Continuation of Literature Review

5

Unit VI

Lesson 2: Revising the Thesis

Introduction

The first step in writing your body paragraphs is to revisit your thesis statement. Given that you have had some opportunity to assert your tentative thesis statement, you should have a good idea of what you want your argument to be. However, in this lesson, we will revisit the methods we discussed earlier in the course for designing a thesis statement. As you have had some experience, you will no doubt have a better grasp on where you want to take your argument.

Revisiting Your Tentative Thesis

Let’s quickly review what we learned about the thesis statement in Unit III, Lesson 4. For an argumentative paper, like the one that you will be writing, there are three ways to respond: (1) agree, (2) disagree, and (3) agree and disagree simultaneously. When you wrote your research proposal, you included only one thesis statement. Let’s discuss each one with examples using Kimberly’s project.

1. Agree: When you agree, you agree with the pro side of the controversy. Further, when you agree, then you agree completely, not partially. It is essential to remember, however, that even when you agree, you must always agree with reasons, meaning that you add to what is being said. You cannot simply agree; it is never enough to just agree. If you simply agree, then you are not constructing an argument of your own making. One way to approach this predicament is to formulate your argument and use the support of others to buttress your ideas.

EXAMPLE (Agree): In this example, Kimberly agrees with the pro side of the controversy.

“The environmental costs of recycling plastic water bottles pale in comparison to the negative impacts of not recycling them because of the overwhelming addition of such trash in landfills, the potential for the plastic to be deposited in an ocean, and potential setbacks to other forms of recycling.”

Let’s break down what Kimberly did in her thesis statement that agrees with the pro side of the controversy:

[a] The environmental costs of recycling plastic water bottles pale in comparison to the negative impacts of not recycling them [b] because [c] of the overwhelming addition of such trash in landfills, the potential for the plastic to be deposited in an ocean, and potential setbacks to other forms of recycling.

a. Assertion of agreement: “The environmental costs of recycling plastic water bottles pale in comparison to the negative impacts of not recycling them…”

b. Announcement of reasons: “…because…”

c. Statement of reasons: “…of the overwhelming addition of such trash in landfills, the potential for the plastic to be deposited in an ocean, and potential setbacks to other forms of recycling.”

As you can see from this example, there are parts to the thesis statement, and each one plays a vital role in completing the statement and making it strong and argumentative.

2. Disagree: There are really two ways to think about this response: (1) You disagree with the pro side of the controversy, or (2) you agree with the con side of the controversy. Regardless, the result is the same: You are on the opposite side of those who agree, and you disagree completely. If you choose to write a thesis of disagreement, then you disagree with reasons, meaning that you must add to what others have said. Similar to those who choose to agree, you must do more than just disagree. Let’s look at an example of what Kimberly’s thesis statement might look like if she were to decide to argue from the side of disagreement.

EXAMPLE (Disagree): Kimberly decides that she agrees with the con side of the controversy.

“The environmental impacts caused by plastic bottle recycling outweigh the benefits of recycling versus first-time production, thereby causing more harm than good to the environment through the use of electric power, by-products, and water usage.”

Let’s take a closer look at Kimberly’s thesis statement that agrees with the con side of the argument:

[a] The environmental impacts caused by plastic bottle recycling outweigh the benefits of recycling versus first-time production, thereby causing more harm than good to the environment [b] through the use of [c] electric power, by-products, and water usage.

a. Assertion of disagreement: “The environmental impacts caused by plastic bottle recycling outweigh the benefits of recycling versus first-time production, thereby causing more harm than good to the environment…”

b. Announcement of reasons: “…through the use of…”

c. Statement of reasons: “…electric power, by-products, and water usage.”

3. Agree and disagree: As you may have already realized, it is sometimes difficult to tell if you agree with the pro or con side of a controversy. In fact, most people find that they partially agree and partially disagree with each side; this stance means that you agree and disagree simultaneously. Unlike choosing to agree or disagree, a position of both agreeing and disagreeing allows you to choose elements from both sides in order to create your own argument. However, like the other two possible responses, you must have reasons, but unlike the other two responses, the reasons are often listed in a second sentence. Again, let’s use Kimberly’s project for our example:

EXAMPLE (Agree and Disagree Simultaneously): Kimberly decides that she does not fall on either side of the argument but sees some value in each side of the controversy.

“Despite the fact that recycling plastic water bottles causes negative impacts to the environment during the process of recycling, the end result is still less than the environmental costs of first-time production and not recycling at all, so recycling plastic water bottles is a necessity while engineers discover more efficient methods for recycling plastics.”

