1. Writing a Strong Thesis Statement

2. The Three “P’s” A good thesis statement includes three “P’s.” It is a…
Three-Pronged
Parallel
Preview
…of your essay.

3. Example of a Thesis with the Three “P’s”
It is important for good friends to have excellent moral character; they should have a sense of loyalty, kindness, and dependability.
NOT: The most important qualities of a good friend are sense of humor, being kind, and someone I can depend on.

4. Three Prongs
The three prongs are your three reasons WHY you are correct in your opinion.
Example: “Television can be educational; It helps you learn, It helps you remember, and it gives you information from all over the world.”

5. Parallel
It is written in parallel form, which means they have the same grammatical structure.
Example: “Television can be educational; It helps you learn, it helps you remember, and it gives you information from all over the world.”

6. Preview
Gives readers an idea of what the essay will be about (Your big picture).
Example: “Television can be educational; It helps you learn, It helps you remember, and it gives you information from all over the world.”

7. Previewing Your Paper
You will use the three “prongs” of your thesis statement to create the topic sentences of your three body paragraphs.
Each prong becomes the topic sentence of one paragraph.

8. Previewing Your Paper
Thesis statement:“Television can be educational; it helps promote learning, it helps promote memory, and it provides information from all over the world.”
Topic Sentence 1: Television helps one learn new facts about people, places, and things.
Topic Sentence 2: Watching television is a way to reinforce facts learned other places and help remember them.
Topic Sentence 3: Quality television programming brings the world within reach for anyone.

9. Practice!
You will be writing a “Three P” thesis statement for Vocabulary Prompt 3.
The prompt is found under the “Vocab” tab of your iTunesU.

10. Sources:
Backman, Brian. Thinking in Threes: the Power of Three in Writing. Fort Collins, CO: Cottonwood, Print.