The Confident Writer Chapter 5: Supporting Your Thesis

Find Evidence to Support Your Thesis After you’ve written a thesis, you need to find evidence to support it. Arranged your evidence based on the divisions in your thesis. Write an informal outline Each division in your thesis becomes a main idea that supports your thesis. Find facts, reasons, and examples to support your main ideas.

The Informal Outline The informal outline is simply your thesis and your main ideas. Using a graded essay, draft an informal outline. Thesis: I can’t wait until spring break because I plan on relaxing, spending quality time with my Kindle, and enjoying family time. Main Ideas: a. Relaxing b. Kindle-time c. Catching up on family news

Arrange Your Supporting Evidence Choose specific details and arrange them logically. Your thesis is your central or controlling idea. It determines your essays development and selection of details. Follow this logical plan to achieve unity and coherence: thesis  topic sentence  major details  minor details Look at the formal outline on page

The Formal Outline The formal outline is more elaborate than an informal outline. At this point, you are deciding on major and minor details to support your main ideas. The structure of a formal outline is also more complex. Using a graded essay, try to draft an formal outline. Thesis: I can’t wait until spring break because I plan on relaxing, spending quality time with my Kindle, and enjoying family time. I. Relaxing A.Catching up on sleep B.Catching up on DVRed shows 1.Spartacus 2.Glee 3.American Idol C.Catching up on housework II. Kindle-time A.Books I’m working on 1.20 Under 40 2.For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide 3.Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe B.Books I want to read III. Enjoying family time A.Lunch with Mom B.Spend time with the boys 1.Movies 2.Park 3.Crafts

Achieve Coherence between Paragraphs Coherence is how well your ideas hold together. What ties your introductory, body, and concluding paragraphs together is your thesis, your controlling idea, and the transitional words and phrases within and between the paragraphs. Types of transition include: Signal words Words, phrases, or ideas repeated from paragraph to paragraph Key words or terms repeated throughout entire essay

Write an Effective Conclusion Your conclusion should not leave the reader hanging! There are several ways to conclude an essay: ◦Use one of the following introduction strategies  Relating an anecdote  Being with a quotation and explanation  Using interesting facts and figures  Asking a revealing question ◦Summarize thesis and support ◦Predict the future ◦Challenge your readers