Post on 03-Apr-2018
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7/29/2019 Crafting a Thesis Statement
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A work in progress
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Suit your purpose (to inform or persuade)
Specify your topic
Make a defensible claim or assertion
Engage your reader
As you develop your ideas in the prewriting stage, and
beyond, your thesis will evolve. As you explore your topic,
draft, and revise, your thesis may change several times,becoming stronger each time.
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As you read, look for ideas that go together, or for
different articles that express similar ideas. Highlight or
note those in some way.
Look at the details you have highlighted and try to group
them into subtopics. Then write a word or phrase that
describes each group.
Evaluate your groups and decide which one or ones
should be the focus of your paper. At this point, you may
decide you need to do more research or even find adifferent topic.
Use the subgroups to answer a question, either from the
assignment, or one developed from your research.
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An example:
Used with supervision, social media canoffer adolescents many benefits.
Although this is a good start, it is not as effective as it could
be. Lets work on it.
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Does it suit the purpose of persuading or
informing?
Does it specify the topic?
Does it make a defensible claim?
Does it engage the reader?
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So what can be done to improve out statement?
We should make it more specific. This will ensure that we
explore our subject in depth, rather than just scratching thesurface of a topic that is too broad. It will also help in the
organization of the rest of the paper.
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What kinds of benefits?
Some may include:
Building social ties
Strengthening existing friendships
Maintaining long distance relationships
Extending social network
Working with classmates
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Spelling out two or three of these specific benefits in the
thesis will give readers an idea of what is to follow and set
up the organization.
For example:
Used with supervision, social media can offer
adolescents the benefits of building social ties,extending their social network, and even working
with classmates.
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Your thesis should change what readers know, think, or
believe.
Although a thesis statement may sometimes be longerthan one sentence, many instructors prefer you limit it to
one. It is best to ask.
In academic writing, a thesis statement is usually notimplied.
It is expected that you will state your main idea clearly
and
directly in the first paragraph.
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Make sure your assertion is one that can be
disputed.
Avoid making an announcement such as
This paper will discuss or The subject ofmy essay is
Write in third person.