beginning of the research paper. Three things characterize a good thesis.

First, a thesis should beso CLEAR that it leaves no doubt in your mind, or in your reader’s, about what you are going to discuss in your project. It is the proposition that enables your readers to make sense of your ideas and to follow their progression throughout your work. The thesis statement explicitly reveals the writer’s attitude toward the subject.

This is the second characteristic of a good thesis – it TAKES A STAND. It is an idea that your readers can agree or disagree with. In either case your thesis should generate serious discussion in your project and prompt serious consideration by your reader.

The third requirement for a thesis statement is that be SPECIFIC enough to give your project direction and purposeso that a reader could anticipate the exact direction of the research and the writer could build the investigation around this thesis, explaining ways in which the problem could be solved. A clear, specific thesis that takes a stand unifies the project and establishes its direction and purpose. Every piece of writing should have this clear sense of purpose, this unifying idea that draws the different details presented into a logical whole.

No fixed rules determine when you formulate your thesis; it depends on the type of assignment, your knowledge of the subject, and your own particular method of writing. Some people prefer to formulate a tentative thesis statement before they start brainstorming or even probing their subject. Others wait until after this process – slowly reviewing all their material and then drawing it together into a single statement. Occasionally, your assignment may specify a thesis statement by telling you to take this or that position about a given subject. Whatever the case, you should arrive at your thesis before you begin actually writing your research paper. Keep in mind that the thesis you develop at this point is not final. It is a tentative statement of the direction your investigation will take and it may be revised as you write. Nonetheless, it gives you guidance and purpose and is thus necessary at this stage of the writing process.

e.g. Object: Teaching English Communication through the Accelerated Technology.

Subject matter: Teaching English Grammar through the accelerated technology to 1^st-year students.

Thesis: Despite the fact that there are quite a number of researches on teaching English communication, the problem of teaching English Grammar through the accelerated technology stays problematic which opens new opportunities and perspectives for English instructors at the Universities to teach English Grammar on a communicative basis.