December 1st

1. Write one of your 9 thesis/claim attempts on the board.

2. To assist in knowing how to approach a subject in order to make a claim about the material, you can utilize one of these four types of claims:

Types of claims:

Claims typically fall into one of four categories. Thinking about how you want to approach your topic, in other words what type of claim you want to make, is one way to focus your thesis on one particular aspect of your broader topic.

1. Claims of fact or definition: These claims argue about what the definition of something is or whether something is a settled fact. Example:

• What some people refer to as global warming is actually nothing more than normal, long-term cycles of climate change.

2. Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that one person, thing, or event caused another thing or event to occur. Example:

• The popularity of SUVs in America has caused pollution to increase.

3. Claims about value: These are claims made of what something is worth, whether we value it or not, how we would rate or categorize something. Example:

• Global warming is the most pressing challenge facing the world today.

4. Claims about solutions or policies: These are claims that argue for or against a certain solution or policy approach to a problem. Example:

• Instead of drilling for oil in Alaska we should be focusing on ways to reduce oil consumption, such as researching renewable energy sources

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3.  Review through the material in the following link: Indiana University- Thesis Statements
Supplement your current notes. This will talk you through the process of developing a topic, through identifying a strong or weak thesis statement.

4. You will be getting into small groups. In your group you need to work through the following:

•  Discuss the strengths of the following thesis statements: 

Examples of good thesis statements:

• "The ability to purchase television advertising is essential for any candidate's bid for election to the Senate because television reaches millions of people and thus has the ability to dramatically increase name recognition."
• The organizational structure of the United Nations, namely consensus voting in the security council, makes it incapable of preventing war between major powers.

What makes each sentence an effective thesis? (Check against your checklist)

5. Now, you will look to the board to your examples of class thesis/claim attempts. As a group, you will go through and critique the strengths and weaknesses of each statement. (Keep in mind, this is going to be a process of improvement. Be honest, but be kind). 

6. If you feel that your own 9 claims need revision, revise the necessary components of each statement. 9 claims are due on Monday.

FOR MONDAY: Read in College Reader, Chapter 12- (515-527)
Take very good notes. This is the next development in argument.
Fallacy quiz is on MONDAY.