This page is going to assume that your students (or you, if you're a student) already know some of the basics of writing a thesis--what is it, what it's for, and so on.
I'm building on the work of Timm Frietas here, especially this very helpful video, so please feel free to check out Timm's Garden of English videos for help. |
Providing an Itinerary
An itinerary is basically a list of where you're going and in what order. For example, an itinerary might say, "Sunday: Visit Paris. Monday: Visit Rome. Tuesday-Wednesday: Visit Istanbul." You know that if it's Tuesday, you'll probably be in Istanbul. If it's Monday, you'll be in Rome.
Your thesis allows your readers to get a sense of where you're going with your argument -- that is, what points you're going to bring up, and in what order. It also allows readers to get a sense of the relative importance of things. For example, in the itinerary above, you're spending two days in Istanbul, which means that's pretty important to you. In your thesis, you'll give a sense of that as well. |
Example
Let's say you were writing a rhetorical analysis essay.
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Bottom line, complex ideas require complex sentences.
We signal subordination (lesser importance) by sticking subordinating words in front of our LESS-important idea.
Complex Thesis Formula for AP Language
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