writing thesis quotes

101 Inspirational Quotes for Thesis: Finding the Words

In this article, we’ve compiled a list of inspirational quotes to help you stay motivated and inspired as you work on your thesis. From words of encouragement to motivational reminders, these quotes are perfect for inspiring you to stay focused, positive, and productive throughout the writing process. So, if you’re looking for some inspiration to help you write your thesis or know someone who is, keep reading for 101 uplifting quotes that will inspire and empower you to achieve your academic goals.

101 Inspirational Quotes for Thesis

1. “In the pursuit of knowledge, one finds the courage to redefine possibilities.”

2. “A thesis is not just a conclusion; it’s a journey of self-discovery and growth.”

3. “Through the lens of perseverance, the thesis unveils its true brilliance.”

4. “Doubt not your abilities, for within a thesis lies the power to transform minds.”

5. “In the face of challenges, a thesis becomes a testament to unwavering determination.”

6. “The thesis is the symphony of ideas, harmonizing the rhythm of academia.”

7. “To write a thesis is to sow seeds of wisdom, nurturing the fields of innovation.”

8. “Amidst the darkest doubts, the thesis illuminates the path to enlightenment.”

9. “In the pursuit of truth, a thesis unveils the beauty of intellectual honesty.”

10. “A thesis is the manifestation of dreams woven into scholarly reality.”

11. “The thesis is the mirror reflecting the researcher’s soul.”

12. “Within the labyrinth of knowledge, the thesis becomes the guiding star.”

13. “Like a phoenix rising, the thesis transforms the ashes of uncertainty into knowledge.”

14. “A thesis stands tall on the pillars of curiosity and resilience.”

15. “Through the valleys of research, the thesis climbs mountains of understanding.”

16. “A thesis whispers the language of change, echoing across generations.”

17. “The thesis is the bridge connecting the realm of questions to the land of answers.”

18. “A thesis is a garden where ideas bloom and bloom again.”

19. “In the face of ambiguity, the thesis paints clarity with words.”

20. “Within the binding of a thesis, dreams ascend to new heights.”

21. “The thesis is the constellation of ideas, mapping the universe of knowledge.”

22. “A thesis is the masterpiece of dedication and intellectual artistry.”

23. “Through the storm of doubt, a thesis emerges as a beacon of certainty.”

24. “Within the crucible of research, the thesis forges diamonds of understanding.”

25. “A thesis is the whisper of knowledge, shared through the corridors of time.”

26. “In the symphony of academia, the thesis is the crescendo of brilliance.”

27. “A thesis is not just an end, but a beginning of limitless possibilities.”

28. “Through the tapestry of research, the thesis weaves the fabric of progress.”

29. “The thesis is the elixir of wisdom, nurturing minds for generations to come.”

30. “A thesis is a road less traveled, where innovation finds its way.”

31. “In the garden of academia, the thesis blossoms like a rare and precious flower.”

32. “The thesis is the compass guiding explorers through the seas of knowledge.”

33. “A thesis is the echo of countless voices, shaping the future of understanding.”

34. “Through the dance of words, the thesis paints portraits of enlightenment.”

35. “The thesis is the flame that ignites the torch of wisdom in others.”

36. “A thesis stands firm, an everlasting monument to intellectual achievement.”

37. “In the silence of contemplation, the thesis speaks volumes of insight.”

38. “The thesis is the heartbeat of curiosity, pulsing with the rhythm of discovery.”

39. “A thesis is the symphony of thoughts, composed with the pen of wisdom.”

40. “Through the tunnel of research, the thesis emerges into the light of knowledge.”

41. “The thesis is the lighthouse that guides scholars through uncharted waters.”

42. “A thesis is the constellation of ideas, illuminating the sky of academia.”

43. “In the realm of academia, the thesis reigns as the king of enlightenment.”

44. “The thesis is the gateway to new worlds, unlocked by the key of knowledge.”

45. “A thesis is the river that flows through the valleys of understanding.”

46. “Through the crucible of challenges, the thesis emerges as a beacon of triumph.”

47. “The thesis is the chisel that sculpts the statue of academic brilliance.”

48. “A thesis is the seed that germinates into forests of innovative ideas.”

49. “In the tapestry of research, the thesis weaves the threads of brilliance.”

50. “The thesis is the orchestra, harmonizing the melody of knowledge.”

51. “A thesis is the compass, guiding explorers through the uncharted territory of knowledge.”

52. “Through the dance of ideas, the thesis orchestrates the symphony of enlightenment.”

53. “The thesis is the beacon of light, leading others out of the darkness of ignorance.”

54. “A thesis is the catalyst that sparks the wildfire of curiosity.”

55. “In the garden of academia, the thesis blooms like a rare and exquisite flower.”

56. “The thesis is the constellation of insights, mapping the vast universe of knowledge.”

57. “A thesis is not just an end, but the beginning of a journey into unexplored realms.”

58. “Through the labyrinth of research, the thesis finds the hidden treasure of wisdom.”

59. “The thesis is the heartbeat of scholarly pursuit, pulsing with the rhythm of progress.”

60. “A thesis is the mirror reflecting the soul of the researcher, forever imprinted in ink.”

61. “In the symphony of ideas, the thesis is the crescendo of brilliance.”

62. “The thesis is the bridge that connects the realm of questions to the land of answers.”

63. “A thesis is the seed that sprouts into forests of innovation and progress.”

64. “Through the storm of doubt, the thesis emerges as a beacon of certainty.”

65. “The thesis is the symphony of thoughts, composed with the pen of wisdom.”

66. “A thesis is the whisper of knowledge, shared across generations.”

67. “In the dance of words, the thesis paints portraits of enlightenment.”

68. “The thesis is the compass that guides explorers through the uncharted seas of knowledge.”

69. “A thesis is the lighthouse that shines light on the path of understanding.”

70. “Through the crucible of challenges, the thesis emerges as a beacon of triumph.”

71. “The thesis is the chisel that sculpts the statue of academic brilliance.”

72. “A thesis is the seed that germinates into forests of innovative ideas.”

73. “In the tapestry of research, the thesis weaves the threads of brilliance.”

74. “The thesis is the orchestra, harmonizing the melody of knowledge.”

75. “A thesis is the compass, guiding explorers through the uncharted territory of knowledge.”

76. “Through the dance of ideas, the thesis orchestrates the symphony of enlightenment.”

77. “The thesis is the beacon of light, leading others out of the darkness of ignorance.”

78. “A thesis is the catalyst that sparks the wildfire of curiosity.”

79. “In the garden of academia, the thesis blooms like a rare and exquisite flower.”

80. “The thesis is the constellation of insights, mapping the vast universe of knowledge.”

81. “A thesis is not just an end, but the beginning of a journey into unexplored realms.”

82. “Through the labyrinth of research, the thesis finds the hidden treasure of wisdom.”

83. “The thesis is the heartbeat of scholarly pursuit, pulsing with the rhythm of progress.”

84. “A thesis is the mirror reflecting the soul of the researcher, forever imprinted in ink.”

85. “In the symphony of ideas, the thesis is the crescendo of brilliance.”

86. “The thesis is the bridge that connects the realm of questions to the land of answers.”

87. “A thesis is the seed that sprouts into forests of innovation and progress.”

88. “Through the storm of doubt, the thesis emerges as a beacon of certainty.”

89. “The thesis is the symphony of thoughts, composed with the pen of wisdom.”

90. “A thesis is the whisper of knowledge, shared across generations.”

91. “In the dance of words, the thesis paints portraits of enlightenment.”

92. “The thesis is the compass that guides explorers through the uncharted seas of knowledge.”

93. “A thesis is the lighthouse that shines light on the path of understanding.”

94. “Through the crucible of challenges, the thesis emerges as a beacon of triumph.”

95. “The thesis is the chisel that sculpts the statue of academic brilliance.”

96. “A thesis is the seed that germinates into forests of innovative ideas.”

97. “In the tapestry of research, the thesis weaves the threads of brilliance.”

98. “The thesis is the orchestra, harmonizing the melody of knowledge.”

99. “A thesis is the compass, guiding explorers through the uncharted territory of knowledge.”

100. “Through the dance of ideas, the thesis orchestrates the symphony of enlightenment.”

101. “The thesis is the beacon of light, leading others out of the darkness of ignorance.”

Thesis Quotes

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It is part of my thesis that all our knowledge grows only through the correcting of our mistakes.

The average Ph.D. Thesis is nothing but a transference of bones from one graveyard to another.

Writing, therefore, is also an act of courage. How much easier is it to lead an unexamined life than to confront yourself on the page? How much easier is it to surrended to materialism or cynicism or to a hundred other ways of life that are, in fact, ways to hide from life and from our fears. When we write, we resist the facile seduction of theses simpler roads. We insist on finding out and declaring the truths that we find, and we dare to out those truths on the page.

The use of thesis-writing is to train the mind, or to prove that the mind has been trained; the former purpose is, I trust, promoted, the evidences of the latter are scanty and occasional.

I wrote my thesis on the benefits of war and very near got thrown out of college. But I can show you where the greatest advancement of mankind comes under stress and strain, not comfort.

Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two.

Fortunately for me, I know well enough what I want, and am basically utterly indifferent to the criticism that I work to hurriedly. In answer to that, I have done some things even more hurriedly theses last few days.

Well the basic thesis is that there's a god in heaven who is all powerful who wants to help people. And that - he will answer prayer, and does miraculous things in people's lives. And so I've documented some of these wonderful things.

You should have an investment thesis that essentially says why you think this is potentially a good idea.

I wrote my thesis on welfare policy.

People will be discovering that the Internet helps their career. One of my theses is that every individual is now a small business; how you manage your own personal career is the exact way you manage a small business. Your brand matters. That is how LinkedIn operates.

My thesis in terms of all my art is finding the beauty in the ugly truth. Just find the beauty in realism and what's there.

I've always felt so grateful that I dropped out of school, that I never had to do a thesis. I wouldn't know how to organise and structure myself to film so that B follows A and C follows B.

You have to take those concepts and prove them, a little bit like you do a PhD thesis.

Truth is found neither in Marxism nor in traditional capitalism. Each represents a partial truth. Historically capitalism failed to see the truth in collective enterprise, and Marxism failed to see the truth in individual enterprise. Nineteenth century capitalism failed to see that life is social and Marxism failed and still fails to see that life is individual and personal. The Kingdom of God is neither the thesis of individual enterprise nor the antithesis of collective enterprise, but a synthesis which reconciles the truths of both.

In 1947 I defended my thesis on nuclear physics, and in 1948 I was included in a group of research scientists whose task was to develop nuclear weapons.

I'm not sure I agree with the thesis, because I think that even though something grotesque or gross has been part of film since way back, what we accept or what we can get away with on the screen is broader now.

The fundamental idea of modern capitalism is not the right of the individual to possess and enjoy what he has earned, but the ;thesis that the exercise of this right redounds to the general good.

Determinism is the thesis that is true at every moment that the way things then are determines a unique future, that only one of the alternative futures that may exist relative to a given moment is a physically possible continuation of the state of things at the moment. Or, if you like, we may say that determinism is the thesis that only one continuation of the state of things at a given moment is consistent with the laws of nature.

And this thesis is somewhat connected with general social and political observations, because it establishes the fact that the number of consumers is considerably larger than the number of producers, a fact which exercises a not inconsiderable social and political pressure.

It is generally my thesis then to insist on the importance of imagination in sex, to insist that the practice of sex, as performed among human beings, be accorded the same deliberate and playful application of fancy, imagination and intelligence as any other significant human activity.

Of course we're all programmed genetically to some extent. But the "selfish gene" thesis doesn't explain everything.

My thesis [is] that in order to design a tool, we must make our best efforts to understand the larger social and physical context within which it is intended to function

My zoology thesis was a functional analysis of the thyroid gland of the three-toed sloth. I chose the sloth because its demeanour - calm, quiet and introspective - did something to soothe my shattered self.

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Market Research

17 research quotes to inspire and amuse you

Being a researcher requires dedication, hard work and more than a little inspiration. Here’s something to boost the last item on that list.

We’ve sourced some of the most interesting and thought-provoking research quotes we can find. We hope they’ll leave you feeling inspired and motivated to start – or complete – your best ever research project.

As these quotes show, research is a common thread running through all kinds of professions and pursuits, from Ancient Rome right up to the present day. If you practice research, you’re part of a long list of people throughout history, all dedicated to finding new knowledge and ideas that ultimately make the world a better place.

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1. “No research without action, no action without research”

- Kurt Lewin

Lewin (1890-1947) was a German-American social psychologist. He’s known for his theory that human behavior is a function of our psychological environment.

2. “Research is seeing what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.”

- Albert Szent-Györgyi

Szent-Györgyi (1893-1986) was a Hungarian pharmacologist known for his work on vitamins and oxidation. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937.

3. "Bad news sells papers. It also sells market research."

- Byron Sharp

Sharp is Professor of Marketing Science and Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, the world’s largest centre for research into marketing.

4. "In fact, the world needs more nerds."

- Ben Bernanke

Bernanke is an American economist and former chair of the board of governors at the United Stares Federal Reserve.

5. "Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."

- Wernher von Braun

Von Braun (1912-1977) was a German-American physicist and rocket engineer whose team launched the first US satellite into space.

6. "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose."

- Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston (1891-1960) was an American anthropologist and writer known for her research and writing on slavery, race, folklore and the African-American experience.

7. "Research is creating new knowledge."

- Neil Armstrong

Armstrong (1930-2012) was an American astronaut famed for being the first man to walk on the Moon.

8. "I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts."

- Bill Gates

Gates needs little introduction – he’s an entrepreneur, philanthropist and the founder of Microsoft.

9. “The best research you can do is talk to people”

- Terry Pratchett

Pratchett is an award-winning British science fiction and fantasy author. He was knighted in 2009. He is known for The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the Discworld series.

10. “Research means that you don’t know, but are willing to find out”

- Charles F. Kettering

Kettering (1876-1958) was an American engineer, known for inventing the electric starter used in combustion engines, as well as other automobile technologies.

11. “Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”

- Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius (121-180) was a Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher.

12. “It is a good thing for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast.“

- Konrad Lorenz

Lorenz (1903-1989) was an Austrian biologist known for his game-changing research on animal behavior. He was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973.

13. “Research is something that everyone can do, and everyone ought to do. It is simply collecting information and thinking systematically about it.”

- Raewyn Connell

Connell is an Australian sociologist. She is a former professor of at the University of Sydney and is known for her work on gender and transgender studies.

14. “As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.”

- Antoine de Saint Exupery

De Saint Exupery (1900-1944) was a French aviator, author and poet, best known for his story The Little Prince, one of the best-selling books of all time.

15. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”

- Arthur Conan Doyle (writing as Sherlock Holmes)

Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a British crime writer and creator of the legendary Sherlock Holmes, master of deduction.

16. “If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”

- Albert Einstein

Maybe the most famous scientist of all time, Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German physicist who came up with the theory of relativity. However, it was his description of the photoelectric effect, the interplay between light and electrically charged atoms, that won him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.

17. “The power of statistics and the clean lines of quantitative research appealed to me, but I fell in love with the richness and depth of qualitative research.”

- Brené Brown

Brown is a researcher and storyteller studying courage, shame, empathy and vulnerability. She is a best-selling author and inspirational speaker. She is a research professor at the University of Houston.

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Thesis Quotes: Inspiring Words for Research Journey

Embarking on a research journey can be both exciting and challenging. As you delve into the depths of your thesis, it’s important to stay motivated and focused. One powerful way to ignite your passion and overcome obstacles is through the use of inspiring thesis quotes.

As you embark on this academic adventure, you may find yourself immersed in a sea of information, striving to present your findings in a compelling and authoritative manner. In an era dominated by digital media, the printed thesis still holds its charm—a tangible manifestation of your hard work and dedication. But how can you make your thesis truly remarkable?

Enter thesis quotes—the transformative words that lend depth, credibility, and inspiration to your scholarly work. In this article, we’ll explore the power of thesis quotes and how they can elevate your research to new heights.

From finding the perfect quotes to seamlessly incorporating them into your writing, we’ll delve into the art of using quotes effectively in academic writing.

Understanding the Role of Thesis Quotes

At their core, thesis quotes serve as building blocks for your arguments and findings. They provide evidence, support claims, and offer diverse perspectives to enrich your research. By incorporating carefully selected quotes, you can bolster the validity of your work, engage readers, and add a touch of eloquence to your prose.

There are various types of thesis quotes that can be employed strategically. Inspirational quotes, for example, can motivate and invigorate both the writer and the reader. Authoritative quotes from renowned scholars lend credibility and support to your claims. Statistical quotes, on the other hand, offer numerical evidence to reinforce your arguments. Additionally, anecdotal quotes can bring personal experiences and narratives to light, resonating with your audience on a deeper level.

To illustrate the power of thesis quotes, let’s explore a few examples:

“Research is to see what everybody else has seen and to think what nobody else has thought.” – Albert Szent-Györgyi “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Stephen Hawking “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny…'” – Isaac Asimov “A successful thesis requires originality, clarity, and a judicious use of quotes.” – Dr. Jane Anderson “Writing a thesis is a journey of self-discovery, where words become your guideposts.” – John Smith

Read: 40+ Funny Master Oogway Quotes to Make You Laugh

Finding the Perfect Thesis Quotes

Now that we understand the importance of thesis quotes, the next step is to find the perfect ones that align with your research objectives. Here are some practical tips to help you on your quest:

Identify relevant sources: Look for quotes in scholarly articles, books, reputable websites, and interviews related to your field of study. Academic databases such as JSTOR, Google Scholar, and PubMed can be valuable resources.
Evaluate credibility: When selecting quotes, ensure they come from reputable sources. Consider the author’s expertise, credentials, and the context in which the quote was made. Opt for quotes from established scholars or experts in your field.
Seek diversity: Aim for a balance of perspectives in your quotes. Include quotes that align with your thesis and those that present contrasting views. This demonstrates your ability to engage with different ideas and strengthens the overall quality of your research.
Document and organize: As you gather quotes, maintain a systematic approach to organization. Create a dedicated folder or document to store your quotes, including the necessary citation details for proper referencing later.
Use keyword search: To find quotes specifically related to your research topic, incorporate relevant keywords into your search queries. This can help you discover quotes that directly support your arguments or offer valuable insights.

Incorporating Thesis Quotes into Your Writing

Integrating thesis quotes into your writing is an art that requires finesse and strategic thinking. Follow these guidelines to seamlessly weave quotes into your work:

Introduce the quote: Before presenting a quote, provide context and introduce it in a way that aligns with your argument. Use transitional phrases such as “According to,” “As stated by,” or “In the words of” to smoothly transition into the quote.
Embed quotes organically: Avoid dropping quotes abruptly into your writing. Instead, integrate them into your sentences to maintain a natural flow. For example, you could write, “Smith (2019) argues that ‘research is a continuous process of discovery’.”
Analyze and interpret: After presenting a quote, offer your analysis and interpretation of its significance. Explain how it supports your argument or provides a counterpoint to existing theories. This demonstrates your critical thinking and engagement with the quoted material.
Provide proper attribution: Accurately attribute quotes to their respective authors and sources. Follow the citation style specified by your academic institution, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago Style.
Use ellipses and brackets: If you need to omit or modify certain parts of a quote to fit your writing style or maintain clarity, use ellipses (…) to indicate omissions and square brackets [ ] for insertions or modifications.

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Let’s illustrate these techniques with a few examples:

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

Example of integration: According to Winston Churchill, the renowned statesman, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” This quote highlights the perseverance required to navigate the challenges of academic research, reminding us that setbacks are an integral part of the journey.

By employing these techniques, you can seamlessly integrate quotes into your thesis, transforming it into a compelling narrative that engages and informs your readers.

Best Practices for Using Thesis Quotes

While thesis quotes can greatly enhance your research, it’s essential to follow best practices to ensure their effective use. Here are some key guidelines to keep in mind:

Maintain balance: Strike a balance between original ideas and quoted material. Quotes should enhance and support your arguments, not overpower them. Use quotes strategically, ensuring they contribute to the overall coherence and flow of your work.
Attribute quotes properly: Accurately cite and attribute quotes to their respective authors and sources. Failing to do so could lead to accusations of plagiarism, which can have severe consequences for your academic and professional reputation.
Avoid over-quoting: Excessive use of quotes can dilute the originality of your work. Use quotes selectively, focusing on those that truly add value to your research and arguments. Aim for a harmonious blend of your voice and the voices of others.
Analyze and interpret: Remember that quoting is not merely about presenting borrowed words; it’s also an opportunity to engage with the ideas and concepts behind the quotes. Offer thoughtful analysis and interpretation to showcase your understanding and critical thinking skills.
Revise and edit: During the editing process, carefully review the placement and relevance of quotes. Ensure they align with your thesis objectives and contribute to the overall coherence of your work. Make sure each quote serves a purpose and adds value to your research.

By following these best practices, you can effectively leverage thesis quotes to elevate the quality and impact of your research.

Inspiring Thesis Quotes from Notable Scholars

To inspire and motivate you on your research journey, let’s explore a collection of insightful thesis quotes from notable scholars:

“The only source of knowledge is experience.” – Albert Einstein “Research is creating new knowledge.” – Neil Armstrong “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” – Thomas Edison “Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.” – Marston Bates

Each of these quotes reflects the profound wisdom and guidance that can be gleaned from the experiences of accomplished individuals. Let their words fuel your determination and illuminate your path toward academic excellence.

In the realm of academic writing, thesis quotes serve as powerful tools that breathe life and authenticity into your research. They provide a framework of wisdom, inspiration, and evidence to support your ideas and findings. By strategically selecting and seamlessly incorporating quotes, you can elevate the quality and impact of your thesis.

As you embark on your research journey, remember to find quotes that align with your objectives, properly attribute them, and analyze their significance. Use transitional phrases and techniques to integrate quotes organically into your writing, ensuring a smooth and engaging reading experience. By adhering to best practices and finding the right balance between originality and borrowed wisdom, you can create a thesis that resonates with readers and stands the test of time.

So, embrace the power of thesis quotes as you embark on your research odyssey. Let them be your guiding stars, illuminating your path and adding depth to your scholarly work. Remember, a well-placed quote has the potential to inspire, persuade, and transform—making your thesis a masterpiece that leaves a lasting impression.

Thesis Quotes: Inspiring Words for Research Journey

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The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Thesis Statements

What this handout is about.

This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your draft.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
makes a claim that others might dispute.
is usually a single sentence near the beginning of your paper (most often, at the end of the first paragraph) that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. (Check out our handout on understanding assignments for more information.)

How do I create a thesis?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the way.

Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on brainstorming .

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

If there’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following :

Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question. If the prompt isn’t phrased as a question, try to rephrase it. For example, “Discuss the effect of X on Y” can be rephrased as “What is the effect of X on Y?”
Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.
Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?
Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is likely to be “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Suppose you are taking a course on contemporary communication, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: “Discuss the impact of social media on public awareness.” Looking back at your notes, you might start with this working thesis:

Social media impacts public awareness in both positive and negative ways.

You can use the questions above to help you revise this general statement into a stronger thesis.

Do I answer the question? You can analyze this if you rephrase “discuss the impact” as “what is the impact?” This way, you can see that you’ve answered the question only very generally with the vague “positive and negative ways.”
Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not likely. Only people who maintain that social media has a solely positive or solely negative impact could disagree.
Is my thesis statement specific enough? No. What are the positive effects? What are the negative effects?
Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? No. Why are they positive? How are they positive? What are their causes? Why are they negative? How are they negative? What are their causes?
Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? No. Why should anyone care about the positive and/or negative impact of social media?

After thinking about your answers to these questions, you decide to focus on the one impact you feel strongly about and have strong evidence for:

Because not every voice on social media is reliable, people have become much more critical consumers of information, and thus, more informed voters.

This version is a much stronger thesis! It answers the question, takes a specific position that others can challenge, and it gives a sense of why it matters.

Let’s try another. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. “This will be easy,” you think. “I loved Huckleberry Finn!” You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

You begin to analyze your thesis:

Do I answer the question? No. The prompt asks you to analyze some aspect of the novel. Your working thesis is a statement of general appreciation for the entire novel.

Think about aspects of the novel that are important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

Do I answer the question? Yes!
Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not really. This contrast is well-known and accepted.
Is my thesis statement specific enough? It’s getting there–you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. However, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal.
Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? Not yet. Compare scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions and anything else that seems interesting.
Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?”

After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. 2018. The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing , 8th ed. New York: Pearson.

Ruszkiewicz, John J., Christy Friend, Daniel Seward, and Maxine Hairston. 2010. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers , 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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A Guide to Thesis Writing That Is a Guide to Life

“How to Write a Thesis,” by Umberto Eco, first appeared on Italian bookshelves in 1977. For Eco, the playful philosopher and novelist best known for his work on semiotics, there was a practical reason for writing it. Up until 1999, a thesis of original research was required of every student pursuing the Italian equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. Collecting his thoughts on the thesis process would save him the trouble of reciting the same advice to students each year. Since its publication, “How to Write a Thesis” has gone through twenty-three editions in Italy and has been translated into at least seventeen languages. Its first English edition is only now available, in a translation by Caterina Mongiat Farina and Geoff Farina.

We in the English-speaking world have survived thirty-seven years without “How to Write a Thesis.” Why bother with it now? After all, Eco wrote his thesis-writing manual before the advent of widespread word processing and the Internet. There are long passages devoted to quaint technologies such as note cards and address books, careful strategies for how to overcome the limitations of your local library. But the book’s enduring appeal—the reason it might interest someone whose life no longer demands the writing of anything longer than an e-mail—has little to do with the rigors of undergraduate honors requirements. Instead, it’s about what, in Eco’s rhapsodic and often funny book, the thesis represents: a magical process of self-realization, a kind of careful, curious engagement with the world that need not end in one’s early twenties. “Your thesis,” Eco foretells, “is like your first love: it will be difficult to forget.” By mastering the demands and protocols of the fusty old thesis, Eco passionately demonstrates, we become equipped for a world outside ourselves—a world of ideas, philosophies, and debates.

Eco’s career has been defined by a desire to share the rarefied concerns of academia with a broader reading public. He wrote a novel that enacted literary theory (“The Name of the Rose”) and a children’s book about atoms conscientiously objecting to their fate as war machines (“The Bomb and the General”). “How to Write a Thesis” is sparked by the wish to give any student with the desire and a respect for the process the tools for producing a rigorous and meaningful piece of writing. “A more just society,” Eco writes at the book’s outset, would be one where anyone with “true aspirations” would be supported by the state, regardless of their background or resources. Our society does not quite work that way. It is the students of privilege, the beneficiaries of the best training available, who tend to initiate and then breeze through the thesis process.

Eco walks students through the craft and rewards of sustained research, the nuances of outlining, different systems for collating one’s research notes, what to do if—per Eco’s invocation of thesis-as-first-love—you fear that someone’s made all these moves before. There are broad strategies for laying out the project’s “center” and “periphery” as well as philosophical asides about originality and attribution. “Work on a contemporary author as if he were ancient, and an ancient one as if he were contemporary,” Eco wisely advises. “You will have more fun and write a better thesis.” Other suggestions may strike the modern student as anachronistic, such as the novel idea of using an address book to keep a log of one’s sources.

But there are also old-fashioned approaches that seem more useful than ever: he recommends, for instance, a system of sortable index cards to explore a project’s potential trajectories. Moments like these make “How to Write a Thesis” feel like an instruction manual for finding one’s center in a dizzying era of information overload. Consider Eco’s caution against “the alibi of photocopies”: “A student makes hundreds of pages of photocopies and takes them home, and the manual labor he exercises in doing so gives him the impression that he possesses the work. Owning the photocopies exempts the student from actually reading them. This sort of vertigo of accumulation, a neocapitalism of information, happens to many.” Many of us suffer from an accelerated version of this nowadays, as we effortlessly bookmark links or save articles to Instapaper, satisfied with our aspiration to hoard all this new information, unsure if we will ever get around to actually dealing with it. (Eco’s not-entirely-helpful solution: read everything as soon as possible.)

But the most alluring aspect of Eco’s book is the way he imagines the community that results from any honest intellectual endeavor—the conversations you enter into across time and space, across age or hierarchy, in the spirit of free-flowing, democratic conversation. He cautions students against losing themselves down a narcissistic rabbit hole: you are not a “defrauded genius” simply because someone else has happened upon the same set of research questions. “You must overcome any shyness and have a conversation with the librarian,” he writes, “because he can offer you reliable advice that will save you much time. You must consider that the librarian (if not overworked or neurotic) is happy when he can demonstrate two things: the quality of his memory and erudition and the richness of his library, especially if it is small. The more isolated and disregarded the library, the more the librarian is consumed with sorrow for its underestimation.”

