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How to Create an Effective Thesis Statement in 5 Easy Steps

Creating a thesis statement can be a daunting task. It’s one of the most important sentences in your paper, and it needs to be done right. But don’t worry — with these five easy steps, you’ll be able to create an effective thesis statement in no time.

Step 1: Brainstorm Ideas

The first step is to brainstorm ideas for your paper. Think about what you want to say and write down any ideas that come to mind. This will help you narrow down your focus and make it easier to create your thesis statement.

Step 2: Research Your Topic

Once you have some ideas, it’s time to do some research on your topic. Look for sources that support your ideas and provide evidence for the points you want to make. This will help you refine your argument and make it more convincing.

Step 3: Formulate Your Argument

Now that you have done some research, it’s time to formulate your argument. Take the points you want to make and put them into one or two sentences that clearly state what your paper is about. This will be the basis of your thesis statement.

Step 4: Refine Your Thesis Statement

Once you have formulated your argument, it’s time to refine your thesis statement. Make sure that it is clear, concise, and specific. It should also be arguable so that readers can disagree with it if they choose.

Step 5: Test Your Thesis Statement

The last step is to test your thesis statement. Does it accurately reflect the points you want to make? Is it clear and concise? Does it make an arguable point? If not, go back and refine it until it meets all of these criteria.

Creating an effective thesis statement doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With these five easy steps, you can create a strong thesis statement in no time at all.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

Information on Thesis Proposals

Creating a Thesis Committee

The first step in creating a thesis committee is for a committee chair or advisor to agree to supervise your thesis. Minimally, the committee chair must be a tenured or tenure-track faculty of the CSULB Philosophy Department. Your committee must additionally consist of at least two other faculty members, at least one of whom must also be a tenured or tenure-track faculty of the CSULB Philosophy Department. The department strongly recommends that your third member also be tenured or tenure-track in Philosophy, although it’s possible for the third member to be a part-time faculty member or a person with appropriate qualifications from another university department or another university. Please consult with your committee chair in determining appropriate persons to invite to serve on your committee. (Although many part-time lecturers in the department are generous in volunteering their time for committee service, we request that you remember that the University does not compensate them for it, and most have heavy teaching scheduleshere and on other campuses.) Your committee must be approved by the department.

Writing Your Thesis Proposal

The goal of your thesis proposal is to present the tenured and tenure-track faculty members of the department with a general outline of your intended thesis project together with a brief justification of its merit as a research project warranting a master’s degree. Take as your goal the creation of a concise, well-written document clearly articulating your project and its relationship to the philosophical literature. In general you should aim for 6-8 pages of text and a bibliography of 1-2 pages. A good thesis proposal will have three elements: (1) A clear and concise statement of the position you intend to articulate and defend in the thesis. (2) A well-researched statement relating your position to the philosophical literature indicating how your position connects with important thought on the subject by other philosophers. (3) An outline of how exactly you intend to structure your exposition in the thesis. This outline should present a chapter-by-chapter account, indicating how each chapter relates to the overall project.

The best strategy for writing your thesis proposal is to start early and interact regularly with your committee. Your committee is your resource for advice and feedback on your proposal while you develop it. The director of your committee is responsible for deciding when the proposal is ready for review, and the committee members must agree. Your committee members are also the ones who will present the proposal and defend it to the department. Thus, the more constructive interaction you have with them while writing the proposal the better. It is important to note that a student cannot submit a proposal to the department on his/her initiative without the approval of the thesis committee.

Some Common Proposal Difficulties

Writing a book report: Your thesis should make a modest contribution to the philosophical literature. A mere summary of the positions and arguments is inadequate. There are many ways you can contribute to philosophical thought: Your contribution could consist of finding a significant thesis or type of argument to constructively criticize. You could find an original extension of, or argument for, another person’s theory. You can develop a critical discussion of a view’s underlying methodological, epistemic, or ontological commitments. You can explore what is really at stake in a philosophical debate or the implications of a view. You can propose a useful organization of the positions in a debate. Whatever you choose, it must signify a step forward – an original contribution – albeit a modest one.

Cutting from whole cloth: While your thesis should contain your contribution to philosophical thinking on your thesis topic, your thesis is unlikely to introduce a totally novel and important way to conceive of or solve a problem in philosophy. Good research in philosophy is almost always grounded in a thorough understanding of the ways in which other people have thought about a philosophical topic or problem. Your thesis should build on the tradition.

