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1: Ask Questions

Let’s say that you chose or were assigned the topic of internships, the practice of employing relatively inexperienced people, often students, so that they become familiar with particular work environments and business practices. Through your reading you have learned that internships are often mutually beneficial. Interns can gain useful work-related experience, and businesses get inexpensive temporary help (which sometimes leads to permanent positions).

Now you need to more deeply inform yourself about internships by asking questions about the information and ideas you have gathered. For example,

Why did internships develop as an educational and business practice? Where and when are they now used?

Are there internship programs at your school? If so, what informational materials are available to you?

Who can help you find an internship? Can you get an internship on your own?

Do any businesses in your area offer internships?

What are the negative aspects of an internship for both parties?

Do you have family or friends who have employed interns? Do you have family or friends who have had internships? What information have you been able to gain from those on both sides of the relationship?

Are interns usually paid? How are internships funded?

When the questioning starts, one question will lead to another, and the answers to these questions — often found through more reading, interviews, and discussions — will inform

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you about the depth and breadth of your topic. If all this is done well, you will soon begin to think like an expert on your topic.

At this point, the likelihood of developing a thesis, or a number of them, will greatly increase. It is out of the facts and ideas that you have collected and the questions you ask of that material that a thesis will come to mind.

Step 2: List Several Possible Thesis Statements

After you have asked all the questions you think necessary and have supplied answers to those questions, you are ready to list possible thesis statements. Trying to develop not just one thesis but several of them can be a very helpful strategy in refining your ideas and coming up with the best possible thesis. Also, keep in mind that a thesis can be considered a working thesis until you are sure it conveys exactly what you want to say, or until you revise it into its final form.

Here are some theses that might be developed as a result of a deeper investigation into the topic of internships:

All effective internship programs have five key elements.

Research is necessary before applying to an internship program.

Employers must have a clearly defined set of expectations for internship programs.

Record keeping and reporting are the keys to an effective internship program.

There are no standard practices for funding internships.

We need a federally funded internship program.

Step 3: Choose Your Direction

The potential theses listed in Step 2 reflect different approaches to and aspects of the topic of internships. Let’s take a closer look at how each one may have been arrived at and where each might lead the writer:

All effective internship programs have five key elements.

This thesis is most likely the product of an examination of successful internship programs to learn their key elements. The supporting information might also serve to explain the establishment of an internship program or how to improve an existing one.

Research is necessary before applying to an internship program.

This thesis might be the product of learning what can go right and wrong with an internship and might even suggest what individuals need to know about a program before entering it.

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Employers must have a clearly defined set of expectations for internship programs.

This thesis suggests that successful internships are the result of clear expectations for the intern and well-defined pathways for achieving success.

Record keeping and reporting are the keys to an effective internship program.

This thesis suggests that communication is important in any internship relationship. It implies that all parties should document projects, goals, and steps toward achieving those goals, as well as any or all efforts in accomplishing them.

There are no standard practices for funding internships.

This thesis suggests that the way internships are financed is not standardized and that because each internship must be arranged for individually, arrangements vary greatly.

We need a federally funded internship program.

This thesis suggests that internships are so worthwhile that they need to be made available nationally and be federally funded.

Step 4: Write Your Thesis Statement

A thesis statement should be

the most important point you make about your topic,

more general than the ideas and facts you use to support it, and

focused enough to be covered in the space allotted for the essay.

A thesis statement is not a question, although it might be prompted by one or many, as we have seen with the topic of internships.

An effective method for developing a thesis statement is to begin by writing, “What I want to say is that . . .”

What I want to say is that unless employers offer paid internships, businesses will never recruit

the most qualified interns, and interns will not be able to receive the full benefits of their

internships.

Later, when you delete the formulaic opening and streamline the text, you will be left with a thesis statement:

Unless employers offer paid internships, businesses will never recruit the most qualified interns,

and interns will not be able to receive the full benefits of their internships.

A good way to determine whether your thesis is too general or too specific is to consider how easy it will be to present information and examples to support it. If you stray too far in