How to write a hypothesis

Medieval warrior with sword on shoulder
© History Skills

Once you have created your three topic sentences, you are ready to create your hypothesis.

What is a 'hypothesis'?


A hypothesis is a single sentence answer to the Key Inquiry Question that clearly states what your entire essay is going to argue.

 

It contains both the argument and the main reasons in support of your argument. Each hypothesis should clearly state the ‘answer’ to the question, followed by a ‘why’.

For Example: 

 

The Indigenous people of Australia were treated as second-class citizens until the 1960’s (answer) by the denial of basic political rights by State and Federal governments (why).

How do you create a hypothesis?


Back in Step 3 of the research process, you split your Key Inquiry Question into three sub-questions.

 

Then at Step 6 you used the quotes from your Source Research to create answers to each of the sub-questions. These answers became your three Topic Sentences.

 

To create your hypothesis, you need to combine the three Topic Sentences into a single sentence answer.

 

By combining your three answers to the sub-questions, you are ultimately providing a complete answer to the original Key Inquiry Question.


For example:



What's next?

Need a digital Research Journal?


Historical Research Journal
A ready-to-use digital student research journal that follows the same 9-step research process from the History Skills website. Each research stage has explanations, blank tables and hyperlinks to examples to aid with the completion of essay ... (Read More)
$7.00

Additional resources