2. Review of literature relevant to the research topic and Thesis statement / The body section:
While writing this section you will need to (1) elaborate on the previous literature that has dealt with this
problem/question (15%). The purpose of this exercise is to see what we know about the answers to your
question based on other people’s research (and how your paper “fits� into it). In writing this section you
should avoid presenting mere paragraphs that describe one by one previous studies. Rather, your task here
is to analyze previous studies and explain how they are similar and different. If there is more than one
explanation to the phenomena that they study, try to explain why there might be two or more
explanations. This means that you need to assess previous knowledge and present your own judgment
about its relevance to the question. You do not have to read every single study written on the topic, just
some of the most important ones.
Additionally and in relation to your literature review, in this section you will need to (2) clearly present
your argument and show the logic of the argument. Your thesis statement should start with: “In this paper
I argue that [… Xïƒ Y]â€� or “The major argument of this study is [… Xïƒ Y]â€�. Next, explain why we
should expect a relationship between the factors that you think are important and the
phenomenon/phenomena that need/s to be explained (15%).
In this section try to make the big points that
relate to the question that you are answering. After you write a paragraph try to re-read it to make sure
that it is clear how this paragraph relates to the question under consideration.
It would be admirable if in this section try to demonstrate how your answer “fits� the previous knowledge
(analyzed as a part of the literature review). If there is a disagreement among scholars on a particular
issue, does your study solve this disagreement? Does it take any particular side? If so, then why? If there
is a complete agreement among scholars on a particular issue, does your argument agree with them or
does it bring a new revolutionary explanation that overturns the conventional wisdom? Or maybe the
problem has not yet received much attention and you are a pioneer in explaining the phenomenon
(phenomena) of your interest. Or perhaps you are simply testing somebody else’s argument that has not
been tested yet? In either case, demonstrate how your argument is superior to other explanations, if any of
them exist