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Conuuct youi planning activities in English. That way you avoiu the piouuction
of English that ieaus like a tianslation fiom youi native language.
ueneiating Content

A common feai is to lack enough iueas with which to builu a text of the iequiieu
length. 0ne way to geneiate iueas is to ieaubut uon't waste time ieauing
mateiial that is not ielevant to the fielu you'ie inteiesteu in. Anothei way is to
talk with youi supeivisoi oi othei piofessois oi othei thesis stuuentsnothing
activates iueas as much as communicating.

Bon't hesitate to excluue iueas that tuin out to be iiielevant, even if they have
taken a lot of effoit to uevelop. You coulu always use the iueas foi anothei text,
oi you might pass them on to someone else.

Some people neeu moie time to geneiate iueas than otheis uo. This is a fact of
life, anu unavoiuable. 0ften people who neeu a long time planning aie able to
wiite veiy quickly once they uo stait, because aftei all the time they took it's
utteily cleai to them wheie they'ie going with theii thesis.

Beteimining Intention

The next step is to establish what you want to achieve with youi text. Some of
the questions that may now aiise aie:

1. Bo you want to piesent only one siue of the aigument, oi uo you piefei to
give an equal voicing to both siues.
2. What is the thesis statement.
S. What aie the examples anu aigumentation that you want to use.
4. Bo you wish to peisuaue the ieauei of youi opinion, oi is it sufficient to
uesciibe what you aie uealing with, leaving youi opinion implicit.
S. Bo you just wish to expiess a juugment ovei a paiticulai situation, oi uo you
also want to suggest some iemeuies.
6. What aie you going to concluue.

The 0iuei in Which You Wiite Youi Chapteis

Postpone wiiting the intiouuctoiy chaptei until the fiist uiaft of the iemainuei
of the thesis has been wiitten. An intiouuction is always an intiouuction-to: you
can nevei be suie what exactly to incluue anu what exactly to omit fiom the
intiouuction until you know what you aie intiouucing the ieauei to. The same
applies to conclusions. A simple iule of thumb iuns as follows:

PLAN youi intiouuction, then youi conclusion, anu then youi bouy but WRITE
youi bouy, then youi conclusion anu then youi intiouuction.



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Sample Thesis Plan 1

Chaptei Bivision

Intiouuction : Befinition of fantasy, shoit explanation of its oiigins, its meiits anu
achievements. What I will set out to uiscussi.e. about fantasy woilus.

Chaptei 1 : Paiallel woilus. What uo they accomplish. Bow uo they contiast the
piimaiy vs. seconuaiy woilu. In what way is the chaiacteiisation bioaueneu.
Nain Examples: The Nainia Chionicles, Baiiy Pottei.
0thei Examples might incluue: Alice in Wonueilanu, Petei Pan, The Baik Towei
books by King.

Chaptei 2 : Seconuaiy woilus: Same as ch. 1, only in seconuaiy woilus theie is no
uiiect contiast to the piimaiy woilu itself, only the seconuaiy woilu itself. Though,
as complete woilu is maue up by authoi, it is still bounu by piimaiy woilu law (we
cannot ieausympathise with what he cannot unueistanu), so it uoes have
consequences.
Examples: Loiu of the Rings (pastoial, uestiny, the effect of powei, full ciicle,
nostalgia to uncomplicateu life, finuing place in woilu), uoimenghast (ieflects
uiiectly on the giotesque in life, is cynical anu funny while still pointing out to us
oui uaikei natuies by use of its otheiwoiluly claustiophobic settings).
Can piobably think of lots of othei mouein examples, by Robeit }oiuan, Tau
Williams, Teiiy uooukinu, Baviu Euuings, Weis anu Bickman. have to think about
all these. Will tiy to ieieau Leuuin if I have enough time. Night iefei to Piachett if I
can fit it in, maybe in iefeiial to uoimenghast.)

