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25 Thesis Statement Examples

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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A thesis statement is needed in an essay or dissertation . There are multiple types of thesis statements – but generally we can divide them into expository and argumentative. An expository statement is a statement of fact (common in expository essays and process essays) while an argumentative statement is a statement of opinion (common in argumentative essays and dissertations). Below are examples of each.

Strong Thesis Statement Examples

1. School Uniforms

“Mandatory school uniforms should be implemented in educational institutions as they promote a sense of equality, reduce distractions, and foster a focused and professional learning environment.”

Best For: Argumentative Essay or Debate

Read More: School Uniforms Pros and Cons

2. Nature vs Nurture

“This essay will explore how both genetic inheritance and environmental factors equally contribute to shaping human behavior and personality.”

Best For: Compare and Contrast Essay

Read More: Nature vs Nurture Debate

3. American Dream

“The American Dream, a symbol of opportunity and success, is increasingly elusive in today’s socio-economic landscape, revealing deeper inequalities in society.”

Best For: Persuasive Essay

Read More: What is the American Dream?

4. Social Media

“Social media has revolutionized communication and societal interactions, but it also presents significant challenges related to privacy, mental health, and misinformation.”

Best For: Expository Essay

Read More: The Pros and Cons of Social Media

5. Globalization

“Globalization has created a world more interconnected than ever before, yet it also amplifies economic disparities and cultural homogenization.”

Read More: Globalization Pros and Cons

6. Urbanization

“Urbanization drives economic growth and social development, but it also poses unique challenges in sustainability and quality of life.”

Read More: Learn about Urbanization

7. Immigration

“Immigration enriches receiving countries culturally and economically, outweighing any perceived social or economic burdens.”

Read More: Immigration Pros and Cons

8. Cultural Identity

“In a globalized world, maintaining distinct cultural identities is crucial for preserving cultural diversity and fostering global understanding, despite the challenges of assimilation and homogenization.”

Best For: Argumentative Essay

Read More: Learn about Cultural Identity

9. Technology

“Medical technologies in care institutions in Toronto has increased subjcetive outcomes for patients with chronic pain.”

Best For: Research Paper

10. Capitalism vs Socialism

“The debate between capitalism and socialism centers on balancing economic freedom and inequality, each presenting distinct approaches to resource distribution and social welfare.”

11. Cultural Heritage

“The preservation of cultural heritage is essential, not only for cultural identity but also for educating future generations, outweighing the arguments for modernization and commercialization.”

12. Pseudoscience

“Pseudoscience, characterized by a lack of empirical support, continues to influence public perception and decision-making, often at the expense of scientific credibility.”

Read More: Examples of Pseudoscience

13. Free Will

“The concept of free will is largely an illusion, with human behavior and decisions predominantly determined by biological and environmental factors.”

Read More: Do we have Free Will?

14. Gender Roles

“Traditional gender roles are outdated and harmful, restricting individual freedoms and perpetuating gender inequalities in modern society.”

Read More: What are Traditional Gender Roles?

15. Work-Life Ballance

“The trend to online and distance work in the 2020s led to improved subjective feelings of work-life balance but simultaneously increased self-reported loneliness.”

Read More: Work-Life Balance Examples

16. Universal Healthcare

“Universal healthcare is a fundamental human right and the most effective system for ensuring health equity and societal well-being, outweighing concerns about government involvement and costs.”

Read More: The Pros and Cons of Universal Healthcare

17. Minimum Wage

“The implementation of a fair minimum wage is vital for reducing economic inequality, yet it is often contentious due to its potential impact on businesses and employment rates.”

Read More: The Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage

18. Homework

“The homework provided throughout this semester has enabled me to achieve greater self-reflection, identify gaps in my knowledge, and reinforce those gaps through spaced repetition.”

Best For: Reflective Essay

Read More: Reasons Homework Should be Banned

19. Charter Schools

“Charter schools offer alternatives to traditional public education, promising innovation and choice but also raising questions about accountability and educational equity.”

Read More: The Pros and Cons of Charter Schools

20. Effects of the Internet

“The Internet has drastically reshaped human communication, access to information, and societal dynamics, generally with a net positive effect on society.”

Read More: The Pros and Cons of the Internet

21. Affirmative Action

“Affirmative action is essential for rectifying historical injustices and achieving true meritocracy in education and employment, contrary to claims of reverse discrimination.”

Best For: Essay

Read More: Affirmative Action Pros and Cons

22. Soft Skills

“Soft skills, such as communication and empathy, are increasingly recognized as essential for success in the modern workforce, and therefore should be a strong focus at school and university level.”

Read More: Soft Skills Examples

23. Moral Panic

“Moral panic, often fueled by media and cultural anxieties, can lead to exaggerated societal responses that sometimes overlook rational analysis and evidence.”

Read More: Moral Panic Examples

24. Freedom of the Press

“Freedom of the press is critical for democracy and informed citizenship, yet it faces challenges from censorship, media bias, and the proliferation of misinformation.”

Read More: Freedom of the Press Examples

25. Mass Media

“Mass media shapes public opinion and cultural norms, but its concentration of ownership and commercial interests raise concerns about bias and the quality of information.”

Best For: Critical Analysis

Read More: Mass Media Examples

Checklist: How to use your Thesis Statement

✅ Position: If your statement is for an argumentative or persuasive essay, or a dissertation, ensure it takes a clear stance on the topic. ✅ Specificity: It addresses a specific aspect of the topic, providing focus for the essay. ✅ Conciseness: Typically, a thesis statement is one to two sentences long. It should be concise, clear, and easily identifiable. ✅ Direction: The thesis statement guides the direction of the essay, providing a roadmap for the argument, narrative, or explanation. ✅ Evidence-based: While the thesis statement itself doesn’t include evidence, it sets up an argument that can be supported with evidence in the body of the essay. ✅ Placement: Generally, the thesis statement is placed at the end of the introduction of an essay.

Try These AI Prompts – Thesis Statement Generator!

One way to brainstorm thesis statements is to get AI to brainstorm some for you! Try this AI prompt:

💡 AI PROMPT FOR EXPOSITORY THESIS STATEMENT I am writing an essay on [TOPIC] and these are the instructions my teacher gave me: [INSTUCTIONS]. I want you to create an expository thesis statement that doesn’t argue a position, but demonstrates depth of knowledge about the topic.

💡 AI PROMPT FOR ARGUMENTATIVE THESIS STATEMENT I am writing an essay on [TOPIC] and these are the instructions my teacher gave me: [INSTRUCTIONS]. I want you to create an argumentative thesis statement that clearly takes a position on this issue.

💡 AI PROMPT FOR COMPARE AND CONTRAST THESIS STATEMENT I am writing a compare and contrast essay that compares [Concept 1] and [Concept2]. Give me 5 potential single-sentence thesis statements that remain objective.

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 10 Reasons you’re Perpetually Single
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 20 Montessori Toddler Bedrooms (Design Inspiration)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 21 Montessori Homeschool Setups
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While Sandel argues that pursuing perfection through genetic engineering would decrease our sense of humility, he claims that the sense of solidarity we would lose is also important.

This thesis summarizes several points in Sandel’s argument, but it does not make a claim about how we should understand his argument. A reader who read Sandel’s argument would not also need to read an essay based on this descriptive thesis.  

Broad thesis (arguable, but difficult to support with evidence) 

Michael Sandel’s arguments about genetic engineering do not take into consideration all the relevant issues.

This is an arguable claim because it would be possible to argue against it by saying that Michael Sandel’s arguments do take all of the relevant issues into consideration. But the claim is too broad. Because the thesis does not specify which “issues” it is focused on—or why it matters if they are considered—readers won’t know what the rest of the essay will argue, and the writer won’t know what to focus on. If there is a particular issue that Sandel does not address, then a more specific version of the thesis would include that issue—hand an explanation of why it is important.  

Arguable thesis with analytical claim 

While Sandel argues persuasively that our instinct to “remake” (54) ourselves into something ever more perfect is a problem, his belief that we can always draw a line between what is medically necessary and what makes us simply “better than well” (51) is less convincing.

This is an arguable analytical claim. To argue for this claim, the essay writer will need to show how evidence from the article itself points to this interpretation. It’s also a reasonable scope for a thesis because it can be supported with evidence available in the text and is neither too broad nor too narrow.  

Arguable thesis with normative claim 

Given Sandel’s argument against genetic enhancement, we should not allow parents to decide on using Human Growth Hormone for their children.

This thesis tells us what we should do about a particular issue discussed in Sandel’s article, but it does not tell us how we should understand Sandel’s argument.  

Questions to ask about your thesis 

• Is the thesis truly arguable? Does it speak to a genuine dilemma in the source, or would most readers automatically agree with it?  
• Is the thesis too obvious? Again, would most or all readers agree with it without needing to see your argument?  
• Is the thesis complex enough to require a whole essay's worth of argument?  
• Is the thesis supportable with evidence from the text rather than with generalizations or outside research?  
• Would anyone want to read a paper in which this thesis was developed? That is, can you explain what this paper is adding to our understanding of a problem, question, or topic?
• picture_as_pdf Thesis

How To Write A Dissertation Or Thesis

8 straightforward steps to craft an a-grade dissertation.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Expert Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

Writing a dissertation or thesis is not a simple task. It takes time, energy and a lot of will power to get you across the finish line. It’s not easy – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be a painful process. If you understand the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis, your research journey will be a lot smoother.  

In this post, I’m going to outline the big-picture process of how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis, without losing your mind along the way. If you’re just starting your research, this post is perfect for you. Alternatively, if you’ve already submitted your proposal, this article which covers how to structure a dissertation might be more helpful.

How To Write A Dissertation: 8 Steps

• Clearly understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is
• Find a unique and valuable research topic
• Craft a convincing research proposal
• Write up a strong introduction chapter
• Review the existing literature and compile a literature review
• Design a rigorous research strategy and undertake your own research
• Present the findings of your research
• Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Step 1: Understand exactly what a dissertation is

This probably sounds like a no-brainer, but all too often, students come to us for help with their research and the underlying issue is that they don’t fully understand what a dissertation (or thesis) actually is.

So, what is a dissertation?

At its simplest, a dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research , reflecting the standard research process . But what is the standard research process, you ask? The research process involves 4 key steps:

• Ask a very specific, well-articulated question (s) (your research topic)
• See what other researchers have said about it (if they’ve already answered it)
• If they haven’t answered it adequately, undertake your own data collection and analysis in a scientifically rigorous fashion
• Answer your original question(s), based on your analysis findings

In short, the research process is simply about asking and answering questions in a systematic fashion . This probably sounds pretty obvious, but people often think they’ve done “research”, when in fact what they have done is:

• Started with a vague, poorly articulated question
• Not taken the time to see what research has already been done regarding the question
• Collected data and opinions that support their gut and undertaken a flimsy analysis
• Drawn a shaky conclusion, based on that analysis

If you want to see the perfect example of this in action, look out for the next Facebook post where someone claims they’ve done “research”… All too often, people consider reading a few blog posts to constitute research. Its no surprise then that what they end up with is an opinion piece, not research. Okay, okay – I’ll climb off my soapbox now.

The key takeaway here is that a dissertation (or thesis) is a formal piece of research, reflecting the research process. It’s not an opinion piece , nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position. Writing a good dissertation involves asking a question and taking a systematic, rigorous approach to answering it.

If you understand this and are comfortable leaving your opinions or preconceived ideas at the door, you’re already off to a good start!

Step 2: Find a unique, valuable research topic

As we saw, the first step of the research process is to ask a specific, well-articulated question. In other words, you need to find a research topic that asks a specific question or set of questions (these are called research questions ). Sounds easy enough, right? All you’ve got to do is identify a question or two and you’ve got a winning research topic. Well, not quite…

A good dissertation or thesis topic has a few important attributes. Specifically, a solid research topic should be:

Let’s take a closer look at these:

Attribute #1: Clear

Your research topic needs to be crystal clear about what you’re planning to research, what you want to know, and within what context. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity or vagueness about what you’ll research.

Here’s an example of a clearly articulated research topic:

An analysis of consumer-based factors influencing organisational trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms.

As you can see in the example, its crystal clear what will be analysed (factors impacting organisational trust), amongst who (consumers) and in what context (British low-cost equity brokerage firms, based online).

Need a helping hand?

Attribute #2:   Unique

Your research should be asking a question(s) that hasn’t been asked before, or that hasn’t been asked in a specific context (for example, in a specific country or industry).

For example, sticking organisational trust topic above, it’s quite likely that organisational trust factors in the UK have been investigated before, but the context (online low-cost equity brokerages) could make this research unique. Therefore, the context makes this research original.

One caveat when using context as the basis for originality – you need to have a good reason to suspect that your findings in this context might be different from the existing research – otherwise, there’s no reason to warrant researching it.

Attribute #3: Important

Simply asking a unique or original question is not enough – the question needs to create value. In other words, successfully answering your research questions should provide some value to the field of research or the industry. You can’t research something just to satisfy your curiosity. It needs to make some form of contribution either to research or industry.

For example, researching the factors influencing consumer trust would create value by enabling businesses to tailor their operations and marketing to leverage factors that promote trust. In other words, it would have a clear benefit to industry.

So, how do you go about finding a unique and valuable research topic? We explain that in detail in this video post – How To Find A Research Topic . Yeah, we’ve got you covered 😊

Step 3: Write a convincing research proposal

Once you’ve pinned down a high-quality research topic, the next step is to convince your university to let you research it. No matter how awesome you think your topic is, it still needs to get the rubber stamp before you can move forward with your research. The research proposal is the tool you’ll use for this job.

So, what’s in a research proposal?

