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How to Use the Baby Thesis Method for Cohesive Essays

By Krystal N. Craiker

Teaching writing to students is a major challenge for every teacher. One of the hardest parts for students is writing a cohesive essay. They might have great introductions and solid body paragraphs, but their essays can often lack unity and flow.

As teachers, we harp on about the importance of having a strong thesis statement. Usually, we teach students to list their three main points in their thesis statement. This is an easy way to show students that their main points should relate to the essay topic.

But then the body paragraphs fall flat. They cover each of the main points, but the students haven’t shown how those points relate to the entire topic of the essay. They are little more than fact dumps, and they don’t tie back to the thesis statement or the prompt of the paper.

Teachers live for light bulb moments. And that light bulb moment for cohesive essays might be as simple as a terminology change.

The DBQ Project has two unique terms for their writing process. First, they refer to the major points in an essay as “buckets.” They also changed the term from topic sentence to “baby thesis.”

What Is the DBQ Project?

The baby thesis, words matter.

The DBQ Project is a program for social studies teachers to encourage writing across the curriculum and historical thinking skills. DBQs, or document-based questions, are a type of history essay that provide a series of primary and secondary sources that relate to an overall prompt. AP history tests include DBQs, but these skills are adaptable for all levels.

DBQ essay prompts are not just explanations of a historical topic. They ask students to defend a particular argument using primary and secondary sources and prior knowledge. The DBQ Project makes teaching this writing skill accessible for every level of learner.

The lessons that come from the DBQ Project are not just for social studies. How DBQs are taught can help students write stronger arguments in a more cohesive essay across all subjects.

A good scholar lets the evidence inform their argument, not the other way around. This requires two major steps: analysis and categorization.

Categorization is not a skill that comes naturally to many students. It’s considered one of the highest-level activities in both Bloom’s and Marzano’s levels of thinking. But it’s the skill that is necessary for creating strong body paragraphs .

DBQs are a great way to teach this skill because the documents are provided to the students. However, if you’re writing in English or science class, you’ll need to help teach this skill differently.

For higher-performing students, encourage them to research a topic, write down facts or quotes on notecards or a graphic organizer, and then practice putting this information into “buckets.” For lower-level students, provide excerpts of research for them to categorize. If necessary, you can even provide them with the categories and have them sort the research into those specific categories.

Visual aids are helpful for this step. Teach that “like goes with like.” You can even model with actual plastic buckets or a bucket template if you want. Use kinesthetic learning to have students physically place their research in different groups.

Once their research is divided into buckets, it’s time to take a look at the prompt again. This is where you’ll teach writing a strong thesis statement for the whole paper. After that, introduce the concept of a “baby thesis.”

Students are likely familiar with the phrase “topic sentence.” But a topic sentence can miss the entire point of strong body paragraphs. A topic sentence can tell you what a paragraph is about, but it might not tie in to the overall thesis of the paper. This is where cohesion begins to drop off.

I’m arguing semantics here, but how we phrase things in the classroom can trigger those light bulb moments for students.

The Purpose of a Baby Thesis

A strong topic sentence should do two things:

• Tell what the paragraph is about, and
• Tie back to the thesis of the whole essay.

Students can fairly easily give you a simple sentence that explains what the paragraph is about, but they struggle to relate it back to the overall thesis of the paper. Calling it a “baby thesis” reminds the students that this sentence should support their thesis.

When I modeled pre-writing, I drew a lot of arrows back to my thesis statement to really hammer home the idea that they relate back to their thesis. Let’s look at an example of a thesis statement along with weak and strong topic sentences.

Thesis: The New Deal programs had long-lasting effects on the political, social, and economic systems in American, many of which are still present today.

Weak Topic Sentence: There were also many economic programs in the New Deal.

Strong Topic Sentence: The New Deal also established many economic programs that affect Americans every day.

The first topic sentence is structurally sound. It has a clear transition and lets us know that the paragraph is about economic programs of the New Deal. However, it doesn’t show that the paragraph is specifically about long-lasting or present-day programs that are still in place. With this topic sentence, students might put in examples of economic programs that only lasted a few years.

The stronger topic sentence is a “baby thesis.” Not only does it tell us that the paragraph is about New Deal economic programs, it reminds us that we are only looking at those programs which are still in place. This ensures that your student puts only information that is relevant to the thesis in the paragraph.

A “baby thesis” also reminds students that they need to relate every fact or bit of research back to the thesis . Too often, students write a basic topic sentence and deliver several facts, but they don’t provide any analysis. In the above example, a weak paragraph would list the FDIC and US Employment Service as examples of economic programs without explaining how they affect Americans today. The “baby thesis” reminds students to provide the analysis needed for a cohesive essay.

Baby Thesis as Pre-Writing

When we teach pre-writing, we start with a thesis statement and an outline. We always tell students to decide what their major points are before they write.

The DBQ Project takes this one step further. To ensure an essay that flows well and stays on topic, include the baby thesis as a pre-writing step. Have them write these strong topic sentences before they write the essay as a whole. It will help them organize their thoughts and create a more solid outline.

You can also use this pre-writing step to provide feedback on their baby thesis statements. Offer suggestions to improve these before they begin writing the essay. Strong baby theses will help your students stay on-topic and write an essay that flows well.

Teachers and writers know that it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. Teachers especially know that you can explain something a dozen times to a student who doesn’t understand, but as soon as you explain it differently, they get it.

