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How to structure paragraphs using the PEEL method

Sophia Gardner

Sep 1, 2023

You may have heard of the acronym PEEL for essays, but what exactly does it mean? And how can it help you? We’re here to explain it all, plus give you some tips on how to nail your next essay.

There’s certainly an art to writing essays. If you haven’t written one for a while, or if you would like to hone your academic writing skills, the PEEL paragraph method is an easy way to get your point across in a clear and concise way, that is easily digestible to the reader.

So, what exactly is PEEL ?

The PEEL paragraph method is a technique used in writing to help structure paragraphs in a way that presents a single clear and focused argument, which links back to the essay topic or thesis statement.

It’s good practice to dedicate each paragraph to one aspect of your argument, and the PEEL structure simplifies this for you.

It allows you to create a paragraph that is easy and accessible for others to understand. Remember, when you’re writing something, it’s not just you who is reading it - you need to consider the reader and how they are going to be digesting this new information.

What does PEEL stand for?

P = Point: start your paragraph with a clear topic sentence that establishes what your paragraph is going to be about. Your point should support your essay argument or thesis statement.

E = Evidence/Example: here you should use a piece of evidence or an example that helps to reaffirm your initial point and develop the argument.

E = Explain: next you need to explain exactly how your evidence/example supports your point, giving further information to ensure that your reader understands its relevance.

L = Link: to finish the paragraph off, you need to link the point you’ve just made back to your essay question, topic, or thesis.

Download a free PEEL paragraph planner below. 👇

Studiosity English specialist Ellen, says says students often underestimate the importance of a well-structured paragraph.

PEEL in practice

Here’s an example of what you might include in a PEEL structured paragraph:

Topic: Should infants be given iPads? Thesis/argument: Infants should not be given iPads.

Point : Infants should not be given iPads, because studies show children under two can face developmental delays if they are exposed to too much screen time.

Evidence/Example: A recent paediatric study showed that infants who are exposed to too much screen time may experience delays in speech development.

Explanation: The reason infants are facing these delays is because screen time is replacing other key developmental activities.

Link: The evidence suggests that infants who have a lot of screen time experience negative consequences in their speech development, and therefore they should not be exposed to iPads at such a young age.

Once you’ve written your PEEL paragraph, do a checklist to ensure you have covered off all four elements of the PEEL structure. Your point should be a clear introduction to the argument you are making in this paragraph; your example or evidence should be strong and relevant (ask yourself, have you chosen the best example?); your explanation should be demonstrate why your evidence is important and how it conveys meaning; and your link should summarise the point you’ve just made and link back to the broader essay argument or topic.

Keep your paragraphs clear, focused, and not too long. If you find your paragraphs are getting lengthy, take a look at how you could split them into multiple paragraphs, and ensure you’re creating a new paragraph for each new idea you introduce to the essay.

Finally, it’s important to always proofread your paragraph. Read it once, twice, and then read it again. Check your paragraph for spelling, grammar, language and sentence flow. A good way to do this is to read it aloud to yourself, and if it sounds clunky or unclear, consider rewriting it.

That’s it! We hope this helps explain the PEEL method and how it can help you with your next essay. 😊

You might also like: Proofreading vs editing: what's the difference? How to get easy marks in an exam 5 study hacks that actually work

Topics: English , Writing , Grammar

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Thesis Statements

What this handout is about.

This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your draft.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
makes a claim that others might dispute.
is usually a single sentence near the beginning of your paper (most often, at the end of the first paragraph) that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. (Check out our handout on understanding assignments for more information.)

How do I create a thesis?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the way.

Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on brainstorming .

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

If there’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following :

Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question. If the prompt isn’t phrased as a question, try to rephrase it. For example, “Discuss the effect of X on Y” can be rephrased as “What is the effect of X on Y?”
Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.
Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?
Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is likely to be “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Suppose you are taking a course on contemporary communication, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: “Discuss the impact of social media on public awareness.” Looking back at your notes, you might start with this working thesis:

Social media impacts public awareness in both positive and negative ways.

You can use the questions above to help you revise this general statement into a stronger thesis.

Do I answer the question? You can analyze this if you rephrase “discuss the impact” as “what is the impact?” This way, you can see that you’ve answered the question only very generally with the vague “positive and negative ways.”
Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not likely. Only people who maintain that social media has a solely positive or solely negative impact could disagree.
Is my thesis statement specific enough? No. What are the positive effects? What are the negative effects?
Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? No. Why are they positive? How are they positive? What are their causes? Why are they negative? How are they negative? What are their causes?
Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? No. Why should anyone care about the positive and/or negative impact of social media?

After thinking about your answers to these questions, you decide to focus on the one impact you feel strongly about and have strong evidence for:

Because not every voice on social media is reliable, people have become much more critical consumers of information, and thus, more informed voters.

This version is a much stronger thesis! It answers the question, takes a specific position that others can challenge, and it gives a sense of why it matters.

Let’s try another. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. “This will be easy,” you think. “I loved Huckleberry Finn!” You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

You begin to analyze your thesis:

Do I answer the question? No. The prompt asks you to analyze some aspect of the novel. Your working thesis is a statement of general appreciation for the entire novel.

Think about aspects of the novel that are important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

Do I answer the question? Yes!
Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not really. This contrast is well-known and accepted.
Is my thesis statement specific enough? It’s getting there–you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. However, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal.
Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? Not yet. Compare scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions and anything else that seems interesting.
Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?”

After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. 2018. The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing , 8th ed. New York: Pearson.

Ruszkiewicz, John J., Christy Friend, Daniel Seward, and Maxine Hairston. 2010. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers , 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Connect back to the thesis in persuasive essays

Click on the chart for a larger version.

Suppose you need to write a persuasive or argumentative essay, as do many seventh graders whose states are following the Common Core curriculum. Suppose you need to take a position on the following statement: Santa Claus is real.

You decide to take the position that yes, Santa is real. For your evidence, you use the following points:

The Weather Channel and many other news media track Santa’s whereabouts all over the world on Christmas Eve.
Santa’s image is used in advertising by Coca Cola and retailers during the Christmas season.
Many movies have been made featuring Santa, including Miracle on 34 th Street, The Polar Express, The Santa Claus I, II and III and A Christmas Story.

For your first body paragraph topic sentence, you write, “Many television and radio stations track Santa’s sleigh and reindeer around the world on Christmas Eve.” If you add, “thus proving Santa is real,” you have a perfect topic sentence. Then to back up your topic sentence, you list TV and radio stations which do this.

So far so good.

You start your second body paragraph with, “Second, Coca Cola and other retailers use Santa’s image to sell items.” The problem here is, “second” what? You need to say something like, “A second reason to prove that Santa is real is that Coco Cola and other retailers. . .”

Every sentence in every body paragraph should support the topic sentence of that paragraph. Just as importantly, every topic sentence should support the essay’s thesis. Some students think, well of course, if I say “second,” the reader knows that what I mean is that this is the second reason why Santa is real. Not so. You need to say that.

You always need to state the connections between the evidence and your topic sentences, and between your topic sentences and your thesis.

In working with students writing persuasive essays, I see this lack of connections all the time. To show the flow of connections, I draw arrows on students’ essays. One group of arrows goes from the data in a body paragraph to the topic sentence of that body paragraph. Another arrow goes from that topic sentence to the thesis or topic sentence of the whole essay found in the first paragraph. If the connections is not stated, I draw the arrows with dashes rather than with solid lines to show that the connection is not explicit.

Make your connections obvious.

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How to write a thesis statement, what is a thesis statement.

Almost all of us—even if we don’t do it consciously—look early in an essay for a one- or two-sentence condensation of the argument or analysis that is to follow. We refer to that condensation as a thesis statement.

