Goals

Review characteristics of a good thesis statement; Look through, examine, absorb research and develop a working thesis statement; Receive feedback about workig thesis statement

 

Details

Duration: 120+ minutes

Assessments: Student writing, Research

Materials: laptops, books for research

 

Description

Benchmark #3: Students began thinking of a thesis statement for their research paper. The process we took them through includes:

1. We started with a PPT ("What is a Thesis Statement?") that reviewed the characteristics of a good thesis statement and a "junky" thesis statement. This was a whole class activity that took approximately 40 minutes.

2. We followed this up with a "Thesis Exercise" PPT that asked studets to critique several thesis statements that we created. Students completed this in pairs. Students then discussed their responses with their group. This took approximately 40 minutes. Other documents for this step include "Thesis Exercise Peer Critique" and "Thesis Statements Exercise."

3. Then we had students develop the working thesis statement that they would use for their research papers using the following questions found in the document "RP Working Thesis Statement":

a. What are the countries you are comparing?
b. What main themes appear for both countries?
c. What are differences between both countries?
d. What are similarities between both countries?
e. Jot down some of the possible causes, based on your research, for the differences and similarities.
f. From these notes create two to three working thesis statements:

4. After they were satisfied with one, they found a peer and critiqued each other's thesis statement, using a similiar process as above. After they went throug this process they needed to have a teacher approve the thesis. This activity is called "RP Thesis Critique." This process took approximately 40 minutes.

RP Thesis Critique
Research Paper Thesis Critique...
Download (48K)

RP Working Thesis Statement
Research paper Working Thesis Statement...
Download (33K)

Thesis Exercise Peer Critique
To use with the "Thesis Exercise" PPT and the "Student...
Download (38K)

Thesis Exercise PPT
for use with the "Student Thesis Statements" document...
Download (264K)

Thesis Statments Exercise
for use with "Thesis Exercise" PPT and "Thesis Exercise Peer Review" ...
Download (37K)

What is a Thesis Statement? PPT
Shows examples of good and "junky" thesis statements...
Download (278K)

Author Reflections

Students had the most difficulty with this benchmark because it required them to go back to the books and find more information for the point they were attempting to prove. So often students would count their notecards and say, "But why do I need to find more information? I have the required amount!" It took time for them to realize that many of the notecards they had were useful for background information but they needed to go back to their bibliography to seek out more sources so they could prove their argument. They were resistant to this step because they just wanted to move forward through the benchmarks. It was similiar to the response you get when you first ask students to revise a paper.