interest + intention

when thinking about your problem and project statements, remember:

problem statement = interest [ie. rationale for investigation]

why are you interested in this?

– personal? (ie. are you personally affected by this?)
– community?
– school?
– intellectual? (ie theoretical/conceptual problem or puzzle?)

what are the problems of the past? [ie. historically]

– have they been insufficiently addressed?
– are there failures/discrepancies (in the previous solutions)?
–is there a need to develop methods for solving the problems? 

project statement = intention [ie. goals + objectives]

intention of project

– to solve/address problem
– to rethink issues
– to make people aware of the problem

if you look carefully, your "manifesto" probably covers your interest and intention (because manifestos are usually highly personal reactions to "problems.")  the "thesis idea" is, then, an "abstracted" and "idealized" summary of the problem.