"I'm assigning you an essay...."
You stifle a groan, and your head fills with the never ending checklist of things you have to do to write an essay: come up with a thesis, gather evidence, type it out, proof read it, fix it, cite your sources, yada, yada, yada. Must they persist with this torture???
Yes, they must--it's their job. But never fear! I'm here to help you out.
So you're writing an essay...where should you start? Obviously, read the prompt. Then, read the prompt. Also, read the prompt. And before you do anything else, READ THE PROMPT.
Did I mention read the prompt?
The assignment prompt is what tells you what to write your essay on. Here are some examples:
- Is technology a danger to our society? Why or why not? Acknowledge opposite views and back up your opinion with evidence.
- Write an argumentative essay about a topic of your choice. Make sure there are multiple sides to the topic you pick. Back up your opinion with evidence from at least 3 reliable sources.
Prompts will come in all shapes and sizes, but regardless of the prompt, you always need the same thing:
A Thesis.
And what is that exactly? Well, I'll tell you: a thesis is a statement you make that you intend to prove. It's basically your entire essay summed up into one statement. The best thing to do is look at the prompt and directly answer it. You then spend the rest of the essay backing up that answer.
Let's look at that first prompt about technology as an example. The prompt said: Is technology a danger to our society? Why or why not? Acknowledge opposite views and back up your opinion with evidence. So here's an example thesis in response to this prompt:
Technology is a danger to our society.
There. I answered the basic question of the prompt. But it's not quite enough. The prompt also said to acknowledge opposite views and to back up my opinion with evidence. Believe it or not, there is a simple formula to help us do this:
This formula will work for argumentative thesis statements of all levels: middle school, high school, and even college. Here's how it works with our example thesis:
- Although technology has made our lives more convenient, actually technology is a danger to our society as a whole because we have grown too dependent on it, it isolates us from important social interactions, and the conveniences are training the upcoming generation to be lazy and entitled.
Let's break it down a little more:
This formula starts with the opposing view, which should always be addressed in an argumentative essay. It then has you state your opinion and back it up with three pieces of evidence. That evidence can then be expounded upon in future paragraphs with quotes and statistics and all kinds of fun stuff.
And there you have it: a simple, fool proof thesis. You can place your thesis at the beginning, middle, or end of your introductory paragraph. And you can play with this formula, using the basic structure, but shaking up the words a bit to sound even fancier, like this:
- Many feel that technology is a blessing and that it has made our lives much more convenient. While this is true to a certain degree, technology is more of a danger to our society than a blessing. Our society has grown too dependent on it and it isolates us from one another, putting our social lives on a screen instead of face to face. Also, the so called "conveniences" are training the upcoming generation to be lazy and entitled.
Gosh, I love a good thesis. Don't you? But you may be thinking "Wait a second...that's more than just one sentence!" True. A thesis statement can be more than one sentence. Mind blown yet?
Now, if you're looking at that fine thesis above and are tempted to swipe it for your own essay...DON'T DO IT! That's plagiarism, and I guarantee your teacher will catch you. But you're smarter than that, aren't you? :)
Until next time, I remain your humble online writing tutor,
Mrs. B
