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Thesis Statements

Thesis Statements. Establish the author’s (your) purpose. To inform To persuade To teach To entertain. You are trying to persuade the reader to agree with your point of view. The Thesis Continuum. A great thesis is between plot summary and opinion. Too much of either is BAD!.

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Thesis Statements

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  1. Thesis Statements

  2. Establish the author’s (your) purpose • To inform • To persuade • To teach • To entertain You are trying to persuade the reader to agree with your point of view.

  3. The Thesis Continuum A great thesis is between plot summary and opinion. Too much of either is BAD! The Thesis Continuum Zone of Highest Interest “The Sweet Spot” Outrageous, unsupported thesis Plot-driven thesis The perfect balance of insightful textual analysis and personal opinion, a GREAT thesis creates an opportunity to use evidence from the text to arrive at a thoughtful, provocative paper.

  4. 4 most common MISTAKES • Too Broad • Merely Factual • Announcement • Too Vague

  5. Thesis Highway The thesis should first answer the EQ. This is like an interstate. It will run THROUGHOUT your paper and in and out of EACH AND EVERY paragraph. You should ALWAYS be going back to how your information PROVES this assertion

  6. Thesis Highway Every interstate has secondary highways that lead the driver to different destinations. You have to decide where you want to take your reader. These become your RESEARCH SUBTOPICS.

  7. Subtopics? • Come from your HEAD • Help prove your answer to the EQ • Answer the “because” to your EQ answer

  8. Put it all together and what do you get? Answer to EQ + Opinions/reasons = Thesis Distracted driving should 1. They kill people so they should be tried as such. be a criminal offense. 2. The knowingly endanger the public. 3. They are breaking the law of the road. Thesis 1 (1 sentence): Distracted drivers knowingly endanger the public, inadvertently kill people and intentionally break the law proving that distracted driving should be a criminal offense. Thesis 2 (2 sentences): Distracted drivers knowingly endanger the public, inadvertently kill people and intentionally break the law. As a result, distracted driving should be a criminal offense. Should only be 1-2 sentences!!!!

  9. Review • To decide on topics you must • Review your notes • Make decisions • Ensure you have support

  10. Finally Sample Essential Question: Should public schools switch to year round school calendars? • To write your thesis, you combine your subtopics and your answer into one parallel statement: Sample Thesis: Year round schooling would clearly be a positive change for all public schools in the United States due to the improved retention rate of material, a reduction in missed instructional days, positive economic and societal implication, improved test scores, and decreased student and teacher burn out.

  11. Thesis should be • 1-2 sentences • Parallel in structure • A road map to the rest of your paper • Representative of ALL research

  12. Identify • 4-5 subtopics (REASONS) should emerge from your notes. • Look for things each note has in common—the “why” is helpful • Label these: it becomes a research “subtopic” (first column on your notes

  13. Color code • Color code your notes so you can easily identify your subtopics later. • Each subtopic is a different color

  14. Road map to outline • Page 17

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