Handout. Katherine Schaefer, adapted from Whitney Gegg-Harrison’s original.
Overview: This handout describes the relationship between questions and answers (the thesis). It describes possible ways to formulate and refine a question, develop a tentative thesis, refine the thesis after developing ideas, and evaluate the final thesis.
Uses: This handout works well to help WRT105 students develop question-answer pairs and start to engage with theses as the result of academic argumentation, rather than something that occurs before any exploration has occurred. It also helps students to move from the “…because A, B, and C” theses and move toward theses that connect ideas and show evidence of reasoning. It also works well in upper-level writing, in any discipline that uses thesis-driven genres.
How do I use it in class? I usually introduce this near the beginning of the research project. I ask students to read the handout. I then ask them to evaluate sample theses (including the one given in the handout) for the criteria given on the last page. Finally, I ask students to draft at least two question-thesis pairs relevant to the current stage of their reserach, and often include a mini-peer review of these theses.
The handout can be found at this link.