There are many differences between the thesis and research paper.
Some of these are major differences while the rest are more nuanced or
subtle. The differences delineated here are from the European
Enlightenment Classicist strain of thought. There are quite a few
relevant and alternative paradigms of definition and hence differences.
While only the Classicist strain will be explicated here, other modes of
definitions, differences and similarities will also be hinted at.
Major Differences:
- Thesis is concerned with the central question or statement of a scholarly argument that leads to further research, while a research paper is all about proving that central argument.
- Thesis is both about possibilities, through the formation of numerous anti-theses, and about the end of all possibilities through the nullification of all these anti-theses. The research paper is about proving the central thesis statement and concerned with gathering evidence and data to prove the same, exploring other possibilities and nullifying them and providing a speculation on future alternatives for the central thesis question. To be precise, the research paper is all about explicating and proving the thesis.
- The thesis usually is formed through extensive original thinking that puts forth a proposal or statement, but the research paper requires tenacious resilience on part of the researcher to justify the central question. The latter is a long process in which there is gathering of evidence, raising and nullification of various other possibilities and the application of theories and evidence to the central research question. All this is done towards proving the thesis. The research paper might be called an expansion and extension of the central thesis.
- The word thesis is sometimes used in place of research paper, but this is a rhetorical error in which a part is substituted for a whole. The thesis statement is usually a part of the research paper and not vice-versa.
Subtle or Nuanced Differences:
- The thesis statement does not consist of the methodology. The research paper explicates this methodology and whether it is quantitative or qualitative.
- The thesis statement is an end in itself. The research paper, although directed towards expounding and explicating the thesis, manifestly opens up all the lines of inquiry that the thesis statement holds in potentia. While the vast majority of these lines are nullified and proved as ‘incorrect’, there are few possibilities that always refuse to disappear. These might, in the future, go into the formation of alternative discursive structures in which the central thesis question no longer holds valid. The research paper when viewed in its ‘unfolding’ is also an end to the central thesis statement. Nevertheless, it is usually rich in information and theoretical and empirical details.
- The thesis statement is about a single question while the research paper raises a number of questions albeit in relation to the central theme. Some of these questions are nullified and some remain as the indicators of alternative discourses.
- The research paper usually consists of the thesis, but it is not always so. The research paper might be on a part of the thesis question and can have stand-alone validity.
Similarities between Thesis and Research Paper:
- As explained above, the thesis is the research paper in potentia. The sameness lies in what the thesis potentially holds is explicated and unfolded into the research paper.
- The thesis is something in which the end justifies the means. Even the research paper goes into explicating the thesis in detail. Thus, both the thesis and research paper is deterministic.
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