Research question and thesis statement
Most writing at university is exploratory or argumentative in nature, in the sense that you are expected to present information and construct an argument. A fruitful way of getting started is therefore to formulate one or more research questions and a tentative thesis statement. The research question is the question that your essay sets out to answer, whereas the thesis statement is the claim that you make in your text. Quite naturally, both research question and thesis statement may need to be revised and developed as your work progresses, but clarifying to yourself early on what you will investigate and what your tentative claim is will help you find information and establish a structure for your essay text.
Head over to the section titled Writing, sub-section Pre-Writing Stage to read about how to develop a research question and a thesis statement: