Thesis and Outline

1. Thesis and Outline

2. A good thesis typically has several key characteristics • it says something significant about what you have read, something that helps you and your readers understand it better • it says something that is not obvious, something that your reader didn't already know • it is at least mildly contestable, something that no one would agree with just by reading it • it asserts something that you can plausibly support in five pages, not something that would require a book. From: writing-program.uchicago.edu

3. “You are unlikely to know exactly what point you will make until after you have written the paper in which you made it. So for us to talk about the quality of a point now is to get ahead of ourselves, because we haven't even touched on how you might think about drafting your paper, much less revising it. But because everything you do at the beginning aims at finding a good point, it is useful to have a clear idea about what it is you are trying to find…” From: writing-program.uchicago.edu

4. In order to make sure we create a significant, not-obvious, contestable thesis, we will follow the format below: • Your thesis statement will relate directly to one of the essay prompts and will contain three main parts: • Specific focus • Strong verb • Specific argument

5. The low profitability of farming the infertile soil of the Appalachia region and a scarcity of available jobs outside of farming has led to persistent hunger and malnutrition throughout the region that will be hard to permanently fix without fundamental changes to employment opportunities. Adapted from english.okstate.edu

6. Cyclical patterns of global warming and cooling demonstrate that the current rise in global temperatures is not due to human behavior and should not be the focus of government legislation and regulation. Adapted from english.okstate.edu

7. The Chicago Freedom Movement’s effort to change the city’s discriminatory segregated-housing laws failed due tothe leaders’ fear for their own safety and politicians’ reluctance to defy the popular will of their constituency.

8. How to prove your thesis • A well-structured thesis should hopefully allow you to easily outline your body paragraphs • Ultimately, the goal of your body paragraphs is to prove that each individual claim in your thesis is true.

9. The low profitability of farming the infertile soil of the Appalachia region and a scarcity of available jobs outside of farming has led to persistent hunger and malnutrition throughout the region that will be hard to permanently fix without fundamental changes to employment opportunities. BP I: Infertility of soil BP II: Low profitability of farming BP III: Scarcity of blue-collar jobs BP IV: Scarcity of white-collar jobs BP V: Hunger and malnutrition statistics BP VI: Correlation of hunger to job statistics BP VII: Efforts to lessen hunger without improved local economy BP VIII: Efforts to lessen hunger with improved local economy BP IX: Recommendations to improve local economy through job creation

10. The Chicago Freedom Movement’s effort to change the city’s discriminatory segregated-housing laws failed due tothe leaders’ fear for their own safety and politicians’ reluctance to defy the popular will of their constituency. BP I: Laws pre-CFM BP II: Leadership of movement and stated goals BP III: Efforts – marches and speeches BP IV: Heightened awareness of movement BP V: Backlash from white homeowners BP VI: Threats and fears for safety BP VI: Abandonment of movement BP VII: Mayor’s reaction to unrest and violence BP VIII: City leadership’s consideration of movement’s demands BP IX: Leadership’s reluctance to act on movement’s demands BP X: Comparison of laws pre-CFM and post- CFM