Organization, thesis development, and citation

1. Organization, thesis development, and citation Getting started—and getting finished! Mr. K

2. Getting Started • An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided. • Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence. • Once they have a topic, many writers make a beginner’s mistake… 1 2 3

3. Brainstorming • Focus on the topic, but not on the actual points you are trying to make. • Free flow of ideas covering everything you know about the subject. • Use search engines to develop further ideas if needed.

4. The Outline I. Introduction paragraph A. Attention step, opening context or background. B. Thesis statement (your controlling idea; an assertion…). C. List of major points supporting the thesis statement. II. Main Body paragraphs A. Major Point #1: —Evidence # 1 and analysis. —Evidence # 2 and analysis. —Relevance to thesis. B. Major Point #2 (with evidence and analysis, etc.) C. Other major points when necessary. III. Conclusion paragraph A. Review thekey points-ideas from your evidence analysis that support your thesis statement. B. Thesis restatement (to provide information or to persuade). C. Recommendations as appropriate.

5. Endnotes 1 Erin Karper, “Creating a Thesis Statement”, The Owl at Purdue, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/ (accessed September 10, 2009). Ibid. Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008), 40. In this example the authors were more interested in reminding researchers not to make a beginner’s mistake by not using an outline. They called this type of writing “planless”. Q: Why use endnotes or footnotes? (…think plagiarism) **Note the use of this endnote to provide additional information you did not want to include in your paper. Why put it here? 2 3

6. Bibliography Karper, Erin, “Creating a Thesis Statement”, The Owl at Purdue, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/01/ (accessed September 10, 2009). Ibid. Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2008. Q: What does “Ibid” mean? Q: What is wrong with this bibliography?