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A Thesis Statement is the sentence that states the main idea of an essay and helps control the ideas within the paper.
The basic aspects of a thesis statement are Topic - Claim - Major Points
How to write a thesis statement
Write an Outline for your paper.
Think of an Outline as the skeleton of your paper. It give it form, body , and structure. The Outline will guide you to stay on topic when researching and when writing. You will start with by listing the big or broad topics. Under each broad topic you can give subtopic to focus your work.
Example:
I. Writing a successful research paper requires planning, organization and finding reliable resources.
II, Beginning a research paper requires understanding of the assignment and time to develop a topic.
A. Reread and highlight the key words that focus on the topic of the research paper
B. Brainstorm topics that interest you and " brain dump" them for review.
1. Eliminate or rework topic that are too broad or small.
2. Try a quick search for unique topic to evaluate success in finding information with you available sources. .
What Type of Information Do You Need? Reliable - trusted , dependable, valid
Good information is more than " google-ing" on the internet. You need to evaluate and use a variety of resources.
Scholarly Information Primary Information
* Written by experts *Raw materials from history
* Verifiable and reliable evidence *Original documents
*Peer reviewed * Photo, video, dairy, speech, art work
AVOID PLAGIARISM:
When you use the words or original ideas of another person in your writing, you need to document, or give credit to, the sources of those words or ides.
If exact words are used, quotation marks are necessary. If you paraphrase, or restate the ideas in your own words documentation of the source is required ( footnotes/work cited)