How to write a Thesis Statement

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How to write a Thesis Statement

• AP English 4,
• Pre-AP English 4,
• and English 4

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What is it?

• Your thesis is
• the basic stand you take,
• the opinion you express, and
• the central point you wish to make.

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What is it?

• Your thesis is your controlling idea, tying
  together all of the separate elements and ideas
  in your paper.

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Most Important!!!!

• Your thesis statement
• MUST contain two parts,
• a SUBJECT
• (the who or what your paper is about)

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Most Important!!!!

• and an OPINION
• your assertion or observation
• about that subject.
• Must be arguable.

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Lets start

• Start by writing a one-sentence statement called
  a thesis statement.
• For example.

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Lets start

• Mrs. Egly (subject) is an awesome English teacher
  (opinion about subject).
• 2. Mrs. Eglys enthusiasm for British literature
  (subject) enthralls her students (opinion).

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A Thesis is not

• 1. A Thesis is not a Title
• An Enlightening Experience

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• Thesis Statement
• My first day at Ellison High School was an
  enlightening experience.

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A Thesis is not

• 2. A Thesis is not an Announcement of the
• Subject
• This paper will attempt to explain why
• the Ellison cafeteria is so crowded.

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• Thesis Statement
• The growing student population of Ellison High
  School crowds the cafeteria and makes having a
  relaxing lunch very difficult.

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A Thesis is not

• 3. A Thesis Statement is Not a Statement
• of Absolute Fact
• A thesis makes a judgment or
  interpretation.
• Theres no way to spend a whole paper
• supporting a statement that needs no
• support.

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A Thesis is not

• Fact Not Thesis
• 1. Mrs. Egly likes the Beatles.
• 2. Ellison High Schools colors are Green and
• White.

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What a Good Thesis Is

• A Good Thesis is Focused.
• It deals with focused, detailed issues rather
  than broad issues that would require a lifetime
  to discuss intelligently.

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What a Good Thesis Is

• The more focused the thesis, the better the
  chances are for supporting it fully and the more
  interesting your essay will be.

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Samples

• Poor Statement
• The boys are either mean or savage.
• Better Statement
• Rogers actions represent the basic cruelty
  inherent in every human being.

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Samples

• Poor Statement
• People are too selfish.
• Better Statement
• Selfishness is seen at its worst the day after
  Thanksgiving when people are desperate for
  holiday bargains..

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Checklist for an effective thesis

• __ The thesis statement presents an opinion
• that is sufficiently limited.
• __ The thesis statement answers So What
• by saying something meaningful.

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Checklist for an effective thesis

• __ The thesis statement presents an arguable
• statement which can be supported and is
• worth exploring.
• __ The thesis statement answers all parts of
• the question or prompt.

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Checklist for an effective thesis

• __ The thesis statement asserts a single idea.
• (No more than one!)
• __ The thesis statement is located at the
• beginning of the paper.

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A Good Thesis is Specific.

• There is not enough time to be vague! The new
  gym is impressive, for example, could mean
  anything from impressively beautiful to
  impressively ugly.

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A Good Thesis is Specific.

• With a thesis statement like Our principal is
  cool, you would probably have to spend more
  words defining cool than discussing the
  principal.

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• A Good Thesis is Specific.

Vague language is often unarguable and usually
BORING!
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TWO MAIN VALUES of the thesis statement.

• 1. It serves as a test of whether your main
  idea meets the requirements above AND

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TWO MAIN VALUES of the thesis statement.

• 2. It constantly reminds you of the point your
  paper must make and is therefore an indispensable
  means of determining the relevancy or
  irrelevancy, the logic or lack of logic, of all
  the material that goes into the paper.