Thesis Statements, Analysis, and Transitions

1
Thesis Statements, Analysis, and Transitions
2
Thesis statements should do the following

• This statement acts as the unifying sentence for
  your entire paper
• Your intention should be very clear-this is not a
  mystery novel (Text, evidence, argument)
• You need to answer HOW and WHY
• Its ok to lay this all out in the
  beginning-youre a-ha comes from how you prove
  the how and why and not the how and why itself

3
Thesis Statements Cont

• Your thesis statement must be analytical. This
  means that it should not be a fact statement, but
  rather something that you will have to prove.

4

• Which thesis statement is the most effective for
  an argument about the need for V-chips in
  television sets?
• Parents, often too busy to watch television shows
  with their families, can monitor their childrens
  viewing habits with the aid of the V-chip.
• To help parents monitor their childrens viewing
  habits, the V-chip should be a required feature
  for television sets sold in the U.S. as shown
  through statistics concerning violence on
  television.
• This paper will describe a V-chip and examine the
  uses of the V-chip in American-made television
  sets.

5
First Attempt

• The lifestyle of a teenager in the Middle Ages
  was very different from the lifestyle of most
  modern American teenagers.

6
Second Attempt

• Because of the relative freedom enjoyed by young
  people today, the lifestyle of modern American
  teenagers is very different from the lifestyle of
  teens in the Middle Ages.

7
Third Attempt

• A young person in the Middle Ages had very
  different expectations about marriage, family,
  and personal freedom than do young adults today.

8
Fourth Attempt

• A young person in the Middle Ages had fewer
  options for marriage, family, and personal
  privacy and freedom than do young adults today.

9
Final Attempt?

• Teenagers in the Middle Ages, who were considered
  young but responsible adults by the age of
  sixteen, had fewer social choices when compared
  to modern American teenagers. Written records
  reveal that unless these individuals followed a
  religious calling, medieval teenagers had to
  contend with severe social constrictions
  including an arranged marriage and bearing
  children while living without what modern America
  would consider personal privacy or freedom.

10
Pertaining to Our Exam

• Doctor shows are very popular on TV.
• Doctor shows portray the medical profession.
• Networks get ratings by portraying the medical
  profession through doctor shows.
• The overwhelming success of doctor shows
  portraying problematic images of doctors portrays
  Americas fear of and fascination with their own
  health, mortality, and the medical profession as
  seen in shows like House.

11
Transitions

• Your paper should have some sort of logical
  structure. It should either build towards
  something or have an ordering that makes sense.
• Progress
• Characters

12
Analysis vs Summary

• Summary is telling me what the text (song, poem,
  novel, whatever) says. It is merely paraphrasing
  the author/writers words and giving them back to
  me.
• Requirements for this class require analysis and
  not summary

13
Analysis

• Analysis gets at the why and how of the text. Why
  is a theme being used? How is it being used? How
  does it effect the reader? Which connotations can
  I draw from a word? What is the author trying to
  do? How does he do it? What symbols are in the
  text? The words are your evidence to support an
  analytical argument and not the argument itself