Why Should Your Essay Contain a Thesis Statement?

to test your ideas by distilling them into a sentence or two
to better organize and develop your argument
to provide your reader with a “guide” to your argument

In general, your thesis statement will accomplish these goals if you think of the thesis as the answer to the question your paper explores.

How Can You Write a Good Thesis Statement?

Here are some helpful hints to get you started. You can either scroll down or select a link to a specific topic.

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is not Assigned How to Tell a Strong Thesis Statement from a Weak One

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned

Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question. For example, if your assignment is, “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like, “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?” After you’ve chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one or two complete sentences answering that question.

Q: “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?” A: “The potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class are . . .”

A: “Using computers in a fourth-grade class promises to improve . . .”

The answer to the question is the thesis statement for the essay.

[ Back to top ]

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is not Assigned

Even if your assignment doesn’t ask a specific question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue you’d like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question you’d like to write about.

A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes:

take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree
deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment
express one main idea
assert your conclusions about a subject

Let’s see how to generate a thesis statement for a social policy paper.

Brainstorm the topic . Let’s say that your class focuses upon the problems posed by changes in the dietary habits of Americans. You find that you are interested in the amount of sugar Americans consume.

You start out with a thesis statement like this:

Sugar consumption.

This fragment isn’t a thesis statement. Instead, it simply indicates a general subject. Furthermore, your reader doesn’t know what you want to say about sugar consumption.

Narrow the topic . Your readings about the topic, however, have led you to the conclusion that elementary school children are consuming far more sugar than is healthy.

You change your thesis to look like this:

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.

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.

You revise your thesis statement to look like this:

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.

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. It merely reports a statistic instead of making an assertion.

Make an assertion based on clearly stated support. You finally revise your thesis statement one more time to look like this:

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.

How to Tell a Strong Thesis Statement from a Weak One

1. a strong thesis statement takes some sort of stand..

Remember that your thesis needs to show your conclusions about a subject. For example, if you are writing a paper for a class on fitness, you might be asked to choose a popular weight-loss product to evaluate. Here are two thesis statements:

There are some negative and positive aspects to the Banana Herb Tea Supplement.

This is a weak thesis statement. First, it fails to take a stand. Second, the phrase negative and positive aspects is vague.

Because Banana Herb Tea Supplement promotes rapid weight loss that results in the loss of muscle and lean body mass, it poses a potential danger to customers.

This is a strong thesis because it takes a stand, and because it's specific.

2. A strong thesis statement justifies discussion.

Your thesis should indicate the point of the discussion. If your assignment is to write a paper on kinship systems, using your own family as an example, you might come up with either of these two thesis statements:

My family is an extended family.

This is a weak thesis because it merely states an observation. Your reader won’t be able to tell the point of the statement, and will probably stop reading.

While most American families would view consanguineal marriage as a threat to the nuclear family structure, many Iranian families, like my own, believe that these marriages help reinforce kinship ties in an extended family.

This is a strong thesis because it shows how your experience contradicts a widely-accepted view. A good strategy for creating a strong thesis is to show that the topic is controversial. Readers will be interested in reading the rest of the essay to see how you support your point.

3. A strong thesis statement expresses one main idea.

Readers need to be able to see that your paper has one main point. If your thesis statement expresses more than one idea, then you might confuse your readers about the subject of your paper. For example:

Companies need to exploit the marketing potential of the Internet, and Web pages can provide both advertising and customer support.

This is a weak thesis statement because the reader can’t decide whether the paper is about marketing on the Internet or Web pages. To revise the thesis, the relationship between the two ideas needs to become more clear. One way to revise the thesis would be to write:

Because the Internet is filled with tremendous marketing potential, companies should exploit this potential by using Web pages that offer both advertising and customer support.

This is a strong thesis because it shows that the two ideas are related. Hint: a great many clear and engaging thesis statements contain words like because , since , so , although , unless , and however .

4. A strong thesis statement is specific.

A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten page paper on hunger, you might say:

World hunger has many causes and effects.

This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons. First, world hunger can’t be discussed thoroughly in seven to ten pages. Second, many causes and effects is vague. You should be able to identify specific causes and effects. A revised thesis might look like this:

Hunger persists in Glandelinia because jobs are scarce and farming in the infertile soil is rarely profitable.

This is a strong thesis statement because it narrows the subject to a more specific and manageable topic, and it also identifies the specific causes for the existence of hunger.

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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down. There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction. A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments. Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question. Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list. "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational. An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim. "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible. Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Practical Research Guidance

"The publications and resources helped me get a first-class degree." – Joanna Dunlop, MBA.

Linking literature reviews to research questions and hypotheses

A question we are often asked is ‘how do I link my critique or literature review to my research questions or hypothesis?’ Recently, a variation of this question was asked by Will. He had submitted a first draft of his thesis to his supervisor for comment and was advised that what he had produced a literature summary, not a critical review.

When we looked over Will’s work, it became apparent that he was synopsising what had been written by others at the expense of building on it to develop his own arguments. A hallmark of academic research is that it relates to the work of other scholars and practitioners. To improve his review, Will needed to directly address his research questions using appropriate literature, while at the same time, embedding it in a critique of the work from previous researchers. Following our guidance, Will produced his own unique academic positions. This helped him answer his research questions and draw on the concepts, theories and models from others to substantiate his arguments.

Like Will’s situation, many dissertations begin with questions (who, what, where, when, why, how, or some combination of these) or hypothesis (a tentative statement, or explanation, for an observation, phenomenon, or problem that can be tested by further investigation). Prior to finalising your questions or hypotheses, you need to establish what is already known about the topic. in other words, what ‘gaps’ exist in that knowledge (that is, a critical review).

A critical review enables you to build a scaffold for your main arguments. This scaffold will, in turn, provide you with information to answer your questions or hypotheses. A well-sourced critique should help you, firstly, set the context in which your research is located. If, for example, your broad research topic is ‘supply chain management’, the critique is partially an opportunity to introduce the topic, outline its history and bring the reader up to date on the latest thinking. This should facilitate you to align your research questions, or hypotheses, to what is already known about the topic.

Secondly, the critique should aid the identification, definition and exploration of your overall research problem in more depth. Searching for, reviewing and critiquing relevant books, journals and other material, permits you to situate your specific research within the accumulated archive of knowledge already associated with your topic. This helps to relate your questions or hypotheses to queries which have already been previously posited (and answered, or partially answered). Using this knowledge-base will also enable you to highlight seminal investigations, as well as describe, debate and explain the contributions of all key authors to the topic.

Exploring further, you should be able to recognise concepts and theories that are particularly relevant to your questions/hypotheses and discover other, similar inquiries associated with your topic. This literature should allow you to link your question or hypothesis and provide input into your conceptual and theoretical framework. It may assist you to establish specific research methodologies and methods that have been used in prior investigations. Furthermore, it should assist you to formulate and continuously improve your questions or hypotheses, making them more precise and relevant.

It is likely that you will return to your critical literature review many times on your thesis journey, updating, revising and rewriting it, while considering newly discovered ideas, concepts, theories and viewpoints. As you continuously review it, keep asking yourself: ‘How does this material contribute to the fundamental purpose of my thesis?’ The answer will help you maintain your focus on exactly what you want to achieve, why you want to do it, and how you intend doing it. Adopting this approach helps provide questions that lead to answers, which, in turn, add to and enhance existing knowledge. It also means you avoid two principal pitfalls when linking your thesis literature review to your research questions/hypotheses. ‘Brain dumps’ (describing everything you know about your topic) and ’sermons’ (lecturing readers who are subject matter specialists)!

Thesis Upgrade has produced an accessible and useful publication to help you effectively critique your sourced thesis literature . This digital downloadable resource contains easy-to-understand information and straightforward explanations. Buy now for immediate use.

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Under the Thesis and examinations higher degrees by research policy (pdf, 199KB) , a research thesis is a coherent and cohesive narrative describing a body of scholarly activity that adds to knowledge.

