Crime and Law
Thesis Statement Mini-Lesson
Lesson Objective
The purpose of this lesson is to provide students with a working definition of a thesis statement while also helping them acquire techniques that will aid them in constructing their own thesis statements.
List of Handouts
1. “Tips for Constructing a Thesis Statement”
2. “Identify the Problems in these Thesis Statements”
Length of Lesson
The lesson should take 20-30 minutes.
Variations for different disciplines
1. General mini-lesson
Source
1. Developer Unknown
2. Part of this mini-lesson is adapted from St. Cloud State University’s Literacy Education Online “Thesis Statement” material (http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html)
2. Revised by Jamie Aroosi, 11/03/2009
File name
ML_Thesis Statement_Gen.doc
Lesson Instructions
1. Discuss the characteristics of a good thesis statement (5 minutes). A sample script follows:
"A thesis statement is a single, complete sentence that succinctly expresses your view concerning a particular topic. It will generally be included in the introductory paragraph of your essay, and you must be sure that you can support the statement in the body of the essay.
To get a better understanding of what a thesis statement is, it helps to imagine it in the context of the paper writing process. During the research process, you will encounter a lot of information pertaining to your topic. The nature of this information will vary by discipline. For instance, it might be composed of data from a scientific experiment, it might be information from important texts within your discipline such as literary and cinematic works or philosophical treatises, or it might be composed of historical evidence. After you have uncovered this information (i.e., conducted the experiment, watched the film(s), read the book(s), spent time in the archives), your thesis statement will almost always be a direct answer to this question: what does this information mean? So,
Lesson Objective
The purpose of this lesson is to provide students with a working definition of a thesis statement while also helping them acquire techniques that will aid them in constructing their own thesis statements.
List of Handouts
1. “Tips for Constructing a Thesis Statement”
2. “Identify the Problems in these Thesis Statements”
Length of Lesson
The lesson should take 20-30 minutes.
Variations for different disciplines
1. General mini-lesson
Source
1. Developer Unknown
2. Part of this mini-lesson is adapted from St. Cloud State University’s Literacy Education Online “Thesis Statement” material (http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/acadwrite/thesistatement.html)
2. Revised by Jamie Aroosi, 11/03/2009
File name
ML_Thesis Statement_Gen.doc
Lesson Instructions
1. Discuss the characteristics of a good thesis statement (5 minutes). A sample script follows:
"A thesis statement is a single, complete sentence that succinctly expresses your view concerning a particular topic. It will generally be included in the introductory paragraph of your essay, and you must be sure that you can support the statement in the body of the essay.
To get a better understanding of what a thesis statement is, it helps to imagine it in the context of the paper writing process. During the research process, you will encounter a lot of information pertaining to your topic. The nature of this information will vary by discipline. For instance, it might be composed of data from a scientific experiment, it might be information from important texts within your discipline such as literary and cinematic works or philosophical treatises, or it might be composed of historical evidence. After you have uncovered this information (i.e., conducted the experiment, watched the film(s), read the book(s), spent time in the archives), your thesis statement will almost always be a direct answer to this question: what does this information mean? So,