LWPC	  Recipe	  and	  Template	  Series	  –	  stage	  1	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  by	  Paul	  W.	  L.	  Lai	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  Copyright	  2014	  How	  to	  build	  a	  clear	  thesis	  statement	  	  	  Main	  objectives:	  In	   order	   to	   build	   a	   satisfactory	   thesis	   statement,	   you	   are	   required	   to	   develop	  ONE	  SINGLE	  SENTENCE	  that	  fulfills	  the	  following	  conditions:	  	  (i)It	  is	  a	  statement	  (i.e.	  what	  it	  expresses	  is	  either	  true	  or	  false).	  
(ii)
Its	   sentential	   structure	   is	   simple	   or	   non-­‐compound	   (i.e.	   it	   has	   no	  subjunctive	  clause).	  	  Note:	  (i)The	   thesis	   statement	   to	   be	   built	   is	   only	   preliminary.	   Continual	  modifications	   of	   the	   statement	   are	   expected	   throughout	   the	   writing	  process.	  	  
(ii)While	   working	   on	   the	   following	   steps,	   you	   are	   encouraged	   (although	  not	   required)	   to	   interact	   with	   a	   peer	   writer	   in	   order	   to	   make	   your	  writing	  process	  more	  effective	  and	  fruitful.	  	  (iii) After	   completing	   all	   the	   following	   steps,	   there	   is	   a	   checklist	   to	   make	  sure	   that	   you	   have	   completed	   all	   the	   required	   tasks.	   Please	   ask	   your	  peer	  writer	  to	  go	  through	  the	  checklist	  with	  you.	  	  	  Step	  by	  step	  guidance:	  	  1. Find	   a	   Noun	   or	   Noun	   Phrase	   that	   can	   best	   describe	   the	   main	   topic	   of	  your	  research	  paper.	  	  e.g.	  Human	  Mind.	  	  2. Build	  a	  Sentence	  based	  on	  the	  noun	  or	  noun	  phrase	  by	  adding	  a	  verb	  or	  predicate.	  	  e.g.	  Human	  mind	  is	  like	  a	  computer.	  	  3. Turn	  the	  sentence	  into	  a	  Question	  that	  is	  of	  interest	  to	  you.	  	  e.g.	  Why	  is	  human	  mind	  like	  a	  computer?	  	  4. Give	  a	  Hypothetical	  Answer	  to	  the	  question.	  	  	  e.g.	   Human	   mind	   is	   like	   a	   computer	   in	   many	   ways.	   But	   basically,	   they	   are	  the	   same	   in	   how	   they	   process	   symbol-­‐like	   representations	   such	   as	   “2”,	   “=“,	  etc.	  Both	  of	  them	  are	  sensitive	  only	  to	  the	  syntactic	  properties,	  but	  not	  the	  semantic	  properties,	  of	  the	  symbols.	  	  	  1	  LWPC	  Recipe	  and	  Template	  Series	  –	  stage	  1	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  by	  Paul	  W.	  L.	  Lai	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  Copyright	  2014	  How	  to	  build	  a	  clear	  thesis	  statement	  5. Summarize	  the	  Hypothetical	  Answer	  into	  just	  One	  Sentence.	  	  	  	  	  e.g.	   Human	   mind	   is	   like	   a	   computer	   in	   the	   way	   they	   process	   symbol-­‐like	  representations.	  	  6. Modify	   the	   one-­‐sentence	   thesis	   statement	   until	   it	   expresses	   a	   Clear	  Relation	  between	  the	  sentence’s	  Subject	  and	  Predicate.	  	  	  e.g.	   Human	   mind	   and	   computer	   are	   basically	   the	   same	   in	   the	   way	   they	  process	  symbol-­‐like	  representations.	  	  7. Highlight	  and	  eliminate	  the	  Ambiguities	  tainted	  with	  the	  subject	  and	  predicate	  of	  the	  thesis	  statement.	  	  e.g.	   Human	   mind	   and	   computer	   are	   basically	   the	   same	   in	   the	   way	   they	  process	  symbol-­‐like	  representations.	  	  8. A	  preliminary	  thesis	  statement	  is	  formed.	  	  e.g.	   Human	   thinking	   and	   computational	   operations	   work	   in	   basically	   the	  same	  way	  when	  they	  process	  linguistic	  symbols.	  	  	  	  	  	  2	  LWPC	  Recipe	  and	  Template	  Series	  –	  stage	  1	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  by	  Paul	  W.	  L.	  Lai	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  Copyright	  2014	  How	  to	  build	  a	  clear	  thesis	  statement	  	  	  Thesis	  Statement	  Check	  List	  The	  following	  check	  list	  helps	  to	  identify	  if	  your	  main	  research	  idea	  is	  written	  in	  the	  form	  of	  a	  thesis	  statement.	  
(1) Is	  your	  research	  idea	  written	  in	  one	  sentence?	  If	  not,	  why	  can’t	  it?	  	  (2) Does	  the	  sentence	  in	  (1)	  have	  a	  truth-­‐value;	  i.e.	  can	  it	  be	  true	  or	  false?	  	  (3) 	  Can	   the	   sentence	   be	   objectively	   verifiable;	   i.e.	   verifiable	   from	   a	   third-­‐person	  point	  of	  view?	  	  The	   following	   check	   list	   helps	   to	   identify	   if	   your	   thesis	   statement	   is	   a	   clear	   and	  simple	  one.	  
(4) Does	  your	  thesis	  statement	  have	  a	  subject	  and	  predicate?	  	  (5) Can	  you	  easily	  identify	  the	  relation	  between	  the	  subject	  and	  predicate?	  If	  not,	  why	  not?	  	  	  (6) Do	   you	   think	   that	   the	   relation	   between	   the	   subject	   and	   predicate	   is	  straightforward?	  If	  not,	  why	  not?	  	  	  The	  following	  check	  list	  helps	  to	  identify	  if	  your	  thesis	  statement	  is	  a	  good	  one.	  
(7) Is	   your	   thesis	   statement	   trivial,	   in	   the	   sense	   that	   no	   one	   would	   care	   to	  disagree	  with	  it?	  	  (8) Is	  your	  thesis	  statement	  broad,	  in	  the	  sense	  that	  some	  of	  its	  vocabularies	  have	  a	  very	  broad	  meaning?	  	  (9) Does	  it	  contain	  words	  or	  phrases	  that	  are	  ambiguous	  in	  meaning?	  (Note	  that	   it	   is	   okay	   to	   use	   a	   word	   or	   phrase	   that	   has	   multiple	   meanings.	   The	  ambiguity	   is	   caused	   because	   the	   reader	   cannot	   clearly	   see	   which	   one	   of	  the	  meanings	  is	  intended	  by	  the	  author).	  	  	  	  3