[This is the second installment of a series. To view Part I, click here]

Previously, I discussed the “skeleton” of the term paper: the outline. Knowing the outline, though, can only get you so far. After all, the outline is generic; what your term paper has to offer needs to be unique. The goal of every academic paper is to find answers to a question that has never been asked before. You’re looking to fill an academic hole, so to speak.

Of course it’s difficult to be entirely original; almost every topic in this world has been discussed somehow. Like a good investigative researcher, however, your must find a different angle to study these topics. If your research topic is the exact duplicate of a previous study, with the same focus and concept, you’re committing intellectual redundancy. That’s assuming that you’re not actually plagiarizing, of course, and that the duplication is an accident.

There is a special room for plagiarists in hell. Remember that.

Threats of fire and brimstone aside, I cannot emphasize the importance of uniqueness enough. You want a term paper that’ll bring something new to the table. That’s the goal of academic research.

This brings us to the very core of the term paper: the thesis statement. A lot of people find it difficult to grasp what the thesis statement, let alone know how to write it. When you’re writing a thesis, this is usually the answer to your Statement of the Problem section. Yes. In the Social Sciences, you need to have the entire equation down pat, even before you start writing.

It’s like the hypothesis, except that you won’t have any of the “null, positive, negative” stuff to deal with. It’s just one central statement. This is what you think is the core of your paper; the anchor that’ll hold everything together.

The importance of the thesis statement can be seen in its influence on every single part of your paper. With the outline, you simply use the same framework that everyone else uses. It’s the thesis statement that breathes life into your bag of bones.

The very title of your paper is anchored on your thesis statement. The entire introduction relies on it, too, not to mention the body and the conclusion. It’s the central thought that you must find before you begin doing anything else.

So, given the importance of the thesis statement, how exactly do you write it?

First of all, the thesis statement must specifically embody the entirety of your paper. To put it simply, anyone who reads your thesis statement should gain a good understanding of what your paper is about. This must encapsulate the entirety of the paper. It’s practically your paper’s conclusion. Let’s look at this example.

Topic: Beijing Olympics and China’s Bid for Soft Power Hegemony

Thesis Statement: Although the successful completion of the Beijing Olympics will undoubtedly improve China’s international image, other factors such as China’s human rights issues and support for dictatorial governments will certainly negate the country’s bid for Soft Power Hegemony.

You want to be as specific as possible. With the example above, I covered the entirety of the paper already. It answers the question: how will the Beijing Olympics affect China’s bid for Soft Power Hegemony? Already, you see the very body of the paper, how it will all flow to the conclusion. There is the concession that yes, the Beijing Olympics will help improve China’s international image, but overall, China’s other actions still affect the country’s bid to be the next hegemon.

From this statement, you can now formulate your title, the Statement of the Problem and pretty much the entire introduction. Also, with these statement, you can now proceed to flesh out your outline.

Don’t be afraid to make the thesis statement long. Some papers even have entire paragraphs as their thesis statements. Your goal here is to completely flesh out the idea of your paper. It’s the central thought; the key to everything in your study. You have to make it as complete and specific as possible.

Lastly, the thesis statement should be found in your introduction, preferably as the last sentence of the first paragraph, or the first sentence of the second paragraph. This doesn’t have to be followed strictly, as long as you keep the thesis statement easy to find in your paper’s introduction.

Till the next installment in this series,

XOXO,