If you’re struggling to get your students’ essays to be well-organized and cohesive with a strong argument, take a note from the DBQ Project. Change your word choice and how you explain the parts of an essay. It might just be the light bulb you’ve been waiting for.

What is the hardest part about teaching essay-writing? Let us know in the comments.

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Krystal N. Craiker

Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound.

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Use the Bucket Method to Write Effective Literature Reviews

W riting a literature may be one of the most difficult aspects of academic writing. When I think back to my own dissertation or doctoral students that I’ve worked with, some of the greatest struggles were tied to the lit review. I believe there are many reasons for this. We all have a tendency to want to read more and more feeling like we never have a full grasp on everything that’s out there. There’s always one more article or book. Additionally, the genre of the lit review is so different from much of the writing that we are exposed to going through school. In fact, I would argue that many of the ways we learn to write cause problems when it comes to writing literature reviews. Over the years, I’ve come up with a method that I use for writing lit reviews and I want to share how you can use the bucket method to write better literature reviews.

Once you have identified the topic for your literature review, you are ready to use the bucket method.

1. Skim a few articles and books related to your topic . You should focus on the abstract, introduction, and the conclusion of each publication. Your goal is not to read the entire thing, but to start to get a sense of what is written about your topic. The number of publications to skim will vary depending on the length of your review and the complexity of your topic. However, you should be able to start to get a sense of your topic after skimming 12-15 articles or books.

2. Identify the major buckets for your review . This is where the bucket method gets its name. After skimming the publications from Step 1, you should have an idea about the major areas that the articles discuss. For each of the major themes you identified in your skimming, make each of these a bucket. Buckets might include areas of major findings, theoretical approaches to your topic, or other significant ideas that appear repeatedly. The goal for this step is to select at least 3-5 (longer reviews may have more) buckets that represent the major areas from across the publications you skimmed.

3. Reread articles from Step 1 and place into appropriate bucket . As you reread, your goal is to read enough to figure out what bucket the publication should be placed. Your goal is to try to put each publication in a single bucket. If you find the article crosses into two buckets, you can put it in both, but try to keep this to a minimum.

4. Search for research to fill up each bucket . After categorizing your initial research into the buckets, you will likely find one or two buckets have a great deal of research while others do not. Search for research on your topic to fill up each bucket. Again, the number of sources will vary based on the size of the review. However, particularly as a guide for students, try to have at least a minimum of 3 sources for every page of your review at this stage. For example, if you are writing a 15 page literature review for a class, you might identify five major buckets. For these buckets, you will have at least 45 references spread across them.

5. Organize each bucket . First, arrange the buckets in an order that makes sense to you. Think to yourself, “If I was going to tell someone about this topic, which bucket do they need to understand first?” Then second and so on. After arranging each bucket in order, pick one bucket to start writing.

6. Start writing . At this point, many people don’t yet feel comfortable writing, but you need to start. Only by writing can you identify where you need more research. It doesn’t matter which bucket you pick. It doesn’t have to be the first. Take all the articles and make notes of the ideas in them. Arrange these ideas in an order that makes sense by again using the “If I was going to tell someone about this topic…” Write a first draft.

7. Repeat for all of the buckets . Create first drafts for each bucket.

8. Review each first draft and decide if the bucket is sufficiently addressed . After writing the first draft, review each bucket in isolation, ask yourself if you have sufficiently addressed the theme of the bucket. I should also point out that each bucket is not weighted the same. Of your five buckets, you may decide two are the most important and should be given twice as much attention as the others. This is not only okay, but encouraged. One of your primary jobs as a lit review writer is to make these kinds of decisions. After completing this step, if you decide you need more sources, conduct a targeted search.

9. Incorporate additional research and complete draft . After your targeted search for more sources, include these into your draft and revise each bucket into a second draft. At this point, you may also decide to reorder your buckets if needed. Also, write transitions between buckets so you don’t have a collection of 3-5 bucket drafts, but start to have a complete literature draft.

10. Continue editing and complete draft . You have identified relevant research and have a solid second draft at this stage. All that is left is to continue editing and revising until the paper is done.

That’s it. You should now have a completed literature review. One final note I should make, as you proceed, you may decide that a bucket that you originally identified is no longer needed. That’s okay and a part of the process. Just dump it (yes, bad pun intended). In addition, you may decide to merge two buckets or split one if it gets too large, all of these kinds of decisions are open to you. The bucket method provides a framework for you to work within— it isn’t a straightjacket.

I hope you find this helpful and I strongly encourage you to use the bucket method to write better literature reviews.

Happy writing!

DBQ Writing Solutions

• DBQ Writing Tips
• Outside Info

Bucketing Info

• Outlining Info
• Introduction
• Use of Docs
• Scoring Rubric
• Reflection Process
• Portfolio Directions

• I can share information
• students can see scoring rubrics
• tutorials are available
• outside resources are posted
• I can share other tips for students
• help to empower parents to help at home
• reach students who have missed class
• give instruction on each step
• be proactive on addressing writing issues
• Share Info Bucket- scoring rubrics, online resources
• Reach Beyond the Class Room Bucket- empower parents, students who miss class
• Give Instruction Bucket- tutorials, step by step instruction
• Be Proactive Bucket- motive students to face challenge

What is the best topic for a baby thesis?

A baby thesis is one that is a small size, more like a research paper. The topic should be something that is based on what you were studying. Some common science topics are related to drugs or genetics. Some common literary topics may be focused on one author's works.

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