At the University a collection of published papers is not a thesis, neither is a publication on its own sufficient to warrant the award of a research degree.

However, you can, and should, include papers you have published in your thesis. A thesis including publications (also called a thesis with publications) is one where the core chapters of your thesis consist of papers you have submitted for publication, have been accepted for publication, or have already been published. See our information on preparing your thesis for how to indicate that your thesis contains material you have published as part of your candidature.

A thesis including publication is suited to certain disciplines where your study progresses in discrete stages or involves a sequence of related components; for example, a series of lab experiments or several artworks.

One of the benefits of doing a thesis including publications is that you’ll graduate with a number of publications to your credit. This will get your career as a researcher off to a good start.

You need to check with your faculty/school or department to see if a thesis including publications is possible and to find out their specific requirements. For more information see the Thesis and examination of higher degrees by research policy (pdf, 199KB) .

The following is a general guide to some common requirements for a thesis including publications.

Types of theses including publications

All chapters of your thesis can contain material previously published by you and need to be in a consistent format. Offprints are not considered chapters. These may be papers already published, submitted or accepted for publication, or not submitted.

Published papers need to be supplemented by an introduction (containing your aims and the context of the thesis) and a conclusion that synthesises the knowledge generated during your candidature. In some cases, thesis chapters are amended versions of published papers. The published papers are then put in the appendix.

Only papers researched and written during your candidature can be included in your thesis. Some faculties or schools allow you to include papers regardless of their stage of publication. In other cases, papers need to have been accepted for publication, not just submitted and awaiting acceptance. You need to check with your faculty/school or department regarding their requirements.

Papers need to be accepted by reputable, high-profile journals which require full peer review of contributions.

If you want your thesis to contain material you’ve published elsewhere, you need to get written permission from your publisher.

The University library has more information on copyright .

You should be the main contributor and/or lead author to the papers you include. This means you have been responsible for the key ideas, the development of the study and the writing of the paper. It’s possible to include papers co-written with other authors, as long as you have their permission (preferably in writing).

Find more information about authorship attribution statements and the format required.

A cohesive thesis

The papers you submit need to form a cohesive whole. They need to be linked thematically, having a consistent focus on a particular topic. They also need a cohesive structure, including an introduction, explanatory material between the chapters and a conclusion.

The introduction and conclusion are particularly important in tying your thesis together. Coherence can be made explicit throughout your thesis. You could link your chapters using:

the list of publications, where you can note which publication corresponds to which chapter
a concept map or a flowchart at the end of the introduction
the literature review, where you refer to how the chapters fill in particular gaps in the literature
a page or half-page introduction or 'bridging section' before each chapter of the body, or at the end of each chapter
the discussion section, referring back to the various papers.

You don’t need all of these features, but the more links you can establish between the various parts of your thesis the more coherent it will be.

List of publications

You need to include a list of publications either before or after the table of contents. In this section, you can link the publications to the specific chapter in which they are found. Many theses also record the bibliographical details of the article on the title page of each chapter.

If you need to include a co-author contribution statement, this is usually put with the list of publications or before each chapter.

Find more information about authorship statements and the format required.

There are different ways you can give context for your research when you do the literature review for each paper. For example:

paraphrasing rather than repeating the same information
where you integrate reviews in the main literature review in the introduction and cut down the literature reviews in the articles
making each literature review substantially different
removing the article(s)’s literature review, but only if the published chapter is presented in manuscript form.

Discussion section

Your final discussion section draws together the main points from the discussion in each chapter into a single discussion. You need to avoid presenting or repeating in detail your ideas in the final discussion chapter by chapter or aim by aim, as this will not meet the requirements of a thesis. A way of doing this is to frame the discussion broadly, always in respect to ‘this thesis/research project’ or ‘this thesis’.

Reference lists

When all articles are in journal format, their individual reference lists are included. This means the reference list at the end of the thesis contains only references from the introduction/literature review and discussion/conclusion.
When all articles are in manuscript form, there is often no reference list attached to individual articles. Instead, all references are listed at the end of the thesis.
Some theses have a separate reference list at the end of each chapter, including the introduction/conclusion.

Page numbers

Most theses show both the thesis page number and the journal article page numbers. However, you could omit the thesis page number.

This material was developed by the Learning Hub (Academic Language and Learning), which offers workshops, face-to-face consultations and resources to support your learning. Find out more about how they can help you develop your communication, research and study skills .

See our handout on Writing a thesis proposal (pdf, 341KB) .

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Definition of thesis

Did you know.

In high school, college, or graduate school, students often have to write a thesis on a topic in their major field of study. In many fields, a final thesis is the biggest challenge involved in getting a master's degree, and the same is true for students studying for a Ph.D. (a Ph.D. thesis is often called a dissertation ). But a thesis may also be an idea; so in the course of the paper the student may put forth several theses (notice the plural form) and attempt to prove them.

Examples of thesis in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'thesis.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

in sense 3, Middle English, lowering of the voice, from Late Latin & Greek; Late Latin, from Greek, downbeat, more important part of a foot, literally, act of laying down; in other senses, Latin, from Greek, literally, act of laying down, from tithenai to put, lay down — more at do

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3a(1)

Dictionary Entries Near thesis

the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children

thesis novel

Cite this Entry

“Thesis.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/thesis. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

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Ai, ethics & human agency, collaboration, information literacy, writing process, citation – how to connect evidence to your claims.

As you begin to incorporate evidence into your papers, it is important that you clearly connect that evidence to your own claims. Though connections may seem obvious to you, they may not be obvious to your readers. In this article, you will learn a few ways to link evidence to your arguments.

Many emerging writers struggle with connecting sourced material to their claims and to their thesis. Oftentimes, this is because they’re too close to their work and think that the connection between claim and evidence is completely apparent to the reader. Even if the connection is readily visible, authors should still follow up a piece of sourced material with an explanation of its relevance to the author’s point, purpose, and/or thesis. Such connections (“analysis”) should be made directly following the sourced material.

Remember that your essay is your opportunity to showcase your ideas and arguments. Avoid using an excessive amount of source material; doing so can take your readers’ focus away from your original arguments. Going back to the notion that writing is engaging in conversation, think of engaging with your source material as if you are having a conversation with the writers themselves. You can use source material to lend support, to complicate, or even to argue against previous ideas.

Making Connections

Let’s say that we’re writing a research paper that suggests offshore drilling should be banned, and our thesis is as follows:

Though some may argue that offshore drilling provides economic advantages and would lessen our dependence on foreign oil, the environmental and economic consequences of an oil spill are so drastic that they far outweigh the advantages.

Following this thesis come body paragraphs relating our main points: (1) the known economic impact of past oil spills; (2) the known environmental impact of past oil spills; (3) the potential impact of oil spills on marine and human life; (4) a comparison between advantages and disadvantages of offshore drilling; and (5) a response to potential counterarguments. Our conclusion would then include a proposal to ban offshore drilling.

So, for instance, in our fifth body paragraph we include the following claim (in our topic sentence) and also provide the following support:

Others argue that the US needs to end its dependence on foreign oil from unstable regions, which necessitates domestic oil production. During an April 2010 speech to the Southern Republican conference, Sarah Palin responded to the ongoing debate about offshore drilling and insisted that “relying on foreign regimes to meet our energy needs makes us less secure and makes us more beholden to these countries” (Malcom).

