Miss Nicholson



Name__________________________________

Step 1: Create a strong THESIS to guide you.

▪ Once you’ve determined your opinion and brainstormed your supporting reasons, work to develop a solid thesis statement. Remember, your thesis acts like a guide for your essay by introducing your reader to your believable, debatable opinion.

1. Strong thesis statements briefly introduce the reader to each of the ____________________ the writer will use in the essay. Each reason corresponds to a new body paragraph. In your thesis, list your reasons in the order you will present them in your essay. You should always place your strongest argument ____________________.

2. Strong thesis statements use a powerful ____________________ verb.

3. Strong thesis statements avoid pronouns like ____________________ and ____________________.

Practice: After reviewing the viewpoint and the supporting reasons below, develop a thesis statement. Address the school board as your audience.

|Argument: |Supports school uniforms |

| | |

|Supporting reasons: |They ensure equality. |

| |They help families save money. |

| |They help schools identify visitors. |

|Thesis Practice: |

| |

|Thesis Example: |

| |

|Argument: |Against school uniforms |

| | |

|Supporting reasons: |They eliminate free expression. |

| |They cause teachers to waste time for violations. |

| |They are too expensive to buy and maintain. |

|Thesis Practice: |

| |

|Thesis Example: |

| |

| |

Step 2: Make a MAP of your reasons.

Practice: Help! This writer needs your assistance to create a strong thesis and organize his paper effectively. Read the sample, identify his weak thesis, and locate his three supporting reasons.

Valley Forge Middle School has many things that I like and dislike about it. One thing that I would like to change about VFMS is the starting time. Normally, we start at 8:00am. I would like to change the starting time to 9:00. Kids come into school and are groggy and tired in the morning. Changing the starting time back an hour would give us a chance to sleep in by an hour. We could be able to concentrate earlier on in the day and not be so tired. Another reason to change back the starting time is that it would give kids a chance to eat breakfast. Some kids don’t eat breakfast and having a later start would give them that chance. It would help them concentrate better in the morning and get a head start on the day ahead. My last reason is that they would have time to do homework. Some kids have limited amounts of time to do homework with sports and after school activities. This would give kids more time to do their homework at night because school started later. These are the reasons why I think that the starting time should be changed to 9:00.

Original Essay: Improved Thesis: ___________________________

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

____________________________________________

To craft a strong essay, this writer should:

Step 2: Make a MAP of your reasons. (continued)

Your Essay: Now that you’ve had some practice writing thesis statements, try to craft a thesis statement for your argument. Review the reasons that you came up with to support your position of the question on the brainstorming sheet. Choose the three reasons you feel most strongly support your argument and write them below. Remember to put your strongest argument last!

Practice: Create a persuasive map for the following example. Then write an effective topic sentence for the three the reasons.

Your Essay: Now that you’ve had some practice writing topic sentences, try to craft a topic sentence for each of the body paragraphs of your essay. Remember to use powerful action verbs and eliminate you and I.

-----------------------

Map It!

Planning your way in A Persuasive Essay:

Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences

Map It!

Map It!

Reason 3

Reason 2

Reason 3

Thesis

Reason 1

Step 3: Create a TOPIC SENTENCE for each reason.

1. A topic sentence functions as a mini thesis statement for each body _______________________.

2. In each paragraph, a topic sentence should introduce that paragraph’s one __________________________.

3. Topic sentences follow the same guidelines for thesis statements; they use powerful _____________ verbs and eliminate you and I.

Effective Topic Sentence:

To avoid becoming a scapegoat, one should steer clear of being a nonconformist.

Reason 2

Reason 1

Map It!

You are well on your way to a strong

Persuasive Essay!

Topic Sentence:

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Topic Sentence:

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Reason 1

Reason 2

Reason 3

Thesis

Reason 1

The Lynx team has been awarded PTA funds to take a field trip. Persuade your teachers to choose your field trip idea.

Thesis:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reason 2

Reason 3

Topic Sentence:

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Effective Topic Sentence 1:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Effective Topic Sentence 2:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Effective Topic Sentence 3:

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Reason from thesis

Variation of writer’s argument

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download