Eco captures a basic set of experiences and anxieties familiar to anyone who has written a thesis, from finding a mentor (“How to Avoid Being Exploited By Your Advisor”) to fighting through episodes of self-doubt. Ultimately, it’s the process and struggle that make a thesis a formative experience. When everything else you learned in college is marooned in the past—when you happen upon an old notebook and wonder what you spent all your time doing, since you have no recollection whatsoever of a senior-year postmodernism seminar—it is the thesis that remains, providing the once-mastered scholarly foundation that continues to authorize, decades-later, barroom observations about the late-career works of William Faulker or the Hotelling effect. (Full disclosure: I doubt that anyone on Earth can rival my mastery of John Travolta’s White Man’s Burden, owing to an idyllic Berkeley spring spent studying awful movies about race.)

In his foreword to Eco’s book, the scholar Francesco Erspamer contends that “How to Write a Thesis” continues to resonate with readers because it gets at “the very essence of the humanities.” There are certainly reasons to believe that the current crisis of the humanities owes partly to the poor job they do of explaining and justifying themselves. As critics continue to assail the prohibitive cost and possible uselessness of college—and at a time when anything that takes more than a few minutes to skim is called a “longread”—it’s understandable that devoting a small chunk of one’s frisky twenties to writing a thesis can seem a waste of time, outlandishly quaint, maybe even selfish. And, as higher education continues to bend to the logic of consumption and marketable skills, platitudes about pursuing knowledge for its own sake can seem certifiably bananas. Even from the perspective of the collegiate bureaucracy, the thesis is useful primarily as another mode of assessment, a benchmark of student achievement that’s legible and quantifiable. It’s also a great parting reminder to parents that your senior learned and achieved something.

But “How to Write a Thesis” is ultimately about much more than the leisurely pursuits of college students. Writing and research manuals such as “The Elements of Style,” “The Craft of Research,” and Turabian offer a vision of our best selves. They are exacting and exhaustive, full of protocols and standards that might seem pretentious, even strange. Acknowledging these rules, Eco would argue, allows the average person entry into a veritable universe of argument and discussion. “How to Write a Thesis,” then, isn’t just about fulfilling a degree requirement. It’s also about engaging difference and attempting a project that is seemingly impossible, humbly reckoning with “the knowledge that anyone can teach us something.” It models a kind of self-actualization, a belief in the integrity of one’s own voice.

A thesis represents an investment with an uncertain return, mostly because its life-changing aspects have to do with process. Maybe it’s the last time your most harebrained ideas will be taken seriously. Everyone deserves to feel this way. This is especially true given the stories from many college campuses about the comparatively lower number of women, first-generation students, and students of color who pursue optional thesis work. For these students, part of the challenge involves taking oneself seriously enough to ask for an unfamiliar and potentially path-altering kind of mentorship.

It’s worth thinking through Eco’s evocation of a “just society.” We might even think of the thesis, as Eco envisions it, as a formal version of the open-mindedness, care, rigor, and gusto with which we should greet every new day. It’s about committing oneself to a task that seems big and impossible. In the end, you won’t remember much beyond those final all-nighters, the gauche inside joke that sullies an acknowledgments page that only four human beings will ever read, the awkward photograph with your advisor at graduation. All that remains might be the sensation of handing your thesis to someone in the departmental office and then walking into a possibility-rich, almost-summer afternoon. It will be difficult to forget.

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How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA

How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA

Published on 15 April 2022 by Shona McCombes and Jack Caulfield. Revised on 3 September 2022.

Quoting means copying a passage of someone else’s words and crediting the source. To quote a source, you must ensure:

The quoted text is enclosed in quotation marks (usually single quotation marks in UK English, though double is acceptable as long as you’re consistent) or formatted as a block quote
The original author is correctly cited
The text is identical to the original

The exact format of a quote depends on its length and on which citation style you are using. Quoting and citing correctly is essential to avoid plagiarism , which is easy to detect with a good plagiarism checker .

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How to cite a quote in harvard and apa style, introducing quotes, quotes within quotes, shortening or altering a quote, block quotes, when should i use quotes, frequently asked questions about quoting sources.

Every time you quote, you must cite the source correctly . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style you’re using.

Citing a quote in Harvard style

When you include a quote in Harvard style, you must add a Harvard in-text citation giving the author’s last name, the year of publication, and a page number if available. Any full stop or comma appears after the citation, not within the quotation marks.

Citations can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in brackets after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

Evolution is a gradual process that ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) . Darwin (1859) explains that evolution ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (p. 510) .

Complete guide to Harvard style

Citing a quote in APA Style

To cite a direct quote in APA , you must include the author’s last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas. If the quote appears on a single page, use ‘p.’; if it spans a page range, use ‘pp.’

An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative. In a parenthetical citation , you place all the information in parentheses after the quote. In a narrative citation , you name the author in your sentence (followed by the year), and place the page number after the quote.

Punctuation marks such as full stops and commas are placed after the citation, not within the quotation marks.

Evolution is a gradual process that ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (Darwin, 1859, p. 510) .
Darwin (1859) explains that evolution ‘can act only by very short and slow steps’ (p. 510) .

Complete guide to APA

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Make sure you integrate quotes properly into your text by introducing them in your own words, showing the reader why you’re including the quote and providing any context necessary to understand it. Don’t present quotations as stand-alone sentences.

There are three main strategies you can use to introduce quotes in a grammatically correct way:

Add an introductory sentence
Use an introductory signal phrase
Integrate the quote into your own sentence

The following examples use APA Style citations, but these strategies can be used in all styles.

Introductory sentence

Introduce the quote with a full sentence ending in a colon . Don’t use a colon if the text before the quote isn’t a full sentence.

If you name the author in your sentence, you may use present-tense verbs, such as “states’, ‘argues’, ‘explains’, ‘writes’, or ‘reports’, to describe the content of the quote.

In Denmark, a recent poll shows that: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
In Denmark, a recent poll shows that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
Levring (2018) reports that support for the EU has grown since the Brexit vote: ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (p. 3).

Introductory signal phrase

You can also use a signal phrase that mentions the author or source but doesn’t form a full sentence. In this case, you follow the phrase with a comma instead of a colon.

According to a recent poll, ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
As Levring (2018) explains, ‘A membership referendum held today would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ (p. 3).

Integrated into your own sentence

To quote a phrase that doesn’t form a full sentence, you can also integrate it as part of your sentence, without any extra punctuation.

A recent poll suggests that EU membership ‘would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ in a referendum (Levring, 2018, p. 3).
Levring (2018) reports that EU membership ‘would be backed by 55 percent of Danish voters’ in a referendum (p. 3).

When you quote text that itself contains another quote, this is called a nested quotation or a quote within a quote. It may occur, for example, when quoting dialogue from a novel.

To distinguish this quote from the surrounding quote, you enclose it in double (instead of single) quotation marks (even if this involves changing the punctuation from the original text). Make sure to close both sets of quotation marks at the appropriate moments.

Note that if you only quote the nested quotation itself, and not the surrounding text, you can just use single quotation marks.

Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘ ‘ Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, ‘ he told me, ‘ just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had ‘ ‘ (Fitzgerald 1).
Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘”Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had “ (Fitzgerald 1).
Carraway introduces his narrative by quoting his father: ‘“Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”’ (Fitzgerald 1).
Carraway begins by quoting his father’s invocation to ‘remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had’ (Fitzgerald 1).

Note: When the quoted text in the source comes from another source, it’s best to just find that original source in order to quote it directly. If you can’t find the original source, you can instead cite it indirectly .

Often, incorporating a quote smoothly into your text requires you to make some changes to the original text. It’s fine to do this, as long as you clearly mark the changes you’ve made to the quote.

Shortening a quote

If some parts of a passage are redundant or irrelevant, you can shorten the quote by removing words, phrases, or sentences and replacing them with an ellipsis (…). Put a space before and after the ellipsis.

Be careful that removing the words doesn’t change the meaning. The ellipsis indicates that some text has been removed, but the shortened quote should still accurately represent the author’s point.

Altering a quote

You can add or replace words in a quote when necessary. This might be because the original text doesn’t fit grammatically with your sentence (e.g., it’s in a different tense), or because extra information is needed to clarify the quote’s meaning.

Use brackets to distinguish words that you have added from words that were present in the original text.

The Latin term ‘ sic ‘ is used to indicate a (factual or grammatical) mistake in a quotation. It shows the reader that the mistake is from the quoted material, not a typo of your own.

In some cases, it can be useful to italicise part of a quotation to add emphasis, showing the reader that this is the key part to pay attention to. Use the phrase ’emphasis added’ to show that the italics were not part of the original text.

You usually don’t need to use brackets to indicate minor changes to punctuation or capitalisation made to ensure the quote fits the style of your text.

If you quote more than a few lines from a source, you must format it as a block quote . Instead of using quotation marks, you set the quote on a new line and indent it so that it forms a separate block of text.

Block quotes are cited just like regular quotes, except that if the quote ends with a full stop, the citation appears after the full stop.

To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking-stick or any money, or anything that he usually took when he went out; leaving his second breakfast half-finished and quite unwashed-up, pushing his keys into Gandalf’s hands, and running as fast as his furry feet could carry him down the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more. (16)

Avoid relying too heavily on quotes in academic writing . To integrate a source , it’s often best to paraphrase , which means putting the passage into your own words. This helps you integrate information smoothly and keeps your own voice dominant.

However, there are some situations in which quotes are more appropriate.

When focusing on language

If you want to comment on how the author uses language (for example, in literary analysis ), it’s necessary to quote so that the reader can see the exact passage you are referring to.

When giving evidence

To convince the reader of your argument, interpretation or position on a topic, it’s often helpful to include quotes that support your point. Quotes from primary sources (for example, interview transcripts or historical documents) are especially credible as evidence.

When presenting an author’s position or definition

When you’re referring to secondary sources such as scholarly books and journal articles, try to put others’ ideas in your own words when possible.

But if a passage does a great job at expressing, explaining, or defining something, and it would be very difficult to paraphrase without changing the meaning or losing the weakening the idea’s impact, it’s worth quoting directly.

A quote is an exact copy of someone else’s words, usually enclosed in quotation marks and credited to the original author or speaker.

To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
You’re presenting a precise definition
You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

Every time you quote a source , you must include a correctly formatted in-text citation . This looks slightly different depending on the citation style .

For example, a direct quote in APA is cited like this: ‘This is a quote’ (Streefkerk, 2020, p. 5).

Every in-text citation should also correspond to a full reference at the end of your paper.

In scientific subjects, the information itself is more important than how it was expressed, so quoting should generally be kept to a minimum. In the arts and humanities, however, well-chosen quotes are often essential to a good paper.

In social sciences, it varies. If your research is mainly quantitative , you won’t include many quotes, but if it’s more qualitative , you may need to quote from the data you collected .

As a general guideline, quotes should take up no more than 5–10% of your paper. If in doubt, check with your instructor or supervisor how much quoting is appropriate in your field.

If you’re quoting from a text that paraphrases or summarises other sources and cites them in parentheses , APA recommends retaining the citations as part of the quote:

Smith states that ‘the literature on this topic (Jones, 2015; Sill, 2019; Paulson, 2020) shows no clear consensus’ (Smith, 2019, p. 4).

Footnote or endnote numbers that appear within quoted text should be omitted.

If you want to cite an indirect source (one you’ve only seen quoted in another source), either locate the original source or use the phrase ‘as cited in’ in your citation.

A block quote is a long quote formatted as a separate ‘block’ of text. Instead of using quotation marks , you place the quote on a new line, and indent the entire quote to mark it apart from your own words.

APA uses block quotes for quotes that are 40 words or longer.

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.

McCombes, S. & Caulfield, J. (2022, September 03). How to Quote | Citing Quotes in Harvard & APA. Scribbr. Retrieved 18 June 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/working-sources/quoting/

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Umberto Eco’s 10 Rules on When and How to Quote

Written By Elizabeth Chey
Updated: May 28, 2023

In this series, we examine how Umberto Eco’s book, ‘How to Write a Thesis,’ can be used to help writers improve their focus, research smarter and get any writing project done faster. In part nine, we look at the art of quoting.

Before David Letterman created his top 10 lists for the ‘Late Show’, Umberto Eco made his top 10 rules for using quotes in writing. In his recently English-translated book, “How to Write a Thesis,” he explains how writers will quote many texts and they should know what to do with them.

Writers quote a myriad of texts in a work as layered as a thesis and those quotes often come from:

Primary sources
Critical literature of your work
Secondary sources

When quoting you are doing so for two main purposes:

Quoting a text that you will interpret
Quoting from a text you will use to support your interpretation

How much you quote — generously or sparingly — depends on the kind of thesis you are writing. But never hide behind a lot of quotes. Quoting is not a way to fill space, be lazy or let someone else do the work for you ( or make something you said more meaningful by putting quotes around it) .

An essay, thesis or long-form piece filled with quotes shows the writer hasn’t done all the work they should. Every quote needs to make a point, and be linked to what you are interpreting or be interpreted immediately after quoting it — if it doesn’t speak fully to your point.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Umberto Eco’s top 10 list for properly using quotes in writing:

10. quotes are like testimony in a trial, and you must always be able to track down the witnesses and demonstrate their reliability..

Verifiable means adding the exact and accurate book and page number as a reference.

9. Quotes must be accurate.

Transcribe them exactly as they appear. If you omit something, you have to indicate it with an ellipsis. If you want to emphasize something at the end, you put that part in brackets [emphasis mine].

8. When a quote does not exceed two or three lines, you can insert it into the body of the text enclosed in quotation marks.

( See examples of short and long quotations, at MLA Formatting Quotations. )

7. The reference to the author and the work must be clear.

In the case where you are quoting one author interchangeable with another author; two different authors in one sentence, make sure your sentence structure and the correlating footnote credits the quotes to the proper author.

6. When your primary source is foreign, quote it in the original language.

Type the quote in French if it’s originally written in French, because translations to English could go half a dozen ways for a single phrase, as you can see with this Charles Baudelaire poem called “Meditation.” Then, add your translation, as this is an indication of your interpretative prowess, especially if you are weighing in on what you think the author meant amid many perspectives.

5. Quote your primary source from the critical edition or the most canonical edition.

This goes back to verifiability, the most official and most acknowledged version of the text.

4. Make sure that the author and the source (print or manuscript) of your quote are clearly identifiable.

This goes for examples where you are continuously analyzing a single text. So you start your quote, insert page number at the end, quote some more and then insert page number, and finally give a reference for the single text and its source.

3. Readers may presume you share the opinion of the authors you quote.

If you don’t want this to happen, you must include your own critical remarks before or after the passage.

2. Quote critical literature.

But only when its authority corroborates or confirms your statements.

1. Quote the object of your interpretative analysis with reasonable abundance.

For Rules 1 and 2: Watch out for banal statements that say a general thing that everyone knows. Such quotes don’t add anything to your own ideas. Is the quote pulled from someone who has some authority in the field? Beware of useless quotes.

