1 ONESEARCH/ WRITING A THESIS STATEMENT ENGLISH 115 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Learning Commons

2 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page OneSearch searches for articles, books, and more on your topic. Enter your keyword(s), title or author and click Search. Enter your user id and password whenever prompted.

3 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page OneSearch accesses material that may not be freely available on the web. OneSearch will search both the library catalog and some of the databases.

4 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page Here are the OneSearch results for autism. Note there are 221,565 results. Add more keywords and limiters to focus your results.

5 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page The first entry may be a Research Starter. Read it for an overview of your topic instead of starting at Wikipedia. Results are accessed by clicking on the title.

6 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page Results may include electronic books accessible through the World Wide Web. To open this book, find the words: Click to View.

7 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page This e-book can be read by using the arrows to turn the pages, selecting a chapter, or searching inside the book.

8 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page Books listed in the Dwight Marvin Library Circulating Collection can be found on the shelves of the Marvin Library. Note whether the book is available then write down the call number to find the book. Ask for assistance if needed.

9 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page Adding additional keywords and asking for Peer Reviewed Scholarly articles Available in Library Collection published in the last five years, you narrow down your search. Results may be HTML Full Text and/or PDF Full Text.

10 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page Open the PDF Full Text for a copy of the document as published. Note the Tools on the right side that allow you to Print, , Add to Folder, Cite, Permalink and Share.

11 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page The Cite tool will give you the citations in various formats for your bibliography. Note that the information is rarely 100% correctly cited. Check against examples found on the Cite your Sources page.

12 Hudson Valley Community College Marvin Library Web Page Some sources will come up Check for Full Text. Those articles may take you to different databases or our ILL service. Use the most appropriate resources for your research.

OneSearch and your sources: I am covering OneSearch last because it is a new service at HVCC. Sometimes if provides the ideal source and sometimes you will find yourself spinning your wheels. You now know how to differentiate between books, journal articles, full text, etc., so you may be better able to understand the OneSearch results. I will ask you to use OneSearch and do a quick comparison to the results you have already found for your project. This is just for practice. 13

What is a Thesis Statement? A thesis statement compiles in one or two sentences the argument or analysis that will be thoroughly explored in the body of the paper. If you started with a topic question, the thesis statement is the answer to the question your paper explores. A good thesis statement will usually include the following: 1) the topic 2) a specific arguable conclusion that you’ve reached after exploring this topic.

Creating a Strong Thesis Statement: A strong thesis statement takes some sort of stand. A strong thesis statement justifies discussion. A strong thesis statement expresses one main idea. A strong thesis statement is specific. The thesis statement I would like you to write will reflect the results of all your different sources.

Example from Indiana University: Start with a topic: Sugar consumption Now narrow the topic. As you’ve explored your topic you’ve found sources that have led you to the conclusion that elementary school children are consuming far more sugar than is healthy. Narrowed topic: Reducing sugar consumption by elementary school children

Reducing sugar consumption by elementary school children This fragment not only announces your subject, but it focuses on one segment of the population: elementary school children. Furthermore, it raises a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree, because while most people might agree that children consume more sugar than they used to, not everyone would agree on what should be done or who should do it. You should note that this fragment is not a thesis statement because your reader doesn’t know your conclusions on the topic. Example from Indiana University:

Take a position on the topic. After reflecting on the topic a little while longer, you decide that what you really want to say about this topic is that something should be done to reduce the amount of sugar these children consume. More attention should be paid to the food and beverage choices available to elementary school children. This statement asserts your position, but the terms more attention and food and beverage choices are vague. Example from Indiana University:

Use specific language. You decide to explain what you mean about food and beverage choices, so you write: Experts estimate that half of elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar. This statement is specific, but it isn’t a thesis statement. It merely reports a statistic instead of making an assertion.. Example from Indiana University:

Make an assertion based on clearly stated support. Because half of all American elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar, schools should be required to replace the beverages in soda machines with healthy alternatives. Notice how the thesis answers the question, “What should be done to reduce sugar consumption by children, and who should do it?” When you started thinking about the paper, you may not have had a specific question in mind, but as you became more involved in the topic, your ideas became more specific. Your thesis changed to reflect your new insights. Example from Indiana University:

Make final corrections on your project draft. Remember the final submission must be perfect! Watch the Thesis Statement YouTube video and look at the development process. Write a draft thesis statement—add it to your final paper after it has been approved. Record your results after using OneSearch. Did you find the same sources? Would you use this again? For this session: