Structure for a Thesis Paper

The following sections outline the generally accepted structure for an academic thesis paper. Keep in mind that these are guidelines and that your structure needs to be flexible enough to meet the requirements of your purpose and audience.

Introduction

The introduction is the broad beginning of the paper that answers three important questions:

1. What is this?

2. Why am I reading it?

3. What do you want me to do?

You should answer these questions by doing the following:

1. Set the Context – provide general information about the main idea explaining the situation so the reader can make sense of the topic and the claims you make and support

2. State Why the Main Idea is Important – tell the reader why s/he should care and keep reading. Your goal is to create a compelling, clear, and convincing essay people will want to read and act upon

3. State your Thesis/Claim – compose a sentence or two stating the position you will support with logos (sound reasoning: induction, deduction), pathos (balanced emotional appeal), and ethos (author credibility).

If the document is long, you may want to forecast how you will support your thesis by outlining the structure of your paper, the sources you will consider, and the opposition to your position.

Your thesis is more than a general statement about your main idea. It needs to establish a clear position you will support with balanced proofs (logos, pathos, ethos). Use the checklist below to help you create a thesis.

Thesis Checklist

Make sure you avoid the following when creating your thesis:

• A thesis is not a title
o Homes and schools (title) vs. Parents ought to participate more in the education of their children (good thesis).
• A thesis is not an announcement of the subject
o My subject is the incompetence of the Supreme Court vs. The Supreme Court made a mistake when it ruled in favor of George W. Bush in the 2000 election.
• A thesis is not a statement of absolute fact
o Jane Austen is the author of Pride and Prejudice.
• A thesis is not the whole essay
o A thesis is your main idea/claim/refutation/problem-solution expressed in a single sentence or a combination of sentences.

Make sure you follow these guidelines when creating your thesis:

• A good thesis is unified
o Detective stories are not a high form of literature, but people have always been fascinated by them, and many fine writers have experimented with them (floppy). vs. Detective stories appeal to the basic human desire for thrills (concise).
• A good thesis is specific
o James Joyce’s Ulysses is very good. vs. James Joyce’s Ulysses helped create a new way for writers to deal with the unconscious.
• Try to be as specific as possible (without providing too much detail) when creating your thesis.
o James Joyce’s Ulysses helped create a new way for writers to deal with the unconscious. vs. James Joyce’s Ulysses helped create a new way for writers to deal with the unconscious by utilizing the findings of Freudian psychology and introducing the techniques of literary stream-of-consciousness.

Adapted from Writing with a Thesis: A Rhetoric Reader by David Skwire and Sarah Skwire

Quick Checklist:

_____ The thesis/claim follows the guidelines outlined above

_____ The thesis/claim matches the requirements and goals of the assignment

_____ The thesis/claim is clear and easily recognizable

_____ The thesis/claim seems supportable by good reasoning/data, emotional appeal


Moving from General to Specific Information

Your information should be organized in a general to specific manner. Every time you begin a new subject, think of an inverted pyramid⎯the broadest range of information sits at the top, and as the paragraph or paper progresses, the author becomes more and more focused on the argument ending with specific, detailed evidence supporting a claim.


The example below is from A Writer’s Reference by Diana Hacker.
Description Text
The introduction describes what we are talking about; this example does the following:

1) Sets the context
2) States why the topic is important

This will be an essay about why we should educate children of illegal immigrants. Immigration laws have been a subject of debate throughout American history, especially in states such as California and Texas, where immigrant populations are high. Recently, some citizens have been questioning whether we should continue to educate the children of illegal immigrants. While this issue is steeped in emotional controversy, we must not allow divisive “us against them” rhetoric to cloud our thinking.

Here, the introduction

3) States the thesis

The author understands the high cost of educating children of illegal immigrants but supports educating them nonetheless. Remember, your thesis will require good support if your paper is to be successful. Yes, educating undocumented immigrants costs us, but not educating them would cost us much more.



The Four Elements of a Good Paragraph (TTEB)

A good paragraph should contain the following four elements: a Transition, a Topic sentence, specific Evidence and analysis, and a Brief wrap-up sentence – TTEB!
1. A Transition sentence leading in from a previous paragraph to assure smooth reading.

2. A Topic sentence that tells the reader what you will be discussing in the paragraph.

3. Specific Evidence and analysis that supports one of your claims and that provides a deeper level of detail than your topic sentence.

4. A Brief wrap-up sentence that tells the reader how and why this information supports the paper’s thesis. The brief wrap-up is also known as the warrant. The warrant is important to your argument because it connects your reasoning and support to your thesis⎯it shows that the information in the paragraph is related to your thesis and helps defend it.

