1. Thesis, Outline and Annotative Bibliography

2. Rules for Writing a Thesis Statement 1.It must be a complete sentence. 2.It can NOT be a questions 3.It should be provable with facts, anecdotes, stories, etc. 4.It needs to present you and your ideas. 5.Do NOT generalize. 6.Do NOT use first or second person pronouns. 7.Do NOT use clichés. ex: The best things since sliced bread.

3. Step 1- Formulate your thesis. Your thesis is a formal, exact statement of what your paper will be about. It will most likely evolve as you consider the information you have. Think about what you are trying to present and emphasize in your paper.

4. Examples of Thesis Statements TOPIC: The Battle of Gettysburg THESIS: The Battle of Gettysburg changed the momentum of the Civil War. TOPIC: Mike Piazza THESIS: With his leadership skills, offensive output, and work ethic, Mike Piazza excels as the best Major League catcher in the history of baseball.

5. Step 2- Develop your outline. An outline is important because you will organize the notes from your sources based on the ideas in the working outline. The outline will map the body paragraphs of your paper. The introduction and conclusion will NOT be part of the outline.

6. Model Outline (Double space all) Thesis: [last sentence of introduction] I. First point A. Supporting information to developor expand on the point 1. Fact to develop A 2. Fact to develop B B. Supporting Information 1. Fact to develop A 2. Fact to develop B II. Second Point

9. Annotative Bibliography An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

10. Annotation Answers 1.What is the main subject of the source? 2.Who is the main audience for the source? 3.Give a brief summary of the information. 4.What special features can you point out about this source? Examples would be photographs, charts/tables of data, link to relate source, etc.

11. Annotative Bibliography Example Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider, and Christina Witsberger. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51.4 (1986): 541-554. Print. The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

12. Another Example Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor Books, 1995. Print. Lamott's book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with its insecurities and failures. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer, the chapters in Lamott's book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling with one's own internal critic. In the process, Lamott includes writing exercises designed to be both productive and fun.