Writing Thesis Statements Creating Effective Arguments In Paragraphs, Essays, and Blog Postings

It’s persuasive writing…with more power. What is a “thesis?” A thesis provokes your readers to think, and lets your readers/audience know you are an authority on an issue, and you have the evidence to back it up. It’s persuasive writing…with more power. It’s the Power in the “Power of Persuasion!” http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/thesis.html While we learn about thesis writing, click on this website link and keep it in the background.

Step 1: Thesis Statements

Thesis Statement Machine Specific Topic Your Attitude, Angle, or Argument (how you feel) =Thesis

Select a Topic: Is there something you read or saw on the news recently that made you upset or angry? Is there something world leaders do or don’t do that you think they should change? Is there a rule or law that you think is unjust or unfair? Is there something you enjoy (like video games or watching television) that your parents and teachers wish you wouldn’t do? Now that you have a topic, let’s put it in the “thesis machine.”

Sample Bullying in School + Difficult to detect, but incredibly damaging = Bullying in school, although difficult to detect, has long-term devastating effects on its victims, and more needs to be done to stop it.

Step 2: Checking for Strength

“Duh or Wow!” When you read your thesis statement, or have a peer review it, does it make your audience say: “Well, duh! Everyone knows that!” -or- “Wow! I never thought of it that way before!” It may depend on your audience, your background knowledge, or perhaps discovering something that’s new to YOU.

Controversial Topics Can you make someone fall in love with you? Should you? What is art? Is war sometimes justified? Is there any such thing as “normal?” Do gangs brainwash their members the same way cults do? Our founding fathers created separation of church and state for valid reasons: which is more important? Religion not being corrupted by government, or government not being corrupted by religion?

Steps to Strength How do you know if your thesis statement is strong? Check: Does your audience ask “how is that possible” or “why would you come to that thought?” Does your audience say “wow, I never thought of that before?!” Do you weaken your writing with poor word choices like “all” or “never” or “none,” or do you use strong evidence? Do your topic sentences support your main thesis, and the sub-topics strengthen that support? Can you cover or say what you need to say in the allotted space? From: http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/thesis.html#Is%20It%20a%20Thesis

Rate this for strength: Bullying in School + Difficult to detect, but incredibly damaging = Bullying in school, although difficult to detect, has long-term devastating effects on its victims, and more needs to be done to stop it. How could it be stronger? Practice your own thesis statements.

Guiding Questions Now that you have your topic, create a list of sample questions to guide your research. Use a graphic organizer to collect your thoughts as a pre-write:

Bullying in school Guiding Questions Topic What are some of the effects of bullying? Is there any scientific research to back up that bullying is that bad? What major groups or experts are doing anything about it? Guiding Questions Topic

Can you do that? Is that allowed? Changing Your Stance You have written a thesis statement that you’re proud of, and you’ve begun your research. While you’re reading information about your topic, you start to feel a little uncomfortable, like you’ve just bought a pair of shoes that don’t quite fit. You realize you need to change your stance, or opinion, on your thesis. Can you do that? Is that allowed? YES, ABSOLUTELY!

Thesis Generator Your assignment: Click on me to go to the “Thesis Generator” website. Select a topic, put it in the thesis statement creator, and use the checklist to determine if it’s a strong thesis.

Step 3: Going for a Knock-Out

Draft It, Revise It, Publish It! You have: 1. A strong thesis statement Minimum of three pieces of evidence based on your guiding questions to support your thesis Knowledge of your audience, the assignment, and a pre-write “road map” of what you’re going to write…. Now…ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, WRITE!

Your Challenge: Blog Posting You will have space for three paragraphs, approximately 3-7 sentences each, to write your thesis. That’s not a lot of space – you have to be precise, focused, and to the point. Step I: Draft more than you need, and edit back. Write a draft that’s four paragraphs, and we’ll work from there.

Your Challenge: Blog Posting Step 2: Editing, Revising, and Editing: Write your paragraphs in sentences line by line. Can you combine sentences? Do your sentences start differently, with different lengths? Do you have transitions in between thoughts? Did you list your most important pieces of evidence? Did you use your guiding questions?

Your Challenge: Blog Posting Step 3: Publish! You have recombined your sentences into coherent, organized paragraphs: A. Hook, thesis statement, and preview B. Supporting evidence, hyperlinks, etc. C. What to do, call to action, conclusion And of course, during the editing process, you weeded out all of the spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors.

Writing References/Bibliography Correctly MLA/APA Resource Link http://www.netc.org/classrooms@work/classrooms/jane/learning/bibliography.pdf http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/mla.htm