1. Writing to Please Writers (or, how to pass tests with a 3, 4, or 5)

2. How To Write a Thesis Statement What is a Thesis Statement? –Almost all of us—even if we don’t do it consciously—look early in an essay for a one- or two-sentence condensation of the argument or analysis that is to follow. We refer to that condensation as a thesis statement.

3. Why Should Your Essay Contain A Thesis Statement? –to test your ideas by distilling them into a sentence or two –to better organize and develop your argument –to provide your reader with a “guide” to your argument –In general, your thesis statement will accomplish these goals if you think of the thesis as the answer to the question your paper explores.

4. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned. –Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question.

5. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned (cont) –For example, if your assignment is “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth- grade class?”

6. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned (cont) –After you’ve chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one or two complete sentences answering that question. –Q: “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?” –A: “The potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class are....” –OR –A: “Using computers in a fourth-grade class promises to improve....” –The answer to the question is the thesis statement for the essay.

7. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. –Even if your assignment doesn’t ask a specific question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue you’d like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question you’d like to write about.

8. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes: take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment express one main idea assert your conclusions about a subject

9. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –Let’s see how to generate a thesis statement for a social policy paper. –Brainstorm the topic. Let’s say that your class focuses upon the problems posed by drug addiction. You find that you are interested in the problems of crack babies, babies born to mothers addicted to crack cocaine.

10. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –You start out with a thesis statement like this: –Crack babies. –This fragment isn’t a thesis statement. Instead, it simply indicates a general subject. Furthermore, your reader doesn’t know what you want to say about crack kids.

11. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –Narrow the topic Your readings about the topic, however, have led you to the conclusion that not only do these babies have a difficult time surviving premature births and withdrawal symptoms, but their lives will be even harder as they grow up because they are likely to be raised in an environment of poverty and neglect. You think that there should be programs to help these children.

12. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –You change your thesis to look like this: –Programs for crack kids. –This fragment not only announces your subject, but it focuses on one main idea: programs. Furthermore, it raises a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree, because while most people might agree that something needs to be done for these children, not everyone would agree on what should be done or who should do it. You should note that this fragment is not a thesis statement because your reader doesn’t know your conclusions on the topic.

13. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –Take a position on the topic. After reflecting on the topic a little while longer, you decide that what you really want to say about this topic is that in addition to programs for crack babies, the government should develop programs to help crack children cope and compete.

14. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –You revise your thesis to look like this: –More attention should be paid to the environment crack kids grow up in. –This statement asserts your position, but the terms more attention and the environment are vague.

15. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –Use specific language. You decide to explain what you mean about “the environment,” so you write: –Experts estimate that half of crack babies will grow up in home environments lacking rich cognitive and emotional stimulation. –This statement is specific, but it isn’t a thesis. It merely reports a statistic instead of making an assertion.

16. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –Make an assertion based on clearly stated support. You finally revise your thesis statement one more time to look like this: –Because half of all crack babies are likely to grow up in homes lacking good cognitive and emotional stimulation, the federal government should finance programs to supplement parental care for crack kids.

17. How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Not Assigned. (cont.) –Notice how the thesis answers the question, “Why should anything be done for crack kids, and who should do it?” When you started thinking about the paper, you may not have had a specific question in mind, but as you became more involved in the topic, your ideas became more specific. Your thesis changed to reflect your new insights.

18. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. –1. A strong thesis takes some sort of stand. Remember that your thesis needs to show your conclusions about a subject. For example, if you are writing a paper for a class on fitness, you might be asked to choose a popular weight-loss product to evaluate. Here are two thesis statements:

19. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –1. A strong thesis takes some sort of stand. There are some negative and positive aspects to the Banana Herb Tea Supplement. This is a weak thesis. First, it fails to take a stand. Second, the phrase “negative and positive aspects” is vague.

20. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –1. A strong thesis takes some sort of stand. Because Banana Herb Tea Supplement promotes rapid weight loss that results in the loss of muscle and lean body mass, it poses a potential danger to customers. This is a strong thesis because it takes a stand.

21. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –2. A strong thesis justifies discussion. Your thesis should indicate the point of the discussion. If your assignment is to write a paper on kinship systems, using your own family as an example, you might come up with either of these two thesis statements:

22. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –2. A strong thesis justifies discussion. My family is an extended family. This is a weak thesis because it states an observation. Your reader won’t be able to tell the point of the statement, and will probably stop reading.

23. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –2. A strong thesis justifies discussion. While most American families would view consanguineal marriage as a threat to the nuclear family structure, many Iranian families, like my own, believe that these marriages help reinforce kinship ties in an extended family. This is a strong thesis because it shows how your experience contradicts a widely-accepted view. A good strategy for creating a strong thesis is to show that the topic is controversial. Readers will be interested in reading the rest of the essay to see how you support your point.

24. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –3. A strong thesis expresses one main idea. Readers need to be able to see that your paper has one main point. If your thesis expresses more than one idea, then you might confuse your readers about the subject of your paper. For example:

25. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –3. A strong thesis expresses one main idea. Companies need to exploit the marketing potential of the Internet, and web pages can provide both advertising and customer support. This is a weak thesis statement because the reader can’t decide whether the paper is about marketing on the Internet or web pages. To revise the thesis, the relationship between the two ideas needs to become more clear.

26. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –3. A strong thesis expresses one main idea. One way to revise the thesis would be to write: –Because the Internet is filled with tremendous marketing potential, companies should exploit this potential by using web pages that offer both advertising and customer support. This is a strong thesis because it shows that the two ideas are related. Hint: a great many clear and engaging thesis statements contain words like “because,” “since,” “so,” “although,” “unless,” and “however.”

27. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –4. A strong thesis statement is specific. A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you write a paper on hunger, you might say:

28. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –4. A strong thesis statement is specific. World hunger has many causes and effects. This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons. First, “world hunger” can’t be discussed thoroughly in five or ten pages. Second, "many causes and effects" is vague. You should be able to identify specific causes and effects.

29. How to Tell a Strong Thesis Sentence from a Weak One. (cont.) –4. A strong thesis statement is specific. A revised thesis might look like this: Hunger persists in Appalachia because jobs are scarce and farming in the infertile soil is rarely profitable. This is a strong thesis because it narrows the subject to a more specific and manageable topic and it also identifies the specific causes for the existence of hunger.

30. End of Part I

31. A thesis statement is the single, specific claim that your essay supports. A good thesis statement is not simply an observation, a question, or a promise. It includes a topic, a precise opinion, and reasoning. Thesis Statements: How to Write Them

32. Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle through its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. –Topic: The representation of Indian lifestyle in the book Black Elk Speaks –Precise Opinion: the book is accurate –Reasoning Blueprint: the book pays attention to cultural detail, it uses Indian words, and it uses direct quotations from Black Elk. The rest of the paper will establish the truth of each of these supporting points, and then explain why they add up to support the truth of the thesis statement. Thesis Statements: How to Write Them

33. For a short paper (1-2 pages), the thesis statement is often the first sentence. A complex thesis statement for a long paper may be part of a thesis paragraph. But it's hard to go wrong if you put your thesis first. Thesis Statements: How to Write Them

34. Is Black Elks Speaks an accurate representation of Indian lifestyle? –This is a question, not a statement. It's fine to sit down at the keyboard with the intention of writing a paper to answer this question, but before you start churning out the sentences, you should have a clear idea of what answer you're trying to support. Thesis Statements: How to Write Them

35. This paper will look at the book's attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotations from Black Elk, in order to determine whether Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle. –The above sample is slightly better because it offers more detail, but it still doesn't say whether the author plans to argue for or against the book's accuracy. Thesis Statements: How to Write Them

36. Because the events in the story emphasize Black Elk's role as a Sioux Warrior, and do not describe Black Elk's eventual conversion to Catholicism and membership in the Society of St. Joseph, Black Elk Speaks presents a skewed and simplified view of the complex history of Native Americans. –Note that the above sample contains a topic (the accuracy of Black Elk Speaks), opinion (it is skewed and simplified), and reasoning (it only tells part of the story). Those three parts don't have to come in that order. Thesis Statements: How to Write Them

37. Useful Formulae for Thesis Statements If you're not sure whether you have a good thesis statement, see whether you can fit your ideas into one of these basic patterns. –[Something] [does something] because [reason(s)]. –Because [reason(s)], [something] [does something]. –Although [opposing evidence], [reasons] show [Something] [does something].