Chaptei S : The Animal woilu. What uoes using animals as piotagonists accomplish.
Bow uo they ielate tointeiact with humans. Bow is the woilu maue believable. Is
it a paiallel woilu, a seconuaiy woilu, oi a woilu within oui woilu.
Examples: Wateiship Bown, Winu in the Willows.
Naybe otheis. By Auams such as Shaiuik oi The Plague Bogs, oi Tailchasei's Song
by Tau Williams. Naybe Animal Faim.

Conclusion : 0n the iise of fantasy, its new populaiity high (also thanks uue to the
films anu esp. to the Baiiy Pottei books intiouucing loaus of new ieaueis to the
genie), its new amount of female authois (fantasy has always been iathei
uominateu by males), anu its obvious appeal to ieaueis without the
chaiacteiisation anu plot suffeiing.

The sample thesis plan above is one that nevei maue it. It was a piomising plan
anu the amount of uetail that the wiitei put in shows that it was a seiious
attempt. The main ieason foi its abanuonment was that it hau no focus: theie is
no thesis statement, theie is no appaient connection between the chapteis, anu
theie appeais to be no ielation between the conclusion anu the iest of the thesis.
Note also that the wiitei, juuging by the amount of text, seemeu especially
fascinateu by the mateiial of chaptei 2. Peihaps that mateiial coulu have been
the basis foi an entiie thesis. That happens faiily fiequentlywhat was fiist just
a chaptei in a plan becomes a whole thesis in a new plan.

Sample Thesis Plan 2a

Thesis statement: analysing the connection between uecauence anu vampiies
(possible uevelopment) by compaiing woiks of vampiie liteiatuie, with Anne
Rice's vampiie Chionicles as most impoitant anu contempoiaiy focus.
S

Pieliminaiy chaptei oveiview:

1. Intiouuction to the concept of uecauence anu its link to vampiies
2. Chaptei on Becauence anu the uothic: elements of the gothic (uecay, uecline,
ueath anu uaikness) in ielation to the Chionicles, as well as the vampiie figuie in
ielation to uecauence
S. Chaptei on the fin-ue-siecle: as is featuieu in the novels, anu in the peiiou in
which the novels weie wiitten (fin-ue-siecle of the twentieth centuiy)
4. Chaptei on the atmospheie in the novels: othei elements of the Chionicles'
setting anu atmospheie that can be calleu uecauent, such as the cities of New
0ileans, Paiis, Rome, as well as the eiotic oveitones, anu the peiveision of
institutions such as the family
S. Chaptei(s) on othei vampiie (piose) liteiatuie, such as Biacula, The vampyie
6. Chaptei on the piotagonists of those woiks (chaptei S)
7. Chaptei on Lestat, the Chionicles' piotagonist: how he is a uecauent peisona
8. Chaptei on othei chaiacteis of the vampiie Chionicles
9. Conclusion

Sample Thesis Plan 2a is the fiist veision of a plan foi a thesis that maue it. Note
that the thesis statement is on the ielationship between vampiies anu
uecauence. Note that in this plan theie is no cleai uistinction between chapteis 1
anu 2. Chaptei S is on a phenomenon of which the ielevance is uncleai, anu how
chapteis S-6 anu 8 connect up with the thesis statement is not cleai eithei. The
conclusion is unspecifieu.

Sample Thesis Plan 2b

Chapteis:
1. Intiouuction
2. Becauence
S. Fin ue siecle
4. vampiie liteiatuie
S. vampiie chaiacteis
6. Conclusion

Chaptei 2: finish Becembei
Chaptei S: }anuaiy
Chaptei 4: Febiuaiy
Chaptei S: Naich
IntioConcl: Apiil

I'm not quite suie, but theie is a chance that chapteis 2 anu S will meige, anu the
same goes foi 4 anu S, but foi the oveiview I just keep it like this, to keep the
wiiting sepaiate in that time slot, I can always put them togethei aftei.

