thesis statment
thesis statement for my assisgnment
1302Notes – 08 – February 11, 2021
Theses
1. Drafting a Thesis Sentence
2. Brainstorming for Better Work (with some new techniques)
3. Your Post-Brainstorming Thesis (Post Thesis as Quiz for attendance)
4. Homework Help
5. Checklist of Graded Assignments, Week 4
HOMEWORK for NEXT TIME: 1-Finish PEERMARKing 3 of your fellow
students’ paragraphs, as well as one of your own under “Writing Uploads” — click on
“Mark Paragraphs” to see what has been assigned to you and answer the questions.
This is due Friday. 2-Look at the Feedback on your Paragraph (available Saturday
morning). 3-Brainstorm, discover, & UPLOAD Thesis Sentence. 4-Plan to Revise
your paragraph and upload the best version by Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
1. Drafting a Thesis Sentence
To draft a thesis sentence for your upcoming essay, you need to know what the essay
assignment asks. Look in our Class Notes 04 for the handout called “Instruction for
Fiction ESSAY – OPTIONS.” It has not just the two options for your essay, but step-by-
step instructions.
Either: Option 1) Show how the author uses 2 to 4 various techniques to create the
same effect (Example: Rebecca Roanhorse’s
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian
ExperienceTM” uses its protagonist, antagonist, and irony to disprove how the American
public sees Native Americans) or Option 2) Argue against something that almost
everyone who reads the story assumes is true—using evidence from the story to do
so. (Example: The hospital at the start of Jonathan Nolan’s “Memento Mori” is
actually a prison.)
Don’t draft your thesis sentence right away. Instead, go back to the story you want to
writ about and use some of these techniques to brainstorm ideas.
2. Brainstorming for Better Work
While everyone finishes reading each other’s paragraphs (three, plus your own, by
Friday night), start working on the idea for your ESSAY. “Start working on” does not
mean that you start writing it already. Start exploring ideas. Build material to eventually
write. Building material = brainstorming. Many of you will use your existing paragraph
inside your essay, and I bet most of you would like to (one less paragraph to write fresh,
yes?) So remember to include it in some of these techniques:
Free-writing:
Have you ever been mostly through a last-minute essay when you suddenly realized
Settings-
Future –
Sedona – Work
– Bar –
Apartment –
gutter
Work
Plot
Long expo &
denouement –
climax lost job
& girl
Characters
jesse – wolf –
theresa – boss
– daranne –
How public
sees
NatAms in
“W2YAIE”
Subtext –
irony of
situation… or
opposite of
that?
POV – 2nd
person even in
the title. YOU
YOU YOU
Subtext:
Allusion to
western movies
books TV
what it should have been about? One crazy paradox about writing is the fact that many
people do not know what they want to say until they say it (in writing). Getting to that
point early lets you create that aha! experience well before the deadline. To free-write,
set a timer for maybe 3 minutes (or play a song, and write to the end of the song).
During that time, write as fast as you can, as sloppy as you want on the topic of your
chosen story and its techniques (going fast is part of the process; some call it “puking
the ideas onto the page”). It’s like a “zero draft.” Do not use a clock for these
exercises. You want the creative part of your brain for this, and the part of your brain
that tells time is not the creative part. Use a lot of colors, though. Repeat as necessary.
Blind-writing:
This is like free-writing, but on a keyboard and with the screen hidden (behind a piece
of paper, if you can’t turn off your monitor). Texting counts. Again, set a timer or write
to the end of a song, go as fast as you can, and don’t worry about mistakes; this part is
supposed to be fun and messy.
Listing:
A favorite: just to start scribbling lists. Like, list the stories you’re considering (if you’re
willing to change). Then list all the characters, and the exposition, and the climax, and
the denouement, and the point of view, etc. Then maybe list some of the story’s effects
(especially the one you may have mentioned in your paragraph).
Mind-mapping: Video
Mind mapping one appeals to more visual people. Start with a point in the middle of a
page, and then branch off of it to smaller and more specific points. The example here
isn’t a great piece of mind-mapping. If I were more artistic on the computer I would
branch off “characters” with a circle for each character, and branch off “settings” with a
new circle for each setting, etc.
As I did this, it occurred to me that I
have got to include a settings
paragraph in my initial idea, so now
it’s “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian
ExperienceTM” uses its protagonist,
antagonist, and irony to disprove how the
American public sees Native Americans.
OR I could write an essay about how
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian
ExperienceTM” point of view, secondary
characters, & settings to bring the
reader into the Native American
experience. New ideas thru mind-
mapping and brainstorming.
