The Creative Classroom PowerPoint Video for a thesis

 So I've found that a PowerPoint can be tough for some people to see--but they can watch a PowerPoint video instead. With that in mind...here's something I crafted for students and instructors on how to brainstorm an idea for a thesis. Enjoy!

Oh. So someone asked, "What's that 'Double-Dutch Twist/Irish Treat' idea regarding Money? Is that a new form of coffee?"

I saw this while teaching in China: my students were furiously studying a paper in MY class that was for their NEXT class in finance. (I was teaching public speaking.) So I asked to see what was so interesting: and they showed me the article with that title--and begged me to help. So I read it in a few minutes and then translated the idea, although I don't know finance:

The article stated that Apple, Inc., was sending pre-tax profits to two banks in the Dutch West Indies in the Caribbean. It was then re-routed (after a lower tax rate for deposits) to a bank in Ireland--and then sent back to Seattle as a means of--shall we say--"legal money laundering"?

PS: I told the students, "Don't tell your instructor that I figured it out. YOU take credit for it and pretend like you had the idea down cold and impress him for it."

My point: If you can READ something, you're likely to understand it if you know how to "think outside the box". 

"Sex, society, marketing, and psychology"

“Sex, society, and psychology is the assignment,” he proclaimed. 

Mmmph. 
That got everyone’s attention. You DID notice that first picture was a pair of feet, right?  You thought what?  

I guess now when I say, “Read the assignment," it’ll get done! Okay, today’s guest speaker is Havelock Ellis, and we’re going to use his Studies in the Psychology of Sex as our platform. We’ll peruse a short sample from a biographical essay and look for a thesis statement wrapped inside of an assertion, as well as topic sentences, transitional phrases, action or signal verbs, and a summarizing conclusion.

Yes, those were feet!
No, that's your own fault for having a vivid imagination.
And no: the man in the tub didn't have twisted legs.  
 

No, you may not go back and look!
Now pay attention!!
  

     When, as a young man in Australia, Havelock Ellis resolved to become a physician and devote himself to a lifetime study of sexual phenomena, the subject was surrounded by social taboos. Ellis became the first notable English writer to discuss sex openly and with detachment. Starting with Ellis and Sigmund Freud, late in the 19^th century, human physiology began to be seriously investigated and sex to be studied not as if it were a disgraceful function, but as something normally common to the human race. That everything related to sex could be freely discussed in the mid-20^th century is owing largely to the work of these two trail-blazing scientists.
===================
(Got that? You either say Yes right now and get a chance to help keep the human race going, or just say No and stop here. Literally.)
--------------------------------------
(Ok. Continue)
  

     While Ellis undertook a certain amount of original investigation for Studies in the Psychology of Sex, his writings are based chiefly upon already published work scattered through hundreds of learned journals and innumerable books, many of them exceedingly obscure. To the study of sex, Ellis proposed to apply the same objective research methods followed by other scholars in anthropology, politics, and the social sciences. His seven-volume work was directed primarily at the education of normal people--the general public--to persuade them that a rational attitude toward sex is essential to human happiness. Only incidentally was Ellis concerned with the problems of medical practitioners and with sexual abnormalities.
   
(Key points here:)

Summing up Ellis's achievements, the American psychiatrist Karl Menninger concludes: Substantially, he did three things. In the first place, he made a careful, thorough, and honest collection of data relating to a phase of biology which the hypocrisy and prudery of medical science had, until Ellis, caused to be ignored for the most part. In the second place, he evolved and advocated a hedonistic philosophy of life tempered if not determined by the sane, scientific attitude toward sex which his studies engendered. 

In the third place, he presented his scientific findings and philosophical beliefs to the world with that artistic combination of directness and delicacy which made them acceptable to non-scientific readers.  

    H. L. Mencken described Ellis as "undoubtedly the most civilized Englishman of his generation," a judgment that has won wide concurrence. Ellis has been more responsible than any other man for lifting the Puritan taboo upon sex, for bringing the subject into the clear light of science, and for preparing public opinion for objective research in the field of sex and marriage. He paved the way for the reception of Freud and Jung in psychological theory, for such literary figures as Joyce and Proust, and for such further investigation in his own chosen field as those of Alfred Kinsey.
   

Okay.
What is the heart (and thesis) of this paper? Why does the subject being "pitched" have an impact, or WHY was this person's life significant?

Havelock’s importance as a leading pioneer in the study of human sexuality and its impact on our social values.  His contributions regarding the dynamics of humanity’s primal drive to perpetuate are profound for their ground-breaking avenues of thought and research methods. His impact on the intellectual-philosophical dimensions of sexual research (breaking away from narrow-minded restrictive attitudes and values) broke open a logjam of ideas about human behavior (women are humans and not second-class creatures), and also likely influenced the Suffragette movement in America. 

(Easy answer: he made us learn about our bodies and how we function as a species.) Why does he (it) matter? Oh, THAT 3-letter word. It also has a sense of power unto itself, yes? Mighty important part of our lives; we devote a considerable amount of our economy on sex, yes?
Marketing, advertising, and movies? Clothes? Music? Automobiles? Vacations and travel? Medicine, including pediatrics and the process of being born right and unto death? Our housing boom trends and real estate? Toys, games, and entertainment?   
 

I’ll stop there.
You’d better know the rest of the details or else you’re gonna be extinct. And college won't matter.

A thesis is a powerful thing, I said

And just what is a thesis--and why does it matter that I have to do one for my assignment anyway?!

Glad you asked that question.  It's simple:  it's the reason, idea, point of explanation, or just "this is something that matters and I need to challenge and prove it" perspective of your assignment.  It's a fact--not an opinion.  (That matters a whole lot.  You need to establish a thesis as a condition of credibility.  Your opinion may count a whole bunch to you, but unless you are an expert in your field of study, don't bother trying to use your opinion to show your thesis has merit.)

I looked at the reason for my assignments in college through the view of my thesis: it was always based on "Why My Idea is Valid."  That's the thesis itself:  what is it that you want to teach to the person reading your assignment.  It's the heart-and-soul of your paper or presentation.  It's the idea or concept that gets right into your core because you KNOW this idea has a purpose or significance--and you want to show how important it is not only to you, but to the world.  Here's a view of a thesis:

Human sacrifice sounds like a cruel and barbaric way of behavior.  Children as well as adults of both genders have been victims.  However, the act itself has been practiced throughout cultures on every continent for thousands of years--and it has been glorified in the process.

It's not an opinion; it's one that I've taught with literature, so there are stories as well as documented history samples that I use.  What I do when I teach it is to use examples from various cultures (including the Bible!) to show that human sacrifice is not only accepted, but it is honored and revered.  

A thesis works well especially if it has some sort of "shock value" to it: the reader is awakened to a thought that he or she might not have considered.  (That, by the way, is what a Ph.D. degree involves: some larger-than-life idea that the candidate has proven by writing and researching; something that no one else has done or established.  The coursework involved frames out and supports the reasons for the thesis that comprises the heart of the candidate's doctoral plan.)

Here's another, based on the view that author Jonathan Swift was critical of the nature of Mankind:

Jonathan Swift, in creating the character of Lemuel Gulliver and his fantastic voyages, used satire to chastise the human race's views of superiority. Swift used direct social encounters with beings who were either tiny in size or as large as trees, the absent-mindedness and illusions of scientific experimentation, and finally, a reversal of intelligence within the family of higher mammals. In this way, Swift lets readers see the barbaric and grotesque qualities of Mankind. The voyages of Gulliver are a testimony in the ridicule of social roles to demonstrate the heights and depths of the potential of our species.

What students would do next (I wrote that thesis for them and encouraged them to use it) was to use examples from the book Gulliver's Travels and show in detail how and where Swift pointed out the flaws of humanity: our weaknesses, our failures as social creatures, and our downfall by our behavior. They would reference and give specific quotes as well as generalizations from the book, backing up the view that Swift indeed felt like humans were really a sub-standard species of animal.  