We can’t, as writers, just stop there, because our reader would not necessarily know the connection between our point and the quote. As such, we must make the connection for our reader. Here are a few ways to make such a connection:

Break down ideas: Palin’s assertion implies that the majority of our oil comes from unstable regimes in antidemocratic regions. Although we understand her concerns about providing such regimes with a measure of economic power over the United States, we believe that offshore drilling poses a greater threat to the stability of our economy.
Connect back to the thesis: Though Palin’s argument is representative of a group that views offshore drilling as a necessity, it fails to acknowledge that America’s largest petroleum trading partners are not countries with unstable regimes.
Connect back to the paragraph’s main point: Palin’s argument is representative of a cohort that believes in the importance of domestic oil production.
Point to the author’s purpose: Despite Palin’s (and Republicans’) protests, we argue that offshore drilling presents a more real threat to American security than do foreign regimes.

Thus, depending on where you want to go in the paragraph, you have many options for ways to make connections for your reader. Remember, your reader is not in your brain; and as smart as he or she may be, you still need to make connections that explain the relevance or purpose of included sourced material.

Source Engagement

Simply agreeing or disagreeing does not continue the conversation, nor does it highlight the importance of your findings. Another way of thinking about source engagement is a three-step process: explain, engage, and discuss.

• Explain what the author in the source is talking about and why it is important. Do not take it for granted that readers will know why the source material you use is important or significant.

• Engage and talk back to the source. Demonstrate an understanding of the source material, and use this to propel your argument.

• Discuss the implications of your response.

Here is an example of the three-step process:

An important question for both composition instructors and students to address is why new ways of writing ought to be explored. Compositions theorists Flower and Hayes say that “According to many writers, including our subjects, writing often seems a serendipitous experience, as act of discovery. People start out writing without knowing exactly where they will end up: yet they agree that writing is a purposeful act” (286). In other words, not all writers know from the beginning what their final writing product will look like. If writing is indeed a road to discovery, then trying different ways of writing is also a kind of discovery that contributes to the purposeful act of writing.

Connecting your claims to source material is an important facet of structuring a strong argument. Scholarly and up to date sources give your ideas credibility and authority; just be sure to prioritize your own thoughts over those of your sources.

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What is a Thesis Defense?

If you're researching a master's degree, you'll likely come across the phrase "thesis defense" among the list of requirements for earning an advanced degree. This formal-sounding requirement usually comes at the end of a graduate program. As a student seeking a master's degree, your thesis defines your educational experience at the university. Once you've completed all the necessary coursework and finished any internship or practicum experiences, you will be required to meet with a committee to defend your work. Details of a defense vary by college, but there are some general things to keep in mind as you embark on the graduate process.

Explore these promoted online degree programs.

These top, accredited schools offer a variety of online graduate degree programs. Figuring out where to apply? Consider one of these online Master’s or PhD programs.

What is a Thesis?

In most schools, the thesis represents a student's collective understanding of his or her program and major. Students who major in English, for example, typically explore language, literary themes, a specific author's work or a similar topic when writing a thesis paper. Universities often require theses to consist of a prospectus, which outlines the intent of the paper, and a full-length paper treatment of a particular topic. In the natural sciences, theses might cover experiments or hypothetical situations in which a student researches certain elements of his or her field.

Theses projects demand full attention, and many schools require that students devote an entire semester to completing the research and resulting paper. Students work with a faculty committee or adviser on a close basis to make sure that the research stays on schedule. Depending on the level of degree, a thesis paper can be extremely complex.

Defending the Work

Once students submit their theses papers to the thesis committee, they will be assigned a date to defend their work. In this case, "defend" does not imply that a student will have to argue aggressively about his or her work. Rather, the thesis defense is designed so that faculty members can ask questions and make sure that students actually understand their field and focus area. Defending a thesis largely serves as a formality because the paper will already have been evaluated. During a defense, a student will be asked questions by members of the thesis committee. Questions are usually open-ended and require that the student think critically about his or her work. A defense might take only 20 minutes, or it might take an hour or more depending on the goal of the committee and the requirements of the program.

Preparation for Your Thesis Defense

Students have months to prepare for a defense . Schools want graduate candidates to be as prepared as possible when attending a defense, which means that neither the date nor faculty committee will be a surprise to the student. It's important to keep in mind that if you go into a defense with the right attitude and preparation, failing is nearly impossible. The committee wants to see how well you know your subject and your research. Nerves may get the better of you as you face unknown questions, but as with a job interview, practicing ahead of time will lead to a successful defense.

Facing a defense can be stressful, but think of it as an opportunity to share what you've learned. Remember that you aren't arguing points when you defend your work. Instead, a proper thesis defense gives you and your faculty advisers the chance to discuss your topic and research in greater detail.

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A single health worker in white protective gear, a mask and blue rubber gloves kneels on a beach where an otter lies on its back. The worker prepares a swap to take samples from the otter.

Bird Flu Is Infecting More Mammals. What Does That Mean for Us?

H5N1, an avian flu virus, has killed tens of thousands of marine mammals, and infiltrated American livestock for the first time. Scientists are working quickly to assess how it is evolving and how much of a risk it poses to humans.

Checking a dead otter for bird flu infection last year on Chepeconde Beach in Peru. Credit... Sebastian Castaneda/Reuters

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By Apoorva Mandavilli and Emily Anthes

Apoorva Mandavilli first reported on bird flu in 2003. Emily Anthes has been writing about bird flu in wild animals since 2022.

Published April 22, 2024 Updated April 24, 2024

In her three decades of working with elephant seals, Dr. Marcela Uhart had never seen anything like the scene on the beaches of Argentina’s Valdés Peninsula last October.

It was peak breeding season; the beach should have been teeming with harems of fertile females and enormous males battling one another for dominance. Instead, it was “just carcass upon carcass upon carcass,” recalled Dr. Uhart, who directs the Latin American wildlife health program at the University of California, Davis.

H5N1, one of the many viruses that cause bird flu, had already killed at least 24,000 South American sea lions along the continent’s coasts in less than a year. Now it had come for elephant seals.

Pups of all ages, from newborns to the fully weaned, lay dead or dying at the high-tide line. Sick pups lay listless, foam oozing from their mouths and noses.

Dr. Uhart called it “an image from hell.”

In the weeks that followed, she and a colleague — protected head to toe with gloves, gowns and masks, and periodically dousing themselves with bleach — carefully documented the devastation. Team members stood atop the nearby cliffs, assessing the toll with drones.

What they found was staggering: The virus had killed an estimated 17,400 seal pups , more than 95 percent of the colony’s young animals.

Dead elephant seals by the dozens lie on a beach, half covered in sand in some cases.

The catastrophe was the latest in a bird flu epidemic that has whipped around the world since 2020, prompting authorities on multiple continents to kill poultry and other birds by the millions. In the United States alone, more than 90 million birds have been culled in a futile attempt to deter the virus.

There has been no stopping H5N1. Avian flu viruses tend to be picky about their hosts, typically sticking to one kind of wild bird. But this one has rapidly infiltrated an astonishingly wide array of birds and animals, from squirrels and skunks to bottlenose dolphins, polar bears and, most recently, dairy cows.

“In my flu career, we have not seen a virus that expands its host range quite like this,” said Troy Sutton, a virologist who studies avian and human influenza viruses at Penn State University.

Newfoundland

St. John’s

South Carolina

St. Lawrence

Maine coast

Falkland Islands

South Georgia

Dec. 2021 The H5N1 bird flu virus is detected on a farm in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and in a sick wild gull nearby. Hundreds of birds on the farm died, and the rest were culled. It is the first detection of the virus in North America.

Migrating shorebirds may have carried the virus from Europe to Newfoundland through Iceland or Greenland. Or seabirds that congregate in the north Atlantic Ocean might have carried the virus ashore when they returned to Newfoundland to breed.

Jan. 2022 The virus is first detected in the United States, in wild birds in North and South Carolina.

Summer 2022 Hundreds of harbor seals and gray seals die along the coast of Maine and along the St. Lawrence Estuary in Quebec. The seals may have been infected by living near or eating sick and dead birds.