Rushing to market: Think of your proposal as something that will take numerous drafts and some serious research to complete. Don’t try to slap together a document in order to meet a deadline. The timeline of an advanced degree is dictated exclusively by the amount of time it takes you to acquire and demonstrate a high level of competence in the field. When your proposal is ready for departmental review, you should be well on your way to writing the thesis itself.

Technical language: In general, it is better to state your thesis without technical language for a couple of reasons. First, expressing your project without reliance on technical jargon is an indicator that you have a good grasp of the issues. Second, not everyone in the department will necessarily be familiar with the terms you use. Of course, sometimes it is important to refer to technical terms in framing a view or problem. When you use technical language, you should always explicate its meaning.

Long historical exegesis: When relating your thesis topic to the philosophical literature the most important facts to include are the ones that indicate how your project connects to recent work on the topic. A proposal need not contain a lengthy synopsis of the history of your topic.

Personal histories: However you came to your topic, that story is not relevant to assessing its philosophical merit or its viability as a thesis project.

Submitting Your Thesis Proposal

Once your advisor and all committee members have accepted your proposal, the next step is for your proposal to be submitted to the department for review. Both your proposal and your thesis committee will be reviewed (solely) by tenured and tenure-track members of the department, and will be voted upon at a faculty meeting.

To prepare your proposal, first add a cover sheet including the title, the date, and the names of your committee members with the advisor identified and listed first. Each member of the committee will sign the cover sheet of your proposal, so include a signature line for each member. Once you have collected the committee signatures, you should prepare hard copies of your proposal for distribution to the faculty mailboxes in MHB seven days before the meeting where your proposal will be considered. (Under some circumstances, electronic distribution of your proposal may be possible; please consult your thesis advisor). All the tenured and tenure-track members of the department must receive a copy of your proposal.

Please note that you are responsible for all printing and photocopying of your proposal. The Department does not provide photocopying services for students for this or other purposes.

Some Example Thesis Proposals

Example 1: Back to the Future: Natural Law and the Original Meaning of the Alien Tort Claims Act

Example 2: Conceivability and Possibility Studies in Frege and Kripke

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The application package for a Research Masters or a PhD in philosophy should contain apreliminary research proposal. If accepted, students then have six months from first registration to produce a full research proposal for submission to the Humanities Faculty office.

The Preliminary Research proposal

The preliminary research proposal is for the department’s postgraduate committee, who will use it in the course of assessing your application. The aim of the assessment is to consider whether you have the necessary philosophical background and abilities to facilitate successful studies with us, and whether we have sufficient expertise in your area of interest to be able to supervise your research. The preliminary research proposal is a critical aid in helping us make that decision, and no application for a research-based degree will be considered without such a proposal.

We are aware that producing this proposal takes time. Further, we are also aware that many people do not have a clearly defined research project at the outset of their studies, and that typically the first few months of research aims to clarify just that. We thus do not hold you to following this preliminary research proposal. We ask you to provide one nonetheless, for three reasons. First, it allows us to assess your ability to conceive of a research project. Second, it provides us with a clear sense of your research interests. Third, the proposal will provide the basis for initial discussions with your research supervisor if you are accepted.

The preliminary research proposal is usually between 1-2 typed pages, and should include the following sections:

1. A title that gives a clear idea of what your thesis may be about.

2. A statement of the research problem you have identified and wish to explore in the thesis.

3. A rationale that explains why the research problem arises or is of interest.

4. A sample bibliography that provides a sense of other thinkers who have written in this area and you take to be relevant to your project.

Before applying, check out the research interests of staff members listed in the Postgraduate Handbook. If there is no one listing interests in your area, then there is little point in applying. If there are, then please do not contact them directly at the outset. Rather, complete the preliminary research proposal along with your application. This will be assessed by a suitable staff member with expertise in this area, who will only contact you should they require further clarification.

The Full Research proposal

Within six months of registration you will be asked to produce a full research proposal. This gets submitted to the Faculty Office and the title gets officially registered by the University. The Faculty have produced a formal guide for such proposals. Their guide is reproduced below, modified so that it is suitable for philosophical research.

A research proposal is a plan of action; it sets out the aims of your research project and how you intend to achieve these aims. The proposal for a Master’s thesis is usually between 3 and 6 typed pages; that for a Doctoral thesis, between 6 and 12 pages. The following headings are intended to assist you in writing a proposal. You may find that in writing your proposal, you want to use different headings, and order your account differently. This is perfectly in order, as long as the basic issues set out here are covered.

1. TITLE : As indicated above, the title of your thesis will be registered, so the title needs to be brief and descriptive. It should provide a fairly clear idea of what your thesis is about.