This thesis statement of agreement and disagreement is different than the previous two, so let’s break down the thesis statement as we did the others:

[a] Despite the fact that recycling plastic water bottles causes negative impacts to the environment during the process of recycling, [b] the end result is still less than the environmental costs of first-time production and not recycling at all; [c] therefore, [d] recycling plastic water bottles is a necessity while engineers discover more efficient methods for recycling plastics.

a. Acknowledgement of the con side of the controversy: “Despite the fact that recycling plastic water bottles causes negative impacts to the environment during the process of recycling,…”

b. Acknowledgement of the pro side of the controversy: “…the end result is still less than the environmental costs of first-time production and not recycling at all;…”

c. Announcement of the writer’s argument: “…therefore,…”

d. Assertion of the writer’s argument: “…recycling plastic water bottles is a necessity while engineers discover more efficient methods for recycling plastics.”

It should be noted that the heart of the thesis statement in the agree and disagree simultaneously category comes after the semicolon (;). So, conceivably, the thesis above could be two sentences because the argument is “recycling plastic water bottles is a necessity while engineers discover more efficient methods for recycling plastics.”

Breaking the Thesis Down Into Reason Paragraphs

Now that you have reviewed your thesis and edited to ensure that your response is clearly an agreement, a disagreement, or an agreement and disagreement simultaneously, you will begin to sketch out the reasons why your thesis is valid. In order to do this, you will need to establish three to four reasons. Let’s look at an example using Kimberly’s paper. For this example, we will look at what an argument might look like if Kimberly wrote her paper with a thesis statement that agrees.

As you can see from the figure above, Kimberly was able to come to her thesis statement by first recognizing these three reasons:

· Reason 1: Without plastic bottle recycling, the amount of plastic waste would be overwhelming to landfills.

· Reason 2: If plastic bottles are not recycled, then there is a good chance that the plastic waste will be deposited in an ocean.

· Reason 3: Beyond the environmental impacts, cutting back or eliminating plastic bottle recycling could potentially cause setbacks in efforts to encourage other kinds of recycling.

In order for her to come to these reasons, Kimberly read a good deal of literature about the topic of plastic bottle recycling. Now that she is writing the body of her paper, she knows that she needs to make clear the material that brought her to find that her reasons were logical, so she thinks of them in the following way.

References

Cho, R. (2012). What happens to all the plastic? Columbia University. Retrieved from http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/01/31/what-happens-to-all-that-plastic/

Ellsbury, H. (2012). Plastic water bottles impose health and environmental risks. Retrieved from https://www.banthebottle.net/articles/plastic-water-bottles-impose-health-and-environmental-risks/

Environmental Protection Agency. (2013a). Recycling rates of selected products, 2013. Retrieved from http://www3.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/

Environmental Protection Agency. (2013b). Total MSW generation (by material). Retrieved from http://www3.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/

In order to make her point, Kimberly does not need to include all of this evidence, but she needs to include at least some of it. She knows that supporting Reason 1 is important because in the same way that she is supporting Reason 1, she is also supporting her thesis statement.

As you revisit your thesis statement, think about how you will support that thesis with three to four reasons. Allow yourself to brainstorm different ways that you could present your reasons and the evidence that you would use to support each one. Then choose the strongest of these as the building blocks of your paper.

Review

1. Each thesis statement can be broken down into at least three to four reasons.

2. Each reason can be supported with several pieces of evidence drawn from your reading.

3. You must decide which pieces of evidence support the argument the best as you begin to draft your reasons and each reason paragraph.

Reason 1: Without plastic bottle recycling, the amount of plastic waste would be overwhelming to landfills.

According to the EPA (2013b), plastic makes up almost 13% of U.S. trash.

According to the EPA (2013a), less than 29% of plastic bottles are recycled, the lowest percentage of any recyclable.

According to Cho (2012) of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, only 6.5% of the 33.6 million tons of plastic used by the U.S. each year is recycled.

According to Ellsbury (2012), 18,834,000,000 water bottles "end up in a landfill each year. Each bottle can take up to 700 years to decompose" (para. 3).

Thesis (Agree): The environmental costs of recycling plastic water bottles pale in comparison to the negative impacts of not recycling them because of the overwhelming addition of such trash in landfills, the potential for the plastic to be deposited in an ocean, and potential setbacks to other forms of recycling.

Reason 1: Without plastic bottle recycling, the amount of plastic waste would be overwhelming to landfills.

Reason 2: If plastic bottles are not recycled, then there is a good chance that the plastic waste will be deposited in an ocean.

Reason 3: Beyond the environmental impacts, cutting back or eliminating plastic bottle recycling could potentially cause setbacks in efforts to encourage other kinds of recycling.