The main “job” of a research proposal is to convince your university, advisor or committee that your research topic is worthy of approval. But convince them of what? Well, this varies from university to university, but generally, they want to see that:

• You have a clearly articulated, unique and important topic (this might sound familiar…)
• You’ve done some initial reading of the existing literature relevant to your topic (i.e. a literature review)
• You have a provisional plan in terms of how you will collect data and analyse it (i.e. a methodology)

At the proposal stage, it’s (generally) not expected that you’ve extensively reviewed the existing literature , but you will need to show that you’ve done enough reading to identify a clear gap for original (unique) research. Similarly, they generally don’t expect that you have a rock-solid research methodology mapped out, but you should have an idea of whether you’ll be undertaking qualitative or quantitative analysis , and how you’ll collect your data (we’ll discuss this in more detail later).

Long story short – don’t stress about having every detail of your research meticulously thought out at the proposal stage – this will develop as you progress through your research. However, you do need to show that you’ve “done your homework” and that your research is worthy of approval .

So, how do you go about crafting a high-quality, convincing proposal? We cover that in detail in this video post – How To Write A Top-Class Research Proposal . We’ve also got a video walkthrough of two proposal examples here .

Step 4: Craft a strong introduction chapter

Once your proposal’s been approved, its time to get writing your actual dissertation or thesis! The good news is that if you put the time into crafting a high-quality proposal, you’ve already got a head start on your first three chapters – introduction, literature review and methodology – as you can use your proposal as the basis for these.

Handy sidenote – our free dissertation & thesis template is a great way to speed up your dissertation writing journey.

What’s the introduction chapter all about?

The purpose of the introduction chapter is to set the scene for your research (dare I say, to introduce it…) so that the reader understands what you’ll be researching and why it’s important. In other words, it covers the same ground as the research proposal in that it justifies your research topic.

What goes into the introduction chapter?

This can vary slightly between universities and degrees, but generally, the introduction chapter will include the following:

• A brief background to the study, explaining the overall area of research
• A problem statement , explaining what the problem is with the current state of research (in other words, where the knowledge gap exists)
• Your research questions – in other words, the specific questions your study will seek to answer (based on the knowledge gap)
• The significance of your study – in other words, why it’s important and how its findings will be useful in the world

As you can see, this all about explaining the “what” and the “why” of your research (as opposed to the “how”). So, your introduction chapter is basically the salesman of your study, “selling” your research to the first-time reader and (hopefully) getting them interested to read more.

How do I write the introduction chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this post .

Step 5: Undertake an in-depth literature review

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll need to do some initial review of the literature in Steps 2 and 3 to find your research gap and craft a convincing research proposal – but that’s just scratching the surface. Once you reach the literature review stage of your dissertation or thesis, you need to dig a lot deeper into the existing research and write up a comprehensive literature review chapter.

What’s the literature review all about?

There are two main stages in the literature review process:

Literature Review Step 1: Reading up

The first stage is for you to deep dive into the existing literature (journal articles, textbook chapters, industry reports, etc) to gain an in-depth understanding of the current state of research regarding your topic. While you don’t need to read every single article, you do need to ensure that you cover all literature that is related to your core research questions, and create a comprehensive catalogue of that literature , which you’ll use in the next step.

Reading and digesting all the relevant literature is a time consuming and intellectually demanding process. Many students underestimate just how much work goes into this step, so make sure that you allocate a good amount of time for this when planning out your research. Thankfully, there are ways to fast track the process – be sure to check out this article covering how to read journal articles quickly .

Literature Review Step 2: Writing up

Once you’ve worked through the literature and digested it all, you’ll need to write up your literature review chapter. Many students make the mistake of thinking that the literature review chapter is simply a summary of what other researchers have said. While this is partly true, a literature review is much more than just a summary. To pull off a good literature review chapter, you’ll need to achieve at least 3 things:

• You need to synthesise the existing research , not just summarise it. In other words, you need to show how different pieces of theory fit together, what’s agreed on by researchers, what’s not.
• You need to highlight a research gap that your research is going to fill. In other words, you’ve got to outline the problem so that your research topic can provide a solution.
• You need to use the existing research to inform your methodology and approach to your own research design. For example, you might use questions or Likert scales from previous studies in your your own survey design .

As you can see, a good literature review is more than just a summary of the published research. It’s the foundation on which your own research is built, so it deserves a lot of love and attention. Take the time to craft a comprehensive literature review with a suitable structure .

But, how do I actually write the literature review chapter, you ask? We cover that in detail in this video post .

Step 6: Carry out your own research

Once you’ve completed your literature review and have a sound understanding of the existing research, its time to develop your own research (finally!). You’ll design this research specifically so that you can find the answers to your unique research question.

There are two steps here – designing your research strategy and executing on it:

1 – Design your research strategy

The first step is to design your research strategy and craft a methodology chapter . I won’t get into the technicalities of the methodology chapter here, but in simple terms, this chapter is about explaining the “how” of your research. If you recall, the introduction and literature review chapters discussed the “what” and the “why”, so it makes sense that the next point to cover is the “how” –that’s what the methodology chapter is all about.

In this section, you’ll need to make firm decisions about your research design. This includes things like:

• Your research philosophy (e.g. positivism or interpretivism )
• Your overall methodology (e.g. qualitative , quantitative or mixed methods)
• Your data collection strategy (e.g. interviews , focus groups, surveys)
• Your data analysis strategy (e.g. content analysis , correlation analysis, regression)

If these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these in plain language in other posts. It’s not essential that you understand the intricacies of research design (yet!). The key takeaway here is that you’ll need to make decisions about how you’ll design your own research, and you’ll need to describe (and justify) your decisions in your methodology chapter.

2 – Execute: Collect and analyse your data

Once you’ve worked out your research design, you’ll put it into action and start collecting your data. This might mean undertaking interviews, hosting an online survey or any other data collection method. Data collection can take quite a bit of time (especially if you host in-person interviews), so be sure to factor sufficient time into your project plan for this. Oftentimes, things don’t go 100% to plan (for example, you don’t get as many survey responses as you hoped for), so bake a little extra time into your budget here.

Once you’ve collected your data, you’ll need to do some data preparation before you can sink your teeth into the analysis. For example:

• If you carry out interviews or focus groups, you’ll need to transcribe your audio data to text (i.e. a Word document).
• If you collect quantitative survey data, you’ll need to clean up your data and get it into the right format for whichever analysis software you use (for example, SPSS, R or STATA).

Once you’ve completed your data prep, you’ll undertake your analysis, using the techniques that you described in your methodology. Depending on what you find in your analysis, you might also do some additional forms of analysis that you hadn’t planned for. For example, you might see something in the data that raises new questions or that requires clarification with further analysis.

The type(s) of analysis that you’ll use depend entirely on the nature of your research and your research questions. For example:

• If your research if exploratory in nature, you’ll often use qualitative analysis techniques .
• If your research is confirmatory in nature, you’ll often use quantitative analysis techniques
• If your research involves a mix of both, you might use a mixed methods approach

Again, if these words have got your head spinning, don’t worry! We’ll explain these concepts and techniques in other posts. The key takeaway is simply that there’s no “one size fits all” for research design and methodology – it all depends on your topic, your research questions and your data. So, don’t be surprised if your study colleagues take a completely different approach to yours.

Step 7: Present your findings

Once you’ve completed your analysis, it’s time to present your findings (finally!). In a dissertation or thesis, you’ll typically present your findings in two chapters – the results chapter and the discussion chapter .

What’s the difference between the results chapter and the discussion chapter?

While these two chapters are similar, the results chapter generally just presents the processed data neatly and clearly without interpretation, while the discussion chapter explains the story the data are telling  – in other words, it provides your interpretation of the results.

For example, if you were researching the factors that influence consumer trust, you might have used a quantitative approach to identify the relationship between potential factors (e.g. perceived integrity and competence of the organisation) and consumer trust. In this case:

• Your results chapter would just present the results of the statistical tests. For example, correlation results or differences between groups. In other words, the processed numbers.
• Your discussion chapter would explain what the numbers mean in relation to your research question(s). For example, Factor 1 has a weak relationship with consumer trust, while Factor 2 has a strong relationship.

Depending on the university and degree, these two chapters (results and discussion) are sometimes merged into one , so be sure to check with your institution what their preference is. Regardless of the chapter structure, this section is about presenting the findings of your research in a clear, easy to understand fashion.

Importantly, your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions (which you outlined in the introduction or literature review chapter). In other words, it needs to answer the key questions you asked (or at least attempt to answer them).

For example, if we look at the sample research topic:

In this case, the discussion section would clearly outline which factors seem to have a noteworthy influence on organisational trust. By doing so, they are answering the overarching question and fulfilling the purpose of the research .

For more information about the results chapter , check out this post for qualitative studies and this post for quantitative studies .

Step 8: The Final Step Draw a conclusion and discuss the implications

Last but not least, you’ll need to wrap up your research with the conclusion chapter . In this chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and explaining what the implications of these findings are.

What exactly are key findings? The key findings are those findings which directly relate to your original research questions and overall research objectives (which you discussed in your introduction chapter). The implications, on the other hand, explain what your findings mean for industry, or for research in your area.

Sticking with the consumer trust topic example, the conclusion might look something like this:

Key findings

This study set out to identify which factors influence consumer-based trust in British low-cost online equity brokerage firms. The results suggest that the following factors have a large impact on consumer trust:

While the following factors have a very limited impact on consumer trust:

Notably, within the 25-30 age groups, Factors E had a noticeably larger impact, which may be explained by…

Implications

The findings having noteworthy implications for British low-cost online equity brokers. Specifically:

The large impact of Factors X and Y implies that brokers need to consider….

The limited impact of Factor E implies that brokers need to…

As you can see, the conclusion chapter is basically explaining the “what” (what your study found) and the “so what?” (what the findings mean for the industry or research). This brings the study full circle and closes off the document.

Let’s recap – how to write a dissertation or thesis

You’re still with me? Impressive! I know that this post was a long one, but hopefully you’ve learnt a thing or two about how to write a dissertation or thesis, and are now better equipped to start your own research.

To recap, the 8 steps to writing a quality dissertation (or thesis) are as follows:

• Understand what a dissertation (or thesis) is – a research project that follows the research process.
• Find a unique (original) and important research topic
• Craft a convincing dissertation or thesis research proposal
• Write a clear, compelling introduction chapter
• Undertake a thorough review of the existing research and write up a literature review
• Undertake your own research
• Present and interpret your findings

Once you’ve wrapped up the core chapters, all that’s typically left is the abstract , reference list and appendices. As always, be sure to check with your university if they have any additional requirements in terms of structure or content.  

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

20 Comments

thankfull >>>this is very useful

Thank you, it was really helpful

unquestionably, this amazing simplified way of teaching. Really , I couldn’t find in the literature words that fully explicit my great thanks to you. However, I could only say thanks a-lot.

Great to hear that – thanks for the feedback. Good luck writing your dissertation/thesis.

This is the most comprehensive explanation of how to write a dissertation. Many thanks for sharing it free of charge.

Very rich presentation. Thank you

Thanks Derek Jansen|GRADCOACH, I find it very useful guide to arrange my activities and proceed to research!

Thank you so much for such a marvelous teaching .I am so convinced that am going to write a comprehensive and a distinct masters dissertation

It is an amazing comprehensive explanation

This was straightforward. Thank you!

I can say that your explanations are simple and enlightening – understanding what you have done here is easy for me. Could you write more about the different types of research methods specific to the three methodologies: quan, qual and MM. I look forward to interacting with this website more in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions 🙂

Hello, your write ups is quite educative. However, l have challenges in going about my research questions which is below; *Building the enablers of organisational growth through effective governance and purposeful leadership.*

Very educating.

Just listening to the name of the dissertation makes the student nervous. As writing a top-quality dissertation is a difficult task as it is a lengthy topic, requires a lot of research and understanding and is usually around 10,000 to 15000 words. Sometimes due to studies, unbalanced workload or lack of research and writing skill students look for dissertation submission from professional writers.

Thank you 💕😊 very much. I was confused but your comprehensive explanation has cleared my doubts of ever presenting a good thesis. Thank you.

thank you so much, that was so useful

Hi. Where is the excel spread sheet ark?

could you please help me look at your thesis paper to enable me to do the portion that has to do with the specification

my topic is “the impact of domestic revenue mobilization.

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How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement: 4 Steps + Examples

What’s Covered:

What is the purpose of a thesis statement, writing a good thesis statement: 4 steps, common pitfalls to avoid, where to get your essay edited for free.

When you set out to write an essay, there has to be some kind of point to it, right? Otherwise, your essay would just be a big jumble of word salad that makes absolutely no sense. An essay needs a central point that ties into everything else. That main point is called a thesis statement, and it’s the core of any essay or research paper.

You may hear about Master degree candidates writing a thesis, and that is an entire paper–not to be confused with the thesis statement, which is typically one sentence that contains your paper’s focus. 

Read on to learn more about thesis statements and how to write them. We’ve also included some solid examples for you to reference.

Typically the last sentence of your introductory paragraph, the thesis statement serves as the roadmap for your essay. When your reader gets to the thesis statement, they should have a clear outline of your main point, as well as the information you’ll be presenting in order to either prove or support your point. 

The thesis statement should not be confused for a topic sentence , which is the first sentence of every paragraph in your essay. If you need help writing topic sentences, numerous resources are available. Topic sentences should go along with your thesis statement, though.

Since the thesis statement is the most important sentence of your entire essay or paper, it’s imperative that you get this part right. Otherwise, your paper will not have a good flow and will seem disjointed. That’s why it’s vital not to rush through developing one. It’s a methodical process with steps that you need to follow in order to create the best thesis statement possible.