Read other articles in this writing series:

Research Like a Pro: The Professor’s Guide to Smarter Writing Research
A Writer’s Work Plan: Diagramming and Mapping Out Your Mind Before Writing
Why Academic Humility Is an Essential Part of Research and Writing
Free-Writing and Journaling: Tools to Activate Original Ideas
We Love Libraries: A Writer’s Endless Treasure Trove for Ideas

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What Is a Thesis? | Ultimate Guide & Examples

What Is a Thesis? | Ultimate Guide & Examples

Published on September 14, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on April 16, 2024.

A thesis is a type of research paper based on your original research. It is usually submitted as the final step of a master’s program or a capstone to a bachelor’s degree.

Writing a thesis can be a daunting experience. Other than a dissertation , it is one of the longest pieces of writing students typically complete. It relies on your ability to conduct research from start to finish: choosing a relevant topic , crafting a proposal , 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.

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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, other interesting articles, 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 summarize 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 for Master’s programs, and is also sometimes required to complete a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts colleges.
In the US, a dissertation is generally written as a final step toward obtaining a PhD.
In other countries (particularly the UK), a dissertation is generally written at the bachelor’s or master’s level.

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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.

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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.

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 analyzes the concepts and theories that your research hinges on.

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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down. There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction. A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments. Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question. Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list. "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational. An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

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Motivational Quotes to Help Fuel your Writing

25th August 2022

There’s no doubt about it, writing can be hard. Often we just need a little extra motivation to jump start our creativity or give us a push to help get us over the latest hurdle. Sometimes that can come in the form of rereading our favourite book, watching our favourite inspirational movie, or brainstorming with friends. Did you know we can also help? Our dissertation coaches work one-on-one with clients to provide dissertation consulting that helps identify impasses, develop work plans, and short-term and long-term goals. Our editing services also provide critical feedback to help you further develop your thesis or dissertation, as well as assist you in figuring out what’s working, what’s not, and where to go next. Here are some quotes to help inspire you to keep writing. Copy your favourite onto a sticky note and tack it up over your work desk, or put it on your laptop for some extra inspiration when things get tough. “Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.” – Ernest Hemingway “To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.” – Herman Melville “All good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.” – Anne Lamott “Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer.” – Ray Bradbury “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or tools) to write. Simple as that.” – Stephen King “Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.” – William Faulkner “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne “This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after the other until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.” – Neil Gaiman “I hate writing, I love having written.” – Dorothy Parker “You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.” – Octavia Butler “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” – Louis L’Amour What are your favourite inspirational quotes? If you’re stuck and need some direction, contact us today! We have dissertation coaches who provide one-on-one coaching and guidance to help you push through that impasse and develop a work plan. If you’re stuck in a rut with editing , we can help with that, too! Our team of experienced editors can look at your project with fresh eyes and provide critical feedback on your writing to help you make it even better.

Tagged under: Dissertation Writing General Dissertation Scholarly Writing writing writing motivation

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25 Thesis Statement Examples That Will Make Writing a Breeze

Understanding what makes a good thesis statement is one of the major keys to writing a great research paper or argumentative essay. The thesis statement is where you make a claim that will guide you through your entire paper. If you find yourself struggling to make sense of your paper or your topic, then it's likely due to a weak thesis statement.

Let's take a minute to first understand what makes a solid thesis statement, and what key components you need to write one of your own.

A thesis statement always goes at the beginning of the paper. It will typically be in the first couple of paragraphs of the paper so that it can introduce the body paragraphs, which are the supporting evidence for your thesis statement.

Your thesis statement should clearly identify an argument. You need to have a statement that is not only easy to understand, but one that is debatable. What that means is that you can't just put any statement of fact and have it be your thesis. For example, everyone knows that puppies are cute . An ineffective thesis statement would be, "Puppies are adorable and everyone knows it." This isn't really something that's a debatable topic.

Something that would be more debatable would be, "A puppy's cuteness is derived from its floppy ears, small body, and playfulness." These are three things that can be debated on. Some people might think that the cutest thing about puppies is the fact that they follow you around or that they're really soft and fuzzy.

All cuteness aside, you want to make sure that your thesis statement is not only debatable, but that it also actually thoroughly answers the research question that was posed. You always want to make sure that your evidence is supporting a claim that you made (and not the other way around). This is why it's crucial to read and research about a topic first and come to a conclusion later. If you try to get your research to fit your thesis statement, then it may not work out as neatly as you think. As you learn more, you discover more (and the outcome may not be what you originally thought).

Additionally, your thesis statement shouldn't be too big or too grand. It'll be hard to cover everything in a thesis statement like, "The federal government should act now on climate change." The topic is just too large to actually say something new and meaningful. Instead, a more effective thesis statement might be, "Local governments can combat climate change by providing citizens with larger recycling bins and offering local classes about composting and conservation." This is easier to work with because it's a smaller idea, but you can also discuss the overall topic that you might be interested in, which is climate change.

So, now that we know what makes a good, solid thesis statement, you can start to write your own. If you find that you're getting stuck or you are the type of person who needs to look at examples before you start something, then check out our list of thesis statement examples below.

Thesis statement examples

A quick note that these thesis statements have not been fully researched. These are merely examples to show you what a thesis statement might look like and how you can implement your own ideas into one that you think of independently. As such, you should not use these thesis statements for your own research paper purposes. They are meant to be used as examples only.

Vaccinations Because many children are unable to vaccinate due to illness, we must require that all healthy and able children be vaccinated in order to have herd immunity.
Educational Resources for Low-Income Students Schools should provide educational resources for low-income students during the summers so that they don't forget what they've learned throughout the school year.
School Uniforms School uniforms may be an upfront cost for families, but they eradicate the visual differences in income between students and provide a more egalitarian atmosphere at school.
Populism The rise in populism on the 2016 political stage was in reaction to increasing globalization, the decline of manufacturing jobs, and the Syrian refugee crisis.
Public Libraries Libraries are essential resources for communities and should be funded more heavily by local municipalities.
Cyber Bullying With more and more teens using smartphones and social media, cyber bullying is on the rise. Cyber bullying puts a lot of stress on many teens, and can cause depression, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts. Parents should limit the usage of smart phones, monitor their children's online activity, and report any cyber bullying to school officials in order to combat this problem.
Medical Marijuana for Veterans Studies have shown that the use of medicinal marijuana has been helpful to veterans who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Medicinal marijuana prescriptions should be legal in all states and provided to these veterans. Additional medical or therapy services should also be researched and implemented in order to help them re-integrate back into civilian life.
Work-Life Balance Corporations should provide more work from home opportunities and six-hour workdays so that office workers have a better work-life balance and are more likely to be productive when they are in the office.
Teaching Youths about Consensual Sex Although sex education that includes a discussion of consensual sex would likely lead to less sexual assault, parents need to teach their children the meaning of consent from a young age with age appropriate lessons.
Whether or Not to Attend University A degree from a university provides invaluable lessons on life and a future career, but not every high school student should be encouraged to attend a university directly after graduation. Some students may benefit from a trade school or a "gap year" where they can think more intensely about what it is they want to do for a career and how they can accomplish this.
Studying Abroad Studying abroad is one of the most culturally valuable experiences you can have in college. It is the only way to get completely immersed in another language and learn how other cultures and countries are different from your own.
Women's Body Image Magazines have done a lot in the last five years to include a more diverse group of models, but there is still a long way to go to promote a healthy woman's body image collectively as a culture.
Cigarette Tax Heavily taxing and increasing the price of cigarettes is essentially a tax on the poorest Americans, and it doesn't deter them from purchasing. Instead, the state and federal governments should target those economically disenfranchised with early education about the dangers of smoking.
Veganism A vegan diet, while a healthy and ethical way to consume food, indicates a position of privilege. It also limits you to other cultural food experiences if you travel around the world.
University Athletes Should be Compensated University athletes should be compensated for their service to the university, as it is difficult for these students to procure and hold a job with busy academic and athletic schedules. Many student athletes on scholarship also come from low-income neighborhoods and it is a struggle to make ends meet when they are participating in athletics.
Women in the Workforce Sheryl Sandberg makes a lot of interesting points in her best-selling book, Lean In , but she only addressed the very privileged working woman and failed to speak to those in lower-skilled, lower-wage jobs.
Assisted Suicide Assisted suicide should be legal and doctors should have the ability to make sure their patients have the end-of-life care that they want to receive.
Celebrity and Political Activism Although Taylor Swift's lyrics are indicative of a feminist perspective, she should be more politically active and vocal to use her position of power for the betterment of society.
The Civil War The insistence from many Southerners that the South seceded from the Union for states' rights versus the fact that they seceded for the purposes of continuing slavery is a harmful myth that still affects race relations today.
Blue Collar Workers Coal miners and other blue-collar workers whose jobs are slowly disappearing from the workforce should be re-trained in jobs in the technology sector or in renewable energy. A program to re-train these workers would not only improve local economies where jobs have been displaced, but would also lead to lower unemployment nationally.
Diversity in the Workforce Having a diverse group of people in an office setting leads to richer ideas, more cooperation, and more empathy between people with different skin colors or backgrounds.
Re-Imagining the Nuclear Family The nuclear family was traditionally defined as one mother, one father, and 2.5 children. This outdated depiction of family life doesn't quite fit with modern society. The definition of normal family life shouldn't be limited to two-parent households.
Digital Literacy Skills With more information readily available than ever before, it's crucial that students are prepared to examine the material they're reading and determine whether or not it's a good source or if it has misleading information. Teaching students digital literacy and helping them to understand the difference between opinion or propaganda from legitimate, real information is integral.
Beauty Pageants Beauty pageants are presented with the angle that they empower women. However, putting women in a swimsuit on a stage while simultaneously judging them on how well they answer an impossible question in a short period of time is cruel and purely for the amusement of men. Therefore, we should stop televising beauty pageants.
Supporting More Women to Run for a Political Position In order to get more women into political positions, more women must run for office. There must be a grassroots effort to educate women on how to run for office, who among them should run, and support for a future candidate for getting started on a political career.

Still stuck? Need some help with your thesis statement?

If you are still uncertain about how to write a thesis statement or what a good thesis statement is, be sure to consult with your teacher or professor to make sure you're on the right track. It's always a good idea to check in and make sure that your thesis statement is making a solid argument and that it can be supported by your research.

After you're done writing, it's important to have someone take a second look at your paper so that you can ensure there are no mistakes or errors. It's difficult to spot your own mistakes, which is why it's always recommended to have someone help you with the revision process, whether that's a teacher, the writing center at school, or a professional editor such as one from ServiceScape .

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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

A dissertation or thesis is a formal piece of research, reflecting the standard four step academic research process.

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!

A dissertation is not an opinion piece, nor a place to push your agenda or try to convince someone of your position.

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 .

The introduction chapter is where you set the scene for your research, detailing exactly what you’ll be researching and why it’s important.

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.

The research philosophy is at the core of the methodology chapter

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 .

Your discussion here needs to link back to your research questions. It needs to answer the key questions you asked in your introduction.

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.

In the final chapter, you’ll bring your research full circle by highlighting the key findings of your study and the implications thereof.

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 ...

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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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Academia Bees

Acknowledgement for Thesis (10 Samples and Writing Tips)

October 22, 2023

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By Mohsin Khurshid

Acknowledging those who contributed to your thesis is a gracious gesture, reflecting your appreciation for their support, both moral and material. This article delves into the art of crafting a meaningful acknowledgment in your thesis, highlighting its importance, and offering valuable samples.

Table of Contents

1 Tips on Writing Acknowledgement for Thesis
2.1 Acknowledgement Sample for Thesis
2.2 Acknowledgement for Thesis Submission
2.3 Acknowledgement for Thesis Report
2.4 Beautiful Thesis Acknowledgement
2.5 Acknowledging God in Thesis
2.6 Funny Thesis Acknowledgement
2.7 Acknowledgement in Thesis Writing
2.8 Thesis Acknowledgement Sample
2.9 Example of Acknowledgement in Thesis
2.10 Sample Acknowledgement Letter for Thesis
4 Conclusion

Tips on Writing Acknowledgement for Thesis

Sincerity is Key: Ensure your acknowledgment reflects genuine gratitude.
Be Specific: Mention names and their roles clearly.
Professional Tone: Maintain a formal but heartfelt tone.
Brevity Matters: Keep it concise, focusing on key contributors.

Best Acknowledgement for Thesis Samples

In this article, you’ll find ten meticulously crafted thesis acknowledgment examples, showcasing diverse styles and sentiments to help inspire your own. Whether it’s mentors, family, or colleagues, you’ll discover the perfect way to convey your gratitude.

Acknowledgement Sample for Thesis

I extend my sincere appreciation to everyone who played a role in guiding and supporting me throughout this thesis journey. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. [Supervisor’s Name], whose invaluable insights and guidance were instrumental in shaping this work. Their unwavering dedication to academic excellence was a constant source of motivation.

I must also express my heartfelt thanks to my family and friends who provided me with unwavering emotional support during the ups and downs of this project. Your unwavering belief in me, along with constructive feedback, was essential in navigating the challenges that arose throughout the process.

Acknowledgement for Thesis Submission

As I submit this thesis, it’s only fitting to express my heartfelt gratitude to those who contributed to its realization. My deepest thanks to my thesis advisor, [Advisor’s Name], whose expert guidance and unwavering support made this journey possible. Their dedication to nurturing academic excellence inspired me throughout.

I’m also indebted to my family and friends for the unwavering encouragement and emotional support they provided during this academic endeavor. Their steadfast belief in my abilities carried me through challenging times, and I am deeply appreciative of their contributions to my success.

Acknowledgement for Thesis Report

The completion of this thesis report is a significant milestone, and it wouldn’t have been attainable without the contributions of many. I am profoundly grateful to my thesis supervisor, Dr. [Supervisor’s Name], whose expertise and guidance were critical in the development of this work. Their unwavering commitment to scholarly excellence served as a constant source of inspiration.

I also wish to convey my appreciation to my family and friends for their enduring support and encouragement throughout this journey. Their belief in me provided the motivation to persevere during challenging periods, and I am truly thankful for their unwavering support.

Beautiful Thesis Acknowledgement

In this moment of achievement, it’s essential to express my gratitude to those who made this thesis journey beautiful. I extend my deepest appreciation to my thesis mentor, [Mentor’s Name], whose profound wisdom and continuous support have transformed my academic path. Their unwavering dedication to academic excellence was a shining example.

My heartfelt thanks go out to my family, friends, and loved ones, who have been a source of motivation and joy throughout this thesis project. Your unwavering belief in me, combined with your uplifting presence, painted this journey with beautiful colors and made it truly remarkable.

Acknowledging God in Thesis

As I complete this thesis, I wish to acknowledge the divine presence that guided me throughout this scholarly endeavor. My sincerest gratitude to the Almighty for granting me the strength, wisdom, and determination to bring this work to fruition. I acknowledge the blessings that have enabled me to pursue knowledge and produce this thesis.

Funny Thesis Acknowledgement

Completing this thesis was no easy feat, and I’d like to offer a lighthearted acknowledgment to those who contributed to the humor in this journey. My gratitude goes to my witty friends, who provided comic relief during stressful times, and my family, who managed to lighten the mood when needed. Laughter truly was the best medicine!

Acknowledgement in Thesis Writing

Acknowledging the completion of this thesis is a momentous task, and I want to express my appreciation for everyone who played a role. To begin, I’d like to thank my thesis advisor, [Advisor’s Name], whose expert guidance and patience were invaluable. Their wisdom and insights greatly contributed to the quality of this thesis.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to my colleagues and friends who offered support and encouragement. Their discussions and shared experiences enriched my work, and I’m grateful for their camaraderie.

Thesis Acknowledgement Sample

In writing this thesis, I’ve learned that acknowledgment is a fundamental part of scholarly work. With this sample, I aim to express my thanks to those who influenced and supported me. Firstly, I’m deeply indebted to my thesis supervisor, [Supervisor’s Name], whose unwavering commitment to research excellence has been a guiding light.

Additionally, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of my peers and the resources offered by the university. Their combined efforts have molded this thesis into what it is today.

Example of Acknowledgement in Thesis

For your reference, here’s an example of how acknowledgments can be included in a thesis. I am profoundly thankful to my thesis advisor, [Advisor’s Name], for their invaluable support and mentorship throughout this research journey. Their guidance was instrumental in shaping the research’s direction.

I also appreciate the guidance from my colleagues and the research resources that this institution provided. The synergy of all these factors, including my hard work and dedication, culminated in the completion of this thesis.

Sample Acknowledgement Letter for Thesis

Dear [Advisor’s Name],

I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support and guidance throughout the completion of my thesis. Your expertise, patience, and commitment to academic excellence have been a cornerstone of my research journey. Your thoughtful feedback and constant encouragement have not only honed my skills but also enriched the quality of this thesis.

I’d also like to acknowledge the contributions of my fellow researchers and the resources provided by our institution. Their collaborative efforts and the wealth of research materials and opportunities available have significantly influenced the outcome of this thesis.

This acknowledgement extends to my family and friends, whose belief in my abilities and encouragement have provided the emotional sustenance needed to complete this challenging task. Their unwavering support has been my motivation.

With gratitude,

[Your Name]

Sample Acknowledgement Letter for Thesis by AcademiaBees

How to Write Acknowledgement for Thesis?

Writing an acknowledgement for your thesis involves expressing gratitude to the individuals and institutions that supported your research. Start by acknowledging your primary thesis advisor, followed by other mentors, colleagues, and family. Keep it concise and heartfelt, focusing on the contributions and support they provided. Remember to include any funding sources or institutions that aided your research.

What to Put in Acknowledgement Section of Thesis?

In the acknowledgement section of your thesis, you should express gratitude to the people and organizations who contributed to your research. This includes your thesis advisor, mentors, colleagues, and family. Be sure to mention any funding sources, grants, or institutions that supported your work. Keep the acknowledgements concise and focus on the assistance, guidance, and encouragement you received during your research.

What Are Some Thesis Acknowledgement Quotes?

“I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.” – William Shakespeare

“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” – Henry Ward Beecher

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“Acknowledgment is the first step of paying it forward.” – Robert Bach

An acknowledgement of thesis is more than just a formality; it embodies your gratitude and appreciation. As you explore the samples and gather inspiration from the tips provided, remember that thanking those who’ve played a part in your academic journey is not only courteous but also profoundly meaningful.

Acknowledgement to God for Project and Thesis (5 Samples)

Acknowledgement sample for undergraduate thesis (5 samples), leave a comment cancel reply.

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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

Writing Collaboratively

Collaborative and Group Writing

PICTURE QUOTES
DAILY QUOTE
RANDOM QUOTE

74 Thesis Quotes To Inspire You

Following is our list of thesis quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about good thesis.

Famous Thesis Quotes

Architecture is invention. — Oscar Niemeyer 25

A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window. — Gilles Deleuze 149

Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven. — Walter Benjamin 56

The thought: A logical inquiry — Gottlob Frege 27

Architecture is the triumph of human imagination over materials, methods, and men, to put man into possession of his own earth — Frank Lloyd Wright 78

Graphic design is the fiction that anticipates the fact. — Michael Bierut 52

Design is the conscious effort to impose a meaningful order — Victor Papanek 41

We define only out of despair, we must have a formula... to give a facade tot he void. — Emile M. Cioran 10

To put it boldly, it is the attempt at a posterior reconstruction of existence by the process of conceptualization. — Albert Einstein 6

To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. — Herman Melville 46

To understand is to invent. — Jean Piaget 35

In design, be logical, search for truth, be clear. — Massimo Vignelli 22

Induction for deduction, with a view to construction. — Auguste Comte 29

Design is the application of intent - the opposite of happenstance, and an antidote to accident. — Robert L. Peters 51

Architecture is the reaching out for the truth. — Louis Kahn 127

Short Thesis Quotes

Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis. — Manfred Eigen
Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wrote my thesis on welfare policy. — Bob McDonnell
The average Ph.D. Thesis is nothing but a transference of bones from one graveyard to another. — J. Frank Dobie
Who ever asked theses and antitheses if they want to become syntheses? — Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
I shall state my thesis plain. The first poets were gods. Poetry began with the bicameral mind. — Julian Jaynes
Ministry is being one of theses sent out ones, a labourer of love. — Heidi Baker
The evolutionist thesis has become more stringently unthinkable than ever before. — Wolfgang Smith
It is part of my thesis that all our knowledge grows only through the correcting of our mistakes. — Karl Popper
My thesis statement would be—Bach didn't write Baroque music. He wrote great music. — Chris Thile

Thesis Image Quotes

Good thesis quotes.

Good and just society is neither the thesis of capitalism nor the antithesis of communism, but a socially conscious democracy which reconciles the truths of individualism and collectivism. — Martin Luther King, Jr. 10

The fundamental idea of modern capitalism is not the right of the individual to possess and enjoy what he has earned, but the ;thesis that the exercise of this right redounds to the general good. — Ralph Barton Perry 5

True, I don't begin with an idea for a play - a thesis, in other words, to construct the play around. But I know a good deal about the nature of the characters. I know a great deal about their environment. And I more or less know what is going to happen in the play. — Edward Albee 0

You should have an investment thesis that essentially says why you think this is potentially a good idea. — Reid Hoffman 0

People Writing About Thesis

Name	Quotes	Likes
Oscar Niemeyer	46	408
Gilles Deleuze	69	1244
Walter Benjamin	143	1292
Gottlob Frege	14	186
Frank Lloyd Wright	221	6388
Michael Bierut	61	498

More Thesis Quotes

Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis which reconciles the two. — Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 174

We get letters a few times a year from people that write papers on the show. You know, like, 'Oh, my psychology or my cultural studies class - this is my term paper.' Somebody wrote it as their thesis, about the social experiment of the show, because the show is a reflection of what's going on in culture. — James Murray 85

My thesis in life is that it doesn't matter who you are today. It certainly doesn't matter how you were born. The only thing that matters is who you want to become and the price you're willing to pay to get there. — Tom Bilyeu 56

I first studied the effect of plants on humans for my Yale thesis... and it was a 185-page thesis, and luckily I got honors on it. — Steven Gundry 54

There are bound to be deniers. Whenever you set up a thesis there's bound to be somebody who comes the opposite way …like Holocaust deniers. — Pete Postlethwaite 52

All truly great art is optimistic. The individual artist is happy in his creative work. The fact that practically all great art is tragic does not in any way change the above thesis. — Upton Sinclair 42

The basic thesis of gestalt theory might be formulated thus: there are contexts in which what is happening in the whole cannot be deduced from the characteristics of the separate pieces, but conversely; what happens to a part of the whole is, in clearcut cases, determined by the laws of the inner structure of its whole. — Max Wertheimer 41

O Luther, you had 95 theses . . . The matter is far more terrible-there is only one thesis. The Christianity of the New Testament does not exist at all. Here there is nothing to reform. — Soren Kierkegaard 27

I shall develop the thesis that anyone acting communicatively must, in performing any speech act, raise universal validity claims and suppose that they can be vindicated. — Jurgen Habermas 25

I actually think being an entrepreneur is a state of mind. If you're going to be an entrepreneur, my thesis is that you have to sacrifice everything for some period in your life to be successful. You have to be myopic and completely focused and unbalanced in every way. Once you've achieved success, you're free to do whatever you like. — Kevin O'Leary 24

It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar system.There is no doubt in my mind that these objects are interplanetary craft of some sort. I and my colleagues are confident that they do not originate in our solar system. — Hermann Oberth 22

As I matured, I've always had the dream of one day either having my own clothing line or owning a fashion magazine. Most of my thesis' and projects in school were fashion and advertising based. — Ashley Purdy 19

Our thesis is that the idea of a self-adjusting market implied a stark utopia. Such an institution could not exist for any length of time without annihilating the human and natural substance of society; it would have physically destroyed man and transformed his surroundings into a wilderness. — Karl Polanyi 19

One of the goals of philosophy is wage theoretical battle. That is why we can say that every thesis is always, by its very nature, an antithesis. A thesis is only ever put forward in opposition to another thesis, or in defence of a new one. — Louis Althusser 18

When I meet a woman, I don't think, 'Gee, I wonder if she's read the latest thesis by Stephen Hawking? I think, 'Great tits.' — Gene Simmons 17

The thesis that risk assessment itself is inherently risky is nowhere better borne out than in the area of high-consequence risks. — Anthony Giddens 17

Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best. You don't want to work with people who don't care or who are acting out some neurotic, crazy thesis on the set. — Robert De Niro 16

I read a book recently by a psychiatrist who was able to interview a few serial killers and she had a thesis on how you could figure these people out. And she thinks that there are things that could tell you whether someone has the potential to do that. — Tom Araya 15

People will be discovering that the Internet helps their career. One of my theses is that every individual is now a small business; how you manage your own personal career is the exact way you manage a small business. Your brand matters. That is how LinkedIn operates. — Reid Hoffman 15

I'm a doctor of cowshit, pigshit, and chickenshit.....when you doctors figure out what you want, you'll find me out in the barn shoveling my thesis. — Kurt Vonnegut 15

But actually a code is a language for translating one thing into another. And mathematics is the language of science. My big thesis is that although the world looks messy and chaotic, if you translate it into the world of numbers and shapes, patterns emerge and you start to understand why things are the way they are. — Marcus du Sautoy 13

I wrote my thesis on the benefits of war and very near got thrown out of college. But I can show you where the greatest advancement of mankind comes under stress and strain, not comfort. — Don Young 10

An old joke has an Oxford professor meeting an American former graduate student and asking him what he's working on these days. 'My thesis is on the survival of the class system in the United States.' 'Oh really, that's interesting: one didn't think there was a class system in the United States.' 'Nobody does. That's how it survives. — Christopher Hitchens 10

One of the things that got me thinking during therapy is that they say that fear is only thoughts, and nothing will happen because thoughts will never be real. And my thesis, or joke, in film Antichrist, is that they really do become real. — Lars von Trier 8

Jefferson's Declaration of Independence is a practical document for the use of practical men. It is not a thesis for philosophers, but a whip for tyrants; it is not a theory of government but a program of action. — Woodrow Wilson 8

...in the negative part of Professor's Hayek's thesis there is a great deal of truth. It cannot be said too often - at any rate, it is not being said nearly often enough - that collectivism is not inherently democratic, but, on the contrary, gives to a tyrannical minority such powers as the Spanish Inquisitors never dreamt of. — George Orwell 8

Well the basic thesis is that there's a god in heaven who is all powerful who wants to help people. And that - he will answer prayer, and does miraculous things in people's lives. And so I've documented some of these wonderful things. — Pat Robertson 8

My thesis [is] that in order to design a tool, we must make our best efforts to understand the larger social and physical context within which it is intended to function — Bill Buxton 7

It used to be widely held that evil was incompatible with the existence of God: that no possible world contained both God and evil. So far as I am able tell, this thesis is no longer defended — Peter van Inwagen 7

The totalitarian phenomenon is not to be understood without making an allowance for the thesis that some important part of every society consists of people who actively want tyranny: either to exercise it themselves or - much more mysteriously - to submit to it. — Jean Francois Revel 6

My zoology thesis was a functional analysis of the thyroid gland of the three-toed sloth. I chose the sloth because its demeanour - calm, quiet and introspective - did something to soothe my shattered self. — Yann Martel 6

In 1947 I defended my thesis on nuclear physics, and in 1948 I was included in a group of research scientists whose task was to develop nuclear weapons. — Andrei Sakharov 5

Experiments were not attempted at that time, we did not believe in the usefulness of the concept anyway, and I finished my thesis in 1962 with a feeling like an artist balancing on a high rope without any interested spectators. — Richard Ernst 5

The use of thesis-writing is to train the mind, or to prove that the mind has been trained; the former purpose is, I trust, promoted, the evidences of the latter are scanty and occasional. — Clifford Allbutt 5

Now a great debate has been born. The thesis is Democratic Socialism. The antithesis is free-market capitalism. The Obama Democrats have posed the challenge. It is now up to the Republicans to pick it up and fight along these lines. — Dick Morris 4

In Conclusion

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199 quotes about goal setting.

December 1, 2014
Posted by: Mike Rucker
Category: Coaching Philosophy

Unstick.Me has compiled 199 famous goal setting quotes to help inspire, motivate, and encourage you. We have curated these from a large range of sources and have tried to cover as many topics within goal setting as possible. If there are goal setting quotes you feel we missed, or if you believe we have misquoted someone, please let us know in the comments section below.