One last thing I learned about a thesis:  it makes for a great title of an assignment, and all assignments should have a title to them.  What I did was to take the thesis and then twist it into a question--and use THAT as the title.  For example, "Is Human Sacrifice a Barbaric Ritual or Sacred Gesture?"  Or, "Jonathan Swift's 'The Human Race': Noble Beings or Lowly Animal?" With either sample, I turned the thesis into my title by stating the main idea and challenging it.

Who-What-When-Where-How for Brainstorming a topic or thesis

I'm talking about the 4 W's-and-H.  These are the basics for writing school-based assignments--and they work very easily in planning a thesis too.  They are the backbone of good journalism too.  They help students prepare notes for public speaking, they are useful for research, and they keep you focused.

"Who" is anyone relevant to your subject or idea.  The better individuals in a paper or assignment are ones who are experts or noted in the field that you're discussing.  Credentials count here, both in a job title as well as academic pedigree (Ph.D. or M.A. as possible.)  The "Who" of your assignment or paper shows the significance of someone who comments or validates ideas that are connected with your thesis. (See Link).

"What" is part of the thesis:  it tells the basic material and structure of the idea itself that you are presenting.  The "What" of a paper or assignment shows the reader or audience the background information and properties.

"When" has a lot of flexibility, but be assured, human nature being what it is, the topic you're writing or addressing will have a repeated pattern of occurrence over a sequence of time.  People tend to do the same thing(s) again and again, and that's what makes literature a snapshot of historical perspectives.  Whatever your topic or subject, it's probably come to the attention of someone over a period of decades or centuries.

One of the ideas I used as an example here was/are the problems with food safety and preparation for the general public.  I went back to the early 1900s and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, about the meat-packing industry in Chicago....then connected that to the changes in policies that allowed food additives and preservatives in the 1930s...to the outbreaks of food poisoning throughout the '80s-'90s...and then on to the recalls of millions of pounds of meats and Mad Cow disease, right up through today's issues of food contamination and fatalities.  It all keeps on going over time: that's "When" it matters. (See more at link).

"Where" is just as easy, especially because we have become a global marketplace.  Whatever your topic, it just doesn't happen here in your local environment:  it's likely to have manifested in other countries on other continents.  Look at the upgrades and changes to technology, and you can see more easily how this happens.  The food industry is still a great example:  we're not the only nation experiencing obesity and the problems that come from fast-food chains.  Just ask the other countries who are finding that their peoples are showing a tremendous rise in size as well as heart disease.

"How" is part of your thesis as well:  it's showing the details; the facts, the small key components of information that validate and confirm the idea that you're presenting.  This is where the experience and importance of "Who" comes in:  a person who is a credible source has more "impact" on the subject because they are an authority, or at least, someone of quality.

Classic Role Models of Society as Thesis Statements

Classic figures (or "archetypes") from society are an excellent tool to use in the development of a thesis statement and the opening paragraph (or second paragraph) of a paper. The use of a historical, literary, or social "archetype" can provide the writer with a reference that supports and endorses the main idea (thesis), and may serve to enhance the significance of the paper/essay.

I've taught that literature supports this by using stories that have been repeated again and again: human nature is such that we do not tend to learn our social lessons very easily, and therefore have to repeat them. The following list should offer anyone who needs to write a paper/essay a vast opportunity of ideas from which to consider an appropriate example of an archetype:

Fairy tales                                              
Myths
Legends                                                 Superstitions
Heroes and villains                               
Sports figures
Romantic stories                                   
Tragedies and comedies
Movie stars                                             
Animals
Supernatural events                             Catastrophes
Royalty                                                   
Military battles/victories/defeats
Politics and politicians                           
Foreign philosophies
Food and drink                                       Songs/lyrics
Classic literature                                   
Social rebels
Monsters

(And a quiz: familar with any of these folks from sources such as books, movies, or other media? Link

Now try the three introductory paragraphs that I wrote to see how they work, how they support the thesis idea, and why they show the connection of who-what-when-where-how-why and the repetition of Time to support that "this idea is one that we have yet to learn despite the impact it made again and again and...." Oh, yes, the impact of how you present an image does make a difference. It's the whole point of the thesis: WHY is the idea you're trying to explain-endorse-counter against-illustrate-delineate important? What connection to society can you offer as an example? What classic role model in our archetypes would we immediately recognize? And how does the thesis idea fit in with the image you're using?

