ARGUMENTATIVE ASPECTS

What is a thesis statement?

• Sentence that answers the prompt, explains the claim, and the provides the reasons that support your claim.

• Sentence that gets the reader's attention.

• Sentence that is the first sentence of a paragraph, it provides the subject of the paragraph.

• Sentence that provides a specific detail or example.

Prompt: "Write an essay explaining why it is important to keep the promises you make." Which of the following is the best thesis statement for this prompt?

• It is important to keep the promises you make because keeping promises builds trust, encourages people to be responsible, and ensures healthy relationships.

• It is important to keep promises you makes because keeping promises helps build trust like in the novel, "Ghost" where a young boy builds trust by returning shoes he stole.

• It is important to keep the promises you make because you never know when you will need them, you never know how much help they will give you, and you get to be a better person.

• It is important to keep the promises you make because it helps a lot.

Prompt: "Write an essay explaining whether it is important to laugh." Which of the following is the best thesis statement?

• It is important to laugh because laughing has social, health, and emotional benefits.

• It is important to laugh because you need to laugh every day, you need to laugh when you're sad, and you need to laugh when they are being mean.

• It is important to laugh because laughing helps people, like in the story, "The Tale-Tell Heart" where the man laughs to help him deal with his crime, or in the story "Lamb to the Slaughter," where the laughing helps the lady get away with murder.

• It is important to laugh because laughing helped me through a really tough time when I was a kid. I remember when my grandmother was sick, but she still had a good sense of humor. It was good to see her laugh!

Prompt: "Write an essay explaining why success often takes time." Choose the BEST thesis statement for this prompt.

• Success often takes time because a person needs to plan out their actions, work towards a short term goal, and then work for a long term goal.

• Success often takes time because you have to work hard, you have to work efficiently, and you have to spend time doing it,

• Success often takes time. I remember a time in my life when I had to work really hard towards a goal. It took time, a lot of it. I was eventually successful and I wouldn't trade that experience in for anything.

• Success often takes time because taking time will ensure success.

Prompt: "Write an essay explaining why nature is important." Identify the BEST thesis statement.

• Nature is important because it inspires, feeds, and brings people together.

• Nature is important because it really helped me out of a crisis. I was starving and it helped feed me, I was able to help out other people as well.

• Nature is important because you will be in awe of it, you can get food from it, and you can commune with your fellow man in it.

• Nature is important because without nature no one would ever survive.

Prompt: "Write an essay explaining how imagination helps or improves life." Choose the BEST thesis statement.

• Imagination is important because it gives people the opportunity to create art, it helps people create what is in their minds, and it assists with solving problems.

• You need imagination to live, to create, and to be happy.

• Sometimes I imagine a much better world. Imagination is important for me because it helps me figure out how to be the best version of myself. I remember a time that imagination helped me out of a tough situation.

• Imagination helps your life be worth living. You need to imagine so that your mind helps you out of tough times. Could you imagine a better place? Good, then that's the value of imagination!

True or False: You write the thesis statement in the last sentence in the conclusion paragraph

• True
• False

Which of these is a thesis statement?

• Knowing a foreign language.
• Why should people know a foreign language?
• Knowing a foreign language is a very useful skill because it can help one advance in a career, relate better to others, and open one's mind to the ideas of another culture.

Which of the following is the strongest thesis statement?

• Friendship is cool.
• It is important to have a good friend because they'll be the ones who will be with you when you take your last breath in the end.
• Friends are the most important people in your life.
• Having friends is important.

What three items make up a thesis statement?

• identification of topic, claim (what you believe), and direction (reasons)
• topic sentence, introduction, and conclusion
• introduction, body, and conclusion
• reason 1, reason 2, and reason 3