Fall 2022 After months moving west across the United States and Canada, the virus spreads south into Mexico and Colombia , most likely by migrating birds carrying it down the Pacific Flyway.

Nov. 2022 The virus reaches Peru, causes a mass die-off of pelicans along the coast, and begins to spread to other birds and marine mammals. Confirmed samples are shown as dots.

Early 2023 Thousands of sea lions die in Peru and Chile, the earliest known mass sea lion deaths from the virus. The virus continues spreading down the Chilean coast towards Cape Horn.

Late 2023 The virus rounds Cape Horn and moves north into Argentina and Uruguay, killing sea lions and seals and eventually reaching southern Brazil.

Oct. 2023 The virus also spreads south , entering the Antarctic region for the first time. Birds on the island of South Georgia are infected, followed in January by elephant seals and fur seals . Seabirds on the Falklands Islands are also infected.

The blow to sea mammals, and to dairy and poultry industries, is worrying enough. But a bigger concern, experts said, is what these developments portend: The virus is adapting to mammals, edging closer to spreading among people.

A human pandemic is by no means inevitable. So far at least, the changes in the virus do not signal that H5N1 can cause a pandemic, Dr. Sutton said.

Still, he said, “We really don’t know how to interpret this or what it means.”

Marine mortalities

A highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 was identified in 1996 in domestic waterfowl in China. The next year, 18 people in Hong Kong became infected with the virus, and six died. The virus then went silent, but it resurfaced in Hong Kong in 2003. Since then, it has caused dozens of outbreaks in poultry and affected more than 800 people who were in close contact with the birds.

All the while, it continued to evolve.

The version of H5N1 currently racing across the world emerged in Europe in 2020 and spread quickly to Africa and Asia. It killed scores of farmed birds, but unlike its predecessors it also spread widely among wild birds and into many other animals.

Most infections of mammals were probably “dead-end” cases: a fox, perhaps, that ate an infected bird and died without passing on the virus. But a few larger outbreaks suggested that H5N1 was capable of more.

The first clue came in the summer of 2022, when the virus killed hundreds of seals in New England and Quebec . A few months later, it infiltrated a mink farm in Spain .

In the mink, at least, the most likely explanation was that H5N1 had adapted to spread among the animals. The scale of the outbreaks in sea mammals in South America underscored that probability.

“Even intuitively, I would think that mammal-to-mammal transmission is very likely,” said Malik Peiris, a virologist and expert in bird flu at the University of Hong Kong.

After it was first detected in South America, in birds in Colombia in October 2022, the virus swept down the Pacific coast to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of the continent, and up the Atlantic coast.

Along the way, it killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds, and tens of thousands of sea lions, in Peru , Chile , Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. The sea lions behaved erratically, experiencing convulsions and paralysis; pregnant females miscarried their fetuses .

“What happened when the virus moved to South America we had never seen before,” Dr. Uhart said.

Exactly how and when the virus jumped to marine mammals is unclear, but the sea lions most likely came into close contact with infected birds or contaminated droppings. (Although fish make up the bulk of sea lions’ diet, they do sometimes eat birds.)

At some point, it’s likely the virus evolved to spread directly among the marine mammals: In Argentina, the sea lion deaths did not coincide with the mass mortality of wild birds.

“This could suggest that the infection source was not the infected birds,” said Dr. Pablo Plaza, a wildlife veterinarian at the National University of Comahue and National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Argentina.

It is not hard to imagine how the virus might disperse in these animals: Elephant seals and sea lions both breed in colonies, crowding together on beaches where they fight, mate and bark at one another. Elephant seals sneeze all day, dispersing large droplets of mucus each time they do.

It is difficult to prove exactly how and when the virus moved from one species to another. But genetic analysis supports the theory the marine mammals acquired their infections from one another, not birds. Samples of virus isolated from sea lions in Peru and Chile and from the elephant seals in Argentina all share about 15 mutations not seen in the birds; the same mutations were also present in a Chilean man who was infected last year.

There are numerous opportunities for H5N1 to jump from sea mammals into people. One sick male elephant seal that sat for a day and a half on a public beach in Argentina turned out to carry enormous amounts of virus. In Peru, scientists collected samples from sea lion carcasses that lay alongside families enjoying a beach day.

Scavenging animals, such as dogs, could also pick up the virus from an infected carcass and then spread it more broadly: “None of the wildlife exists in their little silos,” said Wendy Puryear, a virologist at Tufts University who studied the New England seal outbreaks.

In some South American countries, apart from a few carcasses that were buried, the rest have remained on the beaches, rotting and scavenged upon.

“How do you even scale up to remove 17,000 dead bodies out in the middle of nowhere, places where you can’t even bring down machinery, and humongous cliffs?” Dr. Uhart said.

A mutating pathogen

Flu viruses are adept at picking up new mutations; when two types of flu virus infect the same animal, they can shuffle their genetic material and generate new versions.

It is unclear exactly how, and how much, the H5N1 virus has changed since it first emerged. One study last year showed that after the virus entered the United States, it quickly mixed with other flu viruses circulating here and morphed into various versions — some mild, others causing severe neurological symptoms.

“So now after 20 years of reassortment, you have a virus that actually does extraordinary well in a whole variety of avian and mammal species,” said Vincent Munster, a virologist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has studied the mutations needed for H5N1 to adapt to people.

Every new species that harbors the virus creates opportunities for H5N1 to continue to evolve, and to jump into people.

And the virus may stumble across mutations that no one has yet considered, allowing it to breach the species barrier. That is what happened in the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

That virus did not have the mutations thought to be needed to infect people easily. Instead, “it had these other mutations that no one knew about or thought about before then,” said Louise Moncla, an evolutionary biologist who studies avian influenza at the University of Pennsylvania.

Still, even if the virus jumps to people, “we may not see the level of mortality that we’re really concerned about,” said Seema Lakdawala, a virologist at Emory University. “Preexisting immunity to seasonal flu strains will provide some protection from severe disease.”

What happens next

The U.S. is prepared for an influenza pandemic, with some stockpiled vaccines and antivirals, but its efforts at monitoring the virus may not pick it up quickly enough to deploy those tools.

It took several weeks before farmers, and then officials, knew that H5N1 was circulating in dairy cows.

The dairy farm outbreak has resulted in only one mild human infection, but farms are fertile ground for the virus to jump species — from cat to cow to pig and human, in any order.

Many scientists worry in particular about pigs, which are susceptible to both human and avian flu strains, providing the perfect mixing bowl for viruses to swap genes. Pigs are slaughtered when very young, and newer generations, with no prior exposure to flu, are particularly vulnerable to infections.

So far, H5N1 does not seem adept at infecting pigs, but that could change as it acquires new mutations.

“I never let my kids go to a state fair or animal farm, I’m one of those parents,” Dr. Lakdawala said. “And it’s mostly because I know that the number of interactions that we increase with animals, the more opportunities there are.”

Should H5N1 adapt to people, federal officials will need to work together and with their international counterparts. Nationalism, competition and bureaucracy can all slow down the exchange of information that is crucial in a developing outbreak.

In some ways, the current spread among dairy cows is an opportunity to practice the drill, said Rick Bright, the chief executive of Bright Global Health, a consulting company that focuses on improving responses to public health emergencies. But the U.S. Agriculture Department has been too limited in its approach to testing cows, and has not been as timely and transparent with its findings as it should have been, he said.

On Wednesday, the department ordered that dairy cows moving across state lines to be tested for influenza.

Dr. Rosemary Sifford, the department’s chief veterinarian, said the staff there were working hard to share information as quickly as they can. “This is considered an emerging disease,” she said.

Government leaders are typically cautious, wanting to see more data. But “given the rapid speed at which this can spread and the devastating illness that it can cause if our leaders are hesitant and don’t pull the right triggers at the right time, we will be caught flat-footed once again,” Dr. Bright said.