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/sites/default/files/docs/learningguide-mindmapping
S.C.A.M.P.E.R.: video
I just learned this one, and think it would be a great mnemonic for people who want to
experiment with option two (where you argue an alternative reading to the story). The
word SCAMPER is a mnemonic for various ways to look at your topic: Substitute –
Combine – Adapt – Modify (or Magnify or Minify) – Put to Another Use –
Eliminate – Reverse. Let’s say you really want to write about “Happy Endings,” part D
(the one about Fred & Madge surviving a tidal wave—nobody writes about that one).
• Substitute – What if John & Mary faced a tidal wave? Would they survive? What if Fred & Madge faced an
earthquake instead, or a forest fire, or a hurricane, or a landslide? What if they don’t escape the tidal wave?
What if they aren’t virtuous and grateful, & instead they loot other houses and make a killing on real estate?
What if thousands don’t drown—could Made & Fred have saved them?
• Combine – What if part D were combined with part C (could Madge &/or Fred stop the murder?) What if
it were combined with part B (could either stop Mary’s suicide?) What if Fred and Madge were different
personalities in the same person who has dissociative identity disorder? What if Fred and Madge were one
person w/o D.I.D. (gender fluid, happy living alone, owning their own house—now that I think of it, this
whole story is about pairs)? What if we combined the tidal wave with a malaria outbreak, and landslides,
and an earthquake?
• Adapt – What would have to change to get a happy ending? (Religion? Relief? Sacrifice to a greater
good?) What would have to change for readers to remember part D as well as they do B & C? (More
suspense? Rounder characgters?) How would Madge or John have to change to save her first marriage?
• Magnify – Could more stories be added than A through F (the whole alphabet)? Could more characters be
added to the 5 in all parts—name Mary’s friends, and Fred’s, and what about their extended families? Could
“Happy Endings” become a book instead of a short story?
Put to Another Purpose – If this is a feminist story, how could it become more pro-male? Could this be
changed to challenge mystery tropes instead of romantic tropes? Could this be used for a script or a poem?
• Eliminate – What if part D only about Madge, or only about Fred? If Madge’s first husband hadn’t
committed murder/suicide, would her marriage to Fred be as happy? If there were no natural disaster, that
would be boring. Remove their “charming house,” and the threat would be different. (Thought: The
charming house appears in at least 3 stories, and the homeowners are never the victims. Hmm!)
• Reverse – What if Part D were the second story, and “Happy Endings” moved from E through A? What if
Madge cheated on John, instead of vice versa? What if Fred & Madge start “virtuous & grateful” and end
with “no problems” – does that make a difference?
By playing with these (which I really just did tonight, Sept. 9) I’ve got several ideas for
an Option 2 essay –
• Readers think Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” is about the inevitability of
death, but both setting and characterization show it’s also about the importance of
home ownership.
• Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” argues that there are no happy endings—but
she deliberately leaves out death as a happy ending, through blessed relief, religious
fulfilment, or the idea of sacrificing for a greater good.
• Some see Atwood as a feminist author, but elements of “Happy Endings” –
especially the woman-as-victim angle and the insistence on romantic pairings – say
otherwise.
(Remember what I said about there being more ideas out there than leaves in a jungle?
This is what I meant.)
https://study.com/academy/lesson/scamper-brainstorming-methods-example.html#:~:text=The%20SCAMPER%20method%20of%20brainstorming%20is%20a%20structured%20approach%20to,problem%2Dsolving%20and%20creating%20solutions.
Six Thinking Hats – This is another new one for me. It was initially created for group
brainstorming, in which each person pretends to wear a different color hat, but an
individual can also try on different hats. Here’s a colorful explanation. For the rest of us:
• White Hat – Facts. What would a robot, or Mr. Spock, or Sheldon Cooper notice
about the story? (Word count? Year it was published? Who wrote it and their
reputation?)
• Red Hat – Feelings. What would the most emotional person in the world notice
about the story? What would make them cry? Laugh? Shout in anger?
• Yellow Hat – Benefits. What would (the Unbreakable) Kimmy Schmidt or Pollyanna
think of this story? What are its most wonderful parts? Can this story do good in the
world? How?
• Green Hat – Creativity. Imagine the most artistic artist (like Bill Hader’s Stefon on
SNL) gets hold of this story, and immediately starts talking about music and
paintings and a sculpture and a collage. What would this artist see that you cannot?
• Black Hat – Cautions. What would Eeyore (Pooh’s donkey friend) or Marvin the
Android (from Hitchhiker’s Guide) think of this story? What are its worst aspects?
Could this story do evil in the world? How?
• Blue Hat – Process. The organizing hat, it controls the others, asking, “How can we
turn this into a thesis?” and “Can we support this idea?” and “How many paragraphs
would that make?”
3. Your Post-Brainstorming Thesis
Before you start writing an essay, have a thesis sentence. We discussed some of this in
part 1 of today’s notes, but now (hopefully) you’ve brainstormed and have even better
ideas. (Please note the fact, if brainstorming really helped give you better ideas. The
logical part of your brain will try to tell you in the future that it’s just a waste of time,
and you can just skip that step – you need proof against that part of your brain!)
