1. 3rd block: mini-lesson on thesis statements
The thesis statement is key to your paper. This is the statement around which your entire paper must center.
What is your paper about?
What do you hope to prove?
Here’s an example and how we make it work:

2. A Life Fraught with Scandal
In the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, he demonstrates his knowledge of scandal, such as alcoholism and activity provoked by it, greed, secrets, and superficiality, due to the moral decay of the 1920s.
Elements of life
Scandal in Writing
Scandal in “Paradise”
The American Dream in Great Gatsby
Fame in Tender is the Night

3. Thesis: In the works of F
Thesis: In the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, he demonstrates his knowledge of scandal, such as alcoholism and activity provoked by it, greed, secrets, superficiality, due to the moral decay of the 1920s.
Fraught with scandal and hardship, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life provided vast knowledge of the 1920s, unlike any writer of his time (Macmillan 1723).
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life was full of tragedy and scandal, and it often showed in his writings (Macmillan 1723).
Fitzgerald’s first work, This Side of Paradise, portrays alcoholism and scandalous acts of the “Flaming Youth” of the early 1900s (Macmillan 1722).
In the novel, The Great Gatsby set in the year 1922, moral decay shines through with extreme brilliance in its presence.
Although Tender is the Night did not gain the status of Fitzgerald’s other novels, it depicts the scandal and alcoholism of the 1920s which Fitzgerald was so familiar with in his life.
Exemplary

4. Jack London: Survival of the Fittest
Jack London expresses the elements of naturalism through his writing.
Life of Writer
Styles of Writing
Betrayal in “Wisdom of Trail”
Call of the Wild
Death in “The White Silence”
Legacy of London

5. Jack London: Survival of the Fittest
Jack London loves nature; therefore, it is embraced in his works. In London’s stories like The Call of the Wild and “Wisdom of the Trail,” he recognizes the beauty and bitterness of nature, while capturing a moment never to forget. In many of his writing, nature determines the fate of man. London writes many works involving happiness and courageous heroes; however, many of the heroes’ lives end with a violent death. Jack London became labeled as one of the greatest literary aristocrats due to his innovations of his writings. Jack London expresses the elements of naturalism through his writings.
Satisfactory

6. Maya Angelou: Phenomenal Woman
In Maya Angelou’s works, she focuses on her pride of being a woman, the pride she feels in being African American, and pride in her life-changing experiences.
Events that influence her poetry
How she overcame obstacles
Effects on women going through similar experiences
Poems about Women
Poems about Race