Composition Terminology Links
The Geographer's Craft
In the tables below are links to web pages that you may find useful as you answer questions.
Of course you can always consult with the Learning Resource Center here on campus. They also have a Writing Program with consultants.
Terminology
- Question: What is a thesis statement?
- Answer: One or two sentences that capture the essence of your argument and help readers anticipate and follow your argument.
- Tip: Tend to be more common among human geography papers, especially when written as essay.
- Question: What is a hypothesis?
- Answer:
An informed prediction about what you are going to discover in your project. It is an educated guess that is written plainly and CAN BE TESTED. Must be carefully worded.
- Tip: A common framing tool among physical geographers or in papers with a "scientific" or "social scientific" framework.
- Question: What is a research question?
- Answer: A research question is a general question that frames your research and helps you formulate a more specific and carefully worded hypothesis, which in turn helps you answer the more general research question..
- TIP: The research question may only be partly answered by the findings generated by testing your hypothesis. That's O.K.
- Question: How can I improve the organization of my
writing and thinking?
- Answer: Organized compositions are characterized by good theses, well developed introductions and conclusions and logical paragraphs.
- Tip: Good topic sentences really help readers.
Useful Links
Click on the links below to read other opinions on thesis statements, hypotheses and effective paragraph writing. Keep this resource in mind when you prepare to write papers for other courses, especially Geography 490.
See also: A link with helpful tips for geography students faced with writing papers (MS Word .doc - Cent. Conn. State U).