1) “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.” – Oprah Winfrey

2) “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” – Theodore Roosevelt

3) “Out of clutter, find Simplicity. From discord, find Harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity.”” – Albert Einstein

4) “Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin

5) “There is only one success… to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it.” – Christopher Morley

6) “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz

7) “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln

8) “The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.” – Andrew Carnegie

9) “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell

10) “Behind every successful man there’s a lot of unsuccessful years.” – Bob Brown

11) “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” – Lou Holtz

12) “The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.” – Napoleon Hill

13) “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky

14) “Entrepreneurs don’t waste time/energy worrying about being better than someone else. Focus on being the very best version of YOU.” – Abdulaziz Aljouf

15) ” There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same.” – Chinese Proverb

16) “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.” – Mark Twain

17) “If you genuinely want something, don’t wait for it – teach yourself to be impatient.” – Gurbaksh Chahal

18) “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure.” – Colin Powell

19) “The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and actualizer… He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen.” – Robert L. Schwartz

20) “Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility… in the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have… is the ability to take on responsibility.” – Michael Korda

21) “No man becomes rich without himself enriching others.” – Andrew Carnegie

22) “Success belongs to those who believe in the power of their ideas.” – Michael Irwin

23) “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius

24) “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso

25) “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

26) “By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.” – Mark Victor Hansen

27) “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein

28) “None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

29) “Life isnt about learning how to weather the storm. its about learning how to dance in the rain.” – Monica Fish

30) “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” – William G.T. Shedd

31) “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.” – Eric Thomas

32) “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it “ – Michelangelo

33) “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan

34) “The starting point of great success in your life begins, in the simplest terms, when you discipline yourself to think and talk about only the things you want and refuse to think and talk about anything you don’t want.” – Brian Tracy

35) “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. “ – Winston Churchill

36) “Things come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle” – Abraham Lincoln via Tina MiModels

37) “The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

38) “The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” – Benjamin Mays

39) “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

40) “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” – Vince Lombardi Jr.

41) “Forget all the reasons it won’t work and believe the one reason that it will.” – Unknown

42) “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door” – Milton Berle

43) “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” – Dale Carnegie

44) “Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle.” – Edwin Bliss

45) “How you start is important, but it is how you finish that counts. In the race for success, speed is less important than stamina. The sticker outlasts the sprinter.” – B. C. Forbes

46) “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” – Randy Pausch

47) “Success is often the result of taking a misstep in the right direction.” – Bernstein, Al

48) “There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs. “ – Author unknown

49) “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” – Calvin Coolidge

50) “A strong, successful man is not the victim of his environment. He creates favorable conditions. His own inherent force and energy compel things to turn out as he desires.” – Orison Swett Marden

51) “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

52) “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

53) “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison

54) “There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.” – Ray Goforth

55) “Vision without execution is just hallucination.” – Henry Ford

56) “Four things for success: work and pray, think and believe.” – Norman Vincent Peale

57) “Attach yourself to your passion, but not to your pain. Adversity is your best friend on the path to success.” – Author Unknown

58) “Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.” – Vaibhav Shah

59) “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” – Albert Schweitzer

60) “our success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” – Helen Keller

61) “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale

62) “Every accomplishment begins with the decision to try.” – Anonymous

63) “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going” – Helen Keller

64) “The starting point of all achievement is desire.” – Napolean Hill

65) “There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” – Aldous Huxley

66) “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” – Mother Teresa

67) “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind. “ – William James

68) “If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.” – Anonymous

69) “Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” – John Maxwell

70) “I’ve been blessed to find people who are smarter than I am, and they help me to execute the vision I have.” – Russell Simmons

71) “The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance. The wise grows it under his feet.” – James Oppenheim

72) “The road to success is always under construction” – Lily Tomlin

73) “People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” – Tony Robbins

74) “When you can’t change the direction of the wind, just adjust your sails.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr

75) “Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” – Les Brown

76) “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke

77) “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain

78) “Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.” – George Bernard Shaw

79) “The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

80) “Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.” – Winston Churchill

81) “If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut” – Albert Einstein

82) “Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.” – Charles F. Kettering

83) “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to help them build theirs.” – Dhirubhai Ambani

84) “Get going. Move forward. Aim High. Plan a takeoff. Don’t just sit on the runway and hope someone will come along and push the airplane. It simply won’t happen. Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Believe me, you’ll love it up here.” – Donald Trump

85) “Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire, which transcends everything. “ – Napoleon Hill

86) “So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you’ll move mountains.” – Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

87) “We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.” – Eric Hoffer

88) “Unfortunately, there seems to be far more opportunity out there than ability. We should remember that good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation.” – Thomas Edison

89) “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as you mind lets you. What you believe, you can achieve.” – Mary Kay Ash

90) “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon

91) “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” – George Halas

92) “The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” – Jordan Belfort

93) “Be content to act, and leave the talking to others.” – Baltasa

94) “Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon… must inevitably come to pass!” – Paul J. Meyer

95) “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

96) “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar

97) “Success is being able to juggle those Glass Balls called Priorities and keeping them shiny & intact while running the Marathon of Life” – Jouyin Teoh

98) “We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

99) “Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan.” – Larry Winget

100) “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” – Norman Vincent Peale

101) “You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying. To the best you can do everyday.” – Jason Mraz

102) “For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now? “ – James Allen

103) “If at first you don’t succeed; you are running about average. “ – Alderson, M.H.

104) “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” – Woody Allen

105) “Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.” – Dalai Lama XIV

106) “The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee

107) “The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable prerequisite for success.” – Brian Tracy

108) “The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.” – Norman Vincent Peale

109) “To achieve the impossible, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.” – Tom Robbins

110) “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

111) “The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.” – John D. Rockefeller

112) “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.” – Henry Ford

113) “The test of success is not what you do when you are on top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.” – George S. Patton Jr.

114) “Failure is not in your vocabulary; rather, you convert all working experiences, be they positive or negative, into fuel for future success. “ – Anonymous

115) “You may only succeed if you desire succeeding; you may only fail if you do not mind failing” – Philippos

116) “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.” – Confucius

117) “If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.” – Thomas J Watson

118) “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

119) “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” – Bill Cosby

120) “Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” – Chris Grosser

121) “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy

122) “Success is about creating benefit for all and enjoying the process. If you focus on this & adopt this definition, success is yours.” – Kelly Kim

123) ” price has to be paid for success. Almost invariably those who have reached the summits worked harder and longer, studied and planned more assiduously, practiced more self-denial, overcame more difficulties than those of us who have not risen so far.” – B. C. Forbes

124) “Concentration of effort and the habit of working with a definite chief aim are two of the essential factors in success which are always found together. One leads to the other.” – Napoleon Hill

125) “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.” – Abraham Lincoln

126) “What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.” – Buddha

127) “If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success.” – Malcolm X

128) “You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. With it, there is accomplishment. Without it there are only alibis.” – Henry Ford

129) “Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” – Orison Swett Marden

130) “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.” – Thomas Edison

131) “There are two rules to success: 1) Never tell everything you know.” – Nick Tart

132) “Failure defeats losers, failure inspires winners.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki

133) “Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them.” – Anonymous

134) “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.” – Dr. David M. Burns

135) “Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always some one to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising to tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has it’s victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

136) “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” – Goethe

137) “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.” – Robert Collier

138) “I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.” – Warren Buffet

139) “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – Maria Robinson

140) “If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Gandhi

141) “As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world…as in being able to remake ourselves.” – Mahatma Gandhi

142) “No one is going to hand me success. I must go out & get it myself. That’s why I’m here. To dominate. To conquer. Both the world, and myself.” – Unknown

143) “Before the reward there must be labor. You plant before you harvest. You sow in tears before you reap joy. “ – Ralph Ransom

144) “The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. “ – Arthur C. Clarke

145) “The winners in life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers, on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done, or what they can’t do.” – Dennis Waitley

146) “As soon as you realize that you don’t need anyone to make it in life. That’s your first step towards success. “ – Vusi Ndlovu

147) “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” – Lyndon Johnson

148) “Persevere…because on the road to success there is never a crowd on the extra mile!” – Charity Gibson

149) “Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

150) “If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.” – Woody Allen

151) “The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.” – Vince Lombardi Jr.

152) “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way” – Martin Luther King Jr.

153) “We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret. “ – Earl Nightingale

154) “Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.” – Malcolm Forbes

155) “The great successful men of the world have used their imagination. They think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.” – Robert Collier

156) “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin

157) “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it…Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Goethe

158) “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs

159) “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” – Leonardo da Vinci

160) “A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal which is worth achieving.” – Ayn Rand

161) “The only thing that can stop you is the doubt that you carry in your mind. “ – Chae Richardson

162) “If you are not willing to risk the usual you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn

163) “All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.” – Michael John Bobak

164) “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley

165) “Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.” – Robert Strauss

166) “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert F. Kennedy

167) “The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs…. One step at a time.” – Rande Wilson

168) “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

169) “Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.” – Abraham Lincoln

170) “Victory becomes, to some degree, a state of mind. Knowing ourselves superior to the anxieties, troubles, and worries which obsess us, we are superior to them.” – Basil King

171) “To make our way, we must have firm resolve, persistence, tenacity.We must gear ourselves to work hard all the way. We can never let up.” – Ralph Bunche

172) “Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers

173) “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote

174) “Fortune favours the brave. “ – Publius Terence

175) “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” – Swami Vivekananda

176) “God gives every bird his worm but He does not throw it into the nest” – Liam Carey

177) “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs

178) “The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.” – Mark Caine

179) “Accomplishments will prove to be a journey, not a destination.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

180) “If you think you made it, your at the wrong place, never stop” – Chris Pardo

181) “Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” – Stephen Covey

182) “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” – Napoleon Hill

183) “If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time – a tremendous whack.” – Sir Winston Churchill

184) “Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops. The way to succeed is to double your error rate.” – Thomas J. Watson

185) “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin

186) “The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” – Norman Vincent Peale

187) “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand

188) “Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy. “ – Anonymous

189) “Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” – William Jennings Bryan

190) “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.” – Donald Trump

191) “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” – Booker T. Washington

192) “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do. “ – John Wooden

193) “Top Achievers are improvisors, not perfectionists. If you want to create more success in your life you have to move forward not knowing all the answers. “ – Douglas Vermeeren

194) “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. “ – Theodore Roosevelt

195) “Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing, it’s when you’ve had everything to do and you’ve done it. “ – Margaret Thatcher

196) “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou

197) “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” – Walt Disney Company

198) “If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.” – Thomas J. Watson

199) “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

We hope you have found these quotes on goal setting useful. Again, if you feel we have missed any, or if you believe we have misrepresented someone, please let us know in the comments section below so we can update the quote or quotes. Goal setting also has its own topic section within Unstick.Me, if you are looking for more goal setting content please take a look here .

How to structure your PhD thesis

Organising your PhD thesis in a logical order is one of the crucial stages of your writing process. Here is a list of the individual components to include

Shama Prasada Kabekkodu

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Using non verbal cues to build rapport with students, emotionally challenging research and researcher well-being, augmenting the doctoral thesis in preparation for a viva, how hard can it be testing ai detection tools.

The task of writing a PhD thesis is top of mind for many aspiring scholars. After all, completing one is no small task. And while these pieces of writing often share a standard format, this can differ slightly based on the requirements of your institution or subject. So what elements make up a PhD thesis?

A doctoral thesis usually contains:

A title page
Declarations from the candidate and supervisor
A certificate from the candidate and supervisor
A plagiarism report
Acknowledgements
A table of contents
Abbreviations
An abstract

Chapters typically cover:

A general introduction
Literature review
Analysis of the gap in research with aims and objectives
Materials and methods
Summary and conclusion
References or bibliography.

You should also include a list of papers you have published and any relevant achievements at the end.

An explanation of each of the components of a PhD dissertation

Title page: a PhD thesis starts with a title page that contains the complete title of the research work, the submitting university, names of the candidate and supervisor, affiliation and month and year of submission.

Abstract: this serves as a concise synopsis of the dissertation, covering the research context, purpose of the study or research questions, methodology, findings and conclusions. This section is usually one to two pages in length.

Table of contents: this page lists the thesis content and respective page numbers.

General introduction and literature review: this component is usually 20 to 40 pages long. It presents the readers with the primary material and discusses relevant published data. It provides an overview of pertinent literature related to the thesis such as texts that critically assess the existing literature to identify the gap in research and explain the need behind the study.

Aims and objectives: this section of the thesis is typically one to two pages long and describes the aims and objectives of the study. Structure them as three to four bullet points describing specific points that you will investigate. Approach this by thinking about what readers should understand by the end of the thesis. Ensure you:

Give a clear explanation of the purpose and goals of your study
Outline each aim concisely
Explain how you will measure your objectives
Ensure there is a clear connection between each aim
Use verbs such as investigate, evaluate, explore, analyse and demonstrate.

Materials and methods: this section briefly explains how you have conducted the study and should include all the materials you used and procedures you implemented. For example, if your research involves working with chemicals, list the chemicals and instruments used, along with their catalogue numbers and manufacturers’ names. This section should also explicitly explain the methodology you used, step-by-step. Use the past tense while writing this section and do not describe any results or findings of the study yet.

Results: this section is sometimes called the “findings report” or “the experimental findings” (referring to data collection and analysis). Write the results concisely and in the past tense. Include text, figure and table infographics created with tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Illustrator and BioRender to visualise your data .

Discussion: this is a chance to discuss the results and compare the findings of your study with the initial hypothesis and existing knowledge. Focus on discussing interpretations, implications, limitations and recommendations here.

Resources on academic writing for higher education staff
Tips for writing a PhD dissertation: FAQs answered
How to tackle the PhD dissertation

Summary and conclusion: this section should be shorter than the discussion and summarise your key findings. The summary and conclusion should be brief and engaging, allowing the reader to easily understand the major findings of the research work. Provide clear answers to the research questions, generate new knowledge and clarify the need for the study.

Future perspective: this section of the thesis (which is often combined with a summary or conclusion) talks about the study's limitations, if any, and indicates the directions for future studies based on your findings.

References or bibliography: the last section should include the list of articles, websites and other resources cited in the thesis.

Always remember that, depending on the department, university or field of study, you might have to follow specific guidelines on how to organise your PhD thesis. Ensure you consult your supervisor or academic department if you have any doubts.

Shama Prasada Kabekkodu is a professor and head of cell and molecular biology at Manipal School of Life Sciences, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter .

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Quotes & Sayings About Writing Thesis

Enjoy reading and share 17 famous quotes about Writing Thesis with everyone.