38. Useful Formulae for Thesis Statements ALWAYS use words like: –Because (the best one of all) –Although –Since –So –Unless –However

39. Useful Formulae for Thesis Statements For longer papers, thesis statements can be very complex. –While [a specific, named person] says [a direct quote or paraphrase from the source], [a different, named person] says [something else]. While the two authors disagree over [a minor point], they both share a deep concern over [the topic of your paper]. [Person one's] refusal to accept [a particular point made by person two] suggests that [person one] is [your thesis -- stating the real reason why person one won't agree with person two].

40. Parts of a Thesis Statement The thesis statement has 3 main parts: –the limited subject,limited subject –the precise opinion, andprecise opinion –the blueprint of reasons. blueprint of reasons

41. Parts of a Thesis Statement 1. Limited Subject –Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle through its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. The limited subject tells the reader exactly on what, or whom the article focuses. The book title (Black Elk Speaks), from the example, is the limited subject of the thesis statement:

42. Parts of a Thesis Statement Biographies of all types can teach us many things about the past. What was the culture like? What was the language like? And what did the people say? One such book is Black Elk Speaks, which tells the story of a Sioux warrior in the late 1800s. How accurate is this book? This paper will investigate the cultural details, the language, and what Black Elk actually said, in order to determine the answer. –The above sample starts off with a wordy, general statement about biographies. But the main topic isn't about biographies of all types, it's specifically about one book, Black Elk Speaks.

43. Parts of a Thesis Statement 2. Precise Opinion –The precise opinion gives your answer to a question about the subject. A good precise opinion is vital to the reader's comprehension of the goal of the essay.

44. Parts of a Thesis Statement Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle by its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. –In order to demonstrate college-level thinking, your opinion should be non-obvious, and it should be possible for a reasonable person to disagree with you. –There aren't many reasonable counter- arguments for claims like "Drug abuse is bad" or "The Nazi regime's execution of 6 million innocent Jews was horrible." That's because it's always wrong to "abuse" anything, and it's always wrong to execute the innocent.

45. Parts of a Thesis Statement Does Black Elk Speaks accurately represent Indian lifestyle? –A question is not an opinion. You may, of course, wish to argue that a particular question is unanswerable, or not even worth asking -- but that would still be an opinion that you would have to back up just like any other opinion.

46. Parts of a Thesis Statement Black Elk Speaks fails to represent Indian lifestyle by its lack of attention to cultural detail, its misunderstanding of Indian words, and its lack of quotes from Black Elk himself. –This precise opinion also tells how the author feels, yet it is completely opposite from the original example. Either is acceptable, as long as the rest of the essay supports the opinion.

47. Parts of a Thesis Statement 3. Blueprint of Reasons –A blueprint is a plan. It lets the builder know that the foyer will be here, the living room will be to the east, the dining room to the west, and the family room will be north. –The blueprint of an essay permits you to see the whole shape of your ideas before you start churning out whole paragraphs. –While it's okay for you to start writing down your ideas before you have a clear sense of your blueprint, your reader should never encounter a list of details without being told exactly what point these details are supposed to support.

48. Parts of a Thesis Statement Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle by its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. –In the blueprint, the author signals an intention to support the precise opinion. The author of the example above introduces three different kinds of evidence: –cultural details –Indian words –quotes from Black Elk. –Informed by this blueprint, the reader expects to encounter one section (a paragraph or more) devoted to each subtopic.

49. Parts of a Thesis Statement The blueprint determines the shape of your paper. –If your thesis statement introduces three reasons, the reader will expect a section on reason 1, a section on reason 2, and a section on reason 3. For a single paragraph, you might only spend one sentence on each reason. For a 2-3 page paper, each reason might get its own paragraph. For a 10-page paper, each reason might contain its own local thesis statement, with its own list of reasons, so that each section involves several paragraphs.

50. Parts of a Thesis Statement To emphasize the structure of your essay, repeat keywords or paraphrased ideas from the blueprint as you introduce the sections in which you expand on each point. Crafting good transitions is a skill that takes time and practice.

51. Useful Formulae for Thesis Statements Note: If you repeat your blueprint phrases and your thesis statement robotically ("The third point I want to talk about is how Black Elk Speaks accurately represents the Indian lifestyle through its direct quotes from Black Elk."), your writing will be rather dry and lifeless. Dull writing is probably better than aimless rambling, although neither is terribly effective. | Note: A thesis statement amounts to nothing if the paper is not completely focused on that main point. Blueprinting helps create the coherency of the thesis throughout the entire essay, which makes it a necessary part of the thesis statement.