“If we don’t give it the panic but we give it the respect and due diligence,” he added, alluding to the virus, “I believe we can manage it.”

Apoorva Mandavilli is a reporter focused on science and global health. She was a part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the pandemic. More about Apoorva Mandavilli

Emily Anthes is a science reporter, writing primarily about animal health and science. She also covered the coronavirus pandemic. More about Emily Anthes

Pro-Palestinian protesters urge universities to divest from Israel. What does that mean?

Pro-Palestinian student protesters across the country occupied campuses in tent encampments this week in a campaign to urge their universities to divest, an action students over the decades have demanded from their schools' administrators.

The word "divest" refers to diverting money from a university's endowment − the pool of money a college has and tries to grow through investments. Some of the biggest university endowments in the country total nearly $50 billion and comprise thousands of funds .

The protesters opposed to Israel's military attacks in Gaza say they want their schools to stop funneling endowment money to Israeli companies and other businesses, like weapons manufacturers, that profit from the war in Gaza.

"It's like, why is our money being used to fund bombs overseas?," said Layla Saliba, a student protester researching endowment investments with the group Columbia University Apartheid Divestment. "Let's reinvest this money in our community instead," she said.

Columbia University's endowment is more than $13 billion ; it ranks among the top 15 largest endowments in the country. The school did not respond to a request for comment.

The protests began in the wake of the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, triggered by the militant group's assault on Israeli communities Oct. 7 that killed almost 1,200 people. Israel's subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians − militants and civilians; men, women and children − and has fueled a dire humanitarian crisis.

In addition to divestment, protesters across the U.S. are calling for a cease-fire and student governments at some colleges have also passed resolutions in recent weeks calling for an end to academic partnerships with Israel.

Are universities investing in Israel?

Protesters have called for a halt to investments in Israel, but experts say that might be too simplified a take on what colleges have done with their funds. To begin with, it's difficult to define what an "investment" in Israel entails, said economist Sandy Baum, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who studies college finances.

She said bigger investments are more obvious than smaller ones tucked away in mutual funds − an investment tool that pools money and spreads it out over many assets, and a type of financial tool many colleges rely on.

Universities hire private companies to manage their endowments to preserve their funds over the long run, Baum said.

Debates about the investments of college endowments are complicated, Baum said, because some university stakeholders argue the money needs to produce the biggest return on investment possible to fund teaching and necessary programming and services.

"The purpose of the endowment is to have money that will allow the university to permanently provide educational opportunities so that they don't have to go out and raise new money every year to continue operating," she said.

The bigger a university's endowment, the more is at stake. That's one reason why pro-Palestinian student protesters at wealthy universities are fighting so hard this week, she said. There's a lot of money involved.

"There are always going to be differences of opinion about what you don't want to invest in," Baum said.

When else have protesters demanded divestment?

Student-led movements for university divestitures aren't new.

For over a decade, students at Princeton University have urged the school to divest from the fossil fuel industry, citing concerns about the environment and climate change. In 2022, advocates landed a major win when the school agreed to divest from publicly traded oil and gas companies, according to Sunrise Princeton, a longtime climate divestment group on campus.

In 1969, Princeton University students occupied a prominent campus building to demand the school divest from South Africa, where the government operated a punitive and often violent system of apartheid that segregated people by race. Nearly a decade later, Princeton University enacted "selective divestment" from South Africa, the Daily Princetonian reported , where the university's financial shares could be withdrawn if companies failed to meet its standards.

This week, about 100 protesters gathered in a central courtyard at the New Jersey campus to demand the school divest from companies associated with the Israeli military, the student newspaper reported . Unlike at Columbia, where many student protesters have been arrested, Princeton students have not faced arrest or disciplinary action from the university, the campus publication said .

"Divestment sends a moral signal that institutions of higher learning, especially those with prestige, will not tolerate certain injustices," said Alex Norbrook, co-leader of Sunrise Princeton.

Director of Media Relations Jennifer Morrill referred to a statement Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber has issued regarding divestment, saying any divestment would only occur after years of sustained campus interested, and in situations where the community can come to a consensus.

The current push for universities to stop doing business with companies profiting by investing in Israel and by extension in the country's war in Gaza mirrors grassroots efforts in recent years to urge U.S. organizations to boycott Israeli companies.

Since 2005, the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement has organized around "withdrawing support" for Israel's treatment of Gaza and urges banks, municipalities, pension funds, religious groups and universities to remove their investments from Israel, according to the BDS website.

What Does the Percentage of Rain Mean — Because It's Not What You Think

And here we thought that if you see a 20 percent chance of rain, it just means there's a 20 percent likelihood those drops will fall.

Apr. 25 2024, Published 12:01 p.m. ET

If you see the percentage of rain in a forecast or on your weather app , chances are you don't really know what it mean. But you aren't alone! In fact, most people — even professionals — misunderstand this piece of information, which admittedly, helps us plan our activities and ultimately stay dry.

Read on to learn what percentage of rain really indicates, but be warned: It's far more involved than you may have thought.

And then, spread the word.

So, what does percentage of rain mean?

It's one of those things that many of us misunderstand: the percentage of rain.

So here's the real deal: According to the National Weather Service , a percentage of rain, or, as the professionals call it, the probability of precipitation (PoP), is a statistical probability of 0.01 inch of rain falling in a given area.

And here we thought that if you see a 20 percent chance of rain, it just means there's a 20 percent likelihood those drops will fall on you!

But there's more to it than that. The National Weather Service offers this example: If there's a 40 percent probability of rain, you are not being told that this is the percentage of your area in which it will rain. It also doesn't mean that for 40 percent of the time during the forecasted period, it'll rain.

So what does it mean then? The percentage is reached via an equation, actually. For those of us who hate math , this is bad news. But hang in there.

You see, to get the answer, you multiply a forecaster's level of confidence that it will rain at least 0.01 inches over some period of time by areal coverage of precipitation that is expected.

You then move the decimal point two places to the left. Got that?

Here's another example the NWS shared to help explain percentage of rain. If a forecaster is 80 percent certain rain will develop but in half of the area, you'll get a 40 percent chance of rain.

Indeed, it's a bit more complex than you may have imagined! But at least now you can understand what the percentage actually tells you.

@sydjkell #stitch with @sooklyn #ColorCustomizer I have toooo many of these. I’ll do another weather one. #embarassing #iwastodayyearsold ♬ original sound - Syd

You aren't alone if you don't get the science of the percentage of rain.

In 2021, a viral TikTok proclaimed that if there's a 30 percent chance of rain, there's a 100 percent chance that 30 percent of your area will receive rain. But this is incorrect. Go back to the equation to see why.

Just don't beat yourself up if your brain is tied in knots over the percentage of rain.

A lot of people aren't sure what it means, actually! As Jamie Dyer, a climatology and meteorology professor at Mississippi State University, told USA Today , "Even professional meteorologists seem to misunderstand it sometimes."

Well, then what hope is there for the rest of us?

Good thing we have weather apps to help (confuse?) us.

Or, good thing we aren't all meteorologists who truly need to understand this.

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College protesters are demanding schools 'divest' from companies with ties to Israel. Here's what that means.

In addition to a cease-fire in Gaza, protesters on college campuses across the country are calling on their schools to divest from all financial support of Israel.

Divestment usually refers to selling shares in companies doing business with a given country. Divestment has long been a goal of a movement that seeks to limit what it considers hostile operations by Israel and an end to expanding what the United Nations has ruled are illegal settlements.

Now, college protesters are hoping to force their universities to divest to put financial pressure on companies doing business in Israel to meet those two objectives.

“The university should do something about what we’re asking for, about the genocide that’s happening in Gaza,” said Columbia University student and protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, who is Palestinian, and noted that students have been pushing for Columbia to divest from Israel since 2002. “They should stop investing in this genocide.”