Top Writing Thesis Quotes

MOMA's values were blown through the American education system, from high school upwards-and downwards, too, greatly raising the status of "creativity" and "self-expression" in kindergarten. By the 1970s, the historical study of modern art had expanded to the point where students were scratching for unexploited thesis subjects. By the mid-eighties, twenty-one-year-old art-history majors would be writing papers on the twenty-six-year-old graffitists. — Robert Hughes

Writing Thesis Quotes By Yann Arthus-Bertrand

I wanted to be a scientist. I did a thesis on lions. But I realised photography can show things writing can't. Lions were my professor of photography. — Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Writing Thesis Quotes By Clifford Allbutt

The use of thesis-writing is to train the mind, or to prove that the mind has been trained; the former purpose is, I trust, promoted, the evidences of the latter are scanty and occasional. — Clifford Allbutt

Writing Thesis Quotes By Lailah Gifty Akita

Prof. Emi Ito said "Lailah, if you can't explain the scientific observations in a simple sentence, it means you do not know enough. — Lailah Gifty Akita

I wrote my graduate thesis at New York University on hard-boiled fiction from the 1930s and 1940s, so, for about two years, I read nothing but Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James Cain and Chester Himes. I developed such a love for this kind of writing. — Megan Abbott

Writing Thesis Quotes By Stephen Halbrook

In recent years it has been suggested that the Second Amendment protects the "collective" right of states to maintain militias, while it does not protect the right of "the people" to keep and bear arms. If anyone entertained this notion in the period during which the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were debated and ratified, it remains one of the most closely guarded secrets of the eighteenth century, for no known writing surviving from the period between 1787 and 1791 states such a thesis. — Stephen Halbrook

If I were writing an article for the newspaper, it would be thesis statement, information, information, supporting arguments. That would be the setup. When I'm making a documentary, the pacing of the film and the way that you sort of switch from character to character - all of those are more about storytelling than straight journalism. — Marshall Curry

My thesis statement would be - Bach didn't write Baroque music. He wrote great music. — Chris Thile

Writing Thesis Quotes By Andrea Schiralli

Studying for the GRE? Essay-Girls provides students with sample essay responses for the Analytical Writing section of the exam. Presented herein are 15 sample essays to aid in study for GRE. As the essay prompts are property of ETS, they can be found on the ETS website yet are not presented herein. However, each sample essay's thesis statement is in bold. Now, get studying! — Andrea Schiralli

Can writing ever be taught? The best answer to that was given obliquely by the rock musician David Lee Roth. When asked if money could buy happiness he said, no, but with money you could buy the big boat and go right up to where the people were happy. With a teacher you can go right up to where the writing is done; the leap is made alone with vision, subject, passion, and instinct. So a writer comes to the page with vision in her heart and craft in her hands and a sense of what a story might be in her head. How do the three come together? My thesis is the old one: they merge in the physical writing - inside the act of writing, not from the outside. The process is the teacher. — Ron Carlson

If creative fiction writing is a process of translating an abstraction into the concrete, there are three possible grades of such writing: translating an old (known) abstraction (theme or thesis) through the medium of old fiction means (that is, characters, events or situations used before for that same purpose, that same translation) -- this is most of the popular trash; translating an old abstraction through new, original fiction means -- this is most of the good literature; creating a new, original abstraction and translating it through new, original means. This, as far as I know, is only me -- my kind of fiction writing. — Ayn Rand

Prof. Gerd Gleixner said " Lailah recommend that you work every morning on the dissertation in order to meet the deadline. There are only 4 weeks . — Lailah Gifty Akita

Writing Thesis Quotes By Jessica Fortunato

He held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not here to start trouble. I am just doing some research for my thesis." "If you don't get out of this bar, you are going to be writing your thesis via Ouija board. — Jessica Fortunato

My eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Pabst, had done her master's thesis on Tolkien. She showed me how the trilogy was patterned after Norse mythology. She was also the first person to encourage me to submit stories for publication. The idea of writing a fantasy based on myths never left me, and many years later, this would lead me to write Percy Jackson. — Rick Riordan

Writing Thesis Quotes By Maryann Diedwardo

Title: Teaching Writing Based on Journaling Concepts of Thoreau Thesis: Information processing generates active students. My thesis is to engage in remembering place. Through my own experience of basing my newest novel entitled The Passing Light on my own travel diary, I create strategies based on the travel journaling of Thoreau. My students create E- journals as primary sources for essays. Writing based on keen observation and self discovery is a part of learning to write. — Maryann Diedwardo

Writing a thesis is like writing a book, working incrementally with the professor is a communication exercise that assumes the existence of an audience, — Umberto Eco

Writing Thesis Quotes By Gudjon Bergmann

It is imperative that your work habits from school do not make their way into your book writing process. I am talking about the practice of typing the last words just before the deadline every time you would hand in an assignment, a paper, or even a thesis. Your book needs time to mature, and you must allow yourself the luxury of rewriting and editing until you are satisfied. — Gudjon Bergmann

Famous Quotes

Could unsheathe from her arsenal a mockingly grave way of talking about things she found either portentous or frivolous. She could shrink your aspirations before your very eyes." Author: Khaled Hosseini

Famous Authors

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This Father's Day, share a touching message with these 30 dad quotes

No matter the date, it's important to express appreciation and gratitude toward loved ones. But sometimes, the calendar reminds us of an extra special day to honor certain people in our lives.

The third Sunday of June is when we celebrate dads and father figures. Father's Day dates back to 1910 and was created by Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, according to the History Channel. Today, the holiday continues Dodd's mission to honor the " loving service " of fathers.

So if you're looking for kind and thoughtful words to share, or write on a card, here are some for this Father's Day.

Father's Day, fatherhood quotes

"When my father didn't have my hand, he had my back." – Linda Poindexter
"My mother gave me my drive, but my father gave me my dreams. Thanks to him, I could see a future." – Liza Minnelli
"Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad, and that’s why I call you dad, because you are so special to me." – Wade Boggs
"When you’re young, you think your dad is Superman. Then you grow up, and you realize he’s just a regular guy who wears a cape." – Dave Attell
"I feel that the greatest gift that I can give my children is the freedom to be who they are." – Will Smith
"To her, the name of father was another name for love." – Fanny Fern
"My father was an amazing man. The older I got, the smarter he got." – Mark Twain
"I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren't trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom." – Umberto Eco , "Foucault’s Pendulum"
"Dad taught me everything I know. Unfortunately, he didn’t teach me everything he knows." – Al Unser
"My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." – Clarence B. Kelland
"I realized being a father is the greatest job I have ever had and the greatest job I will ever have." – Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
"Great fathers don't find fault. Great fathers find solutions." – Reed Markham
"What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child - it's the courage to raise one." – President Barack Obama
"The imprint of a father remains forever on the life of the child." – Roy Lessin
"The power of dad in a child's life is unmatched." – Justin Ricklefs
"Fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man." – Frank Pittman
"The nature of fatherhood is that you’re doing something that you’re unqualified to do, and then you become qualified when you do it." – John Green
"Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventures, story-tellers, and singers of songs." – Pam Brown
"There's nothing more contagious than the dignity of a father." – Amit Ray , "World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird"
"What makes a good father? A good father sets an example that his children want to follow. A good father provides for the needs of his children – both material and non-material. A good father demonstrates his love in both words and actions. A good father provides guidance in a positive fashion." – Rob Kozak , "Finding Fatherhood"
"The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature." – Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles
"Being a great father is like shaving. No matter how good you shaved today, you have to do it again tomorrow." – Reed B. Markham
"My father had taught me – mostly by example – that if a man wanted to be in charge of his life, he had to be in charge of his problems." – Stephen King , "Joyland"
"Life doesn't come with an instruction book; that's why we have fathers." – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
"A father is the one friend upon whom we can always rely." – Émile Gaboriau
"The best fathers have the softest, sweetest hearts. In other words, great dads are real marshmallows." – Richelle E. Goodrich , "Slaying Dragons"
"There's something beautiful about a mothers embrace. And there's something magical about a fathers affirmations." – Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr.
"My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me." – Jim Valvano
"Lately all my friends are worried they're turning into their fathers. I'm worried I'm not." – Dan Zevin
"Of all the titles that I've been privileged to have, the title of 'dad' has always been the best." – Ken Norton

Looking for more? 50 positive life quotes to inspire, and lift your spirit each day

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USA TODAY is exploring the questions you and others ask every day. From " What is June's birthstone? " to " When do the Olympics start? " to " How to file the FAFSA? " − we're striving to find answers to the most common questions you ask every day. Head to our Just Curious section to see what else we can answer.

The 20 Best Quotes From 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy, Ranked

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Fans continue to wait for details about a second season of The Rings of Power , which is set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on August 29. The TV series, while flawed, still managed to depict aspects of J. R. R. Tolkien ’s legendary work, and renewed interest in the award-winning movie adaptation directed by Peter Jackson , The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

As both new and long-time fans discover or revisit Frodo Baggins’ epic journey to Mordor, it’s the perfect time to look back at some of the most iconic LotR quotes. The best quotes from The Lord of the Rings trilogy often capture major events, reflect characters’ personalities, or even represent the witty humor from the beloved movies . Of course, these have also earned lasting spots in pop culture, with fans still quoting or referencing these iconic lines today.

The Lord of the Rings

20 "let this be the hour when we draw swords together. fell deeds awake. now for wrath, nor for ruin, and the red dawn. forth eorlingas", king theoden, 'the two towers' (2002).

Close-up of King Theoden, clad in armor, before storming out of Helm's Deep

Few characters in the trilogy were realized as brilliantly as King Théoden, which is a testament to Bernard Hill ’s phenomenal performance as the ruler of Rohan. While he is introduced as a sickly and manipulated lord, Théoden is soon cured of his unnatural affliction and takes command of his kingdom once more, with the true quality of his leadership exemplified during the Battle of Helm’s Deep during the climax of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers .

With the Uruk-hai pressing and breaking through the fort’s outer defenses, Aragorn ( Viggo Mortensen ) implores Théoden to gather the men he has left and ride out to face his enemy. Mustering his courage, the Rohirrim king delivers one of the most rousing monologues in the franchise as the Uruk-hai break down the door, only to be met by Théoden and his men charging out on horseback.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

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19 "Fool of a Took."

Gandalf the gray, 'the fellowship of the ring' (2001).

Gandalf (Ian McKellen) slams shut a book and scowls at Pippin (Billy Boyd) in the Mines of Moria in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001).

As calm and composed as Gandalf ( Ian McKellen ) always presents himself as being, the bumbling and unfortunate hobbit Pippin ( Billy Boyd ) has an uncanny tendency to get on the wizard’s nerves. This is never displayed more than when the fellowship is in Moria, exploring an old tomb to find out what exactly transpired to bring about the downfall of the famed mine.

As Gandalf recites the log of a long-dead solider, Pippin’s clumsy curiosity sees him poke around at an arrow shaft, inadvertently knocking the skeleton, armor, chain, and even a bucket noisily tumbling down the well and throughout Moria. After a few tense moments, Gandalf scolds not only poor Pippin but his entire lineage as well with his memorably scorching line . Of course, the scene then takes a very abrupt turn when an orc drum begins thundering in the distance.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

18 "that still only counts as one.", gimli, 'the return of the king' (2003).

Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) stands on the Pelennor Fields, scowling as he looks at Legolas while the army of the dead attack the orcs in the background in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003).

As awe-inspiring and mighty as the battle sequences in The Lord of the Rings are, they still always implement small gems of comedy between characters – namely Legolas ( Orlando Bloom ) and Gimli ( Jonathan Rhys Davies ). The friendly rivalry between the dwarf and the elf forming is one of the defining duos of the trilogy, and their interactions during combat as they vie off against one another to amass a higher body count are fondly remembered by the fans as some of the funniest moments in LotR .

While established with their competition during the Battle of Helm’s Deep, the contest returns when they face off against Mordor’s army at Gondor in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Having felled an olyphant and its crew, Legolas swiftly surfs down the great beast’s trunk only to be greeted by Gimli, who assures him that his heroics still only amount to one kill in the context of their duel.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

17 "arise arise riders of theoden spears shall be shaken. shields shall be splintered. a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises.", king théoden, 'the return of the king' (2003).

Close-up of Theoden wearing his helmet, before the charge on Pelennor Fields

Another outstanding and rousing monologue from Théoden delivered just moments before he leads his troops into battle, the speech he delivers as the Rohirrim arrive at Pelennor Fields to fight for Gondor is truly the stuff of cinematic legend . With the orcs in control of the battle and the Witch King of Angmar using his power to prevail over Gandalf, Rohan’s cavalry announce their arrival at the battlefield in the nick of time.

With the music swelling as Théoden rides along the front line of his forces, clashing his sword against their spears, the king bellows one of the most stirring speeches in cinematic history. Culminating in the Rohirrim charging into battle , the quote is but one astonishing part of the mesmerizing sequence that defines the epic grandeur of The Lord of the Rings .

16 "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door."

Frodo baggins (quoting bilbo baggins), 'the fellowship of the ring' (2001).

Sam and Frodo leaving the Shire in The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring

For a long time, the unusually curious Frodo relied on his Uncle Bilbo’s stories about his adventures to get a sense of what was out there, way beyond the safe and comfortable Shire. This is why it makes sense that Frodo would quote him to encourage Sam, who hesitates to continue on with their journey just as they reach the border of the Shire.

Frodo tells Sam to “remember what Bilbo used to say” about how dangerous it is to go out the door, ending with a hopeful comment about how “there's no knowing where” they “might be swept off to.” It’s a quote that underscores how much the Hobbits have to overcome to complete the arduous journey , and also a nostalgic line that makes viewers wonder if the two would have made the same choice knowing what they'd have to go through to reach the end.

15 "What about side by side with a friend?"

Legolas greenleaf, 'return of the king' (2003).

Orlando Bloom as Legolas looking down in The Lord of the Rings Return of the King

While Legolas and Gimli start out as enemies who want nothing to do with each other, the iconic LotR duo develop an unexpected friendly rivalry that soon turns into a genuine friendship over the course of the trilogy. The precise and majestic Legolas and the chaotic and strong Gimli make an unlikely duo, but it just works.

The moment that cements their bond happens right before the Battle of the Black Gate, when Gimli remarks how he “never thought” he’d “die fighting side by side with an Elf.” Legolas’ touching response shows just how much their relationship has transformed , as neither of them likely ever expected to befriend each other. The moving line points out the way they draw strength and comfort from one another, knowing they may die in the battle.

14 "A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early."

Gandalf the grey, 'the fellowship of the ring' (2001).

The first movie introduces one of the most powerful characters in LotR in a funny way. Gandalf is shown as a mysterious figure entering the Shire before he’s confronted by the eager Frodo for being late. Gandalf seemingly chides the Hobbit by reminding him that “a wizard is never late” nor “early,” as he “arrives precisely when he means to.”What follows is raucous laughter that signals to viewers that it’s okay to relax, as it’s just playful banter between friends.

The line hints at Gandalf’s sense of humor while also establishing the friendly relationship between the two characters. For those who read the book and knew everything that led up to this point, it makes perfect sense. For everyone else, they'd have to wait until a few points of exposition to understand Gandalf's relationship with the Hobbits of the Shire.

13 "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

Gandalf and Frodo talking in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' sharing a chat inside a mountain

As the Fellowship go on their tough quest, Frodo is undeniably under the most pressure, with the increasing power of the Ring influencing his decisions. Frodo’s burden is a heavy one, and something he decides to carry alone once he separates from the Fellowship. He recalls a conversation with Gandalf during this difficult time, as he complained to the Wizard about how he wished “none of this had happened.”