The following paragraph is from a student thesis essay that analyzed how the rhetorical triangle (ethos, pathos, logos) was used in an article from The Washington Post:

Description Text
Transition
The transition works as a road sign to help guide the reader from one topic (rhetorical triangle in general) to the next The rhetorical triangle is used in this article to make the arguments more effective.
Topic Sentence
The topic sentence tells the reader what the following section will discuss and works as a thesis the author will support with specific information from the article. Logos is one of the strongest elements of her case because it is used most frequently.
Evidence
Notice how the author moves from general information to specific information from the article. The author brackets the quote and then uses MLA in-text citation to show the source and location of the information. There are many statistical data points that work together to show the reader the importance of U.S. commerce and energy within the region. Landrieu states, “South Louisiana is the anchor of America’s Energy Coast, securing more than three-quarters of U.S. offshore oil and gas production—a greater share of our nation’s energy supply than even the kingdom of Saudi Arabia accounts for” (1). This quote makes the area’s energy supply seem very large and relates back to her main idea of the importance of energy in the region.
More Evidence
To make her case stronger, the author uses another quote She expands on the activity of U.S. commerce at the ports stating, “…handling more than 20 percent of U.S. imports and exports each day, including more than 70 percent of all grains as they move from farms across the nation to markets overseas. And 40 percent of the seafood….” (Landrieu 1). This is another quote that shows how vital the area is to our nation both from the commerce and energy standpoints.
Brief Wrap Up
The author explains how and why the information in the paragraph supports the claim of the essay. In today’s society, facts must be present to give a case validity; as opposed to the ancient times, where rhetoricians relied more on opinion and reasoning (Ancient Rhetorics 17). Because of our dependency on facts, these statistics prove to be a very convincing aspect of the article.



More Information on Transitions (The Road Signs of the Paper)
Transitions bridge the gaps between ideas like a handoff between one relay racer and another. When you move from your introduction to the body of your paper, you should have a transition. When you move from one idea to another idea in the body, you should also have a transition. Transitions ensure smooth reading within papers and tell readers what you are doing (road sign) as you work your way to a conclusion.

Typically, the beginning of the transition sentence talks about the previous subject, then the rest of the sentence talks about how the next idea relates to the previous information: (this example is taken from the same paper as above)
Another way to increase overall effectiveness in an article is to have historical examples. Historical examples are used in logos as well. These set precedence and can also make readers draw on experiences (Ancient Rhetorics 148). Landrieu references a levee that was created in the Netherlands. She explains that the world’s strongest levee system resulted from the flood in 1953. She uses this example in comparison to Louisiana and future possibilities.

Supporting Evidence (Induction and Deduction)
Induction
Induction is the type of reasoning that moves from specific facts to a general conclusion. When you use induction in your paper, you will state your thesis (which is actually the conclusion you have come to after looking at all the facts) and then support your thesis with the facts. The following is an example of induction taken from Dorothy U. Seyler’s Understanding Argument:
Facts:
There is the dead body of Smith. Smith was shot in his bedroom between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., according to the coroner. Smith was shot with a .32 caliber pistol. The pistol left in the bedroom contains Jones’s fingerprints. Jones was seen, by a neighbor, entering the Smith home at around 11:00 p.m. the night of Smith’s death. A coworker heard Smith and Jones arguing in Smith’s office the morning of the day Smith died.

Conclusion:
Jones killed Smith.
Here, then, is the example in diagram form:
Conclusion: Jones killed Smith
Support: Smith was shot by Jones’ gun, Jones was seen entering the scene of the crime, Jones and Smith argued earlier in the day Smith died.
Assumption: The facts are representative, not isolated incidents, and thus reveal a trend, justifying the conclusion drawn.
With induction, we start with specific facts, note them, and move to a general conclusion. To convince your readers to believe your thesis, you will present specific, supporting evidence. You can read some good examples of supporting evidence in the student example above. The following table outlines the type of detail in evidence and how it relates to grades:
Vague, unclear evidence = 'C' or 'C-' (usually written on the first few drafts)
More detailed evidence, more specific = 'B' or 'B+' (written during continuing revision)
Detailed evidence, specific examples = 'A' (written on fourth or fifth draft)

Deduction
When you use deduction in an argument, you begin with general premises and move to a specific conclusion. There is a precise pattern you must use when you reason deductively. This pattern is called syllogistic reasoning (the syllogism). Syllogistic reasoning (deduction) is organized in three steps:

1. Major premise

2. Minor premise

3. Conclusion
In order for the syllogism (deduction) to work, you must accept that the relationship of the two premises lead, logically, to the conclusion. Here are two examples of deduction or syllogistic reasoning:
Socrates:
Major premise⎯All men are mortal

Minor premise⎯Socrates is a man

Conclusion⎯Socrates is mortal
Lincoln:
Major premise⎯People who perform with courage and clear purpose in a crisis are great leaders.

