2. Today’s Standards Writing Organization and Focus 1.1 Create compositions that establish a controlling impression, have a coherent thesis, and end with a clear and well-supported conclusion. 1.3 Support thesis or conclusions with analogies, paraphrases, quotations, opinions from authorities, comparisons and similar devices

3. You should always begin a paper by formulating your thesis. What is a thesis?  A thesis is an argument or a claim an author makes about how things are and/or ought to be.  A thesis can also be called the main idea.  In stories, the thesis is called the theme.

4. Your thesis should always be supported by evidence. Evidence comes in various forms such as: research  opinions from experts statistics  definitions examples  analogies/ comparisons personal experiences stories quotes

5. Examples of Evidence Research “A research study conducted in 2002 by UCLA showed that the incidence of colon cancer has increased significantly in the last decade.” Statistics “ About 7 in 10 colon cancer patients have a family history of the disease.” Thesis: Colon cancer is a serious disease affecting many Americans and should continue to be studied. Examples “Norma Smith from Iowa, for example, lost 3 members of her immediate family to colon cancer. All of them were under the age of 50.”

6. Personal Experiences “My mother was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 48. Because of her young age, doctors did not correctly pinpoint her condition until it spread through her lymphatic system and became life-threatening.” Stories “Alan Beauman never thought he would spend his 50s shuffling between chemo and radiation treatments. A successful stock broker looking forward to early retirement, he expected to be spending leisurely days fishing instead. Unfortunately, he was never advised to get a colonoscopy during his annual checkups...” Quotes “It is essential that patients have a colon screen once they reach fifty, even earlier if there is a family history of colon cancer,” says Dr. Steven Atwood of UCLA’s oncology department.

7. Your task: 1)Formulate a thesis sentence that either supports the idea of an intelligence-increasing operation in our modern society or argues against the use of such an operation. 2)Give three general reasons why you feel the way you do. 1)With your group: Decide on a thesis Decide on 3-4 general reasons to support your thesis. Give 1 or 2 different types of evidence to support each reason. Put all of the above on your poster to share with the class.