Today we will: Talk about developing a thesis for your feeder 1.2; Continue our drafting workshop.

Making an Argument 1.Research question—Questions that writers attempt to address in an argument 2.Claim—a statement or assertion made without evidence 3.Thesis—a statement in which the writer affirms or defends a specific idea using evidence 4.Argument– a reason or set of reasons supporting the thesis 5.Evidence—information used to support a claim, argument, or thesis (facts, data, ideas, reasons,…)

Thesis, Anyone? road map in a single sentence answers your most important research question how do you know if your thesis is strong? take a stance that others might challenge or oppose  think about possible counterarguments, how will you refute naysayers? make it specific be radical at the outset ask the “so what” question

Organization Surprise: The information in each paragraph of your essay must be related to your paper’s main thesis.

Paragraphs Paragraphs are the building blocks of papers. They have no “perfect” length—the unity and coherence of ideas among sentences constitute a paragraph. Always keep in mind your main thesis and develop clear paragraph topic sentences to stay organized. The topic sentence in each paragraph unifies all other sentences in a paragraph and ties the paragraph to the overall thesis of your paper

Simple Formula for Paragraph Organization 1.Topic sentence. 2.Explain the topic sentence. 3.Give examples and/or evidence. 4.Explain examples and/or evidence. 5.Conclude the paragraph and transition to the next one.

Group Discussion (10 minutes) In your group: 1.Take a few minutes to go over your feeder drafts and discuss the claims every group member makes. 2.Think about how each one of you can tie all of your paragraphs together by an overall argument. 3.Formulate a thesis for your feeder.

Independent Work 1.Once you have formulated a thesis, revise your own introduction and include a thesis statement. 2.Then, “clean up” your paragraphs: Does each paragraph begin with a clear topic sentence that is related to your introduction’s thesis? 3.Develop your paragraphs: they may tell a story, describe an object, explain a process, classify or define details of a topic, or illustrate a point by providing examples—all to prove your overall, more abstract thesis.

Homework for Monday 1.Continue revising your essay according to today’s guidelines. Use the textbook’s short chapters on thesis, organization, and paragraphs if you get stuck. 2.Print the feeder and put it on my desk by 9am on Monday (no need to print it).