A Sense of Doubt blog post #1666 - Tests of a Good Thesis Statement and examples - How to Write Persuasive Essays part ten

A Sense of Doubt blog post #1666 - Tests of a Good Thesis Statement and examples  - How to Write Persuasive Essays part ten

This post is still under construction. It's published, but it's not in it's final form, which is why I did not push it to social media yet.

Then again, this raw form may be as good as it gets for now... :-)


BY THE WAY

NAMING FILES YOU SUBMIT

No teacher wants 25 files all named "document one," "essay," or even the more specific "essay1."


file name format - TowerChrisEssayOneD1WR121.doc

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FIVE TESTS OF A GOOD THESIS

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1. STATEMENT: Is it a statement of an argument? Is its goal to convince the reader of something?
A thesis statement is not a question. If it was supposed to be a question, it would be called the thesis question not the thesis statement.

2. POSITION AND ONE SENTENCE: Is the thesis statement the last sentence of the introduction? Are all the parts of it (problem/solution and essay map) all expressed in one sentence? (My because-should method works best for this).

3. WHY? All thesis statements must be able to answer the "why" question. Sometimes this question is how or when or where or who or what as well. But most often why.

"The U.S. government should legalize marijuana."

WHY??

My because-should form answers the why question.

4. SO WHAT? All thesis statements must pass the so what? question.

Often a thesis statement does not pass this test because it is phrased
as a fact and not an argument.

-- "Marijuana is the highest grossing cash crop in the United States."

SO WHAT?

What's the argument that uses this fact?
Of what is the writer trying to convince me?

5. BECAUSE-SHOULD FORMAT - Not all thesis statements need be expressed in BECAUSE-SHOULD format, but they will be better for it.

Is your thesis expressed as a problem and solution. IE. Because of this problem, we should institute this solution.

Does your thesis have an essay map? Is there a preview of the topics that will be explored in the essay, topics to develop and make the thesis argument?

SAMPLE THESIS (this is not a very good thesis. It's simply designed to show use of #s 3 and 4 above in a single thesis statement. I could do better if I wrote a REAL thesis on this subject).

Because Marijuana is the highest grossing cash crop in the United States, The U.S. government should legalize marijuana.

BENEFITS OF BECAUSE-SHOULD FORMULA
- Describes problem AND solution
- Creates a complex sentences as your thesis
- USES DETAIL IN YOUR THESIS STATEMENT
- preview SUBJECT & topic sentences = essay map

Could Google "because should thesis statements"
nothing specific because I invented because-should thesis
but there is this:

http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/thesis/

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EVERY THESIS SHOULD CONTAIN
1. Both a definition (and argument) of the problem and an argument for the solution.
1a. My because-should method automatically sets up problem and solution both in the thesis.
2. An essay map - parts of the argument.

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THESIS SAMPLES


Possible: The Vietnam War was useless.

Better: Because of the great loss of human life, wasted resources, and ultimate failure to achieve the stated goals, the Vietnam War was a useless military invasion.

EXAMPLE WITHOUT: Trust is the most important element in any marriage; without trust, a marriage may not survive.

EXAMPLE WITH: Because trust is the most important element in a marriage, both partners should work together in an open dialogue to nurture and maintain trust, even if this means attending couple's therapy.


SAMPLE

--“Because of the budget constraints in most school systems and because a disproportionate amount of money is usually allocated to sports despite the small number of students who participate in them,  school districts should institute a pay-to-play sports program, so that parents whose children participate in sports will offset a portion of the expense.”


SAMPLE

DEVELOPING THE PAPER
PROBLEM: OFFICE POLITICS
SOLUTION: INTERPERSONAL & TEAM BUILDING TRAININGS

THESIS: Because office politics can damage employee morale, destroy productivity, and even ruin a company's reputation, companies should provide team building programs and interpersonal communications training twice a year.

Goldfinger Law Ian Fleming

LINKS TO THE WHOLE SERIES - WITH DESCRIPTIONS

The persuasive essay series I have written originated with lecture notes for my classes. Some of the format of the text reads more like notes than like an essay-style description and explanation.

Here are the links to the previous seven installments of this feature.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part One - First post in the series. Features a general introduction and the basic step-by-step process for developing a persuasive essay. There are also an assortment of helpful links to resources. Also, my clarification on the words subject and topic appears here.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part Two - This one covers finding a subject for a persuasive essay and some brainstorming ideas - research first!

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part Three - Part three discusses analyzing a subject to produce the problem-solution structure that works best for persuasive essays. The post considers how audience impacts this work and then an example of the process is shown.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part Four - Here, in part four, I begin a two part discussion of my because-should thesis formula. I describe basic ideas about thesis, how my because-should form works, and then deliver several thesis examples with the form and without the form.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part Five - Part five continues to describe my because-should thesis formula. I share the benefits of the formula and the five tests of a good thesis.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part Six - In parts six and seven, I bust myths related to essay writing and English composition in general. Part six tells the truth (negates stupidity) about use of first and second person pronouns in essays, and the stand against using Wikipedia. 

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part Seven - In part seven, I tear off the cover on the concept of "maximum lengths" in essay writing and the use of tired, old summary conclusion.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part Eight - In part eight, I share more samples analyses for essay ideas with rough outlines of topic sentences and paragraphs.

How to Write a Persuasive Essay Part Nine  -  Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #694 - Academic persuasive essay writing roundup with thesis - How to Write a Persuasive Essay - part nine

CATEGORY LINK for all posts in PERSUASIVE ESSAY WRITING:

http://sensedoubt.blogspot.com/search/label/persuasive%20essays

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1909.10 - 10:10

- Days ago = 1529 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.