Now that you have done some scholarly research into your topic, you are ready to start drafting your essay. This next step is to take your research question(s) and turn it into a working thesis by applying what you learned through your research. Post your research question and working thesis to complete this assignment. Example: Research Question: Does Social Media help reduce gender bias in society or does it reinforce negative gender stereotypes and sexism? Thesis: While some of the darker sites like 4chan and Reddit seem to attract users who are prone to misogynistic rants, and sites like Instagram tend to reinforce old stereotypes, social media as a whole has worked to empower gender equality by giving a more public and varied voice to issues such as sexual harassment, payroll inequality, and gaps in political representation. Notice that the thesis statement is really a complete answer to the research question that I started with. It is detailed and dynamic. By “dynamic” I mean that it has more than just one view; it shows that the answer to that question involves some of the negative side and some of the positive side – as is the case with most complex social issues.
Notice also that I don’t just make a general equivalent between the two. Instead, I make an argument (based on the research) that says social media is more empowering than it is sexist. This is accomplished by using a subordinate clause (Although X) for the side that I am showing to be not as prevalent. I suggest using one of these terms to use a subordinate clause to start your thesis (Although, Even though, While, etc.) By “detailed” I mean that it involves more than just saying something like “Social Media reduces sexism in some ways and reinforces it in other ways.” Instead, I give details about how and where it reduces or reinforces it. These details come from what I have read in the research that I did so that I can answer the question with some degree of confidence. These details include knowing the specific sites like 4chan and Reddit, as well as the ways in which it empowers like giving voice to those particular issues. Again, all of that understanding came from what I found in the academic articles I came across in my research.
