CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE

Thesis Manuscript
Submitted to the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes
Undergraduate Faculty of the Language Department
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Bachelor´s Degree of
English Language Teaching

by
Add full name of student in all uppercase lettering.

Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
June 2021
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE

Approval Page

Title of the thesis

By
Add full name of student in all uppercase lettering.

Approved by:

__________________________________________________ ___________________
Tutor: Add name Date

Certified by (examiner):

__________________________________________________ ___________________
Faculty of Language Department: Add name Date

ii
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE

Abstract

An abstract is a 250-word paragraph that summarizes the entire thesis paper. Include the

following in an abstract: purpose and problem of your study, participants and data

collection procedures, results, and conclusions/implications. The abstract is the only

paragraph with no indentation.

Keywords:

iii
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE

Table of Contents

List of Tables.......................................................................................................................v
List of Figures.....................................................................................................................vi
Introduction..........................................................................................................................1
First heading (based on first topic)..................................................................................2
Second topic heading.......................................................................................................4
Third topic heading, etc…...............................................................................................5
Method.................................................................................................................................6
Participants......................................................................................................................6
Instruments......................................................................................................................6
Procedure and data analysis.............................................................................................6
Results and Discussion........................................................................................................7
First heading (based on first topic)..................................................................................7
Second topic heading.......................................................................................................7
Third topic heading, etc…...............................................................................................7
References............................................................................................................................8
Appendix A..........................................................................................................................9
Title of your appendix.....................................................................................................9
Appendix B........................................................................................................................10
Title of your appendix...................................................................................................10

iv
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE

List of Tables

v
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE

List of Figures

vi
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE 1

Title of work (same as title on title page)

An introduction should include three sections. Begin with a hook. A hook may

include a famous quote, an essential question, or an interesting fact or statistic. Include

only one of these three options as a hook, an interesting fact or statistic being the only

one of the three options that will require a citation according to APA. The trick to

including a good hook is to find one that represents the main idea of the introduction,

which is usually the main problem of your paper. After you have presented a hook,

continue with the context of the problem. All research centers around specific problem;

otherwise, there is no real reason to do the study in the first place. A problem that relates

to applied linguistics, teaching, and/or learning provides a rationale for spending 16

weeks or more doing a

study. After the hook, describe in about three-to-five sentences the context of the

problem in your introduction paragraph by describing what it is, how it came about, why

it came about, when it came about, etc. Think of the question words to help prompt you

to determine what you should discuss about the problem in the introduction paragraph.

It’s good practice to include at least one citation (according to APA, 7th edition) in your

context of the problem so to provide more weight or legitimacy to your position.

Describing the context of the problem with at least one citation is more meaningful than

simply writing your own opinion about it, which is what you do when you write a

position with no citation(s). The final thing to do once you have completed the context of

the problem is to write a one-sentence thesis statement. A one-sentence thesis statement

should begin with a transition (e.g., sentence connector, introductory (prepositional)

phrase, subordinating clause that begins the sentence, etc.), and then continues with the
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE 2

following: 1) a topic, 2) a position about the topic, and 3) evidence. The evidence usually

states three reasons or three ways that link or connect your position to the topic of your

thesis statement. It’s common to state three reasons (explaining “why”) or three ways

(explaining “how”) – choose either reasons or ways, but not both – but there is nothing

wrong with choosing instead two reasons or ways or four reasons or ways. For a paper of

this length (i.e., a 5,000 – 6,000 paper), anywhere from two to four reasons or ways is

probably your best option, You absolutely need more than one, and probably five or more

are too many. Remember, the thesis statement answers your indirect question you pose in

your problem statement. The context of the problem are the details that support your

problem statement. Include adjectives and relative (adjective) clauses in your topic of

your thesis statement to make your thesis statement more specific, which is hands down

the most challenging aspect of producing a sound thesis statement. Your introductory

paragraph (with a hook, context of the problem, and one-sentence thesis statement)

should be approximately 250 words and should be stated as a single paragraph.

First heading (based on first topic)

Just as the order in which you present your level II headings is important, the

order in which you present your topic sentences is important as well. Your topic sentence

is the main idea that begins each body paragraph. The reader should be able read only the

topic sentences of each body paragraph to get the gist of your position or argument.

Choose relevant organizational patterns that are the most pertinent to your position: 1)

chronological (time), 2) process, 3) spatial, 4) categorical, 5) least important to the most

important (or vice versa), etc. The concept of following certain organizational patterns,

called “coherence”, relates to all levels of your thesis paper: 1) the order of evidence
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE 3

stated in your thesis statement, 2) the order of your level II headings, 3) the order of your

topic sentences, and 4) the order of sentences in each of your paragraphs.

Just as your introduction paragraph should follow a specific order (hook, context

of the problem, and thesis statement), each body paragraph should follow a specific order

as well. One way to think about organizing your body paragraphs is to use the acronym,

MEAL in what’s called, the “MEAL Plan”. “M” stands for main idea or topic sentence,

which usually occurs at the beginning of the body paragraph; “E” stands for evidence

(think details, statistics, examples, facts etc. that support the topic sentence; “A” stands

for analyze, synthesize, compare and contrast, explain, comment, etc., and should link or

connect the evidence to the topic sentence; and “L” stands for a linking sentence that

connects the main idea of the current body paragraph to the next body paragraph. You

can also think of the “L” standing for a summarizing sentence that closes the body

paragraph.