Step 1: Decide what kind of paper you’re writing

When you’re assigned an essay, there are several different types you may get. Argumentative essays are designed to get the reader to agree with you on a topic. Informative or expository essays present information to the reader. Analytical essays offer up a point and then expand on it by analyzing relevant information. Thesis statements can look and sound different based on the type of paper you’re writing. For example:

• Argumentative: The United States needs a viable third political party to decrease bipartisanship, increase options, and help reduce corruption in government.
• Informative: The Libertarian party has thrown off elections before by gaining enough support in states to get on the ballot and by taking away crucial votes from candidates.
• Analytical: An analysis of past presidential elections shows that while third party votes may have been the minority, they did affect the outcome of the elections in 2020, 2016, and beyond.

Step 2: Figure out what point you want to make

Once you know what type of paper you’re writing, you then need to figure out the point you want to make with your thesis statement, and subsequently, your paper. In other words, you need to decide to answer a question about something, such as:

• What impact did reality TV have on American society?
• How has the musical Hamilton affected perception of American history?
• Why do I want to major in [chosen major here]?

If you have an argumentative essay, then you will be writing about an opinion. To make it easier, you may want to choose an opinion that you feel passionate about so that you’re writing about something that interests you. For example, if you have an interest in preserving the environment, you may want to choose a topic that relates to that. 

If you’re writing your college essay and they ask why you want to attend that school, you may want to have a main point and back it up with information, something along the lines of:

“Attending Harvard University would benefit me both academically and professionally, as it would give me a strong knowledge base upon which to build my career, develop my network, and hopefully give me an advantage in my chosen field.”

Step 3: Determine what information you’ll use to back up your point

Once you have the point you want to make, you need to figure out how you plan to back it up throughout the rest of your essay. Without this information, it will be hard to either prove or argue the main point of your thesis statement. If you decide to write about the Hamilton example, you may decide to address any falsehoods that the writer put into the musical, such as:

“The musical Hamilton, while accurate in many ways, leaves out key parts of American history, presents a nationalist view of founding fathers, and downplays the racism of the times.”

Once you’ve written your initial working thesis statement, you’ll then need to get information to back that up. For example, the musical completely leaves out Benjamin Franklin, portrays the founding fathers in a nationalist way that is too complimentary, and shows Hamilton as a staunch abolitionist despite the fact that his family likely did own slaves. 

Step 4: Revise and refine your thesis statement before you start writing

Read through your thesis statement several times before you begin to compose your full essay. You need to make sure the statement is ironclad, since it is the foundation of the entire paper. Edit it or have a peer review it for you to make sure everything makes sense and that you feel like you can truly write a paper on the topic. Once you’ve done that, you can then begin writing your paper.

When writing a thesis statement, there are some common pitfalls you should avoid so that your paper can be as solid as possible. Make sure you always edit the thesis statement before you do anything else. You also want to ensure that the thesis statement is clear and concise. Don’t make your reader hunt for your point. Finally, put your thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph and have your introduction flow toward that statement. Your reader will expect to find your statement in its traditional spot.

If you’re having trouble getting started, or need some guidance on your essay, there are tools available that can help you. CollegeVine offers a free peer essay review tool where one of your peers can read through your essay and provide you with valuable feedback. Getting essay feedback from a peer can help you wow your instructor or college admissions officer with an impactful essay that effectively illustrates your point.

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What font should I choose for my thesis?

This post is by DrJanene Carey, a freelance writer and editor based in Armidale NSW. She occasionally teaches academic writing at the University of New England and often edits academic theses, articles and reports. Her website is http://www.janenecarey.com

Arguably, this question is a classic time waster and the student who poses it should be told to just get on with writing up their research. But as someone who edits theses for a living, I think a bit of time spent on fonts is part of the process of buffing and polishing what is, after all, one of the most important documents you will ever produce. Just bear in mind that there is no need to immerse yourself so deeply in the topic that you start quibbling about whether it’s a font or a typeface that you are choosing .

Times New Roman is the standard choice for academic documents, and the thesis preparation guidelines of some universities stipulate its use. For many years, it was the default body text for Microsoft Word. With the release of Office 2007, the default became a sans serif typeface called Calibri. Lacking the little projecting bits (serifs) at the end of characters makes Calibri and its many friends, such as Arial, Helvetica and Verdana, look smoother and clearer on a screen, but generally makes them less readable than a serif typeface when used for printed text . The other problem with choosing a sans serif for your body text is that if you want passages in italics (for example, lengthy participant quotes) often this will be displayed as slanted letters, rather than as a true italic font.

You would like your examiners to feel as comfortable as possible while their eyes are traversing the many, many pages of your thesis, so maximising legibility and readability is a good idea. Times New Roman is ubiquitous and familiar, which means it is probably the safest option, but it does have a couple of drawbacks. Originally designed for The Times in London, its characters are slightly narrowed, so that more of them can be squished into a newspaper column. Secondly, some people intensely dislike TNR because they think it has been overused, and regard it as the font you choose when you are not choosing a font .

If you do have the luxury of choice (your university doesn’t insist you use Times New Roman, and you have defined document styles that are easy to modify, and there’s enough time left before the submission deadline) then I think it is worth considering what other typefaces might work well with your thesis. I’m not a typographical expert, but I have the following suggestions.

• Don’t use Calibri, or any other sans serif font, for your body text, though it is fine for headings. Most people agree that dense chunks of printed text are easier to read if the font is serif, and examiners are likely to expect a typeface that doesn’t stray too far from the standard. To my eye, Calibri looks a little too casual for the body of a thesis.
• Typefaces like Garamond, Palatino, Century Schoolbook, Georgia, Minion Pro, Cambria and Constantia are all perfectly acceptable, and they come with Microsoft Word. However, some of them (Georgia and Constantia, for example) feature non-lining numerals, which means that instead of all sitting neatly on the base line, some will stand higher or lower than others, just like letters do. This looks nice when they are integrated with the text, but it is probably not what you want for a tabular display.
• Consider using a different typeface for your headings. It will make them more prominent, which enhances overall readability because the eye scanning the pages can quickly take in the hierarchy of ideas. The easiest way to get a good contrast with your serif body text is to have sans serif headings. Popular combinations are Garamond/Helvetica; Minion Pro/Myriad Pro; Times New Roman/Arial Narrow. But don’t create a dog’s breakfast by having more than two typefaces in your thesis – use point sizes, bold and italics for variety.

Of late, I’ve become quite fond of Constantia. It’s an attractive serif typeface that came out with Office 2007 at the same time as Calibri, and was specifically designed to look good in print and on screen. Increasingly, theses will be read in PDF rather than book format, so screen readability is an important consideration.  Asked to review Microsoft’s six new ClearType fonts prior to their release, typographer Raph Levien said Constantia was likely to be everyone’s favourite, because ‘Even though it’s a highly readable Roman font departing only slightly from the classical model, it still manages to be fresh and new.’

By default, Constantia has non-lining numerals, but from Word 2010 onwards you can set them to be lining via the advanced font/number forms option, either throughout your document or in specific sections, such as within tables.

Here is an excerpt from a thesis, shown twice with different typefaces. The first excerpt features Calibri headings with Constantia body text, and the second has that old favourite, Times New Roman. As these examples have been rendered as screenshots, you will get a better idea of how the fonts actually look if you try them on your own computer and printer.

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The Thesis Whisperer is written by Professor Inger Mewburn, director of researcher development at The Australian National University . New posts on the first Wednesday of the month. Subscribe by email below. Visit the About page to find out more about me, my podcasts and books. I'm on most social media platforms as @thesiswhisperer. The best places to talk to me are LinkedIn , Mastodon and Threads.

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The best PhD thesis and dissertations in history

Get ready for a thrilling ride as we explore the world of PhD theses and dissertations!

We’ll uncover the secrets behind assessing these masterpieces, check out some of the most famous theses that changed history, and share some juicy insider tips on how to create an amazing PhD thesis. 

So, buckle up and let’s dive into the captivating universe of academic research that has shaped the way we see the world!

What criteria are used to assess a PhD thesis?

As a PhD researcher who has been involved in the academic world, I’ve witnessed firsthand the criteria used to assess the best PhD theses. Here, I’ll share insider details on how examiners determine which dissertations are deserving of awards and recognition.

One of the primary factors in assessing a PhD thesis is the originality and significance of the research. For example, the 2023 dissertation award, the winning thesis was in the field of astrophysics.

The candidate, under the supervision of a renowned faculty member, developed a groundbreaking framework for understanding astronomical phenomena. This kind of novel research often catches the attention of examiners, who are looking for theses that have the potential to make a significant impact in their respective fields.

Quality of writing is another crucial aspect when assessing a PhD thesis.

A well-received thesis is typically clear, concise, and well-organized. In my time covering theses in history and mathematics, I’ve noticed that the best dissertations have a coherent narrative that makes their content accessible to both specialists and non-experts. This is true for theoretical works like John Nash’s foundational research in game theory, as well as applied research like the work of physicist Richard Feynman.

The defence of the thesis plays a significant role in the evaluation process.

I’ve witnessed how candidates successfully address questions from a panel of examiners, demonstrating a deep understanding of the subject matter and its implications.

A thesis’s potential for publication or real-world application is often considered.

Some of the most memorable theses I’ve encountered, like Albert Einstein’s work on Brownian motion or Claude Shannon’s development of information theory, have had far-reaching implications for their respective fields and beyond.

Criteria used to assess a PhD thesis include originality and significance, quality of writing, defence performance, and potential for publication or real-world application. These factors together contribute to identifying the best PhD theses that stand out among the rest.

Best Famous PhD Theses in History

These theses represent a small sample of the many influential works in history. They have shaped our understanding of various fields and left lasting impacts on scientific and societal progress.

How to write the best PhD thesis possible

As a PhD candidate who has gone through the ups and downs of crafting the perfect thesis, I’ve learned a thing or two about making it the best it can be.

I’m here to share with you some insider tips and juicy details that I’ve discovered on my journey to create an award-winning PhD thesis. 

Key takeaways

• Develop a clear understanding of the literature in your field.
• Ensure the logic in your thesis is flawless.
• Discuss your work with colleagues for feedback and insights.
• Focus on clear writing and organization in your thesis.
• Use formatting tools like bullet points and breakout boxes to highlight key points.
• Proofread your work and consider using tools like Grammarly or hiring a professional proofreader.
• Pay attention to first impressions and follow university printing guidelines for a professional-looking document.
• Keep in mind the importance of small details for winning prizes or earning recognition.

First and foremost, it’s essential to have a clear and concise understanding of the literature in your field. This sets the stage for your dissertation, allowing you to identify gaps and new ideas that your research will address. One critical component is ensuring that the logic in your thesis is flawless. I’ve found that discussing your work with colleagues both inside and outside your field can help you identify any leaps of faith or logical gaps that need to be addressed.

Now, let’s talk about the presentation. I cannot stress enough the importance of clear writing and organization in a PhD thesis.

In my own work, I’ve used formatting tools like bullet points and breakout boxes to highlight key points and make the text easier to follow.

This not only helped me communicate my ideas effectively but also impressed the examiners who reviewed my work.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the importance of proofreading and avoiding grammatical errors.

In my experience, using tools like Grammarly or even hiring a professional proofreader can elevate your dissertation to new heights. These seemingly small details can make all the difference when it comes to winning a prize or earning recognition for your work.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of first impressions. When I submitted my thesis in 2021, I made sure it met my university’s printing guidelines, resulting in a substantial and professional-looking document. This attention to detail can set the stage for a successful PhD thesis that leaves a lasting impact on the world of science.

Wrapping up

And there you have it, folks! We’ve taken a wild ride through the world of PhD theses and dissertations, exploring the assessment criteria, admiring some of the most famous theses in history, and even sharing some insider tips to help you create the best PhD thesis possible.

These incredible works of research have shaped our understanding of the world and inspired countless innovations, discoveries, and breakthroughs.

Whether you’re an aspiring PhD candidate or just a curious soul, we hope this blog has given you a glimpse into the fascinating realm of academic research.

Remember, the journey to creating an exceptional PhD thesis is challenging but rewarding, and the impact of your work could be felt for generations to come. So, keep your eyes on the prize, and who knows – maybe one day, your own thesis will be featured on a list like this!

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

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45 Best Thesis Statement Examples 2024

A thesis statement is a brief description used in professional or academic writing to explain your position on a given issue or topic.

It’s an important part of a paper or document that communicates your perspective and describes what the rest of your document or essay is about.

Thesis statements usually appear at the beginning of a paper and ideally in the first few paragraphs. Understanding how to craft a good thesis statement will help you create a strong guide for your paper and make your document more compelling.

In this post, we are going to walk you through how to write a persuasive thesis statement and provide some of the best thesis statement examples that you can draw from when creating your own.

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How to write a good thesis statement?

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

A well-written thesis statement has to:

Be specific

Your thesis statement should avoid generalizations and include concrete details about the argument you intend to make in the thesis. It shouldn’t just tell people that something happens, it should also tell them how or why it happens.

There is no room for ambiguity in your thesis statement. It should be straightforward and clear.

It has to explain the point you are trying to make in a way that anyone who reads it can easily grasp, so keep your audience in mind when choosing an essay subject or what vocabulary to use in your statement.

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Photo by Armin Rimoldi

Reveal your position

Can your thesis statement be contested or argued? If the answer is no, then you’ve merely stated the facts of the topic, you have not set out to make an argument in favor or against the topic.

A good thesis statement should show where you stand on the topic. It should be open to debate.

Align with the rest of your paper

Your thesis statement should tell people what to expect from the rest of your paper. So after you are done writing the paper, you need to review it to see if any areas extend beyond the scope of your thesis statement.

You can either rewrite those paragraphs to align with your thesis outline or rewrite your thesis statement to bring it closer to the spirit of your paper.

