Adding Friction. A Librarian Asks, "How Do I Teach Students to Develop a Thesis?"

A thesis is a statement. Unlike an inquiry question**, a thesis is a firm commitment. Like a road map that gets us from here to home, a thesis clears a path for writing. We can see alternate routes in our GPS, but we choose one based on time, current traffic, the gas gauge, our familiarity with the terrain and, perhaps, the vistas. As one English professor contends, "A thesis makes a lot of information irrelevant" (Simpson, n.d.).

Choices are a motivator but the timing is tricky. If a thesis is framed too early, the pragmatic student will prefabricate a claim. Goodbye inquiry, goodbye engagement. If the thesis comes too late, the student will be stalled in search purgatory. No focus, no route.

Click to Enlarge +Adding Friction. A Librarian Asks, "How Do I Teach Students to Develop a Thesis?"

What is a Thesis Statement?

A thesis is commonly described as a clear, logical, and specific statement of the writer's position. A thesis starts with questions and moves toward a tentative claim that continues to be refined until it can be stated in unambiguous language—a foundation for a coherent argument. Unlike a science hypothesis which predicts a relationship that is tested through observation and experimentation, a thesis states what one intends to conclude about selected evidence

Click to Enlarge +Adding Friction. A Librarian Asks, "How Do I Teach Students to Develop a Thesis?"

"In Identify, students pause to ponder all the ideas that were generated through the first three phases (Open, Immerse, Explore) and examine the resources that they investigated. This pause in the process works to support each student to determine the direction of their research on the topic or question of their choice. After Identify, and through Gather, their question may shift and change slightly as they dig more deeply into a wider array of information that addresses their specific question" (L. Maniotes, personal communication, August 3, 2017).

The yellow area of Figure 1 shows where this common shift occurs. In both the Information Search Process and the Guided Inquiry Design® Process, questions sharpen into a focused claim and relevant information tapers toward justifiable evidence.

Scaffolding Thesis Construction with Stems and Questions

Harvard's Project Zero promotes "Core Routines," or routine use of core questions and reflections to build thinking patterns (http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/visible-thinking). While wondering is essential at some point during the early stages of research, it must give way to focused intentions. Structural scaffolds like sentence stems can direct students toward the wording of their thesis.

Sentence stem: Although/while some_____say/believe/feel that_____, one can oppose or argue that_____because _______shows that_________.

The purpose of a sentence stem is to name the topic, establish a fresh opinion in contrast to others' views, and identify strongly reasoned arguments that bridge the evidence to claims. Alternatively, questions can help a novice create a rough draft of a thesis statement (see figure 2).

John McGarvey (n.d.) follows the acronym TPR (topic, position, rationale) to guide thesis statement creation. Simply switching to a second set of instructions and a different format helped me rethink the wording of my thesis:

Except when there is a need for medical exemptions such as allergic reactions, young children should be required to get the DTP vaccine because measles is a leading cause of death and unvaccinated children undermine society's herd immunity, thereby putting everyone in the community at risk.

Providing Assignments and Models

For novices, consider assigning genres, like a business letter or résumé, with an explicit purpose and audience or an email in which the thesis can be stated in the subject line. In an assignment for a global studies class, a teacher and librarian outline the sections of a required policy paper as follows: "a problem description, review of what's been tried highlighting successes and failures, and a creative and original (to a greater or lesser extent) policy recommendation that considers cost/benefit and likelihood of success." In effect, "the policy IS the thesis" (S. Smith, personal communication, August 3, 2017).

Expose novices to a variety of thesis statements. For example, ask them to read topically related student papers from previous classes or models posted on school sites or from competitions (for examples visit http://noodle.to/sampleessays). Or, provide a short text that argues through several claims but omits both the thesis and concluding paragraph, which the students will add. If students experiment with multiple ways to resolve conflicting information, they are more likely to develop a more nuanced argument in their thesis.

Anticipate Faulty Beliefs and Misconceptions

A thesis is not a statement of opinion, summary of the facts, or description of the paper's purpose. Developing non-examples can provide students with insights on how to strengthen their theses. "Zombie Fallacies" is an activity in which students are asked to use vague or extreme language to develop indefensible assertions that would be difficult to support (Fletcher, 2015, p. 171). For example, use the table below as a handout to help students craft non-examples and a better thesis statement. Then their revised theses can be posted online anonymously in Padlet so the class can critique impartially.

A Metaphor and Other Revision Strategies

After notetaking and outlining, students often need to tighten the relationship of each paragraph to their thesis, eliminating redundant or superfluous information. A subtractive process is described to Stephen King by a newspaper editor: "When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story" (King, 2000, p. 57). Suggest that students think of their thesis like a shish kebab skewer running through the right ingredients, holding paragraphs together (Greene and Lidinsky, 2012, p. 99). Metaphoric thinking can encourage students to sharpen their point or remove extraneous information from their skewer, resulting in a more coherent argument.

