Develop a Thesis Statement for your Research

Thesis statements are one, or at the most, two sentences that indicate the focus of your research or clearly describe your project. They define the main idea of your project and are used as a tool for organizing your research.

You need to develop a working or preliminary thesis statement to guide your research.

A working thesis statement should be a complete, grammatically correct statement that:

1. Identifies the topic
2. Suggests the organization of the research

For example

This thesis statement implies that this presentation will compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the colonists from different countries.

Formulating a working thesis statement early in the research process can help to limit and direct your research and note taking. However, you should remain flexible and open to change. Often information discovered during your research can lead to a change in emphasis or a different point of view; thus altering the initial thesis statement.

Introduction
Identify Research Ideas
Develop Overview
Organize Research & Write Topic Statement
Narrow or Broaden Topic
Develop Thesis
Develop Questions
End of Module