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Best Thesis Statement Examples

1. Research has shown that the use of medical marijuana has been beneficial to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

It should be legal to prescribe medical marijuana in all states so the veterans who need it can easily access it without consequences. Additional therapy and medical services should also be implemented alongside this to facilitate their reintegration into civilian society.

2. Space exploration is another excuse to fritter away money; rather than spending billions of dollars trying to colonize Mars, the funds should be used to solve issues that are plaguing our planet such as hunger, poverty, traffic congestion, and global warming.

3. A college degree can have a tremendous impact on a person’s life and career trajectory, but attending university immediately after graduating high school may not be the most suitable option for every student.

Some may benefit more from attending trade schools or taking a gap year to consider what they want to do with the next phase of their lives and how they might achieve that.

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4. People should incorporate daily exercise into their routines because it increases their fitness levels, helps them maintain a healthy weight, and reduces their risk of getting high blood pressure.

5. The democratization of the internet means that more and more teenagers are using smartphones and accessing social media, which exposes them to cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying is a very stressful experience for many teens and can lead to anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.

To clamp down on the spread and impact of cyberbullying, parents should monitor their teenager’s online activities, limit their usage of smartphones, and report any incidents of cyberbullying to school officials.

6. Negative health consequences like heart disease, liver complications, and weight gain can result from excessive alcohol consumption.

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7. In a time when physical libraries are going extinct due to the growing influence of digitization, the government should create and fund digital libraries in addition to physical ones to lessen the financial burden of students who are required to purchase pricey e-books.

8. The growing popularity of nationalism and populism in the United States and Europe coincides with the waning of moderate and centrist political parties that have had a stronghold on the corridors of power since World War II.

Photo by cottonbro

9. For most people in Antarctica, the cost of healthcare services is unaffordable because of the low average incomes, lack of government-funded clinics and hospitals, and the high prices of essential medications.

10. Although including discussions of consensual sex in sex education classes will likely lead to a reduction in sexual assault, parents have a responsibility to teach their children about consent from a young age using age-appropriate language and lessons.

11. Hiring people from diverse educational, religious, and ethnic backgrounds to strategize and execute human development projects can help improve efficiency and refine the planning of development programs focused on marginalized communities for the better.

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12. Despite the good intentions upon which it is predicated, the practice of giving foreign aid to nations on the African continent has done more harm than good because it has left African nations vulnerable to corruption, rising inflation, civil unrest, and currency fluctuations.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

13. The results of recent studies have shown a growing interest in healthy products amongst the general public, and Adam’s Beverages should factor in this consideration when going to market with new products and design advertising campaigns that highlight the healthy nature of its products to boost sales numbers.

14. The massive adoption of digitization in response to quarantines and restrictions of movements brought about by COVID-19 and the continued growth of online shopping in the wake of the pandemic might precipitate the permanent shutdown of millions of brick-and-mortar retail outlets.

15. Any unlawful surveillance is an invasion of people’s right to privacy and a breach of their civil liberties. Government surveillance programs like PRISM should be banned on these grounds because they can result in innocent people suffering undue harm or punishment, and they fail to safeguard the very rights and liberties of the people that they are designed to protect.

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16. What constitutes a good and healthy family arrangement in today’s world is diverse and multifaceted, but the U.S. media continues to depict the traditional family as one that is made up of a father, mother, and children.

This conception of the traditional family arrangement is outmoded and can be harmful to young children who are socialized to see it as the gold standard.

Photo by Pixabay

17. Although it has been argued that distributing condoms to teenagers means that schools and institutions are encouraging sexual behavior in juveniles, educational institutions should distribute and teach students about birth control in order to reduce sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies.

18. More and more people are choosing to read e-books instead of physical books. The government should allocate funds to digitize libraries and deliver increased resources to support the provision of digital learning devices such as new computers and high-speed internet to enable users to connect remotely and access library books online.

19. Marijuana has a lot of applications in the field of medicine such as the treatment of symptoms of cancer, glaucoma, and epilepsy. The legalization of marijuana use in the United States will be highly beneficial to the medical sector by empowering healthcare professionals to prescribe this lifesaving remedy.

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20. Blue-collar workers whose jobs are disappearing due to global recession, dwindling global demand, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise of Chinese manufacturing firms should be retrained to work in the green energy sector to counteract unemployment, minimize environmental pollution, and improve local economies.

Photo by Anna Nekrashevich

21. The use of casual clothing in place of uniforms in schools promotes unhealthy competition and leaves students from low-income families vulnerable to mocking, discrimination, bullying, and unhealthy expectations.

Students should be mandated to wear uniforms to minimize their focus on physical appearance and redirect their attention to their studies.

22. A linguistic analysis of various metaphors, similes, and epithets used in Sonnet 5 reveals Shakespeare’s impeccable mastery of the English language.

23. The practice of motivating children to study hard and get good results by paying them when they excel academically is a good way of helping them understand how the real world works. It will enable them to see that if they put in their best effort and do good work, they will reap the rewards that come with it.

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24. Findings from recent studies have shown that there are strong links between a company’s management style and its employees’ level of motivation, productivity, and the general financial wellbeing of the organization.

25. There’s no denying that the fashion industry has come a long way from the weight and shape-obsessed industry where being skinny was promoted as the ideal body type.

However, it is yet to completely shed its unhealthy notions of what the female body should be. It still needs to be more deliberate about promoting diversity and a healthy image of the body.

Photo by Anastasiya Gepp

26. Bullfighting is a barbaric practice that should be banned because it is highly dangerous for both participants and observers and a brutal sport that violates the rights of animals and subjects them to grievous harm simply for entertainment.

27. More companies should embrace the work from home movement to gain access to a bigger and more diverse pipeline of qualified candidates and help their workers increase productivity, achieve better work-life balance, improve happiness and satisfaction, and ultimately generate more value for the business.

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28. University athletes should receive payment for their services to the institution. Many student-athletes tend to hail from lower-income families and are servicing their tuition with the help of scholarships.

Devising a compensation plan for them will improve their mental and physical well-being and enable them to devote more time and effort to their studies and athletic endeavors.

29. People should exercise greater care and diligence when sharing details about their lives online or on social media because their personal information can easily be used inappropriately or handed over to a third party without their knowledge or permission.

30. Adolescents cannot fully appreciate the negative impacts of fast food and sugary drinks on their health. Schools should undertake the responsibility of developing educational programs to help students understand the value of building healthy eating habits.

Photo by Julia M Cameron

31. Codes of conduct should be created and mandatory for newly established developments and communities as they are instrumental to improving safety, raising community involvement, and increasing the value of homes in the area.

32. Tabitha Stevens and Wendell Mouritz both consider assault to be an unsolicited expression, but this is where the similarities in their viewpoints end. They hold contrasting ideas in several other positions, which causes the scholars to have different outlooks in their examination of sexual assault and harassment cases.

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33. Increasing the taxes of cigarette companies is tantamount to taxing the poorest citizens who will have to pay increased prices for their smokes. It won’t do much to deter them from buying and smoking cigarettes.

The government will see more success from creating educational programs targeting low-income earners and teaching them about the harmful effects of smoking.

34. Standardized tests and examinations are not very effective at measuring the skills and knowledge of students. As such, tests and exams should be banned and institutions of learning should devise alternative methods of evaluating students’ knowledge, abilities, and cognitive skills.

35. This paper shows a correlation between adopting hiring and personality tests in the recruitment process and a reduction in employer turnover using Atika Corporation, Wembley Group of Industries, and Biolot Inc as case studies. It makes a case for why large organizations should incorporate personality tests into their hiring strategies.

36. To the casual eye, bats and bears do not seem to have much in common, but upon closer examination, these creatures share markedly similar species classifications and hibernation.

37. We live in the golden age of information, where data is more available and accessible than it’s ever been. However, the internet is rife with misinformation so students need to be taught digital literacy skills so they can evaluate the content they are consuming and determine whether it is accurate and reliable or a piece of propaganda or misleading information.

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38. Considering pet breeders routinely engage in unlawful and ethical business practices and the ever-increasing number of homeless animals being kept in shelters, people should not buy pets from breeders. They should consider adopting animals directly from shelters instead.

39. Normal People written by Sally Rooney offers a vivid portrayal of how class differences and social structure can shape a person’s life, stitch the fabric of their insecurities, influence the ways they communicate and interact with others both in and out of their social class, and ultimately inform their actions or inactions.

40. Early education centers are key caregivers and teachers for preschool-age children. They should endeavor to provide them with school preparedness training with a focus on helping them develop letter and number recognition, gross and fine motor skills, and adequate social skills.

41. Although studying abroad is an expensive option for many, the opportunity to discover a whole new world, interact with various cultures, and experience a different approach to learning makes the prospect worth it for those who can afford it.

42. When it comes to the issue of children having access to social media, there are two sides to the debate. The supporters believe that social media does not harm children but instead exposes them to see the world beyond their corners of the earth.

On the other hand, the dissenters think that children shouldn’t be allowed to use social media because it distorts reality and creates false expectations.

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43. Due to dwindling theater ticket sales and the rise in available streaming platforms, film production companies should adapt to the changing times and adopt techniques that allow for optimal viewing of movies on all platforms.

44. Through a close reading of “Honor” by Elif Shafak and “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith, this paper will examine the similarities and differences in both novels in terms of plot, setting, themes, characters, and points of view to determine whether the resemblances in the novels rise to the point of plagiarism.

45. The airing of beauty pageants on television should be banned because despite their intentions of empowering and supporting women, the practice of parading contestants around in obscene clothes and judging them based on their appearance contradicts their proclaimed motives.

A strong thesis statement means your paper is off to a good start. Not only will it help in improving the content of your essay, it will also allow readers to grasp the core purpose of your paper at a glance and encourage them to keep reading.

These thesis statements should give you an idea of how to better refine the description for your thesis in a way that fully captures the idea you want to express.

Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing. I started my first e-commerce company in college, designing and selling t-shirts for my campus bar crawl using print-on-demand. Having successfully established multiple 6 & 7-figure e-commerce businesses (in women’s fashion and hiking gear), I think I can share a tip or 2 to help you succeed.

Developing a Thesis Statement

Many papers you write require developing a thesis statement. In this section you’ll learn what a thesis statement is and how to write one.

Keep in mind that not all papers require thesis statements . If in doubt, please consult your instructor for assistance.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement . . .

• Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic.
• Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper.
• Is focused and specific enough to be “proven” within the boundaries of your paper.
• Is generally located near the end of the introduction ; sometimes, in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or in an entire paragraph.
• Identifies the relationships between the pieces of evidence that you are using to support your argument.

Not all papers require thesis statements! Ask your instructor if you’re in doubt whether you need one.

Identify a topic

Your topic is the subject about which you will write. Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic; or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper.

Consider what your assignment asks you to do

Inform yourself about your topic, focus on one aspect of your topic, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts, generate a topic from an assignment.

Below are some possible topics based on sample assignments.

Sample assignment 1

Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II.

Identified topic

Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis

This topic avoids generalities such as “Spain” and “World War II,” addressing instead on Franco’s role (a specific aspect of “Spain”) and the diplomatic relations between the Allies and Axis (a specific aspect of World War II).

Sample assignment 2

Analyze one of Homer’s epic similes in the Iliad.

The relationship between the portrayal of warfare and the epic simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64.

This topic focuses on a single simile and relates it to a single aspect of the Iliad ( warfare being a major theme in that work).

Developing a Thesis Statement–Additional information

Your assignment may suggest several ways of looking at a topic, or it may name a fairly general concept that you will explore or analyze in your paper. You’ll want to read your assignment carefully, looking for key terms that you can use to focus your topic.

Sample assignment: Analyze Spain’s neutrality in World War II Key terms: analyze, Spain’s neutrality, World War II

After you’ve identified the key words in your topic, the next step is to read about them in several sources, or generate as much information as possible through an analysis of your topic. Obviously, the more material or knowledge you have, the more possibilities will be available for a strong argument. For the sample assignment above, you’ll want to look at books and articles on World War II in general, and Spain’s neutrality in particular.

As you consider your options, you must decide to focus on one aspect of your topic. This means that you cannot include everything you’ve learned about your topic, nor should you go off in several directions. If you end up covering too many different aspects of a topic, your paper will sprawl and be unconvincing in its argument, and it most likely will not fulfull the assignment requirements.

For the sample assignment above, both Spain’s neutrality and World War II are topics far too broad to explore in a paper. You may instead decide to focus on Franco’s role in the diplomatic relationships between the Allies and the Axis , which narrows down what aspects of Spain’s neutrality and World War II you want to discuss, as well as establishes a specific link between those two aspects.

Before you go too far, however, ask yourself whether your topic is worthy of your efforts. Try to avoid topics that already have too much written about them (i.e., “eating disorders and body image among adolescent women”) or that simply are not important (i.e. “why I like ice cream”). These topics may lead to a thesis that is either dry fact or a weird claim that cannot be supported. A good thesis falls somewhere between the two extremes. To arrive at this point, ask yourself what is new, interesting, contestable, or controversial about your topic.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times . Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Derive a main point from topic

Once you have a topic, you will have to decide what the main point of your paper will be. This point, the “controlling idea,” becomes the core of your argument (thesis statement) and it is the unifying idea to which you will relate all your sub-theses. You can then turn this “controlling idea” into a purpose statement about what you intend to do in your paper.

Look for patterns in your evidence

Compose a purpose statement.

Consult the examples below for suggestions on how to look for patterns in your evidence and construct a purpose statement.

• Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis
• Franco turned to the Allies when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from the Axis

Possible conclusion:

Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: Franco’s desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power.

Purpose statement

This paper will analyze Franco’s diplomacy during World War II to see how it contributed to Spain’s neutrality.

