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! 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. The Thesis Continuum

4 most common MISTAKES Too Broad Merely Factual Announcement Too Vague

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

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.

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

Put it all together and what do you get? Thesis Formula: Answer to EQ+ Opinions/reasons =Thesis Example: Essential question: Should distracted driving be a criminal offense? 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. 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. Should only be 1-2 sentences!!!!

Review To decide on topics you must –Review your notes –Make decisions –Ensure you have support

Finally To write your thesis, you combine your subtopics and your answer into one parallel statement: Sample Essential Question: Should public schools switch to year round school calendars? 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.

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

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

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

Road map to outline Page 17