Educational Videos for Freshmen in College Writing Classes: Thesis Statements

morning everyone um I hope you guys are getting settled and have read through the class material the best thing to do really is to sort of look at everything first I would suggest to that you read the prompts before you start your reading so you know exactly you know what I’m asking for a couple of you have had questions about thesis statement so I thought I would introduce that topic today just give you a better sense of what they should look like so a thesis statement is really your chance to tell the reader exactly what they can expect and what your argument is going to be going forward the best way to think of a thesis statement is to really think of it as a mathematical problem so the first thing you start with is your argument and the best way to think of argument is are you pro or are you con the issue so let’s say we’re talking about everyone’s favorite issue lately which seems to be legalization of marijuana not just medical marijuana but legalization as has occurred in Colorado and the state of Washington so let’s say you’re against legalization of marijuana so you would first really say to yourself okay I’m con I’m against legalization so your sentence would start out with marijuana should not the negative be legalized because and then what you’re going to do is you’re going to create what I call the analysis um which is a little confusing because they’re really arguments but you’re going to find three arguments and the best way to do that is too early sort of brainstorm sit down and write in the sheet of paper and just put everything down three arguments why so here are some of the arguments you hear time and again one because it would create a sort of slacker society too because of the fact that it would actually add to the criminal aspect of it not so sure that’s true but that’s what most people are you and three it would actually lead to more people becoming addicted to drugs so you have three really strong arguments so your thesis statement now would be marijuana should not be legalized because it will create a slacker society it will lead to further criminalization of sailed marijuana and it will potentially lead to more American ex that’s your thesis statement don’t overthink it it’s pretty straightforward it’s a good thing to practice so where does your thesis statement fall in your paper usually it falls at the bottom of the first paragraph or the first page sort of as a way to transition to your first argument but we’ll talk more about that try to make sure that you finish week 1 by next Tuesday um you know wednesday at the latest if you get behind it it’s going to catch up with you when we get to your final paper as always I’m here as questions I did put up a syllabus this morning for those of you who wanted one I usually don’t do that for the summer but I did it so you have it and if you have questions just get in touch okay see you later