Here's 3 thesis concepts: 
(1) the dangers of the drug ecstasy, also known as MDMA or "Molly", 
(2) the interlocking problem of steroids, image, and young people, 
and (3) the significance and legacy of Florence Nightingale's life as an inspiration for the world of nursing.
--------------------------------------------------

"The famous novelist Aldous Huxley, prophet of futuristic social trends, wrote in Brave New World about the indulgences and abuses of a chemical panacea: soma. The drug, he foretold, would put its user into a calm state of euphoria and bliss that transcended any logical mental capacity. 

Soma was the natural release of choice: it offered harmony, bliss, and complete enjoyment. Huxley would recognize soma today as the chemical messenger of full-blown joy and abandonment for the senses: the illegal, abusive, and still-dangerous drug known as ‘Ecstasy.’ Touted as a mood enhancer and social toy of teens and pop culture, ecstasy is weaving a tangled web of lies and danger among its users since it was first created as a "relationship drug." Its extreme use to has resulted in ever-increasing deaths—and the damage it causes goes beyond the physical parameters of the brain of unsuspecting participants. 

===========================
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" (Comes the reply): "I speak what's true, but there's one who's more fairest than you." That scene was taken from Walt Disney's 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But there's a similar scene that's been in production and released time and time again--and now with chilling results, especially since the late 1980s. The young subculture in this country--those from 13 to their late 20s--have a malignant obsession with image. They yearn to fit in with a chiseled athletic look and a runway model image. 

What is the catalyst of all this self-appearance madness? Steroids, plastic surgery, and binge diets. This "wanting to be with the in-crowd" attitude has become a medieval epidemic. Our sons and daughters are willing to risk life and limb to become the next Adonis and Helen of Troy. 

Inspired by action film actors/actresses, television shows and music videos that promote social indulgence without risk, body-builders, and sports heroes who visibly bulk up to extreme proportion, young men and women are using steroids and other body-altering drugs and chemicals without medical supervision and controls. We must step up and break this pattern of behavior or sacrifice our youth’s health and well-being for a temporary image that hides the look of death. (See the 2013 story at link)
------------------------------------------------------
The hallways stretch long, dark, damp, and narrow. The air is fetid, musty, and reeks with the stench of blood…and death. Looking up at the ceiling, one’s eyes are greeted by cobwebs, and on the floor, dirt and filth. Men—soldiers from the British campaign in the Crimea, lie in rows on sagging cots, moaning in pain, bleeding…and dying.

But up ahead, a light has appeared—a woman! She carries within her heart the future of public health care, for she is known to these wretched souls as “The Lady with the Lamp.” Her presence offered hope for relief from pain and the opportunity for an 85% minimum chance of survival from wounds and illness--in short, the chance that a man might live instead of die.

It took a war and a woman’s influence to provide the momentum and power to change the way an entire culture thought about medical care, and a woman’s place in the world as well. Her name is honored and spoken with reverence in the field of nursing: Florence Nightingale.

In the 19th century, patient care was virtually non-existent. Hospitals were poorly lit with poor ventilation, crude sanitation, and catastrophic health practices. Amputation was a common way to prevent gangrene, but often led to other complications, and morphine and opium made addicts out of those whose pain was too much to bear. Medical staffs were assisted by drunks and prostitutes, the likes of whom couldn’t be corrupted any further by the sight of naked humans. The male patients were sexually inappropriate, and the doctors and medical students (all male; women were not considered socially or intellectually capable) did not behave much better. Every parent’s worst nightmare was for his or her daughter to end up employed in the field of nursing. This was the world of medicine (and hospitals) that Florence Nightingale sought to enter (and improve).