: Gracefully state novelty of a thesis in the introduction I'm being asked to 'clearly state the novelty' in my thesis. I suspect my supervisor would love to actually have a section titled 'Novelty'

Your thesis is motivated by some need. Novelty is hiding there.

Areas of Novelty

Consider at least these areas where your thesis might offer something new:

Phenomena being researched.
Even if the general topic has been researched to death,
your research explores some specific detail
that has not been studied before.

That's novelty.

Your research was motivated by some earlier results,
likely from earlier scientific research.
Perhaps the earlier research recommended further study
in some of the specifics.
If your research falls within those specifics,
you can introduce the novelty of your thesis
by citing those recommendations.
Their recommendation is a hint that
(at the time of publication, at least)
there was something both interesting and unknown.

If your research fills the gap,
or offers the potential to fill it,
that's novelty.

Method of research.
Even if your research consists entirely of tried-and-true methods,
there will be something different in how you applied them.
At very least,
you will have applied the methods
to some new specific detail
where they have been not previously applied.

That's novelty.

Results.
Your results will not be exactly like anyone else's.
Even if your research does nothing more than confirm some other research,
that confirmation is novel.

Your Motivation

Even if you are not
following up on some earlier researchers' recommendations,
there is something in earlier research
that motivated you (or your advisor).
Some phenomenon that would be interesting to know about,
yet remained unknown.
Something that made you say,
"Ah, this is worth exploring."

Worth exploring almost certainly hints at novelty.

The Reader's Motivation

Another way to look at this:
Why would anyone bother to read your thesis?

Your thesis had better say something new
(about phenomena being studied, methods, results, or some other novelty),
or there is no point reading it.

So ask yourself:
What will the reader gain from reading this?

If you can answer that,
that's novelty.

The Introduction

The job of the introduction
is to help readers decide
whether to make the effort
to read the rest of the thesis.

Thesis readers
are almost certainly motivated
by the desire
to learn some new thing
that matters to them
in an area
where they have an interest.

So write your introduction
to help them figure out:

Is this in my area of interest?
What is here for me to learn? What new thing?
How does this matter to me?

To do that:

Describe the motivation for your research. Especially the key details you were trying to explore.
Describe what's new in your research methods, or in how you applied research methods.
Summarize what's new in your results and conclusions.

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