Once students have completed a first draft of a paper or project, they can reverse-outline it or use different colors to identify where they are making or rebutting a claim, supporting it with evidence, or reasoning to connect the claim to the evidence. Another strategy for bridging the evidence to the claim explicitly is to summarize the argument orally to a partner while the listener asks for clarification ("Do you mean…?"), or explanation ("Why?"), or justification ("Why does this evidence support…?). After any of these tasks, students will probably make changes to their thesis statement.

Relating Argument Structure to Thesis Statement

Research shows that when students are aware of the structure of an argument, they are better able to evaluate its quality (Britt & Larson, 2003). Prompt that analysis by asking students to identify the structure of their rough draft (Greene and Lidinsky, 2012, pp. 101-103; Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, & Walters, 2013, pp. 201-202, 259-260) and then review and, perhaps, rewrite their thesis statements on the basis of an appropriate sentence stem.

1. Is the student challenging a definition or interpretation? This model reexamines an accepted definition (e.g., vaccines are safe and effective) or interpretation (immunization programs minimize the risks of infectious diseases safely) in order to reveal faulty reasoning or misinterpretation.

Sentence stem: Although _____ state_____, a better definition/interpretation is_____because_____.

Although scientists state that immunization programs prevent epidemics, when talking to vaccine refusers it is better to use evidence from public health reports because these sceptics don't accept the results from scientific studies but believe grassroots accounts.

2. Is the student identifying a gap or modification? This model identifies an important idea that fills in, extends or modifies their experts' arguments.

Sentence stem: Although_____focuses/proposes_____, this misses/or needs to extend or account for_____because_____.

Although U.S. public health campaigns focus on the safety of vaccines, when health officials design global prevention programs they need to account for objections like the mistrust of government and its leaders, the cost of immunization programs or geographic barriers because other countries or regions have different concerns.

3. Is the student developing a causal argument? This model states a cause or string of causes and then examines the actual effects or consequences, or it explores possible consequences from an action, policy, or change (Lunsford et al., 2013, pp. 259-260).

Sentence stem: Significant causes/consequences ___result in_____so this is proposed_____in order to_____.

A significant number of parents refuse immunization (cause) which results in measles outbreaks even among vaccinated adults, so the US government should reduce the number of nonmedical exemptions (proposal) in order to increase the rate of childhood vaccination and protect both children and the larger society from serious but preventable diseases.

Sustained Reflection

Frictional teaching incorporates prompts that motivate students to reflect on their purpose and problems because this is the bedrock upon which a fresh perspective and distinctive voice are built. Teachers and librarians can develop question prompts or use ReflEQ (https://refleq.com), a new online platform, to scaffold and sustain the systematic process of metacognitive connection and engagement.

A thesis statement is crafted in the "combat zone" between the exploratory stage, where disputed ideas jostle for credibility, and the formulation stage, where questioning and gathering are targeted in service of a reasoned claim. Therefore, thesis formation is arguably the single most important component of the research process in which to insert friction, the instructional teaching moves that induce slow thinking and originality.

References (APA style)

Note: A list of vaccine hesitancy sources is available at: http://noodle.to/vaccinethesis

Britt, M. A., & Larson, A. A. (2003). Constructing representations of arguments. Journal of Memory and Language, 48(4), 794-810. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-596X(03)00002-0

Core routines. (n.d.). Retrieved August 4, 2017, from Visible Thinking website: http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03c_CoreRoutines.html

Fletcher, J. (2015). Teaching arguments: Rhetorical comprehension, critique, and response. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Greene, S., & Lidinsky, A. (2012). From inquiry to academic writing: A text and reader (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins.

King, S. (2000). On writing: A memoir of the craft. New York, NY: Scribner.

Kuhlthau, C. C. (2004). Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Kuhlthau, C. C., Maniotes, L. K., & Caspari, A. K. (2012). Guided inquiry design®: A framework for inquiry in your school. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Lunsford, A. A., Ruszkiewicz, J. J., & Walters, K. (2013). Everything's an argument with readings (6th ed.). Bedford/St. Martins.

Maniotes, L. K. (Ed.). (2017). Guided inquiry design® in action: High school. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

March, T. (2015, January). The original persuasive essay thesis builder and outline outliner. Retrieved from Thesis Builder website: http://ozline.com/electraguide/thesis.php

McGarvey, J. C. (n.d.). Thesis statement creator. Retrieved from A.P World History website: http://johnmcgarvey.com/apworld/student/thesiscreator.html

Simpson, E. (n.d.). Five ways of looking at a thesis: Page 5. Retrieved August 15, 2017, from Connections: A Hypertext Resource for Literature website: http://www.math.grin.edu/~simpsone/Connections/Writing/Thesis/fiveway5.html

**For more on inquiry questions see "A Librarian Asks, 'How Do I Teach Students to Write a Researchable Inquiry Question?'"