It presents the result of a study about the contribution of the structures of Theme for the organization of the information in dissertations. For that research, 44 texts produced by students of the Special Course (CE) of the extinct Sistema de Ensino Elite were used. The texts were divided into two groups: texts 01 – 22 which got grades above 6,0; and texts 23 – 44 which got grade 6,0 or less. The theoretical basis are the studies of Halliday (1994), Thompson (1996), Eggins (1994), Neves (1997, 2002), Bakhtin (1992), Marcuschi (1999, 2002), Travaglia (2002), Rojo (2005), Koch (2002, 2006), Souza (2003), Bronckart (2003), Pillar (2002) and Fries (1994). In the analyzed texts, the structures of Theme presented in each part of the text (introduction, development and conclusion) were identified and the elements that form those structures were pointed out. The results indicate that there is no difference between the types of chosen Themes in the two groups, but that the thematic elements and the method of development. Concerning the patterns of development, in the texts of the first group, the largest incidence was of the pattern zig-zag and, in the second group, of the reiterated theme. The analysis of the texts shows that it is not the choice of a certain structure of Theme that guarantees a good organization of the text, but the choice of which element to be placed in thematic position.
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