1. PHA ENGLISH DEPARTMENT GRADES 9-12 Steps for Creating a Thesis Statement

2. A Thesis Statement is… Clear Insightful Specific Arguable/debatable …and, it’s interesting. Engage your reader with your thinking.

3. A Thesis Statement is… 1-3 sentences Typically located at the end of paragraph 1 (depending on length of essay)

4. Steps for Creating a Thesis Statement Step 1: Make an obvious statement about a topic we've discussed in class. Step 2: Add a specific, interesting, and arguable interpretation of your statement. Step 3: Explain how your interpretation is significant to the book as a whole. Step 4: Explain how your interpretation reveals the author's purpose beyond the text

5. Step 1: Make an obvious statement about a topic we've discussed in class. ex. Sapo, a major character from Bodega Dreams, at first appears to be a static character, who does not experience change over the course of the book.

6. Step 2: Add a specific, interesting, and arguable interpretation of your statement. ex. However, his dedication to Bodega shows his evolution from a person who “relied on himself” to a person who accepts the authority of a boss.

7. Step 3: Explain how your interpretation is significant to the book as a whole. Connect to essential questions or themes from the novel. ex. Ultimately, Quinonez presents Sapo’s change as one of the central questions of the novel: to what or whom should one be loyal?

8. Step 4: Explain how your interpretation reveals the author's purpose beyond the text Think about social/historical context, author's life, comparison to other texts, the world beyond the text. ex. This can also be seen as a central question of neighborhoods like East Harlem, where residents can feel torn between their own ambitions and the betterment of the community.

9. Final Thesis Although Sapo, a major character from Bodega Dreams, at first appears to be a static character, who does not experience change over the course of the book, his dedication to Bodega shows his evolution from a person who “relied on himself” to a person who accepts the authority of a boss. Ultimately, Quinonez presents Sapo’s change as one of the central questions of the novel: to what or whom should one be loyal? This can also be seen as a central question of neighborhoods like East Harlem, where residents can feel torn between their own ambitions and the betterment of the community.