4.2 Drafting a Thesis Statement Part 2

Module 4

Page 2 of 6

How to Develop and Evolve the Thesis Statement

  1. Formulate the general question you are examining, for example “Is the detention and treatment of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay by the US Government lawful?”
  2. Break the general question down into the necessary sub-questions, for example “a) violation of international law? b) is the international law applicable/binding for the US? c) also a violation of nat’l constitutional law?
  3. Discuss the draft thesis statement with the necessary sub-questions with the supervisor. Make adjustments if so advised.
  4. Research each sub-question thoroughly
    • identify all pertinent sources, i.e. statutory laws incl. int’l conventions; nat’l and int’l case law; secondary sources = law review articles; etc.
    • start active reading of all pertinent sources and enter all findings into a mind map (see Module 6);
    • develop an outline or draft table of contents (ToC) on the basis of the mind map;
    • modify or reorganize the outline or table of contents as needed as the research evolves and the mind map is populated/fills up.
  1. Turn the thesis statement from a question to an affirmative statement and reformulate, limit, or expand as needed, for example “This paper demonstrates that although the detention and treat­ment of the prisoners in Guantanamo Bay by the US Government is in violation of internatio­nal law, the respective norms of int’l law are not binding on the US. However, the detention and treatment is also in violation of US constitutional law.”
  2. Discuss major modifications of both outline/ToC or thesis statement with the supervisor and get advice and/or approval;
  3. Organize the outline/ToC of the final paper and include the thesis statement as follows:
    • Include the thesis statement at the beginning of the “Introduction” to tell the reader what this paper is all about. Then continue the Introduction by telling why and how the work was undertaken.
    • Break the main part of the work down into sub-parts corresponding to your sub-questions, for example “Part 1: The Norms of International Law Relevant to the Treatment of Enemy Combatants and Aliens in General; Part 2: The Applicability and Binding Effects of the Norms of International Law for the United States; Part 3: US Constitutional Law on Treatment of Enemy Combatants and Prisoners in General and with Specific Reference to Guantanamo Bay.”
    • In the Conclusions, refer back to the main parts and the thesis statement, for example “As has been shown in Part 1… and in Part 2 it was demonstrated… Finally, in Part 3 it was proven that… Therefore…”