Minor premise⎯Lincoln was a person who performed with courage and a clear purpose in a crisis.

Conclusion⎯Lincoln was a great leader.
So in order for deduction to work in the example involving Socrates, you must agree that 1) all men are mortal (they all die); and 2) Socrates is a man. If you disagree with either of these premises, the conclusion is invalid. The example using Socrates isn’t so difficult to validate. But when you move into more murky water (when you use terms such as courage, clear purpose, and great), the connections get tenuous.
For example, some historians might argue that Lincoln didn’t really shine until a few years into the Civil War, after many Union losses to Southern leaders such as Robert E. Lee.
The following is a more clear example of deduction gone awry:
Major premise⎯All dogs make good pets.
Minor premise⎯Doogle is a dog.
Conclusion⎯Doogle will make a good pet.

If you don’t agree that all dogs make good pets, then the conclusion that Doogle will make a good pet is invalid.
Enthymemes
When a premise in a syllogism is missing, the syllogism becomes an enthymeme. Enthymemes can be very effective in argument, but they can also be unethical and lead to invalid conclusions. Authors often use enthymemes to persuade audiences. The following is an example of an enthymeme:
If you have a plasma TV, you are not poor.
The first part of the enthymeme (If you have a plasma TV) is the stated premise. The second part of the statement (you are not poor) is the conclusion. So the unstated premise is “Only rich people have plasma TVs.” The enthymeme above leads us to an invalid conclusion (people who own plasma TVs are not poor) because there are plenty of people who own plasma TVs who are poor. Let’s look at this enthymeme in a syllogistic structure:
Major premise⎯People who own plasma TVs are rich (unstated above).
Minor premise⎯You own a plasma TV.
Conclusion⎯You are not poor.


Rebuttal Sections
In order to present a fair and convincing message, you may need to anticipate, research, and outline some of the common positions (or arguments) that dispute your thesis. If the situation (purpose) calls for you to do this, you will present and then refute these other positions in the rebuttal section of your essay. Following the TTEB method outlined above, forecast all the information that will follow in the rebuttal section and then move point by point through the other positions addressing each one as you go. The outline below is an example of a rebuttal section from a thesis essay.

When you rebut or refute an opposing position, use the following three-part organization:

a. The opponent’s argument – Usually, you should not assume that your reader has read or remembered the argument you are refuting. Thus at the beginning of your paragraph, you need to state, accurately and fairly, the main points of the argument you will refute.
b. Your position – Next, make clear the nature of your disagreement with the argument or position you are refuting. Your position might assert, for example, that a writer has not proved his assertion because he has provided evidence that is outdated, or that the argument is filled with fallacies.
c. Your refutation – The specifics of your counterargument will depend upon the nature of your disagreement. If you challenge the writer’s evidence, then you must present the more recent evidence. If you challenge assumptions, then you must explain why they do not hold up. If your position is that the piece is filled with fallacies, then you must present and explain each fallacy.


Conclusions
Conclusions wrap up what you have been discussing. They outline what you wrote in your introduction and body, restating the main points. Here is the conclusion from the example in A Writer’s Reference on educating the children of illegal immigrants:
Do we really want thousands of uneducated children growing up on the streets, where we have little control over them? Surely not. The lure of the streets is powerful enough already. Only by inviting all children into safe and nurturing and intellectually engaging schools can we combat that power. Our efforts will be well worth the cost.
Here is the conclusion from the student example above that analyzed the rhetorical strategies in the Washington Post article:
Based on Landrieu’s purpose and audience and how she organized and explained her arguments, this article was very effective. Ethos, pathos, and logos, the three elements of the rhetorical triangle, work well together in this article. She uses descriptive statistics to build the logos; she draws on the emotions of her audience building the pathos; and she shows her intelligence and displays good character which builds her ethos. Introducing her conclusion and then logically showing why it is true is a good form of induction. With all the facts in her case, it is clear to follow the inductive reasoning. Because Landrieu is a published author, she does not use many logical fallacies, and therefore, has a more effective article. Landrieu organized and presented her arguments well according to her targeted audience. The structure of the document and the formation of the arguments can be crucial to its overall effectiveness. Many elements can collectively make a piece of writing more persuasive.