HSB4M: Thesis Essay Outline
The first step in writing a thesis essay is to formulate a thesis statement.
A thesis statement must be an arguable statement that relates to your
topic.
Determining Your Focus
In determining your thesis you need to do the following:
 Preliminary research- read up on your topic. Try to find aspects of
your topic that are controversial. What are the challenging problems,
important issues and main ideas surrounding your topic? What are the
opinions of other authors?
 Once you have done this you need to determine your own point of view
on your topic of study. Narrow down your topic by formulating
questions from which a thesis can develop.
 Write out a tentative thesis statement. Be definitive in your
statement. Make sure that you are not just merely arguing a
statement of fact. There should be at least two sides to your
statement.
A good thesis statement should:
1. Take a stand.
2. Be arguable.
3. Be broad enough so that it can be researched.
**Your research may push you to revise your initial thesis**
Developing a Skeleton Outline
Before you begin to record your research you must determine 3-4 ‘Main
Points’ that you will argue. To do this you should record the main ideas
around which your research might be focused. It is important to approach
your argument from more than one angle to give it credibility. This will give
your research direction and your essay a tentative structure.
**If you can not come up with at least 3 main points you may need to
revise/expand your thesis statement**
Each of your main points should have at least three separate sub points. A
sub point should support one particular aspect of the main point. You should
refer to your preliminary research to determine specific sub points for each
main point. You may need to further research to come up with a sufficient
number of sub points. Each sub point should be supported by specific facts
from your research.
Creating a Skeleton Outline
Once you have determined your ‘main’ and ‘sub’ points you can create a
skeleton outline. This determines the structure of your essay and should be
the guide for your research. This page should look like:
OUTLINE
Tentative Thesis:
Main Point #1:
Sub point
Sub point
Sub point
Main Point #2:
Sub point
Sub point
Sub point
Main Point #3:
Sub point
Sub point
Sub point
A
B
C
A
B
C
A
B
C
The skeleton outline is what you need to have prepared for the first
checkpoint of the ISU process. This is what will be handed in and discussed
with me. Once this has been evaluated you can begin to conduct in-depth
research on your thesis essay.
Evaluation for Skeleton Outline:
Knowledge:
 Demonstrates thorough and insightful understanding
of selected topic. Evidence of critical research.
Thinking:
 Thesis and main points are the result of effective
critical thought.
Application:
 Thesis statement is debatable and main points
clearly support the stated argument.
Total
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
/25
Recording Research
Once the main and sub points of your essay have been evaluated by your
teacher you need to begin to research. When you have found evidence that
supports your essay you need to record it. This is what you should do:
1. Record your research on your computer or on a word processor. This
will make writing the rough draft easier for you because you can
organize your research efficiently!
2. For each main point you should have a separate file or page (3 or 4 in
total). You will also need an additional file or page titled bibliography.
Your page should look like this:
Main Point #1:
Sub point A: Write out your quotation or information that
you have paraphrased here. (provide the APA citation in
parenthesis) **See the APA document for format**
Sub point A: “You will have a number of separate facts or
supporting research that may fill more than one page. Be sure
to keep all of your evidence organized.”
You need to have a separate file or page for your bibliography. When
you are researching any evidence you intend on using in your essay needs
to be documented.
Before handing in your Essay Outline you should organize the evidence for
your sub points according to the way they will be presented in the essay.
You may need to ‘cut and paste’ on your computer to do this.