Conquering the Challenge: A Guide to Writing a Humanities Thesis

The realm of humanities thrives on critical thinking, creative expression, and insightful analysis. As a humanities student, embarking on a thesis journey represents a significant milestone. It allows you to delve deeply into a topic that ignites your intellectual curiosity and contribute fresh perspectives to your chosen field. This comprehensive guide equips you with the essential knowledge and strategies to navigate the process of writing a compelling humanities thesis.

Understanding the Foundation: What is a Humanities Thesis?

A humanities thesis is an extensive written document that culminates from independent research undertaken by a student in a humanities discipline such as literature, history, philosophy, or art history. It delves into a specific question or argument, offering a critical analysis of existing scholarship and your unique contribution to the field of study.

The core objectives of a humanities thesis include:

• Expanding the existing knowledge base within a specific area of the humanities.
• Developing critical thinking and analytical skills fundamental for success in humanities disciplines.
• Demonstrating your ability to formulate a research question, conduct research, and construct a persuasive argument.
• Contributing to ongoing scholarly conversations and potentially influencing future research directions.

Charting Your Course: Key Stages of Writing a Humanities Thesis

The journey of writing a humanities thesis unfolds in distinct stages, each requiring meticulous planning and execution:

1. Topic Selection:

• Identify a topic that genuinely interests you and aligns with your academic pursuits.
• Consider the feasibility of conducting research within the chosen topic, ensuring access to relevant resources and materials.
• Explore the topic’s novelty to ensure your research offers a fresh perspective or fills a gap in existing scholarship.
• Discuss potential topics with your thesis advisor to benefit from their expertise and guidance**.

2. Formulating a Research Question:

• Craft a clear, concise, and focused research question.
• Ensure the question is specific enough to be answerable through your research methods.
• The question should also be engaging and spark intellectual curiosity within the field of study.

3. Literature Review:

• Conduct a thorough literature review to understand the existing scholarly landscape on your chosen topic.
• Identify relevant academic journals, books, primary sources (e.g., historical documents, literary works), and other credible resources.
• Critically analyze existing scholarship to identify key debates, theoretical frameworks, and potential areas where your research can contribute something new.
• Employ a reference management tool to organize and cite your sources effectively.

4. Research Methodology:

• Select the most appropriate research methodology to address your research question effectively. Humanities research often draws on qualitative methods (e.g., textual analysis, historical research, discourse analysis) or may incorporate a mixed methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Develop a detailed research plan outlining your research design, data collection methods (e.g., archival research, interviews), and analytical framework.
• Ensure your research adheres to ethical considerations and academic integrity standards.

5. Conducting Research:

• Meticulously gather data according to your research plan. This may involve conducting interviews, analyzing primary sources, or interpreting textual evidence.
• Maintain accurate and detailed records of your research process and the data you collect.
• Seek assistance from your advisor or librarians if needed for navigating research resources or data analysis techniques.

6. Constructing Your Argument:

• Develop a clear and well-supported argument that responds to your research question.
• Utilize evidence from your research to support your claims and engage with existing scholarship.
• Consider alternative perspectives on your topic and address them critically in your analysis.

7. Writing Your Thesis:

• Structure your thesis according to the specific format required by your university or department. A typical structure includes:
  • Abstract: A concise summary of your research question, methodology, main arguments, and conclusions.
  • Introduction: Background information, research question, justification for the study, and a brief overview of your thesis arguments.
  • Literature Review: A critical analysis of existing scholarship relevant to your topic.
  • Methodology: Detailed description of your research design, data collection methods, and analytical framework.
  • Analysis Chapters: In-depth examination of your research findings, supported by evidence and critical analysis.
  • Discussion: Interpretation of your findings, drawing connections to existing literature and addressing limitations of your study.
  • Conclusion: Summary of your key arguments, implications of your research for your field, and recommendations for future research.
  • References: A comprehensive list of all sources cited in your thesis.
• Utilize clear and concise prose, avoiding overly technical language.

 

 

In order to write a thesis, you need to conduct some research, which in humanities could be library research or empirical research.

Most of the humanity branches do not need to do research in a lab, field, or by distributing questionnaires. In these cases, you just need to use a library or laptop and search for your thesis’s variables.

Library research

In library-researches, you just need to read books and papers related to the title of your thesis. You may dip into some of them, skim, or scan some others to find the information about your thesis’s variables. This information can also come from speeches, podcasts, and so on.

After gathering information, discuss the relationship existed between the variables using the sources you have read, in chapter three.

In chapter four, you need to draw a conclusion. It would be the last chapter and the last chance to convince readers that your statement is right, by relying on the given information in the previous chapters. Summarize the most important evidence so that results in the correctness of your statement.

Chapters one and two should be written as what is said in “chapters of a Ph.D. and master’s dissertation”.

What branches need library research?

In philosophy, history, ancient languages, law, political science, literature, translation, religion, jurisprudence, and so on.

Empirical research

In empirical researches and theses, in humanity branches, you need to use questionnaires in your study. To do so, find the related questionnaires to the variables, then distribute them among the right samples. You need to explain all the process in chapter three.

In chapter four, reveal your findings in tables, analyze them and discuss how the findings answer your research questions.

Finally, in chapter five, draw a conclusion.

Chapters one and two are the same as library researches. You can see them in “chapters of a Ph.D. and master’s dissertation”.

What branches need empirical research?

In psychology, teaching languages, archaeology, religion, and so on.

Note: as you can see, religion field of study is written in both sections (library research and empirical research). In some fields of study, research can be done as library research or empirical research, it depends to chosen subject.

Some advices on writing humanities’ theses

In humanities researches and theses, there are some tips that you can do your research easier by knowing them.

Write what is in your mind

In order to organize what is in your mind, write down your ideas and do not leave them in your head. It would increase the tempo of writing your thesis.

Get your adviser assistance

The research will raise some questions in your mind. It is the nature of research. Especially in humanities, students face new information which may cast doubt on their beliefs. Do not forget that you have the support of your adviser, so you can turn to him for assistance.

Have conversations

In humanities, you are of an advantage over other fields of studies which is you can have conversations with other people about the subject and become aware of their opinions. It would be helpful in writing your thesis to discuss the title of your thesis from different points of view. Be as specific as possible about the challenges and make the issue perfectly clear that does not remain any doubt in your and your readers’ mind. In other words, write persuasively.

to see some examples of theses in humanities see Scholar commons page.