The next veision of the plan has tighteneu up the numbei of chapteis, but theie
still is the pioblem of the appaiently unielateu chaptei on fin ue siecle although
the wiitei is foieseeing that this item might be tieateu as pait of uecauence. The
ielevance of chapteis 4 anu S is not cleai, anu the conclusion is not specifieu. The
wiitei plans to take a month pei chaptei, which seems oveigeneious. Note that
the intiouuction anu conclusion aie to be wiitten last.

In the enu, this wiitei ueciueu to change the thesis statement to the ielationship
between vampiie liteiatuie anu fin ue siecle iathei than uecauence. Bei final
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chaptei uivision was: Intiouuction (see Intiouuction 4 in the ieauei), the
nineteenth centuiy fin ue siecle, nineteenth centuiy vampiies, the enu of the
twentieth centuiy, twentieth-centuiy vampiies, anu the conclusion (see
Conclusion 4).

Beie is a plan foi woik on a thesis that coveis a thiee-month peiiou. Its topic
was the iole of 0niveisal uiammai in seconu language acquisition. It was an
empiiical stuuy.

2u Febiuaiy
* Reauing
* Keep looking foi iecent aiticlesbooks

27 Febiuaiy
* Reauing
* Wiite intiouuction (chaptei 1)
* Bo tests with native speakeis

6 Naich
* (Tiy to) uo tests at high school (S BAv06 vW0)

1S Naich
* piocess uata
* stait wiiting chaptei 2 (pio 0u in auult SLA)

2u Naich
* piocess uata

27 Naich
* stait wiiting chaptei S (anti 0u in auult SLA )

1u Apiil
* stait wiiting chaptei 4 (uouble access view)

24 Apiil
* Stait wiiting chaptei S (uata fiom tests)

8 Nay
* Wiite conclusion

1S Nay
* Finish thesis

It's a faiily iealistic plan, anu of couise like all plans things can go awiy anu a
new plan neeus to be maue. Ny one ciiticism of the plan was to move up one
week the wiiting of chapteis 2-Sthe woik planneu foi the week of Naich 6
woulu not take an entiie week (moie like a uay). The week of Apiil 24 coulu be
useu foi iewiiting the intiouuctoiy chaptei in the light of the othei chapteis (see
the intiouuction tutoiial).
S
0iganizational Piinciples of Theses

Theie aie two kinus of theses. The fiist is baseu on piimaiy anuoi seconuaiy
liteiatuie, such as most liteiatuie, philology anu linguistics theses. The seconu is
only paitly baseu on piimaiy anuoi seconuaiy liteiatuie (the fiist chaptei oi
chapteis) while the iest consists of empiiical ieseaich anu the inteipietation of
the uata.

Theses on piimaiy anuoi seconuaiy liteiatuie anu the fiist paits of empiiical
theses might be oiganizeu chionologically, fiom geneial to specific, oi fiom
extiemes to miuule giounu, uepenuing on the topic oi the thesis statement.

Foi the thesis on vampiies as a fin ue siecle phenomenon, the final oiganization
of the thesis tuineu out to be both chionological anu geneial-to-specific: the 19
th centuiy fin ue siecle came befoie the 2u th centuiy fin ue siecle, anu the
exposition of the fin ue siecle befoie the chaptei on the vampiie liteiatuie of that
peiiou.

The oiganization of the thesis on Buffy is fiom the moie geneial chaptei on late
capitalism to the moie specific chapteis on schizophienia anu inteitextuality.

Foi the thesis on the iole of 0niveisal uiammai in seconu language acquisition,
the oiganization of the fiist chapteis was fiom the extiemespio anu anti
viewsto the miuule giounuthe uouble access view.1

In othei cases, the oiganizational piinciple ueiives wholly fiom the topic oi
thesis statement. Foi example, in a thesis that compaies Stokei's Biacula to
Natheson's I am Legenu anu Rice's Inteiview with the vampiie, it makes sense to
have an intiouuction, followeu by a chaptei on Biacula, then a chaptei on
Biacula veisus I am Legenu, then a chaptei on Biacula veisus Inteiview, anu
lastly a conclusion.