• The simile compares Simoisius to a tree, which is a peaceful, natural image.
• The tree in the simile is chopped down to make wheels for a chariot, which is an object used in warfare.

At first, the simile seems to take the reader away from the world of warfare, but we end up back in that world by the end.

This paper will analyze the way the simile about Simoisius at 4.547-64 moves in and out of the world of warfare.

Derive purpose statement from topic

To find out what your “controlling idea” is, you have to examine and evaluate your evidence . As you consider your evidence, you may notice patterns emerging, data repeated in more than one source, or facts that favor one view more than another. These patterns or data may then lead you to some conclusions about your topic and suggest that you can successfully argue for one idea better than another.

For instance, you might find out that Franco first tried to negotiate with the Axis, but when he couldn’t get some concessions that he wanted from them, he turned to the Allies. As you read more about Franco’s decisions, you may conclude that Spain’s neutrality in WWII occurred for an entirely personal reason: his desire to preserve his own (and Spain’s) power. Based on this conclusion, you can then write a trial thesis statement to help you decide what material belongs in your paper.

Sometimes you won’t be able to find a focus or identify your “spin” or specific argument immediately. Like some writers, you might begin with a purpose statement just to get yourself going. A purpose statement is one or more sentences that announce your topic and indicate the structure of the paper but do not state the conclusions you have drawn . Thus, you might begin with something like this:

• This paper will look at modern language to see if it reflects male dominance or female oppression.
• I plan to analyze anger and derision in offensive language to see if they represent a challenge of society’s authority.

At some point, you can turn a purpose statement into a thesis statement. As you think and write about your topic, you can restrict, clarify, and refine your argument, crafting your thesis statement to reflect your thinking.

As you work on your thesis, remember to keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Sometimes your thesis needs to evolve as you develop new insights, find new evidence, or take a different approach to your topic.

Compose a draft thesis statement

If you are writing a paper that will have an argumentative thesis and are having trouble getting started, the techniques in the table below may help you develop a temporary or “working” thesis statement.

Begin with a purpose statement that you will later turn into a thesis statement.

Assignment: Discuss the history of the Reform Party and explain its influence on the 1990 presidential and Congressional election.

Purpose Statement: This paper briefly sketches the history of the grassroots, conservative, Perot-led Reform Party and analyzes how it influenced the economic and social ideologies of the two mainstream parties.

Question-to-Assertion

If your assignment asks a specific question(s), turn the question(s) into an assertion and give reasons why it is true or reasons for your opinion.

Assignment : What do Aylmer and Rappaccini have to be proud of? Why aren’t they satisfied with these things? How does pride, as demonstrated in “The Birthmark” and “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” lead to unexpected problems?

Beginning thesis statement: Alymer and Rappaccinni are proud of their great knowledge; however, they are also very greedy and are driven to use their knowledge to alter some aspect of nature as a test of their ability. Evil results when they try to “play God.”

Write a sentence that summarizes the main idea of the essay you plan to write.

Main idea: The reason some toys succeed in the market is that they appeal to the consumers’ sense of the ridiculous and their basic desire to laugh at themselves.

Make a list of the ideas that you want to include; consider the ideas and try to group them.

• nature = peaceful
• war matériel = violent (competes with 1?)
• need for time and space to mourn the dead
• war is inescapable (competes with 3?)

Use a formula to arrive at a working thesis statement (you will revise this later).

• although most readers of _______ have argued that _______, closer examination shows that _______.
• _______ uses _______ and _____ to prove that ________.
• phenomenon x is a result of the combination of __________, __________, and _________.

What to keep in mind as you draft an initial thesis statement

Beginning statements obtained through the methods illustrated above can serve as a framework for planning or drafting your paper, but remember they’re not yet the specific, argumentative thesis you want for the final version of your paper. In fact, in its first stages, a thesis statement usually is ill-formed or rough and serves only as a planning tool.

As you write, you may discover evidence that does not fit your temporary or “working” thesis. Or you may reach deeper insights about your topic as you do more research, and you will find that your thesis statement has to be more complicated to match the evidence that you want to use.

You must be willing to reject or omit some evidence in order to keep your paper cohesive and your reader focused. Or you may have to revise your thesis to match the evidence and insights that you want to discuss. Read your draft carefully, noting the conclusions you have drawn and the major ideas which support or prove those conclusions. These will be the elements of your final thesis statement.

Sometimes you will not be able to identify these elements in your early drafts, but as you consider how your argument is developing and how your evidence supports your main idea, ask yourself, “ What is the main point that I want to prove/discuss? ” and “ How will I convince the reader that this is true? ” When you can answer these questions, then you can begin to refine the thesis statement.

Refine and polish the thesis statement

To get to your final thesis, you’ll need to refine your draft thesis so that it’s specific and arguable.

• Ask if your draft thesis addresses the assignment
• Question each part of your draft thesis
• Clarify vague phrases and assertions
• Investigate alternatives to your draft thesis

Consult the example below for suggestions on how to refine your draft thesis statement.

Sample Assignment

Choose an activity and define it as a symbol of American culture. Your essay should cause the reader to think critically about the society which produces and enjoys that activity.

• Ask The phenomenon of drive-in facilities is an interesting symbol of american culture, and these facilities demonstrate significant characteristics of our society.This statement does not fulfill the assignment because it does not require the reader to think critically about society.

Drive-ins are an interesting symbol of American culture because they represent Americans’ significant creativity and business ingenuity.

Among the types of drive-in facilities familiar during the twentieth century, drive-in movie theaters best represent American creativity, not merely because they were the forerunner of later drive-ins and drive-throughs, but because of their impact on our culture: they changed our relationship to the automobile, changed the way people experienced movies, and changed movie-going into a family activity.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast-food establishments, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize America’s economic ingenuity, they also have affected our personal standards.

While drive-in facilities such as those at fast- food restaurants, banks, pharmacies, and dry cleaners symbolize (1) Americans’ business ingenuity, they also have contributed (2) to an increasing homogenization of our culture, (3) a willingness to depersonalize relationships with others, and (4) a tendency to sacrifice quality for convenience.

This statement is now specific and fulfills all parts of the assignment. This version, like any good thesis, is not self-evident; its points, 1-4, will have to be proven with evidence in the body of the paper. The numbers in this statement indicate the order in which the points will be presented. Depending on the length of the paper, there could be one paragraph for each numbered item or there could be blocks of paragraph for even pages for each one.

Complete the final thesis statement

The bottom line.

As you move through the process of crafting a thesis, you’ll need to remember four things:

• Context matters! Think about your course materials and lectures. Try to relate your thesis to the ideas your instructor is discussing.
• As you go through the process described in this section, always keep your assignment in mind . You will be more successful when your thesis (and paper) responds to the assignment than if it argues a semi-related idea.
• Your thesis statement should be precise, focused, and contestable ; it should predict the sub-theses or blocks of information that you will use to prove your argument.
• Make sure that you keep the rest of your paper in mind at all times. Change your thesis as your paper evolves, because you do not want your thesis to promise more than your paper actually delivers.

In the beginning, the thesis statement was a tool to help you sharpen your focus, limit material and establish the paper’s purpose. When your paper is finished, however, the thesis statement becomes a tool for your reader. It tells the reader what you have learned about your topic and what evidence led you to your conclusion. It keeps the reader on track–well able to understand and appreciate your argument.

Writing Process and Structure

This is an accordion element with a series of buttons that open and close related content panels.

Getting Started with Your Paper

Interpreting Writing Assignments from Your Courses

Generating Ideas for

Creating an Argument

Thesis vs. Purpose Statements

Architecture of Arguments

Working with Sources

Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources

Using Literary Quotations

Citing Sources in Your Paper

Drafting Your Paper

Generating Ideas for Your Paper

Introductions

Paragraphing

Developing Strategic Transitions

Conclusions

Revising Your Paper

Peer Reviews

Reverse Outlines

Revising an Argumentative Paper

Revision Strategies for Longer Projects

Finishing Your Paper

Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist

How to Proofread your Paper

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What is a thesis?

What is a dissertation, getting started, staying on track.

A thesis is a long-term project that you work on over the course of a semester or a year. Theses have a very wide variety of styles and content, so we encourage you to look at prior examples and work closely with faculty to develop yours. 

Before you begin, make sure that you are familiar with the dissertation genre—what it is for and what it looks like.

Generally speaking, a dissertation’s purpose is to prove that you have the expertise necessary to fulfill your doctoral-degree requirements by showing depth of knowledge and independent thinking.

The form of a dissertation may vary by discipline. Be sure to follow the specific guidelines of your department.

• PhD This site directs candidates to the GSAS website about dissertations , with links to checklists,  planning, formatting, acknowledgments, submission, and publishing options. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus . Consult with your committee chair about specific requirements and standards for your dissertation.
• DDES This document covers planning, patent filing, submission guidelines, publishing options, formatting guidelines, sample pages, citation guidelines, and a list of common errors to avoid. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus .
• Scholarly Pursuits (GSAS) This searchable booklet from Harvard GSAS is a comprehensive guide to writing dissertations, dissertation-fellowship applications, academic journal articles, and academic job documents.

Finding an original topic can be a daunting and overwhelming task. These key concepts can help you focus and save time.

Finding a topic for your thesis or dissertation should start with a research question that excites or at least interests you. A rigorous, engaging, and original project will require continuous curiosity about your topic, about your own thoughts on the topic, and about what other scholars have said on your topic. Avoid getting boxed in by thinking you know what you want to say from the beginning; let your research and your writing evolve as you explore and fine-tune your focus through constant questioning and exploration.

Get a sense of the broader picture before you narrow your focus and attempt to frame an argument. Read, skim, and otherwise familiarize yourself with what other scholars have done in areas related to your proposed topic. Briefly explore topics tangentially related to yours to broaden your perspective and increase your chance of finding a unique angle to pursue.

Critical Reading

Critical reading is the opposite of passive reading. Instead of merely reading for information to absorb, critical reading also involves careful, sustained thinking about what you are reading. This process may include analyzing the author’s motives and assumptions, asking what might be left out of the discussion, considering what you agree with or disagree with in the author’s statements and why you agree or disagree, and exploring connections or contradictions between scholarly arguments. Here is a resource to help hone your critical-reading skills:

http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/criticalread.pdf

Conversation

Your thesis or dissertation will incorporate some ideas from other scholars whose work you researched. By reading critically and following your curiosity, you will develop your own ideas and claims, and these contributions are the core of your project. You will also acknowledge the work of scholars who came before you, and you must accurately and fairly attribute this work and define your place within the larger discussion. Make sure that you know how to quote, summarize, paraphrase ,  integrate , and cite secondary sources to avoid plagiarism and to show the depth and breadth of your knowledge.

A thesis is a long-term, large project that involves both research and writing; it is easy to lose focus, motivation, and momentum. Here are suggestions for achieving the result you want in the time you have.

The dissertation is probably the largest project you have undertaken, and a lot of the work is self-directed. The project can feel daunting or even overwhelming unless you break it down into manageable pieces and create a timeline for completing each smaller task. Be realistic but also challenge yourself, and be forgiving of yourself if you miss a self-imposed deadline here and there.

Your program will also have specific deadlines for different requirements, including establishing a committee, submitting a prospectus, completing the dissertation, defending the dissertation, and submitting your work. Consult your department’s website for these dates and incorporate them into the timeline for your work.

Accountability

Sometimes self-imposed deadlines do not feel urgent unless there is accountability to someone beyond yourself. To increase your motivation to complete tasks on schedule, set dates with your committee chair to submit pre-determined pieces of a chapter. You can also arrange with a fellow doctoral student to check on each other’s progress. Research and writing can be lonely, so it is also nice to share that journey with someone and support each other through the process.

Common Pitfalls

The most common challenges for students writing a dissertation are writer’s block, information-overload, and the compulsion to keep researching forever.

There are many strategies for avoiding writer’s block, such as freewriting, outlining, taking a walk, starting in the middle, and creating an ideal work environment for your particular learning style. Pay attention to what helps you and try different things until you find what works.

Efficient researching techniques are essential to avoiding information-overload. Here are a couple of resources about strategies for finding sources and quickly obtaining essential information from them.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_in_literature_detailed_discussion/reading_criticism.html

https://students.dartmouth.edu/academic-skills/learning-resources/learning-strategies/reading-techniques

Finally, remember that there is always more to learn and your dissertation cannot incorporate everything. Follow your curiosity but also set limits on the scope of your work. It helps to create a folder entitled “future projects” for topics and sources that interest you but that do not fit neatly into the dissertation. Also remember that future scholars will build off of your work, so leave something for them to do.

Browsing through theses and dissertations of the past can help to get a sense of your options and gain inspiration but be careful to use current guidelines and refer to your committee instead of relying on these examples for form or formatting.

DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard.

HOLLIS Harvard Library’s catalog provides access to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global .

MIT Architecture has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

Rhode Island School of Design has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

University of South Florida has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

Harvard GSD has a list of projects, including theses and professors’ research.

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The Best Final Theses in 2022

March 27, 2023

More than 170 final theses were submitted to the examination office of Munich Business School in 2022. Four of them stood out in particular: They are the best theses of the year and were included in the MBS Outstanding Thesis series. In the blog article, we present the topics of the theses in more detail and let the honorees and their supervisors have their say.

As in the previous year , the best theses of 2022 demonstrate that bachelor’s and master’s theses are not only the icing on the cake on the way to graduation, but can also make a valuable contribution to research on current topics. “Best”, by the way, does not only refer to an outstanding grade; the theses should primarily convince through innovative approaches and methods as well as new findings.

And now, clear the ring for the best theses of 2022!