Israel launched its Gaza campaign soon after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas , a U.S.-designated terror group that left 1,200 Israelis dead, according to officials, with an estimated 250 people taken hostage. The subsequent military response by Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Like many universities, Columbia owns shares of various companies as part of its financial operations and endowment. However, information on Columbia’s exact holdings was not immediately available, and it was not clear whether investment information published by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), the group leading the protests at the school, was accurate.

Whatever the case, while some of the shares Columbia owns may be directly held stock investments, other assets are likely held indirectly through investment instruments like mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that are designed to expose investors to a variety of firms.

And as students at Brown University acknowledged in a separate proposal targeting their school’s alleged Israel-tied investments, excluding specific investments from these indirect stock holding products “would be logistically challenging.”

In fact, they concluded that none of their school’s current direct investments appeared to be in individual companies violating its anti-Israel screening criteria.

Meanwhile, mutual fund and ETF holdings are constantly changing, the Brown students said.

The actual mechanics of divestment thus make it a more difficult undertaking than it may first appear, said Alison Taylor, clinical associate professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

“You get into questions of, ‘What percentage of a company’s business is actually tied to the activities in question?’” Taylor said.

Columbia’s Investment Management Company, which oversees the school’s market assets, does have an advisory committee on socially responsible investing.

This committee has pledged that it will screen against investing in firms that operate private prisons; derive significant revenues from thermal coal; and engage in tobacco manufacturing. It also has had a policy against investing in companies doing business in Sudan.

So there is precedent for Columbia to limit its financial exposure to socially irresponsible firms, CUAD says. At present, Columbia’s investment in the companies that CUAD accuses of having ties to Israel makes it “complicit in genocide,” CUAD says.

“By withdrawing from holdings that profit off of Israeli human rights violations, Columbia can invest in other, more worthwhile companies,” CUAD says in a December proposal submitted to the socially responsible investing committee calling for divestment.

NY: Pro Palestinian Protest at Columbia University.

A representative for Columbia’s responsible investment committee did not respond to a request for comment.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik has not specifically addressed the divestment calls in her statements on the campus turmoil. Her predecessor, Lee Bollinger, rejected calls for divestment in 2020, saying that a vote by students calling for one merely represented “particular views about a complex policy issue” and that there was “no consensus across the University community about” the issue.

Sylvia Burwell, the president of American University in Washington, D.C., said a student vote calling for divestment did not represent the school and would not be recognized.

“It is AU’s longstanding position to oppose boycotts, divestment from Israel, and other related actions known as BDS,” she said in a statement last week, referring to a Palestinian-led movement called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

“Such actions threaten academic freedom, the respectful free expression of ideas and views, and the values of inclusion and belonging that are central to our community.”

There is debate about the efficacy of divestment. Some evidence suggests that the buyers of shares being sold off as part of a divestment campaign can sometimes turn out to be worse actors than their original holders, NYU’s Taylor said.

She gave the example of Myanmar, where energy giant Chevron ending up selling off an asset to an entity that human rights groups said was even less accountable.

Divestment supporters often cite the successful campaign to dismantle South Africa’s apartheid regime as an example of what can be accomplished.

But Taylor and others have said the groundswell of international and civil-society support that was needed to end apartheid has not materialized in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“It required everyone to be at the table,” she said. “South Africa is a good story, but I don’t know whether we’re there yet.”

In a 2021 study of the impact of divestment, business school professors at the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University found the practice had little impact.

Instead, they said, activists seeking to change a company’s behavior should instead hold on to their investments and exercise any rights of control they may have to change corporate policy.

The Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit that seeks to counter antisemitism, likewise concluded that shareholder resolutions have proven effective at changing corporate behavior, even as it criticized such efforts as “simplistic” and not constructive.

“Organizations file resolutions repeatedly until they get the change they want, often garnering more votes each year,” the ADL said in a 2022 article on its website . “Even if a proposal fails, sometimes just the fact that it is filed may be enough to make a company wary of doing business with Israel.”

Rob Wile is a breaking business news reporter for NBC News Digital.

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Net neutrality is back: U.S. promises fast, safe and reliable internet for all

Emma Bowman

The Federal Communications Commission has restored net neutrality rules that ban content providers from restricting bandwidth to customers. Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images hide caption

The Federal Communications Commission has restored net neutrality rules that ban content providers from restricting bandwidth to customers.

Consumers can look forward to faster, safer and more reliable internet connections under the promises of newly reinstated government regulations.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on Thursday to reclassify broadband as a public utility, such as water and electricity — to regulate access to the internet. The move to expand government oversight of internet service providers comes after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the magnitude of the digital divide , forcing consumers to rely on high-speed internet for school and work, as well as social and health support.

The Indicator from Planet Money

What happened to the internet without net neutrality.

Because the government deems internet access an essential service, the FCC is promising oversight as if broadband were a public utility. In doing so, the government aims to make providers more accountable for outages, require more robust network security, protect fast speeds, and require greater protections for consumer data.

The decision effectively restores so-called net neutrality rules that were first introduced during the Obama administration in 2015 and repealed two years later under President Trump.

The rules are sure to invite legal challenges from the telecoms industry — not for the first time. And a future administration could always undo the rules.

Meanwhile, net neutrality regulations are set to go into effect 60 days after their publication in the Federal Register.

But much has yet to be clarified about the rules: The 400-page draft order to restore the regulations has not been publicly released.

Here's what we do know.

What's net neutrality?

Net neutrality is a wonky term for the idea that the flow of information on the internet should be treated equally and that internet service providers can't interfere with what consumers do online.

Also referred to as an "open internet," net neutrality aims to level the digital marketplace, prohibiting internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast and AT&T from running fast lanes and slow lanes — speeding up or slowing down internet speeds — for online services like Netflix and Spotify.

What's this latest battle about?

Without the net neutrality regulations in place, phone and internet companies have the power to block or favor some content over others. The issue has pit telecom companies against Big Tech. Net neutrality advocates — tech companies, consumer watchdogs and free speech activists among them — warn that without such regulations, broadband providers are incentivized to charge customers more to use internet fast lanes or else risk being stuck with slower speeds.

In recent years, the issue has largely become a partisan one. In 2015, the President Obama-appointed FCC chair ushered in the approval of net neutrality rules . Those rules were repealed two years later under President Trump after his pick to run the FCC called them "heavy-handed" in his pledge to end them.

Now, the return of FCC regulations has reinvigorated the net neutrality debate.

"Every consumer deserves internet access that is fast, open and fair," FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said ahead of Thursday's vote. "This is common sense."

As in 2015, the rules classify broadband as a utility service under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934.

The measure passed along party lines, with Democratic commissioners in favor of net neutrality and Republicans opposed.

What critics are saying

Opponents say the net neutrality rules are government overreach and interfere with commerce. In a letter to FCC chair Rosenworcel this week, a group of Republican lawmakers said the draft order to restore net neutrality regulations would chill innovation and investment in the broadband industry.

Dissenting FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican, said that fears of a sluggish or pricey internet without the rules were overblown — that consumers benefited from faster speeds and lower prices since the repeal. Net neutrality advocates dispute the argument that broadband rates dropped when net neutrality went away, saying the numbers are misleading .

"There will be lots of talk about 'net neutrality' and virtually none about the core issue before the agency: namely, whether the FCC should claim for itself the freewheeling power to micromanage nearly every aspect of how the Internet functions — from the services that consumers can access to the prices that can be charged," Carr said in October, when the Biden administration proposed restoring net neutrality.

Some telecom companies argue that the FCC is trying to solve a nonexistent problem in its stated aim to preserve equal internet access for consumers.

"This is a nonissue for broadband consumers, who have enjoyed an open internet for decades," said Jonathan Spalter, the CEO of USTelecom, a trade group that represents ISPs such as AT&T and Verizon, in a statement following the vote to hand regulatory authority back to the FCC.

