Before handing out the worksheet it would be helpful to define the information that should appear in a thesis statement. The information I require in 102A is:

1. Show that there is a controversy in your topic and state the two sides of the controversy.
2. Give the reader an idea of which particular issues will be discussed in your paper; point out the main arguments of each side of the controversy.
3. Let the reader know which side you support.

In order to keep the paper focused I recommend to my students to look at each paragraph separately to determine if it is relevant to the thesis or to the information on the worksheet that will be used to compose the thesis statement. If the relevan ce of a specific paragraph is not immediately clear, the following three steps can be used to correct the situation:

1. Change the tesis by adding information that would encompass the paragraph in question.
2. Explain the relevance of the paragraph to the thesis by adding a statement (either at the start or the end of the paragraph) that shows why it is already encompassed in the thesis.
3. Take out the paragraph.

Purpose:

The thesis worksheet is meant to help students organize the information they will need in order to write their thesis statements.

Suggestions for uses:

Since students often change the directions and foci of their papers while writing them, the thesis statements often need to be rewritten. For this reason I have advised my students to delay writing the actual statement until the final stages of thei r papers, and instead to use this worksheet to refer to instead of the thesis statement. In other words, every paragraph in the paper should somehow be relevant to the information on this worksheet. Alternatively, this worksheet could be used to organiz e information and write the thesis statement at the beginning stages of writing the paper, if this method is preferred.

Notes on each part of the Worksheet:

• Part One: Note that a certain topic does not necessarily embody only one controversial issue, and a specific issue does not necessarily embody only two possible sides. In order to alert the reader to the intentions of one's paper, therefore, the information in part one is vital to the thesis statement.
• Part Two: The choice of audience can often affect the style and choice of arguments in a paper. Although this part includes information that may not have to be specifically included in the thesis statement, it does influence the direction of the arguments in the paper and should be considered important when organizing both the paper and the thesis.
• Part Three: Although not all the arguments used in a paper need mentioning in the thesis, their general direction should be made clear to the reader early on. This section of the worksheet illustrates how the actual arguments in a paper rela te to the thesis and vice versa. It would also be helpful to point out to students that arguments should not be mere lists of discrete ideas, but should address each other. The emphasis is on showing students how the cohesiveness of a paper relates to i ts organization and thesis statement.

1. Who is my audience? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   • Someone who agrees with one side whose mind I'm trying to change_____
   • Someone who has not made up their mind yet_____
2. What do I want them to believe or do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3. What do I need to show them to make them believe or do what I want? . . . .

This document is brought to you by The UW ESL Center. It was created by Naomi Gurevich, in 1995. You are free to distribute this document, or use it in class, as long as you give credit to the source. You may not use this document for any commercial purposes.

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