2. RESEARCH QUESTION : A thesis or dissertation is the investigation of a problem. This research problem or question provides the focus for the entire project. What is it that you wish to investigate? Can you specify crisply the question (or problem) that your thesis sets out to address? You should aim to state a single research question, which you may then choose to flesh out through a number of sub-questions. Bear in mind that a dissertation (PhD, Masters, mini or full) should be a well-contained, tightly-focused and coherent piece of work that examines an issue in some depth.

3. RATIONALE : Having identified the question or problem you wish to address through your research project, you need to say something about how/why this question has arisen. For some students, the research project emerges out of a theoretical interest, for others it emerges out of issues of practice. Whatever the case, you should signal briefly why you have chosen the question that you have, and what contribution you think the completed research project might make to our understanding of the field.

4. LITERATURE REVIEW : When you have registered your proposal and got into the swing of the research project, you will need to undertake a thorough review of the literature pertaining to your research question. For the purposes of the research proposal, you need to have read sufficiently in the field to justify your research question (Why is it important? Have other academics taken up this question in the same or similar ways? How do current debates in your own field of study bear on your research question? Your literature review must assist you in addressing these issues. It will provide information on how your own, or related, research questions have been investigated by other academics in your own (and other, related) fields. It will also provide you with resources to build your own conceptual framework. The literature review thus has two broad aims, to familiarise you with both the theoretical and empirical work which can inform your study.

5. TIME LINE : Try and develop a plan of work for the completion of your thesis, so that you set aside time for conducting a literature review and writing up the report. This will assist you in pacing your progress through the thesis, and also in planning a manageable project.

6. SAMPLE BIBLIOGRAPHY : The last part of your research proposal should contain a sample bibliography. This provides a guide to reading you have already done, or plan to do, in developing your research project. Put down the key theoretical and methodological texts you have drawn on, or intend to draw on, as well as that literature, both theoretical and empirical, which bears on your own study. The sample bibliography should not be longer than a page.

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Guidelines for Master's Proposals and Theses

Before signing up for PHIL 799 Thesis, students must have a thesis proposal, a thesis director and a thesis committee.

MA Thesis Proposal Approval Form - This form must be filed in the Philosophy Department before the student is permitted to register for PHIL 799.

Time lines for thesis submission:

Student must submit a final draft to committee members 6 weeks before the library due date.
Committee members must return this draft to the student with comments and proposed revisions (if there are any) within 2 weeks of receiving the final draft.
Student must send a final version which takes account of comments and proposed revisions to committee members within 2 weeks of receiving the committee’s comments.
At this time the committee either accepts or rejects the thesis
The thesis will be expected to be between 40-80 pages to be determined by the director.
The thesis will be expected to be of high quality as reflected in the clarity of the writing, the cogency of the argument, the thoroughness of the research

Checklist for Planning your Thesis (Prior to PHIL 799 Registration)

When you are developing your proposal with your thesis director, discuss your ideas for a thesis as well as the best choice of research methodology.
Consult with your advisor about whom you should ask to serve on your thesis committee. Begin talking about your ideas with potential committee members.
Start working on your written proposal.
Confirm, with each member of committee, the feasibility of your tentative time line for completion of the thesis.
Make adjustments for the times they are unavailable. Include consideration of deadlines for graduation applications, changes of grade, etc.
Give your committee members plenty of time to review drafts of your proposal and your project or thesis.

Thesis Proposal

Your thesis proposal is developed in consultation with—and must be approved by—your three-person committee before starting your first semester of PHIL 799.

Your thesis director and at least one other member of your committee must be members of the GMU Philosophy faculty and must be GMU full-time faculty.

To prepare the proposal, you may wish to sign up for an independent study course under the direction of your selected thesis advisor in the semester prior to your first semester of PHIL 799.

Writing a detailed thesis proposal is the key to successful and timely completion of work. A discussion of ideas with each committee member prior to writing the proposal will help clarify the approach to be taken.

The thesis proposal should include the following:

A detailed description of the research problem or hypothesis to be addressed in a thesis, including an explanation of the appropriate methodology to be used
A substantial, preliminary literature review of the current and past research related to the chosen topic, and the additional sources to be examined and presented in the final thesis
A detailed explanation of the reasons for choosing the topic and how it relates to the student’s philosophical education
A time line for completion of the thesis that has been coordinated with the committee members, prior to the proposal submission

The proposal is generally 5-15 pages, including:

cover sheet
table of contents
brief explanation of the elements of the thesis, including a list of relevant courses you have taken
rationale for the study; the purpose of doing the research
literature review of the research related to your topic
research question/hypothesis
methodology section explaining how your research will be carried out (this will include the systematic collection of evidence and evidence)
annotated bibliography
timeline for completion

The thesis committee will request revisions to the proposal if these criteria have not been met or clearly conveyed. Proposals containing grammatical errors or poor writing will not be approved. Students must fulfill these requirements and their proposals must be approved before registering for a second semester of PHIL 799.