"We plan to pursue all available options, including in the courts," the group said.

What's happened when net neutrality went away?

What ended up happening in the years after the rollback went into effect in 2018 was so discreet that most people unlikely noticed its effects, says Stanford Law professor Barbara van Schewick, who directs the school's Center for Internet and Society and supports net neutrality.

For the past six years, she says, "a lot of public scrutiny on the ISPs and then the attempts to bring back net neutrality in Congress basically kept the ISPs on their best behavior."

Still, there were changes. Some ISPs implemented zero-rating plans, the practice of excluding some apps from data charges, she notes, or were caught throttling — intentionally slowing down consumer internet speeds.

Absent heightened federal regulation, tough net neutrality rules that sprang up in several states, including California , Washington and Oregon, also have continued to keep internet service providers in check.

"It's still being litigated," van Schewick says. "And so, it is fair to say we haven't seen a world without net neutrality."

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COMMENTS

How to Write a Thesis Statement
Step 2: Write your initial answer. After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process. The internet has had more of a positive than a negative effect on education.
How to structure paragraphs using the PEEL method
L = Link: to finish the paragraph off, you need to link the point you've just made back to your essay question, topic, or thesis. Download a free PEEL paragraph planner below. 👇 . Studiosity English specialist Ellen, says says students often underestimate the importance of a well-structured paragraph.
Thesis Statements
A thesis statement: tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself.
Developing a Thesis Statement
A thesis statement . . . Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic. Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper. Is focused and specific enough to be "proven" within the boundaries of your paper. Is generally located near the end ...
Thesis
Thesis. Your thesis is the central claim in your essay—your main insight or idea about your source or topic. Your thesis should appear early in an academic essay, followed by a logically constructed argument that supports this central claim. A strong thesis is arguable, which means a thoughtful reader could disagree with it and therefore ...
What Is a Thesis?
Revised on April 16, 2024. A thesis is a type of research paper based on your original research. It is usually submitted as the final step of a master's program or a capstone to a bachelor's degree. Writing a thesis can be a daunting experience. Other than a dissertation, it is one of the longest pieces of writing students typically complete.
Connect back to the thesis in persuasive essays
Not so. You need to say that. You always need to state the connections between the evidence and your topic sentences, and between your topic sentences and your thesis. In working with students writing persuasive essays, I see this lack of connections all the time. To show the flow of connections, I draw arrows on students' essays.
How to Write a Thesis Statement
How to Tell a Strong Thesis Statement from a Weak One 1. A strong thesis statement takes some sort of stand. Remember that your thesis needs to show your conclusions about a subject. For example, if you are writing a paper for a class on fitness, you might be asked to choose a popular weight-loss product to evaluate. Here are two thesis statements:
Developing A Thesis
A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay. Steps in Constructing a Thesis. First, analyze your primary sources. Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication.
What is a thesis
A thesis is an in-depth research study that identifies a particular topic of inquiry and presents a clear argument or perspective about that topic using evidence and logic. Writing a thesis showcases your ability of critical thinking, gathering evidence, and making a compelling argument. Integral to these competencies is thorough research ...
Synthesizing Sources
Transition words and phrases to link together different ideas; Synthesis matrix. To more easily determine the similarities and dissimilarities among your sources, you can create a visual representation of their main ideas with a synthesis matrix. This is a tool that you can use when researching and writing your paper, not a part of the final text.
How to Write a Linking Sentence for Your Essay Paragraphs
Step 3: Linking to a new section. Using linking words within a paragraph is easy to get the hang of once you know your intent but linking to a new section can be a little tricker. Linking to a new section of your essay means that you will need to summarise your previous paragraph and either build or depart from that idea to fit with the main ...
Linking literature reviews to research questions and hypotheses
This literature should allow you to link your question or hypothesis and provide input into your conceptual and theoretical framework. It may assist you to establish specific research methodologies and methods that have been used in prior investigations. Furthermore, it should assist you to formulate and continuously improve your questions or ...
How should I include a list of links in my thesis?
3. I did it like bibliography using a url shortener, this way the link is usable for those who read it in paper or electronic format and will avoid many issues with the bibliography format. One thing you should consider is to include the lasta access data to the link (they can remove it).
Theses including publications
A thesis including publications (also called a thesis with publications) is one where the core chapters of your thesis consist of papers you have submitted for publication, have been accepted for publication, or have already been published. See our information on preparing your thesis for how to indicate that your thesis contains material you ...
Thesis Definition & Meaning
The meaning of THESIS is a dissertation embodying results of original research and especially substantiating a specific view; especially : one written by a candidate for an academic degree. How to use thesis in a sentence. Did you know?
Citation
Writer's Guide. As you begin to incorporate evidence into your papers, it is important that you clearly connect that evidence to your own claims. Though connections may seem obvious to you, they may not be obvious to your readers. In this article, you will learn a few ways to link evidence to your arguments.
citations
Worth mentioning: our department has 1. no standard citation style and 2. stopped requiring physical thesis prints since 2020, hence why 1. I have the freedom to choose the citation style and 2. I am embracing hyperlinks currently. My thesis is in NLP, so my own style most closely resembles that of the ACL (see this paper as an example), but ...
What Is A Thesis Defense?
Defending a thesis largely serves as a formality because the paper will already have been evaluated. During a defense, a student will be asked questions by members of the thesis committee. Questions are usually open-ended and require that the student think critically about his or her work. A defense might take only 20 minutes, or it might take ...
Students demand divestment. Does it work? : NPR
Does it work? Campus protesters want administrators to sell off investments in companies with ties to Israel. Here's a look at what divestment means — and why universities are saying no.
What Does Jittleyang Mean? It's Baltimore Slang
What does fuhuhluhtoogan mean? While the dictionary did offer some insight into jittleyang, it doesn't have much at all to say about another popular phrase from Richard's work, fuhuhluhtoogan. If you use some context clues as well as the definitions of related words that can be found in the dictionary, you may come to understand that the term ...
How to Write a Literature Review
It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research that you can later apply to your paper, thesis, or dissertation topic. There are five key steps to writing a literature review: Search for relevant literature; Evaluate sources; Identify themes, debates, and gaps
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H5N1, an avian flu virus, has killed tens of thousands of marine mammals, and infiltrated American livestock for the first time. Scientists are working quickly to assess how it is evolving and how ...
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What does a strong US dollar mean for Americans? For Americans, the purchasing power of the dollar is higher and consumption will remain strong. People will travel abroad more, probably.
What does it mean to "divest"? What pro-Palestinian protesters mean
Pro-Palestinian student protesters across the country occupied campuses in tent encampments this week in a campaign to urge their universities to divest, an action students over the decades have ...
What Does the Percentage of Rain Mean?
So what does it mean then? The percentage is reached via an equation, actually. For those of us who hate math, this is bad news. But hang in there. You see, to get the answer, you multiply a forecaster's level of confidence that it will rain at least 0.01 inches over some period of time by areal coverage of precipitation that is expected.
College protesters want their schools to divest from ties to Israel
In addition to a cease-fire in Gaza, protesters on college campuses across the country are calling on their schools to divest from all financial support of Israel.
What is divestment? And does it work?
As Pro-Palestinian protests continue to sweep across major US universities, a unifying message has emerged. From Princeton University in New Jersey to the University of Southern California in Los ...
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To quote a source, copy a short piece of text word for word and put it inside quotation marks. To paraphrase a source, put the text into your own words. It's important that the paraphrase is not too close to the original wording. You can use the paraphrasing tool if you don't want to do this manually.
What to know as the FCC restores net neutrality : NPR
Because the government deems internet access an essential service, the FCC is promising oversight as if broadband were a public utility. In doing so, the government aims to make providers more ...