Composing A Thesis Statement Mr. Lugo. What is it? A thesis statement is a one- or two- sentence statement that clearly outlines the purpose or point.

Slides:



Advertisements
Similar presentations
Writing the Thesis Statement
Advertisements

Writing the Thesis Statement By Worth Weller (with a little help from the Purdue and Dartmouth OWL)
WRITING INTRODUCTIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND THESIS STATEMENTS Changing the Terror…
Writing a Thesis Statement. What is a Thesis? a one sentence statement that: Outlines specifically the argument of your essay tells the reader what your.
THESIS STATEMENTS Presentation by Erin Tyson Mt. SAC Writing Center
( Topic/Thesis & Ending/Conclusion)
Writing the Thesis Statement By : Mrs. Abler (with a little help from Worth Weller and Dartmouth OWL)
(Or as I like to say, “What’s your point?”)
Writing the Thesis Statement By Worth Weller and the Purdue and Dartmouth OWL Adapted 31 Aug 2010 by J. Freach by J. Freach.
Becoming a Better Writer How to Write a Thesis Statement.
Writing the Thesis Statement What is it? for most student work, it's a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly outlines the purpose or point.
Writing the Thesis Statement What is it? for most student work, it's a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly outlines the purpose or point.
The Research Essay your thesis statement and beyond.
Important Tips to writing a History Paper. Getting Started At first glance, writing about history can seem like an overwhelming task. History’s subject.
May 2009 Of Mice and Men Essay.
Warm-up 9/6 Because of my ______________ to the gym, I was able to keep a steady workout regiment. After the lesson was done, several students ______________.
Writing the Thesis Statement By Worth Weller (with a little help from the Purdue and Dartmouth OWL)
Writing the Thesis Statement Bacon Academy Civics.
Writing a Response Paper English III. What is a response paper? Your reaction to a text that you have read.
TOPIC + CLAIM+ SUPPORT. = General category your essay is about = What do you have an opinion about? = Ex. Summer vacation—fairly simple = The detriment.
Unit 2 LS 526.  for most student work, it's a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly outlines the purpose or point of your paper.  It is generally.
Writing a Thesis Statement. What is it? For most student work, it's a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly outlines the purpose or point of.
Thesis Statement  The summary sentence that supports your opinions and ideas  The LAST sentence in the introduction paragraph.
Writing the Thesis Statement By Worth Weller (with a little help from the Purdue and Dartmouth OWL)
Writing the Thesis Statement Ms. De La O. What is a thesis statement? For most student work, it's a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly outlines.
Writing the Thesis Statement. What is it? for most student work, it's a one- or two- sentence statement that explicitly outlines the purpose of your paper.
Thesis Statements in Academic Essays By Susanne Bentley.
Basic Guide to Writing an Essay. What is an Essay? An essay can have many purposes, but the basic structure is the same no matter what. You may be writing.
Writing Your Thesis Statement Ye olde student struggles to begin her thesis.
The Research Paper English 12. Argumentative Research Papers  Present a strong claim to a possibly resistant audience  You will gather evidence by looking.
Writing the Thesis Statement
Thesis Statement.
Writing Workshop Notes
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
The Structure of an Essay
Literature Term Tuesday
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
The Structure of an Essay
What does it do? it should point toward the development or course of argument the reader can expect your argument to take Your 3 claims support this.
Writing the Thesis Statement
Thesis Statement The summary sentence that supports your opinions and ideas The LAST sentence in the introduction paragraph.
Writing the Thesis Statement
Research Paper Writing 101
Bellringer: Sept. 16 Honors Period 1 1. Take out your draft response.
Writing the Thesis Statement
Expository Essay Writing Thesis and Introduction
Thesis Statement The summary sentence that supports your opinions and ideas The LAST sentence in the introduction paragraph.
Introductory Paragraphs
The Preliminary Stages
Writing the Thesis Statement
The Thesis Statement.
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Writing the Thesis Statement
Presentation transcript:

Composing A Thesis Statement Mr. Lugo

What is it? A thesis statement is a one- or two- sentence statement that clearly outlines the purpose or point of your paper. It is generally a complex, compound sentence

What does it do? A thesis statement should point toward the development or course of argument the reader can expect your argument to take

Where does it go? Since the remainder of the research paper will support or back up your thesis, a thesis statement is normally placed at or near the end of the introductory paragraph.

What does it contain? The thesis sentence must contain an arguable point. A thesis sentence must not simply make an observation -- for example, "Writer X seems in his novel Y to be obsessed with lipstick." Rather, it must assert a point that is arguable: “Writer X uses lipstick to point to his novel's larger theme: the masking and unmasking of the self."

What the Thesis Statement determines The thesis sentence must control the entire argument. Your thesis sentence determines what you are required to say in a paper. It also determines what you cannot say. Every paragraph in your paper exists in order to support your thesis. Accordingly, if one of your paragraphs seems irrelevant to your thesis you have two choices: get rid of the paragraph, or rewrite your thesis.

Is a Thesis Statement always fixed? Imagine that as you are writing your paper you stumble across the new idea that lipstick is used in Writer X's novel not only to mask the self, but also to signal when the self is in crisis. This observation is a good one; do you really want to throw it away? Or do you want to rewrite your thesis so that it accommodates this new idea?

The Thesis Statement creates a contract Understand that you don't have a third option: you can't simply stick the idea in without preparing the reader for it in your thesis. The thesis is like a contract between you and your reader. If you introduce ideas that the reader isn't prepared for, you've violated that contract.

The Thesis Statement provides structure for your paper The thesis sentence should provide a structure for your argument. A good thesis not only signals to the reader what your argument is, but how your argument will be presented. In other words, your thesis statement should either directly or indirectly suggest the structure of your argument to your reader. Say, for example, that you are going to argue that "Writer X explores the masking and unmasking of the self in three curious ways: A, B, and C.” In this case, the reader understands that you are going to have three important points to cover, and that these points will appear in a certain order.

Other Attributes of Thesis Statements A thesis statement takes a side on a topic rather than simply announcing that the paper is about a topic (the title should have already told your reader your topic). Don't tell readers about something; tell them what about something. Answer the questions "how?" or "why?” The Thesis statement is sufficiently narrow and specific so that your supporting points are necessary and sufficient, not random Paper length and number of supporting points are good guides here. It argues one main point and doesn't squeeze three different theses for three different papers into one sentence;

The Thesis Statement Equation Thesis statements are basically made up of your topic and a specific assertion about that topic, therefore, THESIS = TOPIC + SPECIFIC ASSERTION

Summary The four “shoulds” of a thesis statement:

#1 A good thesis statement should take a stand - don't be afraid to have an opinion; if after your research, your opinion changes, all the better - means you have been thinking; you can write a new thesis statement!

#2 A good thesis statement should justify discussion - don't leave your readers saying to themselves "So what" or "duh?" or "like what's your point?"

#3 A suitable thesis statement should express one main idea or a clear relationship between two specific ideas linked by words like "because," "since," "so," "although," "unless," or "however."

Example Poor: Stephen King writes readable books. Good: Stephen King’s books are so good because they are about normal people who get into supernatural situations.

#4 A good thesis statement should be restricted to a specific and manageable topic - readers are more likely to reward a paper that does a small task well than a paper that takes on an unrealistic task and fails

Student Practice/ Application 1. Log on to a computer 2. Utilize the remainder of class to formulate your thesis statement. 3. Compose a thesis statement and introductory paragraph 4. Complete Exit Ticket Question