A thesis is original, independent research presented in the form of a scholarly document that has the potential to be published in a professional journal. A thesis is an unbiased examination of a research hypothesis followed by analysis and presentation of conclusions. The thesis will include a complete bibliography and documentation of source material within the text. A thesis is focused on issues of significance to the field(s) of interest chosen by the student. Academic research involves posing a question or hypothesis and using appropriate methodology to prove or disprove the proposed hypothesis.

Theses—General Guidelines

Thesis prerequisites are completion of 24 credits toward the MA in philosophy, approval of the thesis proposal by the thesis committee, and permission of instructor (thesis director).

Theses are graded S (Satisfactory) or NC (No Credit). The director may grant an IP (In Progress) grade during the first semester of PHIL 799 if the proposal is not completed within one semester. The director may grant an IP (in progress) grade if the thesis is not completed within the second semester of PHIL 799.

George Mason graduate policy requires all students enrolled in PHIL 799 to maintain continuous enrollment in at least one credit (PHIL 799) per semester while working on a project or thesis. Continuous enrollment does not apply to the summer session unless the student anticipates graduating in that session.

Theses must meet university standards for formatting and submission. For more information about thesis formatting and submission, students should contact the Dissertation/Thesis Service coordinator (C203 Fenwick Library or 703.993.2222). A collection of completed theses can be found at the Fenwick Library. Students are advised to consult the University Dissertation & Thesis Service (UDTS) .

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Philosophy Research Proposals Samples For Students

30 samples of this type

Do you feel the need to examine some previously written Research Proposals on Philosophy before you begin writing an own piece? In this free collection of Philosophy Research Proposal examples, you are given an exciting opportunity to discover meaningful topics, content structuring techniques, text flow, formatting styles, and other academically acclaimed writing practices. Using them while composing your own Philosophy Research Proposal will definitely allow you to finish the piece faster.

Presenting high-quality samples isn't the only way our free essays service can aid students in their writing endeavors – our experts can also create from point zero a fully customized Research Proposal on Philosophy that would make a genuine foundation for your own academic work.

Gustav Klimt Faculty Painting Research Proposals Example

Gustav Klimt is well remembered for the immense role he played in shaping painting. In particular, the series of paintings he did on University of Vienna’s ceiling in the Great Hall stand out as his best work. These paintings on the ceiling of the university addressed the fields of medicine, philosophy and jurisprudence (Klimt, 23). However, he would later be attacked for pornography allegations in the paintings. Because of this, the paintings were not displayed in the university (Klimt, 34). This paper analyzes the paintings that caused controversy in his life (philosophy, jurisprudence and medicine).

The Research Project Research Proposal Examples

Doctor candidate:.

Philosophy of Transformation: Differentiation or Subtraction Summary in Key Words Philosophy of transformation; Deleuze; Badiou; differentiation, subtraction, (re-, de-) territorialization; folding; plane of consistency; events (interventions); truth procedure; subject; the capitalism; the democratic materialism

Summary of the Theme and the Aim of the Project

Example of process theory research proposal, research paper proposal on process theology.

The importance of research being done in this branch of religion is so as to clearly bring out the relationship that exists between religious thoughts and the dynamic aspects of human life2. Additionally it brings out the relationship and comparisons that exist between traditions and religious practices. Several studies have shown that there exists a strong and inseparable relationship between traditions and contemporary religion. Historically, process theology has aroused various opinions from various schools of thought3. It is generally accepted that process theology originated from Europe, especially Great Britain and spread out through to the United States.

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Assessing The Feasibility Of Opening An Hm Store In Almaty Kazakhstan Research Proposal Examples

Assessing the feasibility of opening an h and m store in almaty, kazakhstan 1.

