The Writing and Research Workshop Series 3. Developing your Thesis

1. The Writing and Research Workshop Series 3. Developing your Thesis UCQ Learning Commons

2. Phase 1: Understanding Getting Started Phase 2: Planning Selecting and Narrowing your Topic Developing your Thesis Searching Effectively Choosing Appropriate Resources Creating your Outline Phase 3: Writing Paraphrasing, Summarizing and Quoting Citing your Sources in APA Style Revising your Draft The Writing and Research Process

4. Focusing the topic Phase 2: Planning 3. Developing your Thesis • Go back to the instructions: • What exactly are you being asked to do? • If you have been given options, what will you choose? • Go back to your brainstorming: • What ideas have you gotten from your background research? • What can you use? What is irrelevant or not useful? • What will be your focus? • Think forward to your research: • Formulate questions that you will answer with the information you find.

5. Focusing the topic Phase 2: Planning 3. Developing your Thesis Types of questions to ask when refining your thesis: “Should…” questions (Recommendations): Should some action be taken? Should somebody do something? “What if…” questions (Consequences/Implications): If something is true, what might happen? What are the effects? What if someone disagreed with this point of view? (Testing two sides of an argument) “Why…” questions (Relevance): Why does this matter?

6. Focusing the topic Phase 2: Planning 3. Developing your Thesis Start by formulating a “yes or no” question from the topic, for example: TOPIC: Nurse-doctor relations NARROWED TOPIC: The nurse-doctor relationship in caring for terminally ill patients at a long-term care hospital “YES OR NO” QUESTION: Should doctors rely on reports from nurses about individual patients when developing care plans for terminally ill patients in long-term care hospitals in the Middle East?

7. Focusing the topic Phase 2: Planning 3. Developing your Thesis To decide which side you will take (yes or no?), consider the following sub-questions. What do you know? What do you need to find out? “YES OR NO” QUESTION: Should doctors rely on reports from nurses about individual patients when developing care plans for terminally ill patients in long-term care hospitals in the Middle East? RELATED SUB-QUESTIONS: What models of doctor-nurse relations exist? Theories? What is the current relationship between doctors and nurses in this situation? What information would nurses include in these “reports”?

8. Developing a thesis question Phase 2: Planning 3. Developing your Thesis • SO WHAT? • What would the effects be? Consequences? • Why is this question worth exploring? Why is it important? • Why should anyone care?

9. Developing a thesis question Phase 2: Planning 3. Developing your Thesis • Exercise: • Determine a thesis question from the suggested assignment (based on results from last week). Then decide on an audience.

10. Focusing your research Phase 2: Planning 3. Developing your Thesis • Expanding search vocabulary • Synonyms? • Alternate spellings? • Singular or plural? • Suffixes or prefixes? • Broaden and narrow • Can I broaden a concept? (make it more general) • Can I narrow a concept? (make it more specific)

11. Focusing your Research Phase 2: Planning 3. Developing your Thesis • Exercise: • From the thesis question: • Choose one term or concept and think of one synonym • Identify one term or concept that has an alternate spelling • Broaden one concept or term • Narrow one concept or term

12. Next Week: • Phase 2: Planning what to write • 4. Searching Effectively

13. UCQ Learning Commons Writing Support Come to the Writing Centre at any stage of the writing process for help and advice. In the Learning Commons, or contact Martin at mholock@ucalgary.ca

14. UCQ Learning Commons Research Support Come to the Learning Commons for help and advice with your research. Go to the the Learning Commons desk, or contact Chris at cthomas@ucalgary.ca, or Keltie at rossk@ucalgary.ca