Here is an excellent video (under 6 minutes) that explains thesis sentences even better
than I could have (Ariel Bissett, How to Write An Essay: Thesis Statements). The only
big difference is that she says college essays are rarely “5-paragraph themes.” You can
still do 5-paragraph themes, but you are no longer required to. 4-paragraph themes, if
very well supported, are also acceptable, as are 6-paragraph themes.
As mentioned, your Fiction Essay can start with one of two kinds of thesis sentences,
demanding different kinds of support. Remember that you will add an introductory
paragraph and a concluding paragraph, so you will eventually need a minimum of two
academic/body paragraphs to write the minimum-requirement 4-paragraph theme:
Fiction Essay Thesis Sentence Options
1-[Author] uses [2 to 4 Techniques] for [Effect] 2- [Detail] from [Story] is actually [Difference]
Each effect = 1 academic paragraph, each with
support from the story.
1 paraph = assumption & 1 or 2 paragraphs =
difference, with support from the story.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS737US737&sxsrf=ALeKk02IHyxvSmcPHr2jeqHcqm_XJvQe7Q:1599638050983&q=how+to+write+an+effective+thesis+sentence+ariel+bissett&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjX7bCOzNvrAhVFSK0KHS3YALMQBSgAegQIFRAt&biw=974&bih=494#kpvalbx=_LYpYX4WMKYKgsQXoz5SYDA15
Next week, we do outlines. But you must come up with at LEAST one thesis sentence
that you are considering (it may change once you’re writing it), and upload it. Say what
option you have chosen (Option 1 or Option 2).
The Thesis Sentence Must:
• Be one sentence (with a main subject & verb –
you may need to work on it to get it down to one
sentence, but this is vital)
• Be as short as possible (much of the length will
go to the title and author)
• Name the story (quotation marks for the title)
• Name the author
Optional:
• Option 1 might want to hint at the content
• If you can’t decide between two thesis sentences,
clearly label each and upload them together.
Remember that if you really want to include the
paragraph you’ve already written, then your thesis
sentence must fit it—it’s no good to save a little time
if it ruins the unity of your essay. For example, if your
Fiction Paragraph’s topic sentence was: The girls’
extraterrestrial origin, in Neil Gaiman’s “How to Talk to
Girls at Parties,” is obvious in their dialogue, then a
good thesis sentence mirght be: The girls’ extraterrestrial origin, in Neil Gaiman’s “How
to Talk to Girls at Parties,” is revealed in the setting, in the foreshadowing, and in the
girls’ dialogue. (See what I did there?) If your Fiction Paragraph’s topic sentence was:
Rachel Swirsky explains why the speaker’s fiancé was attacked but mostly through
subtext, then a good thesis sentence might be: Because Rachel Swirsky’s explanation of
the paleontologist’s attack is mostly given in subtext, the speaker’s fiancé could in fact
have been the aggressor.
Upload this on our MyTCC page under “Writing Uploads” and “Fiction Essay Thesis
Sentences.”
4. Homework Help
The instructions for how to do the homework are in parts 1, 2, & 3 of these notes. The
best extra advice I can give you is to set aside time to encourage your creative side
while brainstorming (different colors, fun music, etc.), because creativity likes to have
fun. Our homework, as listed at the top of these notes, is to:
• Finish the PeerMark assignment from Notes 07
Option 1:
Rebecca Roanhorse’s “Welcome to
Your Authentic Indian ExperienceTM”
uses its protagonist, antagonist, and
irony to disprove how the American
public sees Native Americans. OR
Option 1:
“Welcome to Your Authentic Indian
ExperienceTM” by Rebecca Roanhorse
brings the reader into the Native
American experience through point
of view, secondary characters. OR
Option 2:
The hospital setting in Jonathan
Nolan’s “Memento Mori” is actually
a prison. OR
Option 2:
Although Margaret Atwood’s “Happy
Endings” argues that there are no
happy endings, she is wrong.
• Take time to look at the feedback your paragraph got (as of Saturday) before you
start revising it for a final-draft upload on Wednesday.
• Brainstorm. Your ideas really do get better and come more easily if you
brainstorm!
• Don’t go with the first draft of your thesis sentence. Let it sit, then make it better.
5. Checklist of Graded Assignments, Week 4
□ Take EXAM 1: Fiction by end-of-day Wednesday, February 10, online, under
“Tests and Quizzes” on our MyTCC page.
□ PeerMark Fiction Paragraphs (due end-of-day Friday, February 12)
□ (Ungraded – Brainstorm Your Essay!)
□ Upload Thesis Sentence (due end-of-day Sunday, February 14)
□ Revise and Upload Final Draft of Fiction Paragraph (end-of-day Wed, Feb. 17)