Mitigating, Managing and Moving Past Burnout: An Organizational Perspective on Mental and Physical Well-Being

Bachelor’s thesis by gavin trudeau.

Gavin Trudeau, graduate of the bachelor’s program International Business at MBS, deals in his bachelor’s thesis with the topic of burnout, which has become more present in society as well as in medicine and the workplace in recent years. On the basis that burnout is not just an isolated feeling of overwhelm, but a syndrome which is experienced after ongoing negative experiences that and poses great dangers to organizations and their employees, Gavin Trudeau discusses causes, symptoms, and prevention strategies. By combining a comprehensive literature review with empirical research consisting of a self-reporting survey and in-depth interviews, the bachelor’s graduate succeeds in painting a “holistic picture” that reveals “not only what causes stress at the workplace but also shows the drivers as well as appropriate measures at the company and their relation to avoid negative impacts” – say the thesis supervisors Prof. Dr. Arnd Albrecht and Evelyn Albrecht-Goepfert.

We asked Gavin Trudeau how he came to address the topic of burnout in his bachelor’s thesis:

“I have always been interested in psychology and the importance of mental health so it was important for me to bring those two elements into my thesis and relate it to current issues I had been witnessing in the business landscape. At the time I started thinking about my topic we were still in the depths of the pandemic, and working from home was still mandatory for most people. I was seeing and hearing so many examples of people from my network experiencing abnormal levels of stress at their jobs and having difficulties adapting to the new way of life and working, which ultimately led me to the topic of burnout prevention, stress reduction and health promotion. I thought these topics were extremely relevant and also forward thinking. The importance of mental health in the workplace is on the rise and starting to be seen as equally important as physical health. My motivation for this research was to be able to provide valuable and insightful data and recommendations so that CEO’s, managers, entrepreneurs and employees can integrate these learnings into their lives to create healthier and more positive work environments.”

You can read the full paper here .

Bootstrapping New Networks – Incentivization Strategies to Leverage Network Effects within Digital Platforms by Using Blockchain Technology

Master’s thesis by philipp wohlfart.

Start-ups must deal with the “cold start” problem and especially for platforms that fight the “chicken and egg” dilemma, building an initial user base is a major challenge. Since new emerging technologies such as blockchain technology have so far received only little attention in research on this topic, although they promise attractive solutions, Philipp Wohlfart addresses this issue in his master’s thesis. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship graduate explores the question of how blockchain technology can help to bootstrap new networks by using token incentives when application utility is still missing. To answer the question, Phillip Wohlfart conducted six semi-structured experts interviews – with the result that token incentives can support in many ways.

“From the factual coverage to the method to the results, a truly outstanding work: logically argued, well researched, and very structured and transparently presented. Phillip Wohlfarts findings have both theoretical and practical implications for stakeholder management and alignment within platforms. They also provide insight into how to create, evaluate or analyze sustainable blockchain-based platform designs.” Prof. Dr. Anne Tryba, supervisor of the thesis and former Professor for Entrepreneurship at MBS

Read the full thesis here .

Analysis of the Impact of Customer Experience Management Among B2B Companies in the Construction Industry

Mba master’s thesis by sarim mehtab hasan.

While B2C companies have been firmly incorporating customer experience management (CXM) strategies into their business models for quite some time and there is accordingly sufficient research on the subject, the relevance of CXM in the B2B context has only recently been repeatedly emphasized. To investigate the importance of CXM in the context of his master’s thesis, Sarim Mehtab Hasan chooses the construction industry, for which the requirement of customer experience is even more vital due to diverse stakeholders. Interviews with senior professionals from construction companies show that the construction industry is still traditional, focuses on short-term returns, which doesn’t align with customer’s needs, and overall lacks awareness of CXM and its benefits. Sarim Hasan uses these – rather sobering – results to derive recommendations as well as short- and long-term implementation strategies for the construction industry in terms of customer experience, which earned his thesis the rating “outstanding”.

We asked Sarim Hasan what it means to him that his thesis in the MBA General Management was awarded as MBS Outstanding Thesis:

It was my first time writing a thesis and I learnt a lot during the entire process. Not only was I able to get an extensive understanding of the topic of CXM in the B2B environment but also improve my personal & professional skills. This, combined with the experience I gained from the business projects during my studies at MBS, really elevated my capability to manage projects effectively, which is something I currently apply on a daily basis in my full-time job. Getting this award gave a substantial boost to my confidence levels, especially to take on new risks for a higher reward, and validated the importance of CXM in today’s customer-driven business world. After working for almost 8 months in a customer-facing role post-MBA, I can undoubtedly confirm that my thesis has played a major role in my performance as a Customer Experience Manager at A2MAC1 and I hope that other business students find value in my research and take it even further.

Economic Evaluation of Digitized Health Data for the German Health Care System Using the Example of the Electronic Health Record

Mba master’s thesis by dr. sven grösgen.

Dr. Sven Grösgen dedicates his final thesis to a highly topical and explosively discussed subject: Germany’s plans to introduce of an electronic patient record. Such a digital file promises not only to improve healthcare, but also to have a positive impact on the economy. However, the status quo is that only 1.8% of total annual spending has been devoted to driving digitization in healthcare, while per capita spending continues to rise at the same time. With a general analysis of the electronic patient record and a detailed cost benefit analysis, Sven Grösgen shows that digital storage of health data has potential to counteract inefficiencies in healthcare and that the costs would be offset within the first ten years. In addition, the MBA graduate advocates an “opt-out” instead of an “opt-in” model and provides further impulses on how the implementation of an electronic patient record can be increased and further developed into an electronic health record.

“The author provides a very good and knowledgeable overview of existing literature and discusses all relevant aspects of the topic. At the time of the research, various reservations of both medical practitioners and patients shaped the discourse, so the focus on the economic benefits is particularly enlightening. As the relevance of the topic has recently increased even more, reading this thesis can be recommended to anyone seeking a sound basis on this topic area.” Prof. Dr. Eva Stumpfegger and Prof. Dr. Florian Bartholomae about why they decided to nominate Sven Grösgen’s thesis as MBS Outstanding Thesis

• Bachelor International Business
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EBSCO Open Dissertations

EBSCO Open Dissertations makes electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) more accessible to researchers worldwide. The free portal is designed to benefit universities and their students and make ETDs more discoverable. 

Increasing Discovery & Usage of ETD Research

With EBSCO Open Dissertations, institutions are offered an innovative approach to driving additional traffic to ETDs in institutional repositories. Our goal is to help make their students’ theses and dissertations as widely visible and cited as possible.

EBSCO Open Dissertations extends the work started in 2014, when EBSCO and the H.W. Wilson Foundation created American Doctoral Dissertations which contained indexing from the H.W. Wilson print publication, Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities, 1933-1955. In 2015, the H.W. Wilson Foundation agreed to support the expansion of the scope of the American Doctoral Dissertations database to include records for dissertations and theses from 1955 to the present.

How Does EBSCO Open Dissertations Work?

Libraries can add theses and dissertations to the database, making them freely available to researchers everywhere while increasing traffic to their institutional repository.  ETD metadata is harvested via OAI and integrated into EBSCO’s platform, where pointers send traffic to the institution's IR.

EBSCO integrates this data into their current subscriber environments and makes the data available on the open web via opendissertations.org .

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How to Choose a Dissertation Topic | 8 Steps to Follow

Published on November 11, 2022 by Shona McCombes and Tegan George. Revised on November 20, 2023.

Choosing your dissertation topic is the first step in making sure your research goes as smoothly as possible. When choosing a topic, it’s important to consider:

• Your institution and department’s requirements
• Your areas of knowledge and interest
• The scientific, social, or practical relevance
• The availability of data and resources
• The timeframe of your dissertation
• The relevance of your topic

You can follow these steps to begin narrowing down your ideas.

Table of contents

Step 1: check the requirements, step 2: choose a broad field of research, step 3: look for books and articles, step 4: find a niche, step 5: consider the type of research, step 6: determine the relevance, step 7: make sure it’s plausible, step 8: get your topic approved, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about dissertation topics.

The very first step is to check your program’s requirements. This determines the scope of what it is possible for you to research.

• Is there a minimum and maximum word count?
• When is the deadline?
• Should the research have an academic or a professional orientation?
• Are there any methodological conditions? Do you have to conduct fieldwork, or use specific types of sources?

Some programs have stricter requirements than others. You might be given nothing more than a word count and a deadline, or you might have a restricted list of topics and approaches to choose from. If in doubt about what is expected of you, always ask your supervisor or department coordinator.

Start by thinking about your areas of interest within the subject you’re studying. Examples of broad ideas include:

• Twentieth-century literature
• Economic history
• Health policy

To get a more specific sense of the current state of research on your potential topic, skim through a few recent issues of the top journals in your field. Be sure to check out their most-cited articles in particular. For inspiration, you can also search Google Scholar , subject-specific databases , and your university library’s resources.

As you read, note down any specific ideas that interest you and make a shortlist of possible topics. If you’ve written other papers, such as a 3rd-year paper or a conference paper, consider how those topics can be broadened into a dissertation.

After doing some initial reading, it’s time to start narrowing down options for your potential topic. This can be a gradual process, and should get more and more specific as you go. For example, from the ideas above, you might narrow it down like this:

• Twentieth-century literature   Twentieth-century Irish literature   Post-war Irish poetry
• Economic history   European economic history   German labor union history
• Health policy   Reproductive health policy   Reproductive rights in South America

All of these topics are still broad enough that you’ll find a huge amount of books and articles about them. Try to find a specific niche where you can make your mark, such as: something not many people have researched yet, a question that’s still being debated, or a very current practical issue.

At this stage, make sure you have a few backup ideas — there’s still time to change your focus. If your topic doesn’t make it through the next few steps, you can try a different one. Later, you will narrow your focus down even more in your problem statement and research questions .

There are many different types of research , so at this stage, it’s a good idea to start thinking about what kind of approach you’ll take to your topic. Will you mainly focus on:

• Collecting original data (e.g., experimental or field research)?
• Analyzing existing data (e.g., national statistics, public records, or archives)?
• Interpreting cultural objects (e.g., novels, films, or paintings)?
• Comparing scholarly approaches (e.g., theories, methods, or interpretations)?

Many dissertations will combine more than one of these. Sometimes the type of research is obvious: if your topic is post-war Irish poetry, you will probably mainly be interpreting poems. But in other cases, there are several possible approaches. If your topic is reproductive rights in South America, you could analyze public policy documents and media coverage, or you could gather original data through interviews and surveys .

You don’t have to finalize your research design and methods yet, but the type of research will influence which aspects of the topic it’s possible to address, so it’s wise to consider this as you narrow down your ideas.

It’s important that your topic is interesting to you, but you’ll also have to make sure it’s academically, socially or practically relevant to your field.

• Academic relevance means that the research can fill a gap in knowledge or contribute to a scholarly debate in your field.
• Social relevance means that the research can advance our understanding of society and inform social change.
• Practical relevance means that the research can be applied to solve concrete problems or improve real-life processes.

The easiest way to make sure your research is relevant is to choose a topic that is clearly connected to current issues or debates, either in society at large or in your academic discipline. The relevance must be clearly stated when you define your research problem .

Before you make a final decision on your topic, consider again the length of your dissertation, the timeframe in which you have to complete it, and the practicalities of conducting the research.

Will you have enough time to read all the most important academic literature on this topic? If there’s too much information to tackle, consider narrowing your focus even more.

Will you be able to find enough sources or gather enough data to fulfil the requirements of the dissertation? If you think you might struggle to find information, consider broadening or shifting your focus.

Do you have to go to a specific location to gather data on the topic? Make sure that you have enough funding and practical access.

Last but not least, will the topic hold your interest for the length of the research process? To stay motivated, it’s important to choose something you’re enthusiastic about!

Most programmes will require you to submit a brief description of your topic, called a research prospectus or proposal .

Remember, if you discover that your topic is not as strong as you thought it was, it’s usually acceptable to change your mind and switch focus early in the dissertation process. Just make sure you have enough time to start on a new topic, and always check with your supervisor or department.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .

However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:

• Researchability
• Feasibility and specificity
• Relevance and originality

All research questions should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly

You can assess information and arguments critically by asking certain questions about the source. You can use the CRAAP test , focusing on the currency , relevance , authority , accuracy , and purpose of a source of information.

Ask questions such as:

• Who is the author? Are they an expert?
• Why did the author publish it? What is their motivation?
• How do they make their argument? Is it backed up by evidence?

A dissertation prospectus or proposal describes what or who you plan to research for your dissertation. It delves into why, when, where, and how you will do your research, as well as helps you choose a type of research to pursue. You should also determine whether you plan to pursue qualitative or quantitative methods and what your research design will look like.

It should outline all of the decisions you have taken about your project, from your dissertation topic to your hypotheses and research objectives , ready to be approved by your supervisor or committee.

Note that some departments require a defense component, where you present your prospectus to your committee orally.

The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is relevant and worthy of being conducted.

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McCombes, S. & George, T. (2023, November 20). How to Choose a Dissertation Topic | 8 Steps to Follow. Scribbr. Retrieved September 13, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/dissertation-topic/

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• What Is a Thesis? | Ultimate Guide & Examples

What Is a Thesis? | Ultimate Guide & Examples

Published on 15 September 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on 25 July 2024.

A thesis is a type of research paper based on your original research. It is usually submitted as the final step of a PhD program in the UK.

Writing a thesis can be a daunting experience. Indeed, alongside a dissertation , it is the longest piece of writing students typically complete. It relies on your ability to conduct research from start to finish: designing your research , collecting data , developing a robust analysis, drawing strong conclusions , and writing concisely .

Thesis template

You can also download our full thesis template in the format of your choice below. Our template includes a ready-made table of contents , as well as guidance for what each chapter should include. It’s easy to make it your own, and can help you get started.