Abstract 2 1. Introduction 5 1.1 Introduction 5 2. Problem /Opportunity 7 2.1 Business problem (opportunity) 7 2.2 Research Question 8 2.3 Research Purpose 8 2.4 Research Objectives 8 2.5 Research Scope 8 3. Literature Review 10 4. Proposed Methodology 13 4.1 Research Methodology 13 4.2 Ethical Considerations 17 5. Project Work Plan and Deliverables 18

References ... Read more Business Education Marketing Company Commerce Trade Study Information Store Data Philosophy Finance 12 Pages Draw Topic & Writing Ideas From This Research Proposal On Lord Of The Flies

Golding, W. (1954). Lord of the Flies. New York, NY: Penguin. (Pp. 1-297)

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Ideology and religion in the life of a samurai, good research proposal about wabi sabi the japanese art, refurbishing.

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Introduction

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Literature review

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Relationship Between Depression And Suicide Among Youth: A Sample Research Proposal For Inspiration & Mimicking

Purpose of the study.

The purpose of this study is to find the connection between depression and suicide among youth, identify the percentage of young people that are affected by the depressive disorder and the percentage of those suffering from depression that have suicidal intentions. It is important to study this issue because mental illness and following suicide attempts is a wide-spread complicated problem all around the world nowadays.

Research Question/Hypothesis

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How to write a research proposal

You will need to submit a research proposal with your PhD application. This is crucial in the assessment of your application and it warrants plenty of time and energy.

Your proposal should outline your project and be around 1,500 words.

Your research proposal should include a working title for your project.

Overview of the research

In this section, you should provide a short overview of your research. You should also state how your research fits into the research priorities of your particular subject area.

Here you can refer to the research areas and priorities of a particular research grouping or supervisor.

You must also state precisely why you have chosen to apply to the discipline area and how your research links into our overall profile.

Positioning of the research

This should reference the most important texts related to the research, demonstrate your understanding of the research issues, and identify existing gaps (both theoretical and practical) that the research is intended to address.

Research design and methodology

This section should identify the information that is necessary to carry out the analysis and the possible research techniques that could deliver the information.

Your research proposal will be used to assess the quality and originality of your ideas, whether you are able to think critically and whether you have a grasp of the relevant literature. It also gives us important information about the perspectives you intend to take on your research area, and how you fit into the department's research profile overall. This is helpful when assigning a supervisor.

Flexibility

You will not be forced to follow the proposal exactly once you have started to study. It is normal for students to refine their original proposal, in light of detailed literature review, further consideration of research approaches and comments received from your supervisors (and other academic staff).

Pitfalls to avoid

We sometimes have to reject students who meet the academic requirements but have not produced a satisfactory research proposal, therefore:

Make sure that your research idea, question or problem is very clearly stated and well-grounded in academic research.
Make sure that your proposal is well focused and conforms exactly to the submission requirements described here.
Poorly specified, jargon-filled or rambling proposals will not convince us that you have a clear idea of what you want to do.

The University uses electronic systems to detect plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice and for assessment. All Humanities PhD programmes require the submission of a research proposal as part of the application process. The Doctoral Academy upholds the principle that where a candidate approaches the University with a project of study, this should be original. While it is understandable that research may arise out of previous studies, it is vital that your research proposal is not the subject of plagiarism.

Find a supervisor

Exploring our research specialisms will help you to match your proposal idea with a suitable supervisor.

Current PhD students

Get inspiration from some of our current students about the types of research topics you can pursue.

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Research Methods in Philosophy - How to Write a Research Proposal

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Valerie Fleming

Aksha Memon

A research proposal is a pre-written document which gives an overview of the research tactics. It gives a general idea of the objectives to be achieved and the ways and means to achieve it. Writing research proposal is however a challenging feat. Due to lack of clear guidance from any source, there are many substandard research proposals which are placed before evaluation committee. The researcher came across various people who had no clear understanding of the process and structure of research proposal or research design. This problem has led the researcher to develop a framework to guide the prospective researchers in framing their research design based on the following research questions.1) what is the procedure of writing the research proposal 2) what are the components of the research proposal.So, to give a clear picture about the problem the paper is divided into two parts I) Procedure of writing the research proposal II) Components of the research proposal. The procedure for writing the research proposal is discussed with regards to: 1) Identifying the problem 2) Deciding on the topic 3) Deciding the locale of study 4) Deciding on the data needs 5) Planning the source of data collection 6) Plotting down ways to collect data 7) Identifying methods for analyzing data collection 8) Establishing a basis for designing the Proposal. While the components of research proposal are discussed with regards to : 1) Cover page 2) Abstract 3) Keywords 4) Introduction 5) Review of literature 6) Statement of problem 7) Objectives of the study 8) Hypothesis of the study 9) Period of study 10) Methodology 11) Data analysis 12) Limitation of the study 13) Chapter framework 14) References 15) Appendices.

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