52. Transitions and Thesis Reminders A thesis reminder is a direct echo of the thesis statement. In a short paper, the topic sentence of each paragraph should repeat words or phrases from the thesis statement.thesis statement No matter how good your thesis, your writing is worth little if it does not cohere (hold together) and demonstrate to the reader how each new point advances the main idea. You can accomplish both goals by providing your reader with thesis reminders.

53. Transitions and Thesis Reminders Note: A long, complex paper will have a long, complex thesis statement, with many supporting points that must themselves be supported. Points which are too complex to be handled in a single paragraph should be treated almost like a small, embedded paper, with its own local thesis statement and blueprint, tied together by local thesis reminders. A good thesis sentence has three main parts: the limited subject (what your paper is about), the precise opinion (what you're trying to say about that subject), and the blueprint (a brief outline of how you're going to support your claim). limited subject precise opinionblueprint

54. Transitions and Thesis Reminders Here are two examples of using the thesis and the blueprint to maintain coherence. –Example 1 –Thesis Statement: –Restoring old houses is rewarding because it is exciting, relaxing, and satisfying. –Topic Sentence #1 with reminder –Part of the reward in restoring old houses lies in the excitement of discovering the original interior. –Topic Sentence #2 with reminder: –Not only is there excitement in restoring old houses, but working with one's hands is relaxing. –Topic Sentence #3 with reminder: –However excited and relaxed you may be when you have finished restoring your house, nothing beats the satisfaction found in viewing the completed project.

55. Transitions and Thesis Reminders Example 2: –Thesis Statement: –Becoming a ski patroller turned out to be harder than I thought because of the studying, the skiing, and the time demands. –Topic Sentence #1 with reminder: –The first hurdle to becoming a ski patroller was the amount of studying required to learn the medical terms, symptoms and signs, and treatments. –Topic Sentence #2 with reminder: –It isn't enough to pass the first aid and CPR exams; a ski patroller also has to train for and demonstrate skiing proficiency and toboggan handling on the slope. –Topic Sentence #3 with reminder: –Studying and ski training are both very time consuming, yet, even after ski patrollers pass all the exams, they still must commit themselves to skiing many hours regardless of the weather or snow conditions.

56. Transitions and Thesis Reminders You Don't Need Exactly Three Points! –If you are writing a more complex essay, you may use a different format, but you still must include blueprints and reminders. –For example, a critical essay may have a thesis, antithesis, and a synthesis. The antithesis presents all the arguments against your thesis, and a synthesis is a kind of compromise, in which you attempt to prove that, whatever points your opponents might have in their favor, your thesis still stands. –Each of these sections may have 3 or more points, which are united by local blueprints and local reminders, capped off by local conclusions, and worked into by the tapestry of the whole argument.

57. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Just as the blueprint of a building is the specific plan that will be used to guide construction efforts, the blueprint of an essay is a tool that an author uses in order to define structure. It's a lot easier to add a new door, move a room from one side of the house to the other, or replace a whole storey if you do it on the blueprint. When writers create a specific plan for their paper before they start churning out paragraphs, they save themselves time that they might otherwise have to spend frantically crossing out and rewriting just before the due date.

58. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay The blueprint, usually located within the thesis statement, is a brief list of the points you plan to make, compressed into just a few words each, in the same order in which they appear in the body of your paper. As you introduce each new point, remind the reader of your thesis -- but avoid lengthy repetitions thesis statement

59. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Sample of a good thesis statement, with the blueprint highlighted: –Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle through its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. –A reader who encounters the above thesis statement will expect the rest of the essay to include one section on "attention to cultural detail," one section on "use of Indian words," and one section on "direct quotes from Black Elk." If your essay actually does provide those sections, in that order, then your reader will be able to follow you easily. If your paper begins with a rambling introduction, the reader will have a hard time picking out just what it is you plan to talk about.

60. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Poorly done… –The Great Depression was an important time in our nation's history. Unemployment, urban decay, and a sense of hopelessness filled almost every part of human life. Yet, even in the midst of great misery, people needed to entertain themselves. People tried many different ways to relieve their tensions, from religious revivals, to Jazz music, to membership in the Communist party. But a whole lot of average people who were suffering in their daily lives often sought escapist entertainment in the form of movies. One such movie was Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times. In Modern Times, "The Little Tramp" symbolizes the simple human values that are threatened by industrialism. –The author of the above passage not only wastes time composing six sentences before getting to her thesis (the very last sentence), she also clouds the issue by bringing up topics (religion, music, and Communism) that she has no intention of ever mentioning again.

61. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Well done… –In Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, "The Little Tramp" symbolizes the simple human values that are threatened by industrialism -- leisure, self-reliance, and compassion. –The revised example is simply the [slightly edited] last sentence of the original wordy and vague paragraph. This clear, direct thesis statement helps the student and reader focus on the task at hand. The blueprint is very short -- just a list of three terms; but even that is enough to communicate how the author is going to try to support these claims.

62. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Varieties of Blueprints –These are all acceptable ways to blueprint in a thesis statement. –Renting a new apartment during college is exciting because it promotes independence, rewards responsibility, and allows creativity. This is one sentence, with commas separating each blueprint item. –Going to college is a good idea; it is intellectually stimulating, it creates responsibility, and it will provide security for the future. This is one sentence with a semicolon to separate the thesis from the blueprint.

63. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Taking Professor Jerz's Technical writing course is a wise choice. It focuses on correct grammar. It allows students to gain experience in the outside world. And it permits students to budget their time. This example is a bit choppy -- here, having a separate sentence for each point is pretty much a waste of words. (But see revision, below.) Taking Professor Jerz's Technical writing course is a wise choice. It focuses on one of Jerz's favorite things: correct grammar. It amplifies textbook knowledge by providing students with valuable experiences outside the classroom. And it forces students to learn time management -- a skill that many college students lack.

64. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay This example is a bit more complex -- the sentences which introduce the blueprint items are actually delivering some of the paper's argument; hence, there's a reason why each point needs a separate sentence. –A slacker student who has nothing more to say about a point than, for instance, "time management is a skill that many college students lack" is not going to want to give away that one idea in the blueprint; instead, he or she will try to create an entire paragraph around that one idea. The result will be wordy and boring. By contrast, a student who can slip an interesting observation into the blueprint, and then follow up with even more intelligent and insightful things in the body of the paper, is demonstrating much more advanced academic writing skill.

65. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Use Parallel Structure –The order of the points in the blueprint should perfectly parallel the points in the essay. –If you say you are going to talk about "ships, shoes, and sealing wax," but your essay starts with "sealing wax," then your blueprint is distorted. –Note: Prof. Jerz says, "I am amazed at how many students make this easily-correctible mistake." –The phrasing of the points in the blueprint should all follow the same pattern.

66. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Here is an example of a distorted (or unparalleled) blueprint structure: –Taking Professor Jerz's Technical Writing course is a wise choice because it focuses on correct grammar and allowing students to gain experience in the outside world. Students are also permitted to budget their time. What is wrong with this example? How could it be fixed? Here are a few reasons the above example is inappropriate: –The number of ideas the writer wants to portray is unclear (does "correct grammar and allowing students..." count as one point or two?). –Nothing stands out as a main idea. The sentence could easily confuse the reader, because the main focus is unclear. –Faulty parallelism is a grammatical error. Flaws in the grammar of your thesis statement can be devastating to the overall effectiveness of the essay.

67. Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay Note: A thesis statement amounts to nothing if the paper is not completely focused on that main point. Proper blueprinting facilitates the coherency of the thesis throughout the rest of the essay. coherency

68. Categorizing Essays Poor/ Non-existent – Does not answer the question and/or no apparent thesis present. Partial – Thesis only answers part of the prompt (A the P!, A the P!) Basic – Thesis is present, but simply re-states the prompt. –Prompt: To what extent did the First Great Awakening influence the American colonies? Basic Thesis: The First Great Awakening greatly influenced the American colonies.

69. Categorizing Essays –Good – Thesis answers the whole prompt and adds information or categories of analysis to the prompt. Prompt: To what extent did the First Great Awakening influence life in the colonies? –Good Thesis: The First Great Awakening greatly influenced the politics, economics, and social life of the American colonies.

70. Categorizing Essays Sophisticated – Thesis answers the whole prompt without simply re-stating and includes “sophisticated” elements, such as change over time, comparison/contrast, etc. Prompt: To what extent did the First Great Awakening influence life in the colonies? –Sophisticated Thesis: The influence of the First Great Awakening on the American colonies was widespread during the 1730s and 1740s, but produced relatively little lasting effect, except in the South. –Sophisticated Thesis: Although the First Great Awakening heavily influenced religious life in the American colonies it had very little effect on politics or economics.