Another acronym that you might find useful is PEE. “P” stands for position or

point, “E” stands for evidence, and the second “E” stands for explain. The first sentence

of each body paragraph should represent the main idea of the body paragraph (i.e., topic

sentence), but can also be thought of as taking a position. Think of each topic sentence as

a claim. A claim is where you take position. A claim is debatable or arguable. For

example, “Cell phones help English language learners collaborate when assessing each

other’s writing assignments”. Notice that this claim could begin a body paragraph if I

have evidence that comes from an outside source (e.g., facts, statistics, examples, etc.)

that support this idea. But a claim always has two sides; every sound claim must have a

sound counterclaim. There should be evidence that supports both the main (or initial)
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE 4

claim and its counterclaim. A sound initial claim is only as good as its counterclaim. A

weak counterclaim leads to a weak initial claim.

So, the main claim (or position) of your thesis paper is your thesis statement.

Your topic sentences are also claims but they are (or should be) more specific that your

main claim, your thesis statement. Your evidence sentences (details within your body

paragraphs) are also claims that come from an outside source that are even more specific

than the more general claims, your topic sentences. Thus, there are three levels of claims

(at least) that you should think about when drafting your thesis paper: 1) thesis statement

(your original idea), 2) your topic sentences (your original ideas), and 3) evidence

sentences as details to your body paragraphs (ideas coming from an outside source,

requiring citations and references according to APA).

If following the MEAL plan, only the evidence sentences will typically require

citations. All other types of sentences, the main idea, analysis, and linking or

summarizing sentences are usually your original ideas, not requiring a citation. Your

literature review, made up of only body paragraphs, should mainly consist of original

ideas. It’s possible to have too many citations in your literature review. Remember that

citations support your original ideas. As a rule, well over half (more than 50%) of your

literature review should be your own original thoughts.

Second topic heading...

Level III Heading

Everything stated above also applies when writing level III headings. Whereas

level II headings are required, level III headings are optional. For example, if you have

three to four level two headings, level three headings will probably not be necessary. You
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE 5

want to avoid having a heading in your literature review with only one paragraph. There

will be exceptions to this rule in the Method section, however. If you have only two level

II headings, then you probably want to use level III headings. Let’s do a word count.

Your literature review should be about 2,500-3,000 words in total. Two-hundred-and-

fifty words for the introduction and about 250 words for the transition paragraph (which I

describe below), leaving about 2,000-2,500 words left for the body of your literature

review. If you only have two level II headings, that leaves about 1,000 to 1,250 words per

section. One-thousand words in one section with no subheadings (i.e., a level III heading)

is quite a bit. So, when you have two level II headings, determine the number of level III

headings to include in both sections while also avoid having any level III headings with

one paragraph. If you have three level II headings, that leaves about 650 words or so in

each section, which probably will not require a level III heading if topics sentences are

clear and organized properly. In other words, your topic sentences and overall flow of

ideas are coherent.

Third topic heading, etc…

Add text here...

The final paragraph of your literature review (just before the Method section) is what I

refer to as a “transition” paragraph. The transition paragraph does not follow the MEAL

plan and instead is organized as follows: 1) begin by restating and rewording the thesis

statement from your introduction paragraph; 2) summarize the context of the problem in

one sentence; 3) transition (i.e., use sentence connectors, introductory phrases, or begin

with a subordinating clause) to mentioning your study (for the first time) and your

research questions (if a qualitative study) and/or hypothesis (if a quantitative study); and
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE 6

4) a closing statement. A transitional paragraph is usually four-to-five sentences and it’s

the first time you mention your study (i.e., when introducing your research questions). In

other words, avoid mentioning your study at all throughout your entire literature review,

except when you mention your research questions in your transitional (final) paragraph.

Your literature review should be written in third person, and notice that there are not

“introduction” paragraphs to begin any sections or subsections. After the introduction

paragraph (the first paragraph of your thesis paper), all subsequent paragraphs are

body paragraphs that follow the MEAL plan until you get to the final (transitional)

paragraph.

Method

Participants

Here you want to include the demographic information of your participants in a

single paragraph. Who are they? Where are they from? How old are they? What level of

English or academic level do they have? How did you select them? Do you have their

permission to take part in your study? Did they complete a informed consent form? Etc.

Instruments

In this section you’ll want to include a description of the instruments used to

collect the data: questionnaires, surveys, observation guides, checklists, etc. Reference

each instrument with “(See Appendix A.)”, “(See Appendix B)”, etc.

Procedure and data analysis

In this section you’ll include the process you followed in collecting and analyzing

the data. Reference your appendices as necessary in this section: “(See Appendix C.)”,
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE 7

“(See Appendix D)”, etc. Follow the letters of the alphabet as necessary depending on the

number of appendices you have. In each of the three sections of your Method, include a

single paragraph. Your total word-count in your Method section should only be about 500

words.

Results and Discussion

First heading (based on first topic)

Add text here...

Second topic heading...

Add text here...

Third topic heading, etc…

The final paragraph of your paper (just before your References), is your

conclusion paragraph. Your (single) conclusion paragraph should be about 250 words and

should consist of the following: 1) restate and reword your thesis statement (for the

second time); 2) state in three-to-five sentences the significance, relevance, or big picture

of your main thesis; and 3) closing statement or final quote. When stating your

significance, revisit your problem statement and expand on what you stated there.

Finally, the conclusion paragraph should not include any citations.

References
CREATING A DIVERSE TEAM FOR CHANGE 10

Appendix A

Title of your appendix

Appendix B

Title of your appendix