2. Writing a Thesis Statement Persuasive Writing Skills

3. What is a thesis statement? The position taken by someone expostulating to the dominant or controlling idea advanced by an author in a text.

4. Okay… in English… Your thesis statement will state the precise and specific argument that you are asserting. Your entire paper will support your thesis.

5. What a Thesis statement is… A thesis statement in an essay is a sentence that explicitly identifies the purpose of the paper or previews its main ideas.

6. Fact or observation: People use many lawn chemicals. Thesis: People are poisoning the environment with chemicals merely to keep their lawns clean. A thesis statement is an assertion, not a statement of fact or an observation.

7. A thesis statement takes a stand rather than announcing a subject. Announcement: The thesis of this paper is the difficulty of solving our environmental problems. Thesis: Solving our environmental problems is more difficult than many environmentalists believe.

8. A thesis is the main idea NOT the title. It must be a complete sentence that explains in some detail what you plan to write about. Title: Social Security and Old Age. Thesis: Continuing changes in the Social Security System makes it almost impossible to plan intelligently for one's retirement.

9. A thesis statement is narrow rather than broad. Broad: The American steel industry has many problems. Narrow: The primary problem of the American steel industry is the lack of funds to renovate outdated plants and equipment.

10. Thesis is specific rather than broad or general. Vague: Hemingway's war stories are very good. Specific: Hemingway's stories helped create a new prose style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and strong Anglo-Saxon words.

11. Thesis has one main point rather than several. More than one main point: Stephen Hawking's physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world- renowned physicist, and his book is the subject of a movie. One Main point: Stephen Hawking's physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world renowned physicist.

12. Your Working Thesis You can revise your thesis statement whenever you want to while you are writing your essay. Writers often discover what their real purpose and point is in the process of putting their thoughts into words and then reading what they've written.

13. Ask yourself… What is my stance? What can be argued about my stance? How am I going to prove this?

14. A Sample Thesis Statement The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was instituted in 2001 in an effort to create data that would measure the progress of the American public school system. The central focus of this new legislation measures student progress primarily through standardized tests. This technique alone is not an accurate indicator of the success of public schools throughout the nation since numerous challenges that are faced by students and educators are ignored.

15. Resources http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesist atement.html

16. But…. When writing an essay on a literary topic—making it a literary essay—the requirements change…a little….like: Integrating quotes/examples instead of putting them on a pedestal