What	  Is	  A	  Thesis	  Statement	  And	  How	  To	  Build	  One	  From	  Scratch
Paul	  W.	  L.	  LaiCopyright 2011

III. How	  To	  Build	  A	  Preliminary	  Thesis	  Statement	  From	  Scratch	  	  	  	  	  Unlike	   many	   other	   teaching	   methodologies	   of	   academic	   writing	   (citation	  here),	   we	   asked	   our	   students	   to	   make	   the	   building	   of	   a	   thesis	   statement	   the	   very	  first	  thing	  to	  do	  in	  writing	  an	  academic	  paper.	  No	  doubt,	  the	  building	  of	  a	  thesis	  statement	   cannot	   be	   fully	   completed	   until	   the	   entire	   paper	   is	   completed,	   for	   it	  may	   have	   to	   be	   modified	   whenever	   some	   new	   information	   is	   discovered	   in	   the	  process	   of	   writing.	   However,	   if	   one	   did	   not	   begin	   writing	   a	   paper	   with	   a	  reasonably	   clear	   thesis	   statement,	   one	   would	   not	   be	   able	   to	   proceed	   with	   a	   clear	  and	   precise	   direction,	   and	   therefore	   would	   not	   be	   able	   to	   write	   effectively	   and	  efficiently.	  	  	  	  	  	  	  The	  following	  are	  the	  practical	  steps	  we	  asked	  students	  to	  take	  in	  building	  a	  preliminary	  thesis	  statement	  from	  scratch.	  
1. Find	   a	   Noun	   or	   Noun	   Phrase	   that	   can	   best	   describe	   the	   main	   topic	   ofyour	  research	  paper.	  	  	  	  	  Step	   1	   enables	   you	   to	   (i)	   build	   the	   central	   idea	   of	   the	   research	   from	   scratch,	  and	   (ii)	   identify	   the	   most	   fundamental	   keyword	   of	   the	   research.	   The	   noun	   or	  noun	   phrase	   should	   be	   broad	   enough	   to	   capture	   the	   whole	   of	   the	   research	  interest	  but	  no	  more.	  	  e.g.	  Human	  Mind.	  
2. Build	  a	  Sentence	  based	  on	  the	  noun	  or	  noun	  phrase	  by	  adding	  a	  verb
or	  predicate.	  	  	  	  	  Step	   2	   enables	   you	   to	   elaborate	   the	   research	   and	   make	   it	   more	   informative.	  
However,	  contrary	  to	  the	  advice	  from	  some	  academic	  writing	  teachers	  [citation	  here],	  it	  is	  not	  encouraged	  to	  make	  the	  sentence	  as	  informative	  as	  possible	  at	  this	  stage.	   A	   research	   direction	   must	   be	   established	   before	   that.	   Without	   the	  direction,	  one	  will	  proceed	  without	  a	  purpose,	  and	  easily	  get	  lost	  in	  the	  details	  of	  information.	  
e.g.	  Human	  mind	  is	  like	  a	  computer.	  
3. Turn	  the	  sentence	  into	  a	  Question	  that	  is	  of	  interest	  to	  you.	  	  	  	  	  Step	   3	   enables	   you	   to	   establish	   a	   direction	   for	   the	   research.	   Research	   is	   by	  nature	  an	  inquiry	  or	  investigation.	  It	  cannot	  get	  started	  without	  a	  question.	  And	  as	   far	   as	   question	   is	   concerned,	   it	   covers	   How,	   Why,	   etc.	   	   The	   direction	   differs	  depending	   on	   the	   question.	   For	   example,	   “Why	   did	   you	   come	   to	   Japan?”	   is	  significantly	  different	  from	  “How	  did	  you	  come	  to	  Japan?”.	  The	  former	  asks	  for	  an	  ‘open’	   explanation	   about	   the	   reason,	   whereas	   the	   latter	   asks	   for	   a	   ‘closed’	  1	  What	  Is	  A	  Thesis	  Statement	  And	  How	  To	  Build	  One	  From	  Scratch
Paul	  W.	  L.	  LaiCopyright 2011

