can you have quotations in your thesis statement?

[lorein_0031807]

I'm writing an essay on public education and I used words that are from a text that I had perused in order to get information. I already have it in my bibliography but I was wondering if I have to use quotations .My thesis is:The quality in public education is in a decline and this is attributed to the "dumbing down" of the school system in order to achieve greater statistics thus spreading the "stain of illiteracy" which has a far reaching consequence in this modern culture. can I keep the quotes? or take them out? can I have parenthitical citation after my thesis?

[SusanM7117]

I'm not an expert but I would say no. Your thesis should ideally be your own argument with your unique thoughts that you are presenting in your paper. Hope that helps a little.

[Dingo85]

Keep the quotes but add the reference in i.e. the exact name, page and chapter number where you obtained the reference from immediately after the quotes i.e. according to XYZ.."dumbing down" INSERT CITATION HERE, then carry on with paragraph.

[DrDuck]

I think you got a good topic here! (Albeit a bit of a hard one) I think you're off to a good start in rounding out some ideas and preparing a paper. Here's some thoughts.A thesis is supposed to be YOUR argument. If you are arguing against or with a quote, you need to note who you are quoting and agreeing with or against as that would be a part of your paper. "according to so and so "blah blah" yadda yadda"If the quote is just common usage and everyone uses the phrase then you don't need to use quotes. Also your wording "is attributed to" implies there is universal agreement - it should instead say "is often attributed to" or some other wording - because many other people do not attribute it to dumbing down and you will lose readers before you've even begun because they already disagree with you and will think you've not done your research - so in essence you've effectively lost an argument before you even started. UNLESS you state who this is attributed by.I'm not sure what "achieving greater statistics" means. Could someone think that means just making them bigger? And if it DOES...what does THAT mean?You also don't say what you're comparing the decline against or since when. Your thesis doesn't state what you're really arguing against....you don't state what the far reaching consequences are and nothing should be implied in a thesis. Your thesis needs to be specific and concise. Here's a rough re-write of something I came up with - you've got kind of a difficult topic but here you go. ****In an effort to earn more government funding for education, many public schools have lowered the standards of their education to increase student's test scores. Despite increasing education funding, American culture is suffering a series of educational setbacks such as increased illiteracy and lower reading ability among high school graduates. Public education needs to return to focusing on traditional education such as reading, writing and arithmetic. A focus on these topics with high standards for achievement are the backbone of a strong American culture.****If you have a question on citing - use this guide: