Creating Thesis Statements and Abstracts

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Creating Thesis Statements and Abstracts
Presented byRIT Academic Support Center
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Thesis Statements
Creating Thesis Statements
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Purpose
A thesis statement prepares readers to listen to
the ideas, explanations, and evidence that
develop the thesis statement.
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Purpose (cont.)

• Thesis statements provide one or more of the
  following
• Preview and roadmap
• Expectation and interpretation
• Purpose and claim
• Answer (or question)
• Stated conclusion based on evidence
• Anticipated and disproved counter-arguments

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A Thesis Statement Is (and is Not) . . .
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Location, Sentence Type, and Voice

• A thesis statement
• is usually located at the end of the first
  paragraph of a paper.
• is one declarative sentence (and in the active
  voice).
• avoids the first person (e.g., I believe, in my
  opinion).

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Example
Fact or observation Society uses many
computers. Thesis Statement Society is
losing their ability to communicate on a personal
level due to their reliance on computers. For
other examples, refer to http//leo.stcloudstate.
edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html
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Check Your Understanding

• Choose the Best Research Thesis
• http//www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/writerscom
  plex.nsf/3cc42a422514347a8525671d0049f395/11c346d8
  77aed85a852569c300671b2b?OpenDocument

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Checklist for Revising Thesis Statements

• Is your thesis statement
• specific (tells what you want readers to
  understand, know, believe)?
• Does it pass the so-what" test?
• Does it pass the how-and-why test?
• manageable (precise, limited)?
• interesting?

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Check Your Understanding

• Activity Check the strength of your existing
  thesis statements.
• Form groups of three students.
• Share your thesis statements.
• Review the checklist and recommend changes to
  each others statements.
• Select one thesis statement from each group and
  write the original and the revised statement on
  the white board.
• Explain your changes.

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Abstracts
Creating Abstracts
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Thought-provoking Questions

• How many of these questions can you answer
• Why do authors create abstracts?
• What is your goal when you read an abstract?
• How do you determine if an abstract is written
  well?
• How would you go about writing an abstract?
• When (in the writing process) do you write the
  abstract?

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Purpose

• Abstracts
• express the main claim and argument of a paper.
• highlight or review content and scope of the
  writing.
• provide a pre-reading outline of key points.
• help readers decide if they should read an entire
  article.

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Requirement

• Abstracts are required when
• Submitting articles to journals
• Applying for research grants
• Writing a book proposal (and individual chapter
  proposals)
• Completing an MA or Ph.D. dissertation thesis
• Writing a proposal for a conference paper
• Fulfilling an assignment requirement

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Types

• Descriptive abstracts
• introduce the subject to readers, who must then
  read the content.
• include purpose, methods, and scope.
• do not provide results, conclusions, or
  recommendations.
• are very short (usually under 100 words).

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Types (cont.)

• Informative abstracts
• communicate specific information.
• include purpose, methods, and scope.
• provide results, conclusions, and
  recommendations.
• are short (usually 10 or less of the length of
  the original piece).

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Types (cont.)

• Informative abstracts (cont.)
• allow readers to decide whether they want to read
  the report, article, or paper.
• summarize key information from each main section.
• phrase information in a dense, compact way (using
  sentences that are longer than normal that are
  filled with information and key statistical
  detail).

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Main Elements

• Each main element contains one or two sentences
  for each of the following
• Background places work in context
• Aims gives purpose of work
• Method(s) explains what was done
• Results indicates main findings (absolutely
  essential)
• Conclusions gives most important consequence of
  work (telling what results mean)

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Questions Answered

• An abstract answers the following questions
• Why did you do this study or project?
• What did you do, and how?
• What did you find?
• What do your findings mean?

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Qualities

• Well-written abstracts
• use paragraphs that are concise and able to stand
  alone.
• use an introduction/body/conclusion structure
  that presents the background, aims, methods,
  results, and conclusions (in that order).
• strictly follow the chronology of the content.

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Qualities (cont.)

• Well-written abstracts
• provide logical connections between information
  included.
• add no new information simply summarize the
  report.
• is understandable to a wide audience.
• oftentimes use passive verbs to downplay the
  author and emphasize the information.

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What to Avoid

• Since abstracts should be about the research,
  (and not the writing), do not
• begin sentences with "it is suggested that
  (believed that, felt that, or similar).
• end sentences with "is described (reported,
  analyzed, or similar).
• explain the sections or parts of the paper.
• refer to information that is not in the document.

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Methods

• The first method for creating an abstract is cut
  and paste
• Read through the entire paper.
• Cut and paste sentences that particularly capture
  key passages.
• Edit as needed.

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Methods

• The second method for creating an abstract is
  reverse outline
• Make an outline of the paper to serve as a rough
  draft of your abstract.
• Write down the one main idea that is in each
  paragraph.
• Group the main ideas of each section of the paper
  into a single sentence.
• Edit as needed.

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Technique

• To improve your skill of writing good abstracts
• Read a variety of abstracts.
• Read the associated articles.
• Select the best ones -- where the abstract makes
  the article easier to read.
• Identify how the authors do it.

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Checklist for Well-written Abstract

• Does your abstract
• state your thesis and argument clearly in a few
  sentences?
• allow someone who doesn't know the subject be
  able to understand the main idea?
• What else would you add to this list?

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Check Your Understanding

• How many of these thought-provoking questions can
  you answer now
• Why do authors create abstracts?
• What is your goal when you read an abstract?
• How do you determine if an abstract is written
  well?
• How would you go about writing an abstract?
• When do you write the abstract?

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Resources

• Contents adapted from the following websites
  (which are excellent resources for further
  study)
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/
  
• http//www.sdst.org/shs/library/thesis.html
• http//www.olemiss.edu/depts/writing_center/grabst
  ract.html
• http//writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/abst
  ract/pop2b.cfm
• http//www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/abstracts.
  html