explanation	   about	   the	   procedure	   or	   method.	   Answer	   to	   the	   Why-­‐Question	   is	  usually	  more	  difficult	  than	  the	  How-­‐Question.	  
e.g.	  Why	  is	  human	  mind	  like	  a	  computer?	  
4. Give	  a	  Hypothetical	  Answer	  to	  the	  question.	  	  	  	  	  Step	  4	  enables	  you	  to	  generate	  a	  hypothesis	  for	  the	  research.	  In	  generating	  the	  hypothesis,	  you	  are	  encouraged	  to	  brainstorm	  as	  much	  as	  possible	  by	  providing	  as	   much	   and	   specific	   information	   as	   possible.	   For	   this	   reason,	   the	   hypothetical	  answer	   here	   can	   be	   as	   long	   as	   a	   paragraph,	   although	   one	   is	   not	   encouraged	   to	  write	  more	  than	  that.	  	  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.	  	  5. Summarize	  the	  answer	  into	  just	  One	  Sentence.	  	  	  	  	  Step	  5	  enables	  you	  to	  crystallize	  the	  hypothetical	  answer	  and	  transform	  it	  into	  a	  one-­‐sentence	  thesis	  statement.	  	  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.	  	  	  	  	  Step	   6	   is	   a	   very	   crucial	   step	   in	   the	   process	   of	   building	   a	   preliminary	   thesis	  statement.	  The	  relation	  between	  the	  subject	  and	  predicate	  in	  a	  thesis	  statement	  is	   very	   important.	   The	   clarity	   of	   a	   thesis	   statement	   ultimately	   depends	   on	   the	  clarity	   of	   the	   relation	   presented	   in	   the	   statement,	   which	   serves	   to	   connect	   the	  statement’s	  subject	  and	  predicate	  together.	  If	  the	  relation	  linking	  the	  subject	  and	  predicate	   is	   clear,	   then	   the	   thesis	   statement	   is	   clear.	   If	   the	   relation	   is	   unclear,	  then	  the	  statement	  is	  also	  unclear.	  	  	  	  	  	  	  Furthermore,	   it	   would	   be	   wise	   to	   keep	   the	   relation	   between	   the	   subject	   and	  predicate	  as	  simple	  and	  straightforward	  as	  possible.	  The	  ultimate	  objective	  of	  an	  academic	  paper,	  through	  assembling	  and	  arranging	  the	  premises,	  is	  to	  prove	  that	  the	  relation	  between	  the	  subject	  and	  predicate	  expressed	  in	  a	  thesis	  statement	  is	  true.	   So	   if	   the	   relation	   between	   the	   two	   were	   complicated,	   then	   the	   tasks	   of	  proving	  the	  relation	  would	  also	  become	  complicated.	  	  2	  What	  Is	  A	  Thesis	  Statement	  And	  How	  To	  Build	  One	  From	  Scratch
Paul	  W.	  L.	  LaiCopyright 2011

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	  andpredicate	  of	  the	  thesis	  statement.	  	  	  	  	  Step	   7	   is	   another	   crucial	   step	   in	   the	   process	   of	   building	   a	   preliminary	   thesis	  statement.	  Note	  that	  although	  a	  thesis	  statement	  is	  normally	  written	  in	  just	  one	  sentence,	  it	  by	  no	  means	  suggests	  that	  the	  training	  on	  how	  to	  build	  the	  statement	  only	   requires	   the	   writer	   to	   know	   how	   to	   properly	   construct	   a	   sentence	   in	   a	  grammatical	   sense.	   The	   ambiguities	   in	   question	   are	   associated	   with	   a	   research	  idea	  rather	  than	  merely	  the	  grammatical	  presentation	  of	  the	  idea.	  	  	  	  	  	  	  Indeed,	   during	   the	   early	   stage	   of	   the	   training,	   many	   students	   of	   our	   course	  paid	  attention	  only	  to	  the	  sentence-­‐level	  problem	  in	  building	  a	  thesis	  statement.	  
They	  often	  overlooked	  the	  problems	  that	  arise	  beyond	  the	  sentence	  level,	  e.g.	  the	  ambiguities	   associated	   with	   the	   meaning	   of	   a	   sentence	   or	   sentence	   parts.	   For	  example,	  the	  sentence,	  “The	  bank	  is	  located	  in	  central	  London”,	  is	  grammatically	  correct	  but	  not	  clearly	  specified.	  The	  meaning	  of	  the	  word,	  “bank”,	  is	  tainted	  with	  what	   logicians	   call	   the	  lexical	  ambiguity,1	  since	   it	   can	   refer	   to	   either	   a	   financial	  institution	  or	  a	  river	  bank	  (e.g.	  the	  bank	  of	  Thames	  river).	  	  	  	  	  	  	  In	  the	  elimination	  process,	  you	  are	  also	  required	  to	  eliminate	  vagueness	  of	  the	  statement.	   For	   example,	   the	   sentence,	   “Smoking	   is	   hazardous	   to	   health”,	   is	  correct	  in	  grammar	  but	  vague	  in	  meaning.	  Readers	  of	  this	  sentence	  would	  not	  be	  able	  to	  grasp	  the	  exact	  meaning	  of	  “hazardous”.	  It	  would	  be	  more	  specific	  –	  and	  hence	  suggestive	  –	  if	  the	  sentence	  were	  changed	  into,	  for	  example,	  “Smoking	  is	  likely	  to	  cause	  heart	  disease”.	  
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.	  	  

1	  See	  the	  website,	  “Introduction	  to	  Logic”,	  by	  Oxford	  University.	  http://logic.philosophy.ox.ac.uk	  3