Thesis

1
Thesis

• What is a thesis?
• A thesis statement declares what you believe and
  what you intend to prove. A good thesis statement
  makes the difference between a thoughtful
  research project and a simple retelling of facts.
• A good tentative thesis will help you focus your
  search for information. But don't rush! You must
  do a lot of background reading before you know
  enough about a subject to identify key or
  essential questions. You may not know how you
  stand on an issue until you have examined the
  evidence. You will likely begin your research
  with a working, preliminary or tentative thesis
  which you will continue to refine until you are
  certain of where the evidence leads.

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Thesis

• The thesis statement is typically located at the
  end of your opening paragraph. (The opening
  paragraph serves to set the context for the
  thesis.)
• Remember, your reader will be looking for your
  thesis. Make it clear, strong, and easy to find.

3
Note card

• Media Statistics A1
• 60 of Twitter users abandon the service after
  one month. (p.10)

4
Bibliography card

• A
• Fitzgerald, Shane. The perils of Wikipedia.
• Upfront. 142 (2009) 5.

5
Note card

• A2
• Quote Wikipedia p.5
• I am 100 percent convinced that if I hadnt come
  forward, he told the Associated Press, that
  quote would have gone down in history as
  something Maurice Jarre said, instead of
  something I made up.

6
preliminary note taking

• As you read, start taking notes of what you're
  learning about your topicconcepts, issues,
  problems, areas where experts agree or disagree.
  Keep track of the bibliographic references for
  the information you're using, and write down a
  note or two of what's contained in the book,
  article, Website, etc. There's nothing more
  frustrating than knowing you read something
  earlier about a particular point and not being
  able to locate it again when you decide it's
  something you need.

7
Gather a Focus

• While you're learning about your topic,
  intentionally look for possible focuses in the
  material. You could spend enormous amounts of
  time reading, especially about an interesting
  topic, without being any closer to a focus unless
  you purposefully keep that goal in your mind
  while you read.

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Choosing a focus or combining themes to form a
focus

• Try your choices of focus on for "size" as you
  did your topic. Which ones fit the assignment,
  the size, scope and type of the paper? Think
  about which of your possible focuses has the best
  chance for making a successful A paper. If you
  find several themes within your topic which each
  are too small to support the entire paper, can
  they be combined to form a focus?

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• Gathering Information
• Goal Gathering information which clarifies and
  supports your focus.

10
Start organizing your notes

• Start organizing your notes into logical groups.
  You may notice a gap in your research, or a more
  heavy weighting to one aspect of the subject than
  what you had intended. Starting to organize as
  you gather information can save an extra trip to
  the library. It's better to find the gap now
  instead of the night before your paper is due
  (obviously!).