1. Take out Work in Progress Folder, Spiral Notebook and W.O.D. Sheet Have outline as well

2. Thesis Statement How to write a thesis statement for a research paper

3. What is a thesis?  Summary of essay  Stating point or argument  A sentence with the main idea of your essay with three main sub-points

4. How do you write a thesis statement for a research paper  Are you arguing a point?  Persuading your reader?  Are you just stating facts?  What are you doing?  Stating facts  Relating facts  Drawing a conclusion

5. What are you doing again?  Stating facts  I. Biography of Poet  II. Literary works and achievements  Relating facts  III. Example poem  Drawing a conclusion  Concluding paragraph

6. How do we summarize?  We TAC it.  Take a fact  Add a fact  Connect the dots

7. Before you begin…  You need to have Roman numerals I and II completed or almost completed  ***Your thesis statement for Monday is a rough draft. It will be turned in on a separate sheet of paper so I can make sure you are headed in the right direction***

8. A note on when to take notes  Orange is my favorite color  Whenever you see text in orange you should write down exactly what it says  So… Your thesis statement for Monday is a rough draft. It will be turned in on a separate sheet of paper  You need to have Roman numerals I and II completed or almost completed

9. STEP 1: Make a List of facts  Choose from each of the seven categories 1 fact that you feel is MOST important  Look for similarities between facts

10. STEP 2: Choose three facts  From your list choose three facts that relate to each other in some way  Two of them must be from Important works and poetic theme  Choose facts that seem to relate best together with your poem and the rest of your facts  Ex. Choose: Emily Bronte lived on the English Moors and Emily Bronte wrote about the English Moors in her book Wuthering Heights  DO NOT choose: Emily Bronte wrote about the English Moors and Emily Bronte died of a cold

11. Example STEP 1: Penny Anna  Choose one fact from each category:  Family/Friends/Relationships  Biographical facts  Early life  Later life  Important works  Poetic theme/literary time period/reoccurring subject matter  Interesting fact about poet

12. STEP 1: Penny Anna  got in fight with sister Caroleena Cruise over book rights, never spoke again  Died young at age 24 in a car accident  went to Mexico when six yrs old  Blinded by an automobile accident when 21 years old  Last book ever written: Blind Eyes  Only one Poem, Blind Eyes is considered a serious themed poem  had two different colored eyes, left dark brown and right, gray

13. STEP 2 which is most important? Choose three  Later life: Blinded by an automobile accident when 21 years old.  Important works: Last Book ever written: Blind Eyes.  Poetic theme: Only one poem, “Blind Eyes” is considered a serious themed poem.

14. Now you can TAC  Take a fact: (talk about something that happened in poet’s life)  Add a fact: (relate to poem of choice and/or poet’s writing  Connect the dots:

15. TAC: Penny Anna Example  Take a fact:  talk about something that happened in poet’s life  Penny Anna was blinded by an automobile accident when she was twenty-one years old.

16. TAC: Penny Anna Example  Add a fact:  relate to poem of choice and/or poet’s writing  The last book she ever wrote was Blind Eyes having the most serious theme of all of her poems.

17. TAC: Penny Anna Example  Connect the dots:  Penny Anna’s automobile accident left a lasting impression on the poet’s life and changed her style of poetry from quirky to serious.

18. Thesis statement for Penny Anna  Penny Anna’s automobile accident left a lasting impression on the poet’s life and changed her style of poetry from quirky to serious.

19. Is it a thesis statement?  Is it:  a summary of the research essay, yes.  Stating point or argument, yes.  A sentence with the main idea of your essay with three main sub-points?  Penny Anna’s automobile accident-biography of poet  Changed her style of poetry-literary works and achievements  From quirky to serious-relates to example poem, “Blind Eyes”

20. Lets try another example  Here are three facts about Emily Bronte:  Biographical fact: Lived in the English Moors  Important Work: Wuthering Heights  Reoccurring subject matter: talks a lot about the wild English Moors especially in Wuthering Heights  Follow the TAC method and write your own thesis statement for these facts

21. Here are some possible sentences: Which is best?  Emily Bronte was inspired by the English Moors where she lived to write the thrilling tale that was her greatest work.  Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte’s only novel was set in her childhood home on the English Moors.  The English Moors where Emily grew up set the scene for some of her greatest works, including Wuthering Heights.

22. Best statement  The English Moors where Emily grew up set the scene for some of her greatest works, including Wuthering Heights.  Part I Biography of Poet: The English Moors where Emily grew up…  Part II Literary works: Wuthering Heights  Part III: set the scene for some of her greatest works, example poem is one of those works

23. Doesn’t have to be perfect  Just working on rough draft  The last part of your thesis can relate to the poem in a general way

24. Start working on outline  When finished with outline start writing your thesis statement  Write thesis statement on a separate sheet of paper NOT on your outline  Bring w.o.d. for tomorrow quiz