Examine your topic against the three structural types: argumentative, expository and analytical. Offer an opinion, make a claim, propose a policy, suggest an interpretation or demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship for an argumentative thesis; explain your topic for an expository thesis. Use an analytical thesis to break down an idea into its basic parts and examine each separately. For example, if your topic is remotely measuring automobile emissions, use the analytical approach.
Conduct and organize your research. Using the auto emissions and remote sensing example, find your research from the University of Denver and data gathered from millions of vehicles tested throughout the United States. Collect data from the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies that have funded or used the University of Denver research. Allow your research to lead you in new directions if what you find casts new light on your initial premise.
Craft an outline to provide you with structure. Within the framework of remote sensing of automobile emissions, offer five parts: 1) how the technology works, 2) where the testing was conducted, 3) how sample data from various locales compare, 4) significant findings from the millions of tests, and 5) implementation of the technology. In your outline, each section needs a heading with subheadings that list the topics you will discuss in that section. For example, in the how sample data compare section, you would list the various states. Remember, the outline is not chiseled in stone, you can always change it as you write.
Write a thesis statement that boils down your topic to one or two sentences, thereby clarifying it and testing its veracity while providing the reader with a guideline to the paper. Place the thesis statement at the end of the paper's first paragraph. For our example, "Data generated by the remote testing of automobile emissions throughout the United States consistently reveals that 10 percent of the vehicles produce 90 percent of the pollution." Be aware that as you write, you may need to change the statement to reflect a new approach from what you originally envisioned.
Write the thesis, but remember you do not have to write it in order. Professor S. Joseph Levine at Michigan State University recommends that you begin writing the part of the thesis with which you are most comfortable. Thus, in our example, if you happen to feel most comfortable about the implementation of the remote sensing technology, begin by writing the fifth section. You can follow this procedure throughout the project, saving the most difficult section for last.
Write your conclusions by detailing what the research means, not reiterating what you have already stated. For example, you might conclude that based on the consistency of the remote sensing data, high polluting vehicles should be targeted as opposed to targeting every vehicle on the road. The conclusion helps the reader understand the research's implications.