How to Write an A+ Thesis Statement

 Source: [Nawal, Nader]. [2010, February 19].How to Write an A+ Thesis Statement . [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HePQWodWiQ

A thesis statement is the single specific claim that your essay supports. It includes a topic, a precise opinion and reasoning. 

PARTS OF A THESIS STATEMEN:

1) THE SUBJECT: The topic of your essay. It can not be broad.

2) THE PRECISE OPINION: Your opinion on the subject or the topic of your essay. You can do a little research to help you formulate your opinion.

3) THE BLUE PRINT OF REASONS TO BACK UP YOUR OPINION: This is where you show your reader how you plan to argue and prove your opinion. You should have three strong pieces of evidence to support your opinion. It is important to research evidence to support your opinion.  

The blue print is only effective if:
-I explain what I mean about each blue print in the body paragraphs.

-Provide detailed examples for each blue print point.

Parts of a Paragraph - English Academic Writing Introduction

Source:

[Maker Alex]. [2009, May 19). Parts of a paragraph- English Academic Writing

Introduction. [Video file]. Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCuExRE6N-4

PARTS OF PARAGRAPHS

 •TOPIC SENTENCE: It states what you are writing about, what is your subject. In order to write an effective topic sentence, you have to choose an interesting topic and give your opinion on it.

•BODY: This is the heart of your. This is where you get all the supporting details and arguments for your topic sentence. You can order the details in two ways: by order of importance and by chronology.

•CLOSING SENTENCE: It has two functions. The first one is to remind the audience what you are

writing about. The second one is to keep the audience thinking once they finish reading.

Examples of paragrapahs with their topic sentences:

 1-There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's inevitable decline to death. The first is the wear-and-tear hypothesis that suggests the body eventually succumbs to the environmental insults of life. The second is the notion that we have an internal clock which is genetically programmed to run down. Supporters of the wear-and-tear theory maintain that the very practice of breathing causes us to age because inhaled oxygen produces toxic by-products. Advocates of the internal clock theory believe that individual cells are told to stop dividing and thus eventually to die by, for example, hormones produced by the brain or by their own genes. (from Debra Blank, "The Eternal Quest" [edited]).

2-We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error. The strictest military discipline imaginable is still looser than that prevailing in the average assembly-line. The soldier, at worst, is still able to exercise the highest conceivable functions of freedom -- that is, he or she is permitted to steal and to kill. No discipline prevailing in peace gives him or her anything remotely resembling this. The soldier is, in war, in the position of a free adult; in peace he or she is almost always in the position of a child. In war all things are excused by success, even violations of discipline. In peace, speaking generally, success is inconceivable except as a function of discipline. (From H.L. Mencken, "Reflections on War" [edited]).

3- Although the interpretation of traffic signals may seem highly standardized, close observation reveals regionals variations across this country, distinguishing the East Coast from Central Canada and the West  as surely as dominant  dialects or political inclinations.  In Montreal, a flashing red traffic light instructs drivers to careen even more wildly through intersections heavily populated with pedestrians and oncoming vehicles. In startling contrast, an amber light in Calgary warns drivers to scream to a halt on the off chance that there might be a pedestrian within 500 meters who might consider crossing at some unspecified time within the current day. In my home town in New Brunswick, finally, traffic lights (along with painted lines and posted speed limits) do not apply to tractors, all terrain vehicles, or pickup trucks, which together account for most vehicles on the road. In fact, were any observant Canadian dropped from an alien space vessel at an unspecified intersection anywhere in this vast land, he or she could almost certainly orient him-or-herself according to the surrounding traffic patterns.

Speech acts

The theory of speech acts by J.L.

Austin

Speech acts are words that are actions; those actions include (but are

not limited to): ordering, promising, apologising, warning,

sentencing, christening, marrying, etc.

In this theory the author differentiates two separate parts of speech:

CONSTATIVES and PERFORMATIVES. On the one hand, constatives are sentences

that describe something as true or false. For example a sign that reads

"The Park closes at 6pm". On the other hand, performatives are

sentences that denote an action, they act upon the world. For example a trash

bin that reads "recycle", here the performative of recycle is

requesting people to put their trash into the proper receptacle.

Performatives depend on context and reception or "felicity

conditions" that are the rules under which performatives can be enacted. The

performatives should have proper authority; it should be understood, clear and

able to be executed in order to have the power to denote antion. Although the

performative fulfills those conditions, it does not mean that it is implicity

followed.

Advice on academic writing, University of Toronto

Advice on academic writing de micaelamosqueira