DUE DATE: Tuesday, February 28 (2 copies)

SPRING 2006

You have been at your internship site for some time now. Besides participating and observing there, you have been keeping detailed fieldnotes about what’s been happening, both verbally and nonverbally. Also, you have been reading, rereading, coding, recoding, and memoing your fieldnotes as you try to identify the recurring patterns and themes.

The time has now come when you must state your thesis, selecting the theme/s or topic/s that will serve as the basis of your analytic paper. What one/s will it/they be? Of course, each of you will make this decision for various reasons: personal preference, substantial information recurrent throughout your fieldnotes, easy linkages to other themes, and/or theme or topic jumps out at you. Whatever your reasons, you must choose a focus.

On Tuesday, February 28, bring to class 2 copies of a typed, double-spaced description, not to exceed one page, of your thesis statement.

In other words:

  1. explain to me and your peer reviewer what is to be the main idea, question, or focus for your analytic paper.
  2. include subthemes or subtopics that may be connected to this main idea.
  3. identify possible sociological concepts or theories that may assist you in making sense of what you have found.
  4. attach a reference page of relevant resources, located as part of your literature review, using the ASA Style Guide instructions and example included here.

In some ways, I am asking you to write an integrative memo (as described by Emerson et al.) that lays out, in a preliminary sense, your thesis and the way in which you intend to present it in your paper. Such an exercise will allow you to develop a clearer sense of what you are doing and where you are going.

As you work on preparing this thesis statement, please consult with me. I will be happy to brainstorm with you as a step in your thesis development.

Congratulations on choosing a direction for your paper!

Willamette University

Writing Center

Address
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301 U.S.A.
Phone
503-370-6959

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