Hello, I’m writing my first thesis as part of my graduation with the topic: Design Activism. I am having problems with making my research question/statement clear and focused.
This is what I have as my current statement: Contemporary socially engaged practices have always been influenced by the past and made it their own.
( What practices of the past influenced the practices in a specific era and how did they make it their own?)
I am focusing on the eras 1960-1969, 2000-2009, and the present ( and maybe the future).
But I was wondering if this statement is clear enough, English is not my first language so I find it a bit hard when it comes to academic writing.
Also if you have interesting sources about Design Activism, and socially engaged design practices. Would you please share them with me?
Thank you in advance.
There are several ways you can improve your thesis question or statement:
Make it specific: A good thesis question or statement should be specific and focused. It should clearly articulate the main idea or argument you will be exploring in your paper.
Make it clear: Your thesis question or statement should be easy to understand and should not be vague or ambiguous.
Make it relevant: Your thesis question or statement should be relevant to your field of study and should address a topic that is of interest to you and to your readers.
Make it original: Your thesis question or statement should be original and should contribute to the existing body of knowledge in your field.
Make it concise: A good thesis question or statement should be concise and should not be too long or wordy.
To improve your thesis question or statement, you may need to do some additional research or brainstorming to clarify your ideas and focus your argument. You may also want to seek feedback from your supervisor or colleagues to ensure that your thesis question or statement is strong and well-formed.
Dear Sarah, of course, I wish to help you, but unfortunately, I do not have anything useful for you at the present time. I hope to help you in the future
With my best wishes
Sarah Rose Meuwissen_______ Sarah, a thesis is a way to begin to learn “how to learn” -and- how to ask a question. Yourself. With emphasis on begin* — but be careful. I tend to figure out what I’m doing by coming back to, what seems like, the beginning a lot. Takes awhile to figure out what my question is, for me, mostly an instinct*** for what part to I want to follow.___And___You’re not supposed to know how to do this. --------The thesis is one of the few “best” things a school ask you to do. You get to explore (learn) on your own. After 20+ years of schools & being told what to learn - that’s hard. In my opinion, right up there with hard stuff. —— I recommend looking at what form of “design activism” captures a passion in you***. Make a thesis as a way to discover more about something you like. ——- Look at a part* vs trying to look into the “whole” of design activism. One more thing to be careful of; people can write a “nice” & intellectually impressive thesis titles. Its easy, the hard part is making a thesis. ———— One other “best” school thing; please talk to your friends about this. Assume its like another time you have to figure out what a vague, impatient and confusing teacher is talking about. In this way you, together, get to decide what a thesis is vs being taught-told what it is. ——————— I’m in the US. An ongoing “design-activism” exists. To our own bewilderment, we dressed like and grew long hair in the 1960's that we saw in our Hollywood & TV versions of early settlers and indigenous people of the US. Today we protest each others idea of guns & racism --- in, posters, graffiti and many forms of singing and poetry-like-chants. - to me these have the same rhythm and feel world-wide…and…sound like like songs slaves and prisoners sing.—————The outline you presented here good. One example of for a thesis; — anti-racism-songs from a specific culture, time and location would be do-able as a graduate thesis. Specifically, an intro of the topic.—————Lastly…..Please talk with your thesis advisor or other teachers. Read them what you ask here….its an especially good question to ask a faculty-thesis-advisor……And ask us more here or by message - too.
Your research statement is a good start, but it may benefit from some additional clarity and focus. Here are a few suggestions for how you can improve it:
You must fundamentally take into account the problem to which you want to provide a solution
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Phytochemistry
- Extracts