Gandalf’s wise reply reminds Frodo that everyone wishes that in “such times,” but, much like the Hobbit, they have no choice. The only decision to make is “what to do with the time” Frodo does get, which is precisely what he does when he tries to be brave by going at it alone. Gandalf delivers a profound and beautiful line int that flashback that serves as a useful life lesson for viewers as well.

12 "There is courage also, and honor to be found in Men."

Boromir, 'the fellowship of the ring' (2001).

Boromir by the River in The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring

Aragorn and Boromir have had a rough relationship from the start, with the tension between the two being obvious during their first meeting. Later on in their journey, when Aragorn doesn’t even consider Boromir’s suggestion to pass through Minas Tirith, the warrior from Gondor is enraged and confused by the “so little faith” Aragorn has in his “own people.” He goes on to admit that “there is frailty” and “weakness,” but sternly tells Aragorn not to discount the “courage” and “honor to be found in Men.”

The heated moment highlights the stark contrast between Gondor’s belief in the strength of Men and Aragorn’s certainty in their failure. It’s an important difference that shows how disillusioned Aragorn is, as the LotR character has a tragic backstory that led to his knowing how easily Men succumb to darkness, just as Isildur did.

11 "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

Galadriel, 'the fellowship of the ring' (2001).

Cate Blanchett as Galadriel in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

When Frodo confesses to Galadriel how terrified he is of being the Ring-bearer, she reminds him that "to bear a Ring of Power" is a big responsibility that usually means being alone. This helps Frodo realize what he must do, but he admits that he's "afraid to do it." This is when Galadriel says an inspirational LotR line about how "even the smallest" people can change the future.

Frodo may be a Hobbit, an individual not exactly known for his bravery or adventurous spirit, but his interaction with Galadriel reminds him that he can play an important part in the way things turn out for him , his friends, and Middle-earth. Any moment with Galadriel is a particularly magical one, and that short exchange she has with Frodo has gone on to become a fan-favorite scene in the franchise, especially as her backstory is further explored in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power .

10 "One ring to rule them all. One ring to find them. One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."

Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) stands in Frodo's fire-lit home, casting a look of dread as he recites the text on the ring in 'Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001).

A harrowing moment of realization for Gandalf that illustrates exactly how dire and significant the one ring of power is , Gandalf’s memorably dreaded recitation of the text engraved upon the ring is a striking moment early in the trilogy. Having trekked to Gondor to research the ring, Gandalf meets Frodo in his home in the shire and asks to see the ring, hoping to ease his troubled mind.

While Frodo, much to Gandalf’s momentary relief, doesn’t initially see anything on the ring, he soon corrects himself as the text of Mordor magically begins to appear on the ring, having been cast into the fireplace. With McKellen’s flawless delivery imbuing the line with a sense of dread, urgency, and grandeur , the ominous quote has come to be one of the most famous from the film trilogy.

9 "I would have followed you, my brother, my captain, my king."

Boromir has one of the most astounding and transformative arcs in the trilogy, which is especially impressive considering he mostly appears in just one movie. He may have started out as an arrogant, manipulative, and annoying character, but that all changed towards the tragic and dramatic end of his life. After regretting trying to take the Ring from Frodo, Boromir showed his bravery by defending Merry and Pippin from a horde of Orcs who eventually killed him.

Boromir's death completely changed fans' perspectives, not to mention Aragorn's, who stayed with his dying friend as he said his last words. Aragorn also promised to protect their people as Boromir, with his last-minute change of heart, declared how he "would have followed" his "king" to the very end. It's a tear-jerking moment that redeems Boromir and cements his place as a beloved member of the Fellowship.

8 "One does not simply walk into Mordor."

Boromir in The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring

When Boromir learns the group’s plan to bring the One Ring to Mordor in order to be “cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came,” he’s quick to voice his disapproval. He describes the harsh conditions in the “barren wasteland” and reminds everyone of the legions of Orcs, the unbreathable air, and, of course, the watchful Great Eye.

The quote is instantly recognizable even for those who have never seen the Lord of the Rings movies , as it’s a meme-worthy moment that has become an immovable part of pop culture. It also happens to highlight Boromir’s doubts about the plan, which influence his actions later on. It's possible that at the point of this legendary quote being said, Boromir already had plans of taking the Ring for himself, knowing how useful it could be for his fight back at home.

7 "Death is just another path, one that we all must take."

Gandalf the white, 'return of the king' (2003).

Gandalf and Pippin in The Lord of the Rings Return of the King

When the enemies are closing in on Gondor’s inadequate forces and Pippin is terrified, he tells Gandalf he “didn’t think it would end this way.” The Wizard wisely says that “the journey doesn’t end here” despite the number of enemies pouring through soon because “death is just another path.” He describes how when “the grey rain curtain of this world rolls back” there will be “white shores” and “a far green country under a swift sunrise.”

It’s a somber and philosophical exchange that once again highlights Gandalf’s intelligence in LotR . His words are unsurprisingly more than enough to comfort the Hobbit, who has made some truly questionable decisions up to this point. While Gandalf is likely describing Valinor, the home of the immortal Valar, his advice about death is open to interpretation and useful in real life.

6 "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you."

Samwise gamgee, 'return of the king' (2003).

Sam carrying Frodo in The Lord of the Rings Return of the King

It all ends in Mount Doom, the final destination of Frodo and Sam's grueling quest. It's here that in an awe-inspiring scene so close to the fires of Mount Doom, the iconic movie duo Sam and Frodo almost give up when the Ring becomes too much to bear for the protagonist. Sam is clearly distressed and concerned for Frodo, but instead of stopping, he declares that he “can carry” his best friend and help him finish his quest.

It’s a spine-chilling quote and moment that show how invaluable Sam’s part is in the mission to save Middle-earth. Frodo almost certainly would have never made it without the lovable Hobbit, who repeatedly refused to abandon him despite being pushed away, doubted, and hurt. It’s through lines and scenes like these that it becomes apparent why Sam is such a fan favorite.

5 "I am no man."

éowyn, 'return of the king' (2003).

Eowyn battling the Witch King from Lord of the Rings The Return of the King

A badass moment from the shieldmaiden of Rohan, Éowyn, is rightly accompanied by an epic line. She sneaks her way to the frontlines during the climactic battle of Pelennor Fields, cloaking her true identity. Éowyn eventually comes face to face with Sauron's second-in-command, the terrifying Witch-king of Angmar, who calls her a fool and boldly declares that "no man can kill" him.

Éowyn seizes the moment and declares she is "no man" before killing the villain with her sword. It's an incredible scene that highlights Éowyn's courage and skill , which help end the terror of the Witch-king on the battlefield. Like many other quotes from the LotR movies, this has been endlessly referenced in memes and pop culture, underscoring its impact on fans.

4 "What about second breakfast?"

Pippin, 'the fellowship of the ring' (2001).

Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) in The Fellowship of the Ring

Hobbits are creatures of comfort, enjoying the same delicious food, music, and hobbies that everyone loves in the Shire. Unsurprisingly, most Hobbits are hesitant to involve themselves or even learn about anything that goes on outside the Shire. Merry and Pippin are no different, so they’re shocked by how hard their journey is when they ask Aragorn about “second breakfast” and receive a disappointing response.

The hilarious meme-worthy line is iconic and is even followed up by complaints from the Hobbits about “elevenses,” “luncheon,” “afternoon tea,” “dinner,” and “supper” – all normal eating periods back at home, but not out in the real world. Pippin will soon learn that this isn’t even the most difficult part of their mission, as the outside world doesn’t enjoy food and warmth as Hobbits do.

3 "My precious."

Gollum, 'the fellowship of the ring' (2001).

Gollum smiling deviously in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Just two words are all it takes to become legendary, at least in the case of Gollum, the complex antagonist and unforgettable character from the trilogy. The corrupted Hobbit once known as Sméagol became obsessed with the One Ring and dedicated his life to obtaining it, since it's his "precious." Gollum's particular way of talking and addiction to the power of the Ring are perfectly captured with that phrase, which is repeated throughout the trilogy.

Of course, "my precious" is endlessly quoted by fans and is likely familiar to those who have never even seen the Lord of the Rings movies . The phrase is mentioned for the first time after the Ring "ensnared a new bearer" in the 2001 movie, and "precious" is heard as Gollum's final word as he falls to his death in The Return of the King , a tragic yet apt death for the tortured LotR villain .

2 "You shall not pass!"

Gandalf shouting "You shall not pass" at the Balrog in Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring

Among the most (if not the most) famous and best Lord of the Rings quotes is said when Gandalf seemingly gives up his life so that the rest of the Fellowship can escape from Moria. In the dark, scary mines, it seems like they might have gone through the worst parts after facing hundreds of goblins, but a bigger enemy was waiting. When the terrifying Balrog, Durin's Bane, rises from the flames and chases the group towards the bridge near the exit, Gandalf boldly declares: "You shall not pass!" – while this stops the creature, it drags Gandalf down the chasm with it.

Fans likely know this memorable scene for one other iconic LotR quote that Gandalf says during the emotional moment – "Fly, you fools!" – as he implores Frodo and the rest of the group to leave. Both lines are a testament to Gandalf's strength, courage, and dedication to the Fellowship, with his quotes now endlessly referenced and continue to be subjects of memes and discussions today.

1 "There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."

Samwise gamgee, 'the two towers' (2002).

Sam is responsible for some of the most epic scenes in LotR thanks to his well-written monologues. In his best one, Sam reminds a tired and drained Frodo that those people in “great stories” always go through impossible situations. With no more spark in Frodo's eyes, Sam keeps going as he explains that “this shadow” is “only a passing thing,” and they should carry on because the “good in this world” is “worth fighting for.”

The hair-raising speech features some of the best LotR quotes and is unbelievably well-written and inspiring. It also captures Sam’s enduring optimism and immense strength, both of which were necessary for them to complete their seemingly impossible task together. No matter what evil they face, Sam always manages to find “some good” that helps him and Frodo push forward.

NEXT: Here’s How to Watch 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of The Rings' Movies in Order

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101 Inspirational Quotes for Thesis: Finding the Words
9. "In the pursuit of truth, a thesis unveils the beauty of intellectual honesty.". 10. "A thesis is the manifestation of dreams woven into scholarly reality.". 11. "The thesis is the mirror reflecting the researcher's soul.". 12. "Within the labyrinth of knowledge, the thesis becomes the guiding star.". 13.
TOP 25 THESIS QUOTES (of 172)
Thesis Quotes. Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Witty, Fear, Humorous. 73 Copy quote. Show source. It is part of my thesis that all our knowledge grows only through the correcting of our mistakes. Karl Popper. Truth, Mistake, Knowledge.
17 Research Quotes to Inspire and Amuse You
8. "I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts." - Bill Gates. Gates needs little introduction - he's an entrepreneur, philanthropist and the founder of Microsoft. 9. "The best research you can do is talk to people". - Terry Pratchett.
Thesis Quotes: Inspiring Words for Research Journey
Integrating thesis quotes into your writing is an art that requires finesse and strategic thinking. Follow these guidelines to seamlessly weave quotes into your work: Introduce the quote: Before presenting a quote, provide context and introduce it in a way that aligns with your argument. Use transitional phrases such as "According to ...
Quotations
Below are four guidelines for setting up and following up quotations. In illustrating these four steps, we'll use as our example, Franklin Roosevelt's famous quotation, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.". 1. Provide context for each quotation. Do not rely on quotations to tell your story for you.
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Step 2: Write your initial answer. After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process. The internet has had more of a positive than a negative effect on education.
PDF Using Quotes to Support Your Thesis
Never assume that a quote explains itself; quotes cannot stand alone. Tell your reader what we should see in the quote you have chosen or what this quote illustrates that will support your point and ultimately your thesis. 3. The length of your quote determines the citation punctuation. Quotes 4 lines or shorter continue as part of the ...
Thesis Statements
A thesis statement: tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself.
Thesis Quotes
It helps me in experiencing moments of truth and I can write an entire thesis on my love for the medium! Kay Kay Menon In 1947 I defended my thesis on nuclear physics, and in 1948 I was included in a group of research scientists whose task was to develop nuclear weapons.
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A Guide to Thesis Writing That Is a Guide to Life. By Hua Hsu. April 6, 2015. In "How to Write a Thesis," Umberto Eco walks students through the craft and rewards of sustained research ...
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Citing a quote in APA Style. To cite a direct quote in APA, you must include the author's last name, the year, and a page number, all separated by commas. If the quote appears on a single page, use 'p.'; if it spans a page range, use 'pp.'. An APA in-text citation can be parenthetical or narrative.
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Ladies and gentlemen, this is Umberto Eco's top 10 list for properly using quotes in writing: 10. Quotes are like testimony in a trial, and you must always be able to track down the witnesses and demonstrate their reliability. Verifiable means adding the exact and accurate book and page number as a reference. 9. Quotes must be accurate.
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Revised on April 16, 2024. A thesis is a type of research paper based on your original research. It is usually submitted as the final step of a master's program or a capstone to a bachelor's degree. Writing a thesis can be a daunting experience. Other than a dissertation, it is one of the longest pieces of writing students typically complete.
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101 Inspirational Quotes for Thesis: Finding the Words

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17 research quotes to inspire and amuse you

1. “No research without action, no action without research”

2. “Research is seeing what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.”

3. "Bad news sells papers. It also sells market research."

4. "In fact, the world needs more nerds."

5. "Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."

6. "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose."

7. "Research is creating new knowledge."

8. "I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts."

9. “The best research you can do is talk to people”

10. “Research means that you don’t know, but are willing to find out”

11. “Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”

12. “It is a good thing for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast.“

13. “Research is something that everyone can do, and everyone ought to do. It is simply collecting information and thinking systematically about it.”

14. “As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.”

15. “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”

16. “If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”

17. “The power of statistics and the clean lines of quantitative research appealed to me, but I fell in love with the richness and depth of qualitative research.”

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Umberto Eco’s 10 Rules on When and How to Quote

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Umberto Eco’s top 10 list for properly using quotes in writing:

9. Quotes must be accurate.

8. When a quote does not exceed two or three lines, you can insert it into the body of the text enclosed in quotation marks.

7. The reference to the author and the work must be clear.

6. When your primary source is foreign, quote it in the original language.

5. Quote your primary source from the critical edition or the most canonical edition.

4. Make sure that the author and the source (print or manuscript) of your quote are clearly identifiable.

3. Readers may presume you share the opinion of the authors you quote.

2. Quote critical literature.