Please use your ‘Writing a Thesis’ handout for this lesson

Thesis Statement Construction

Making your Claim

• Step 1• Please Review the first section of the handout

• Use your highlighter to outline the key points of section one: Claim

• What stands out as significant?

• Let’s review the term ‘vague’ with an example• Vague is another term for unclear and claims that are vague

usually involve something way too broad or something that only a very few can understand.• Example – Hybrid cars are cool

Finding the Evidence• Step 1• Review the section titled Evidence to make sure that

everything makes sense

• What is a personal anecdote? (Please write this on the handout)• An anecdote is a short story or example that is based on your own

personal experiences and are really helpful for certain types of writing• HSPE prompts• Letters About Literature

• They can be used as evidence but should not carry as much weight as a verified fact, statistic, or logical data

• Example- My aunt has a hybrid and she thinks it’s the best car she’s ever owned.

Warrant• This is the hardest part of the thesis writing process• As the reading states in bold,

The warrant, in other words, explains why the data proves the claim

• Many teachers like to call this the “so what” • Why did you pick these 3 pieces of evidence?• The effect to the cause• The part that 2 rational people can ARGUE about

Example of each component•Claim: Hybrid cars are an effective strategy to fight pollution.• Evidence1: Driving a private car is a typical citizen's most air polluting activity.• Evidence 2: Each vehicle produced is going to stay on the road for roughly 12 to 15 years.• Evidence 3: The hybrid engine of the Prius, made by Toyota, produces 90 percent fewer harmful emissions than a comparable gasoline engine.“•Warrant: Because cars are the largest and longest source of pollution, less pollution will be produced.

Final thesis statement•Hybrid cars are the most effective strategy to fight pollution because cars are an individuals most polluting activity, individuals drive those cars for a long period of time, and hybrid engines produce less emissions, all of which means less pollution would be produced.

Time for you to do the hard work• Choose the 3 most significant pieces of evidence from your list of 7• Choose carefully – use distinct examples that cover the whole

prompt• Avoid repetition in your examples (3 statistics, 3 emotional appeals)

• Take 5 minutes to choose

• What is your warrant?• Embrace the difficulty and challenge – this is tricky• What connects this evidence together?• What is the ‘so what’ • Why did you choose these 3 details• Can we argue about this???• You have 10 minutes to finish your thesis

Pods and Share• Working in your pods of 3 or 4, please share out your

thesis statement• Audience members are listening for a proper claim, evidence,

and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the warrant for each thesis.• Group will work together to edit and correct the thesis to make

it meet our standard• Process

• Group member 1 shares• Group provides feedback, edits thesis to meet standard

• Group member 2 shares• Group provides feedback, edits thesis to meet standard

• Group member 3 shares• Group provides feedback, edits thesis to meet standard

• Group member 4 shares• Group provides feedback, edits thesis to meet standard

Homework• Using your Scientific Revolution Graphic Organizer, you will

write your thesis statement this weekend

• You have all of the evidence• You have 2 hypotheses • Please transfer your last hypothesis to your G.O. because we will

have your comp books this weekend.

• Your final thesis will have…• A CLAIM – _____________ is the real leader of the Scientific

Revolution• 3 distinct pieces of EVIDENCE – because ______, ______, and _______• A WARRANT – which shows that _____________________________.

Homework

Who is the real leader of the Scientific Revolution?

Claim _______________ is the real leader of the Scientific Revolution…

Evidence because _______________, ________________, and ___________________

Warrant which proves, shows, demonstrates ______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________