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Unit 3 Agenda 1. Drafting a Working Thesis Statement? 2. Creating Effective Paragraphs

Getting There… Choose a subject you know and feel passionately about… Choose a subject you know little about and want to more about… Choose a subject that has been in the news recently Develop a research question Use the KND Chart

Develop a Research Question Should the law protect people who fall prey to Ponzi and other scams, or should the law just "let the buyer beware"? What causes more societal harm: white collar crime or street crime? Is civil commitment a violation of a sex offender’s civil rights? Should tougher laws target juvenile youth gangs? Should prostitution be legalized? Should marijuana be legalized? What are some workable solutions for the problem of youth gangs? prison gangs? international gangs? Should more legal assistance be given to child victims of sexual assault? Should pregnant women who use illicit drugs be held criminally responsible?

What is a K-N-D Chart? The K-N-D Chart is a way of organizing information to help you clarify what you KNOW, what you NEED to know, and what you need to DO in identifying the subject matter and the specific research question(s) that will help you develop a working thesis statement.

The K-N-D Chart What We Know Need to Know Need to Do

What is a Working Thesis? Once you’ve chosen a topic, you need to decide what you’re going to say about it. Think of the working thesis as a hypothesis to be tested, as an idea that will change and become clearer as you write. A working thesis should have two parts: the topic itself and your claim about the topic.

Sample Thesis Statement Prostitution should be legalized because it can potentially benefit the economy, free up courts to address more serious crimes, and reduce crime rates.

Sample Thesis Statement Tougher laws should target youth gangs because the number of these gangs is on the rise and the nature of the violence in which they participate is a growing threat to society.

Sample Thesis Statement While white collar crime is not always considered a crime, its impact on society is far more criminal than street crime because of the number of people who are often hurt physically and/or financially and the potential that those people will not recover.

Remember, A Thesis... 1. Takes a Stance 2. Is Debatable (Think controversy!) 3. Is Specific 4. Is Properly Limited 5. Passes the “so what? test (IT MATTERS) 6. Passes the “duh!” test (It is not OBVIOUS)

Building Effective Paragraphs Effective paragraphs are: Unified, or focused on one central idea 2. Coherent, or providing details and examples to support the central idea 3. Well-developed, or giving enough information for us to evaluate or even care about the writer’s assertions.

Classic Paragraph Pattern Topic Sentence (states the main idea of the whole paragraph and usually comes first.) Support (backs up your topic sentence using facts, examples, statistics to help you prove your point.) A wrap-up sentence (a final sentence that pulls together the whole paragraph.)

The Topic Sentence All paragraphs have a main idea usually stated in the topic sentence. The topic sentence is usually the first or second sentence in the paragraph, but it can also be placed at the end of the paragraph. Sentences that do not DIRECTLY support the topic sentence should be deleted or moved to a more appropriate place.

1. Hypnosis has none of the dangerous side effects of drugs that relieve tension. 2. Tension-relieving drugs can cause weight loss or gain, illness or even death. 3. Hypnosis is far superior to drugs for relieving tension. 4. Hypnosis is nonaddicting. 5. Most of the drugs that relieve tension do foster addiction. 6.Tension-relieving drugs are expensive. 7. Hypnosis is inexpensive even for people who have not mastered self-hypnosis.

Hypnosis is far superior to drugs for relieving tension. Hypnosis is inexpensive even for people who have mastered self-hypnosis. Hypnosis has none of the dangerous side effects of drugs that relieve tension. Hypnosis is nonaddicting. Most of the drugs that relieve tension do foster addiction. Tension relieving drugs can cause weight loss or gain, illness, or even death. Tension-relieving drugs are expensive.

The Importance of Transitions See p. 55 in RFW Transitions are bridges in your writing that take the reader from one idea to the next. You need transitions between paragraphs that show the movement from one point to the next. Usually the transition between paragraphs comes in the first sentence of the new paragraph. You also need transitions to connect sentences within a paragraph. You create transitions by using transition words/phrases, or synonyms, and substituting pronouns for nouns.

Common transition words/phrases Also For example In addition However Finally As a result Furthermore In fact Previously Nevertheless Instead Likewise On the contrary Therefore Later Above Since Then Specifically In short Thus Although Next

Hypnosis is far superior to drugs for relieving tension Hypnosis is far superior to drugs for relieving tension. One reason is that hypnosis is inexpensive even for people who have mastered self-hypnosis. Moreover, hypnosis has none of the dangerous side effects of drugs that relieve tension. In other words, it is not addictive. On the other hand, most of the drugs that relieve tension do foster addiction. They also cause weight loss or gain, illness, or even death and are expensive.