Download Word template Download Google Docs template

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Table of contents

Thesis vs. thesis statement, how to structure a thesis, acknowledgements or preface, list of figures and tables, list of abbreviations, introduction, literature review, methodology, reference list, proofreading and editing, defending your thesis, frequently asked questions about theses.

You may have heard the word thesis as a standalone term or as a component of academic writing called a thesis statement . Keep in mind that these are two very different things.

• A thesis statement is a very common component of an essay, particularly in the humanities. It usually comprises 1 or 2 sentences in the introduction of your essay , and should clearly and concisely summarise the central points of your academic essay .
• A thesis is a long-form piece of academic writing, often taking more than a full semester to complete. It is generally a degree requirement to complete a PhD program.
• In many countries, particularly the UK, a dissertation is generally written at the bachelor’s or master’s level.
• In the US, a dissertation is generally written as a final step toward obtaining a PhD.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

The final structure of your thesis depends on a variety of components, such as:

• Your discipline
• Your theoretical approach

Humanities theses are often structured more like a longer-form essay . Just like in an essay, you build an argument to support a central thesis.

In both hard and social sciences, theses typically include an introduction , literature review , methodology section ,  results section , discussion section , and conclusion section . These are each presented in their own dedicated section or chapter. In some cases, you might want to add an appendix .

Thesis examples

We’ve compiled a short list of thesis examples to help you get started.

• Example thesis #1:   ‘Abolition, Africans, and Abstraction: the Influence of the “Noble Savage” on British and French Antislavery Thought, 1787-1807’ by Suchait Kahlon.
• Example thesis #2: ‘”A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man”: UNRRA, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947’ by Julian Saint Reiman.

The very first page of your thesis contains all necessary identifying information, including:

• Your full title
• Your full name
• Your department
• Your institution and degree program
• Your submission date.

Sometimes the title page also includes your student ID, the name of your supervisor, or the university’s logo. Check out your university’s guidelines if you’re not sure.

Read more about title pages

The acknowledgements section is usually optional. Its main point is to allow you to thank everyone who helped you in your thesis journey, such as supervisors, friends, or family. You can also choose to write a preface , but it’s typically one or the other, not both.

Read more about acknowledgements Read more about prefaces

An abstract is a short summary of your thesis. Usually a maximum of 300 words long, it’s should include brief descriptions of your research objectives , methods, results, and conclusions. Though it may seem short, it introduces your work to your audience, serving as a first impression of your thesis.

Read more about abstracts

A table of contents lists all of your sections, plus their corresponding page numbers and subheadings if you have them. This helps your reader seamlessly navigate your document.

Your table of contents should include all the major parts of your thesis. In particular, don’t forget the the appendices. If you used heading styles, it’s easy to generate an automatic table Microsoft Word.

Read more about tables of contents

While not mandatory, if you used a lot of tables and/or figures, it’s nice to include a list of them to help guide your reader. It’s also easy to generate one of these in Word: just use the ‘Insert Caption’ feature.

Read more about lists of figures and tables

If you have used a lot of industry- or field-specific abbreviations in your thesis, you should include them in an alphabetised list of abbreviations . This way, your readers can easily look up any meanings they aren’t familiar with.

Read more about lists of abbreviations

Relatedly, if you find yourself using a lot of very specialised or field-specific terms that may not be familiar to your reader, consider including a glossary . Alphabetise the terms you want to include with a brief definition.

Read more about glossaries

An introduction sets up the topic, purpose, and relevance of your thesis, as well as expectations for your reader. This should:

• Ground your research topic , sharing any background information your reader may need
• Define the scope of your work
• Introduce any existing research on your topic, situating your work within a broader problem or debate
• State your research question(s)
• Outline (briefly) how the remainder of your work will proceed

In other words, your introduction should clearly and concisely show your reader the “what, why, and how” of your research.

Read more about introductions

A literature review helps you gain a robust understanding of any extant academic work on your topic, encompassing:

• Selecting relevant sources
• Determining the credibility of your sources
• Critically evaluating each of your sources
• Drawing connections between sources, including any themes, patterns, conflicts, or gaps

A literature review is not merely a summary of existing work. Rather, your literature review should ultimately lead to a clear justification for your own research, perhaps via:

• Addressing a gap in the literature
• Building on existing knowledge to draw new conclusions
• Exploring a new theoretical or methodological approach
• Introducing a new solution to an unresolved problem
• Definitively advocating for one side of a theoretical debate

Read more about literature reviews

Theoretical framework

Your literature review can often form the basis for your theoretical framework, but these are not the same thing. A theoretical framework defines and analyses the concepts and theories that your research hinges on.

Read more about theoretical frameworks

Your methodology chapter shows your reader how you conducted your research. It should be written clearly and methodically, easily allowing your reader to critically assess the credibility of your argument. Furthermore, your methods section should convince your reader that your method was the best way to answer your research question.

A methodology section should generally include:

• Your overall approach ( quantitative vs. qualitative )
• Your research methods (e.g., a longitudinal study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., interviews or a controlled experiment
• Any tools or materials you used (e.g., computer software)
• The data analysis methods you chose (e.g., statistical analysis , discourse analysis )
• A strong, but not defensive justification of your methods

Read more about methodology sections

Your results section should highlight what your methodology discovered. These two sections work in tandem, but shouldn’t repeat each other. While your results section can include hypotheses or themes, don’t include any speculation or new arguments here.

Your results section should:

• State each (relevant) result with any (relevant) descriptive statistics (e.g., mean , standard deviation ) and inferential statistics (e.g., test statistics , p values )
• Explain how each result relates to the research question
• Determine whether the hypothesis was supported

Additional data (like raw numbers or interview transcripts ) can be included as an appendix . You can include tables and figures, but only if they help the reader better understand your results.

Read more about results sections

Your discussion section is where you can interpret your results in detail. Did they meet your expectations? How well do they fit within the framework that you built? You can refer back to any relevant source material to situate your results within your field, but leave most of that analysis in your literature review.

For any unexpected results, offer explanations or alternative interpretations of your data.

Read more about discussion sections

Your thesis conclusion should concisely answer your main research question. It should leave your reader with an ultra-clear understanding of your central argument, and emphasise what your research specifically has contributed to your field.

Why does your research matter? What recommendations for future research do you have? Lastly, wrap up your work with any concluding remarks.

Read more about conclusions

In order to avoid plagiarism , don’t forget to include a full reference list at the end of your thesis, citing the sources that you used. Choose one citation style and follow it consistently throughout your thesis, taking note of the formatting requirements of each style.

Which style you choose is often set by your department or your field, but common styles include MLA , Chicago , and APA.

Create APA citations Create MLA citations

In order to stay clear and concise, your thesis should include the most essential information needed to answer your research question. However, chances are you have many contributing documents, like interview transcripts or survey questions . These can be added as appendices , to save space in the main body.

Read more about appendices

Once you’re done writing, the next part of your editing process begins. Leave plenty of time for proofreading and editing prior to submission. Nothing looks worse than grammar mistakes or sloppy spelling errors!

Consider using a professional thesis editing service to make sure your final project is perfect.

Once you’ve submitted your final product, it’s common practice to have a thesis defense, an oral component of your finished work. This is scheduled by your advisor or committee, and usually entails a presentation and Q&A session.

After your defense, your committee will meet to determine if you deserve any departmental honors or accolades. However, keep in mind that defenses are usually just a formality. If there are any serious issues with your work, these should be resolved with your advisor way before a defense.

The conclusion of your thesis or dissertation shouldn’t take up more than 5-7% of your overall word count.

When you mention different chapters within your text, it’s considered best to use Roman numerals for most citation styles. However, the most important thing here is to remain consistent whenever using numbers in your dissertation .

If you only used a few abbreviations in your thesis or dissertation, you don’t necessarily need to include a list of abbreviations .

If your abbreviations are numerous, or if you think they won’t be known to your audience, it’s never a bad idea to add one. They can also improve readability, minimising confusion about abbreviations unfamiliar to your reader.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organise your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation, such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review, research methods, avenues for future research, etc.)

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

George, T. (2024, July 25). What Is a Thesis? | Ultimate Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 9 September 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/thesis-dissertation/thesis-ultimate-guide/

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Where can i get ideas for my thesis or dissertation topic.

Tips for graduate students beginning their advanced research project

By Jan Allen, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs and Author, Cornell University Graduate School

Where do graduate students get ideas and topics for theses or dissertations? When you applied to graduate school you might have already had an idea of what you wanted to research. Or you may have chosen a graduate program for the opportunity to study with a specific faculty whose research you had read and admired as an undergraduate. And as you were advised or mentored by your advisor or by multiple faculty members, you began to think of a research project related to your advisor’s research, either a component of a larger project or an original idea for a smaller, related project.

Once you started graduate school you likely read many articles or books focusing on research, theory or critical analysis. These assigned readings, and the related publications you read as resources and citations for the class papers you write, will prompt other ideas as options for your research.

Another source for topic ideas is already completed theses and dissertations. Start local, reading the theses and dissertations completed by graduate students with your same advisor.  A much larger repository is that archived in ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and Global , with over 5 million titles and full-text manuscripts from 100 countries. Scan titles. Read abstracts. Begin to read full texts of those that interest you. You will begin to think of other research questions from the gaps or next steps in this literature.

Once you have ideas, begin to consider which one would be the best for you to pursue. How? Make a list of factors and evaluate each option:

• Will this topic sustain your interest for the length of time you will need to successfully complete the research and write the manuscript? For writing a thesis, this might be 6 to 12 months. For a dissertation it could be a year, two, or three (depending on your graduate discipline).
• Will this topic be novel, one that hasn’t been done before? A dissertation must make an original contribution to the research or scholarship in your field. You will read extensively to become familiar with the existing research before you can determine that your research question(s) is a new one. A thesis is usually smaller in scope than a dissertation, requiring fewer resources and less time. It can also replicate an earlier study while still contributing to the literature.
• Will your advisor and other members of your graduate committee be willing and able to guide you through this project?
• Do you, or your advisor and graduate program, have the resourses you need for this project? Lab, equipment, materials? Access to archives, online materials, maybe travel funds to field sites?  In general, will you have the funds and other resources to support the research you want to do?
• Can you complete this project before your advisor’s support and your funding end? In other words, is this project doable by you? You may have a great idea but need to wait until you have more funding, as a postdoctoral fellow or faculty member with graduate students of your own, to attempt it.

How do you decide? Talk to advanced graduate students. Talk to your advisor and other faculty. Once you think you’ve narrowed your topic to one or a few, begin writing. Draft a list of research questions or hypotheses. Write a summary of the literature you have read. Place you own research questions in the context of this previous literature and scholarship. Can you begin to envision this project from start to finish? From conceptualizing to design to methodology to results? If so, and your advisor approves, then you have a research topic!

Congratulations. You can do this!

___________________________________________________________________________________

For more information, check out Module 1: Getting Started on Your Thesis or Dissertations from the ProQuest Dissertations Bootcamp .

Reference management. Clean and simple.

The top list of academic search engines

1. Google Scholar

4. science.gov, 5. semantic scholar, 6. baidu scholar, get the most out of academic search engines, frequently asked questions about academic search engines, related articles.

Academic search engines have become the number one resource to turn to in order to find research papers and other scholarly sources. While classic academic databases like Web of Science and Scopus are locked behind paywalls, Google Scholar and others can be accessed free of charge. In order to help you get your research done fast, we have compiled the top list of free academic search engines.

Google Scholar is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. It's the power of Google searches applied to research papers and patents. It not only lets you find research papers for all academic disciplines for free but also often provides links to full-text PDF files.

• Coverage: approx. 200 million articles
• Abstracts: only a snippet of the abstract is available
• Related articles: ✔
• References: ✔
• Cited by: ✔
• Links to full text: ✔
• Export formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, RIS, BibTeX

BASE is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany. That is also where its name stems from (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine).

• Coverage: approx. 136 million articles (contains duplicates)
• Abstracts: ✔
• Related articles: ✘
• References: ✘
• Cited by: ✘
• Export formats: RIS, BibTeX

CORE is an academic search engine dedicated to open-access research papers. For each search result, a link to the full-text PDF or full-text web page is provided.

• Coverage: approx. 136 million articles
• Links to full text: ✔ (all articles in CORE are open access)
• Export formats: BibTeX

Science.gov is a fantastic resource as it bundles and offers free access to search results from more than 15 U.S. federal agencies. There is no need anymore to query all those resources separately!

• Coverage: approx. 200 million articles and reports
• Links to full text: ✔ (available for some databases)
• Export formats: APA, MLA, RIS, BibTeX (available for some databases)

Semantic Scholar is the new kid on the block. Its mission is to provide more relevant and impactful search results using AI-powered algorithms that find hidden connections and links between research topics.

• Coverage: approx. 40 million articles
• Export formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX

Although Baidu Scholar's interface is in Chinese, its index contains research papers in English as well as Chinese.

• Coverage: no detailed statistics available, approx. 100 million articles
• Abstracts: only snippets of the abstract are available
• Export formats: APA, MLA, RIS, BibTeX

RefSeek searches more than one billion documents from academic and organizational websites. Its clean interface makes it especially easy to use for students and new researchers.

• Coverage: no detailed statistics available, approx. 1 billion documents
• Abstracts: only snippets of the article are available
• Export formats: not available

Consider using a reference manager like Paperpile to save, organize, and cite your references. Paperpile integrates with Google Scholar and many popular databases, so you can save references and PDFs directly to your library using the Paperpile buttons:

Google Scholar is an academic search engine, and it is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. It's the power of Google searches applied to research papers and patents. It not only let's you find research papers for all academic disciplines for free, but also often provides links to full text PDF file.

Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature developed at the Allen Institute for AI. Sematic Scholar was publicly released in 2015 and uses advances in natural language processing to provide summaries for scholarly papers.

BASE , as its name suggest is an academic search engine. It is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany and that's where it name stems from (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine).

CORE is an academic search engine dedicated to open access research papers. For each search result a link to the full text PDF or full text web page is provided.

Science.gov is a fantastic resource as it bundles and offers free access to search results from more than 15 U.S. federal agencies. There is no need any more to query all those resources separately!

Find anything you save across the site in your account

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• Can be used to treat the neck area
• LED treatments only last three minutes

LED devices function by using different wavelengths to solve different issues on skin. Red wavelengths are good for anti-aging purposes, like promoting collagen synthesis and promoting wound healing, while blue wavelengths are best for killing acne-causing bacteria. This mask has both, making it an ace for those looking for a do-it-all mask that rivals an in-office session.

New York dermatologist Dr. Gross may have made his name by doling out alpha-hydroxy acid peel pads, but his LED mask isn’t too shabby, either. GQ 's editorial associate Heven Haile, who has combination skin type that’s oily in some spots and dry in others, was looking to tap the mask to help promote healthier-looking skin. “I notice that my complexion glows more and feels a lot smoother than before,” Haile says, having used it daily for two months and then sporadically for two months following.

Blue lights and red lights can be used independently or together depending on what skin conditions you need to address, and as Haile says, it's as easy as putting it on and powering it up. Plus, if you turn the mask upside down, you can use the light treatment on your neck and décolletage, two often-overlooked parts of the body that can show signs of aging the quickest.

Best Affordable LED Face Mask: Skin Gym Pink LED Face Mask

Pink LED Face Mask

• An affordable way to try out an LED light therapy mask
• Plastic feels flimsy

LED face masks are an investment—with some devices going for up to a thousand bucks, which is a whole lotta retinol if you ask us—but the Skin Gym mask is a steal at under $100. It’s a good option for folks who are just looking to introduce themselves to skin-care tools. One thing to note is that you do have to wear it longer than other masks (up to 30 minutes a day!). The shield design of the mask makes it feel like the light isn't penetrating deeply enough into the skin because it sits farther from the face, but pros we talked to said that keeping it on for longer allows the light to do its job.

While some of the other masks require some maneuvering to get into, this one is actually quite simple. You just slide the glasses onto your face and the shield emits its light. Because the mask doesn’t come directly into contact with skin, this gadget is good for people with rosacea who shouldn’t create too much heat on their complexion.

Best LED Face Mask for Acne: Omnilux Clear

• Effective at treating blemishes and hyperpigmentation
• Fit feels secure
• Too many cords

Most folks know the Omnilux Contour for its anti-aging purposes but folks love the Omnilux Clear to fight acne. Some 50 million Americans continue to deal with acne as adults, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association , and rather than consistently shelling out money on creams , pimple patches , and specialized face washes , the answer could come in the form of this mask. The flexible silicone mask conforms to the head for better full-face coverage, utilizing the power of blue and red LED to target acne on the surface and underneath the skin.

GQ 's visual editor for GQ Sports Brauna Marks was looking for a mask to combat hormonal, cystic acne that forms deep under the skin's surface. After about eight uses, Marks noticed that she did have less hormonal acne and that her existing hyperpigmentation had evened out. While she enjoyed the results of wearing the mask, she did find that there were too many wires—one for the remote and one for the mask—to be a pain point, especially since the two parts couldn't be charged together.

Best LED Face Mask for Hyperpigmentation: Therabody TheraFace Mask

TheraFace Mask

• Massage function is comfortable
• Silicone eyelets leave an indentation on your face

Therabody's TheraFace mask is so popular that the brand can barely keep it in stock alongside its Theragun massagers. Having tried it ourselves, we think the mask is worth the hype. This mask distinguishes itself from others by also offering vibration therapy around the eyes, browline, and scalp, sort of like a tender massage, which boosts circulation to relieve tension and puffiness. Unlike other face masks, this one has way more lights so it can offer even more targeted therapy.

Our tester, GQ's associate commerce director Michael Nolledo, had struggled with acne before getting it under control with Accutane. He mainly hoped the mask would help him tackle acne scars, fine lines, and hyperpigmentation, all of which were addressed by the TheraFace, according to him: “The mask has helped reduce inflammation, and evened out some of my darker scars.” While the massage aspect of the mask felt a little gimmicky to him at first, Nolledo says that it does feel relaxing, and that he's incorporated it into his daily skin care routine, which is also a testament to how easy it is to use as well as how it effective it's been since his two-month stint testing it.

Best Infrared Face Mask: Qure Q-Rejuvalight Pro LED Therapy Mask

Q-Rejuvalight Pro LED Therapy Mask

• Offers targeted treatments for specific areas of the face
• Utilizes infrared light for deeper skin penetration
• Confusing to use the first time

Few masks are equipped with infrared light, which is most sought after because of how deep it can penetrate into the skin for better, longer-lasting results. Qure's Q-Rejuvalight Pro harnesses the power of lights from blue to infrared to address nearly every skincare concern you could imagine. One of the coolest parts of this mask, however, is that instead of blasting your whole face with a single treatment, you can pick and choose one of five targeted facial areas for a specific treatment. That means if you have a breakout on your chin, you can blast that bad boy to hell, and then target your forehead later on to help smoothen out some wrinkles. GQ 's visuals director Stephanie Tran has used this mask every day for two masks, hoping to treat acne, hyperpigmentation, and wrinkles. While she says the jury's still out on the wrinkles, she did note that her skin looks brighter and has been looking forward to using it whenever she can.

Best LED Face Mask for Wrinkles: CurrentBody Skin LED Light Therapy Face Mask

Currentbody

Skin LED Light Therapy Face Mask

• Treatments are quick
• Doesn't offer full nose coverage

Few masks are equipped with infrared light, which is most sought after because of how deep it can penetrate into the skin for better, longer-lasting results. Qure's Q-Rejuvalight Pro harnesses the power of lights from blue to infrared to address nearly every skin care concern you could imagine. One of the coolest parts of this mask, however, is that instead of blasting your whole face with a single treatment, you can pick and choose one of five targeted facial areas for a specific treatment. That means if you have a breakout on your chin, you can blast that bad boy to hell, and then target your forehead later on to help smoothen out some wrinkles. GQ 's visuals director Stephanie Tran has used this mask every day for two masks, hoping to treat acne, hyperpigmentation, and wrinkles. While she says the jury's still out on the wrinkles, she did note that her skin looks brighter and has been looking forward to using it whenever she can.

Best LED Light Mask for Face and Neck: Shani Darden by Déesse PRO LED Light Mask

Shani Darden

Shani Darden by Déesse PRO LED Light Mask

Net a Porter

• Lets you target face and neck simultaenously
• Good for a variety of skin concerns
• Very expensive
• Lots of wires

One of the earliest signs of aging can be seen in the neck, and the Shani Darden by Déesse PRO LED light mask makes sure to address both your face and neck simultaneously. It features a large of number of LEDs, which increases the surface area of the skin that gets direct, targeted light therapy treatment. We like that the duration of the treatment is only 10 minutes, but having to deal with all the wires is a bit of a mess, though the results at the end of the six-week usage might justify the hassle.

Best Wireless LED Face Mask: Higher Dose Red Light Face Mask

Higher Dose

Red Light Face Mask

• Lets you go about your day while in use
• Uses heat for added skin repair
• Head straps are confusing to use the first time

For an untethered way to get into LED therapy, the cordless Higher Dose offers a face mask that lets you live your life while you treat your skin. This mask is able to target skin concerns like acne and wrinkles, all while letting you keep your eyes open in case you have a busy schedule that won't let you pencil in 10 minutes for self care (though we highly recommend you do just that). In addition to pure lights, the mask utilizes heat to penetrate the skin to aid the skin's ability to repair itself for those looking to fight signs of aging.

3 More LED Face Masks We Love

• Penetrates deep into the skin
• Good for anti-aging
• Confusing to use for the first time

For the most part, we think all grooming is unisex. Face washes targeted specifically for men and women are dumb, but a face mask designed just for men? Considering the skin of dudes is about 25% thicker than women's, LED face masks should have to readjust their lights to better penetrate those mugs. The Omnilux Men does just that, with near-infrared light that wiggles its way into the skin barrier for increased collagen production to fight signs of aging and reduce redness and inflammation.

4-in-1 Skincare Wand

• Offers four types of treatment simultaneously
• Only uses red light
• Need to hold it onto the skin for the duration of the treatment

Solawave makes a variety of facial tools with LED, and we think its Skincare Wand is one of the best. Sure, it's not a mask, but it still harnesses the power of red light for a quick and easy way to treat your specific skincare concerns. Besides the LEDs, the Skincare Wand also utilizes microcurrents, vibrations, and heat to help aid in skin repair for a youthful glow. We like that this is easy to tote on travels without having to haul a bulky mask, and you can return it within 60 days if you're not happy with the results (though we're pretty sure you will be).

• Lets you go about your day during use
• Excellent fit for most people

One problem with LED face masks is that brands have to go for a one-size-fits all approach with them, but frankly, sometimes they just don't offer the coverage the way you need. For the FAQ 202, the brand scanned over 10,000 faces to develop this model, which works better on more heads than other masks. This wireless and lightweight mask makes it easy to use, and it offers near-infrared light for deeper skin penetration.

Essentially, LED (light-emitting diode) light therapy is a non-invasive way to treat and the skin, by harnessing different wavelengths of light to penetrate the skin for various treatments, whether it be acne, wrinkles, or other skin concerns. In the past, the only way to get LED light therapy was by going to an aesthetician, but now LED light masks let you get a facial at home. The at-home devices will emit lights of different wavelengths into the skin, each of which has a different effect on the skin.

“Despite their striking visual appearance, which may make them seem like a gimmick, studies and physiology support the proposed benefits from LED masks,” says Dr. Luke Maxfield , a board-certified dermatologist. Depending on the wavelength you use on your face, you can find that you'll have less acne, fewer wrinkles, and smoothened-out fine lines—or otherwise overall skin rejuvenation. Maxfield says that it takes regular, consistent use of an LED face mask before you see results, so don't expect to remove your mask after the initial use and expect to look 10 years younger.

“Results are similar to most age related changes whereby people often notice an appearance over the course of two to three months,” Maxfield says. “And while studies have shown benefit with shorter treatment courses, even as little as three weeks, the majority of people will notice a more dramatic improvement over months with continued use.”

Maxfield says you can use an LED light mask in the morning or at night, but that it should be used on a clean face, without other products on the skin. Each LED mask works differently, so check the user manual before you go ahead and try to treat your skin. Otherwise, the chain of events should be: Cleanse your face, use the mask, and follow up with a moisturizer or your regular skin care products.

“Like most skin care, the benefits of LED can be classified broadly into acne and aging skin benefits,” Maxfield says. “While blue light mostly helps with inflammatory acne, red light improves signs of aging skin.” The benefits will be hard to see after just a few uses, so keep with it to ensure your skin actually reaps the rewards of incorporating an LED mask into your routine.

Blue Light : The shortest wavelength, blue light therapy targets the skin at the surface level, making it great for acne treatments. This light is great for killing and treating acne-causing bacteria that can lead to future breakouts.

Yellow Light : Compared to blue light, yellow light can penetrate into the skin more deeply, helping to address redness and inflammation. It also boosts collagen production, which is great for combatting wrinkles and fine lines, leading to firmer skin and better skin elasticity.

Red Light : Most people who are interested in LED face masks will be familiar with the term red light therapy, which is great for the “improvement of tone, texture, fine lines, and an overall healthier, softer appearance,” says Maxfield.

Infrared Light : Much like red light, infrared light will address skin concerns that require deeper penetration into the skin. Infrared light will permeate the dermis more thoroughly than red light, and it's great for more effective light therapy. Not many LED face masks offer infrared light, with some only going as far as near-infrared, though both are more effective than just red light.

There's no one color wavelength that's the most effective, but if you want something that's going to reach deep into the skin, then you're going to want a mask that offers infrared light. Otherwise, check out the above to see what light you might need depending on your skin care concern.

There are a couple important factors when choosing an LED face mask, so here's what to look out for:

Skin Concerns : Whether you're dealing with acne or hoping to preserve your silky smooth skin for as long as possible, the LED face mask you choose will help you get where you need to be. Evaluate the colors that are available from the LED mask you want, and see if it will target the skin care concerns you're hoping to address.

Price : LED face masks are notoriously expensive, though it should be noted that the only other way to get a treatment is by shelling out more money on a facial. We were able to find a range of LED masks at various price points that could address all skin care woes and work for most budgets so that everyone can get glowy skin.

LED light therapy is non-invasive, and it is safe to use. “Unlike other devices, since there is no direct physical trauma and minimal to no direct heat, LED is a very safe treatment,” Maxfield says. And since LED face masks don’t use UV lights, you don’t need to worry about potential sun damage. Make sure to find masks that are FDA-cleared or FDA-approved, all of which will give you extra peace of mind while you’re refreshing your skin.

Some masks will require you to wear eye-protecting goggles just so the light doesn't negatively impact your vision, but otherwise there should be no side effects to using an LED mask.

Your usage will depend on the mask you use, and each brand will offer directions on how often to use them and for how long. Generally, most are safe to use every day, while some brands will recommend you only use them a handful of times a week for a set number of weeks before giving your skin a break.

Meet Our Testers:

• Heven Haile is GQ ’s Editorial Operations Assistant.
• Brauna Marks is GQ Sports’ Visuals Editor
• Michael Nolledo is GQ ’s associate commerce director.
• Stephanie Tran is GQ ’s Visuals Director.