thesis statement

Name __________________________ Date______________________

ENC 4313 – Research Writing Worksheets – Week 2 Worksheet

Please complete the following worksheet. Follow the sample worksheet in Week 2 Activities exactly. Due 4/11 @1 p.m.

Step 4: Formulating your thesis and establishing research criteria

Part 1

Thesis Work Sheet:

Your thesis is a combination of your topic and your claim which you will then explore, argue or analyze according to 3-5 criteria that you establish. The best way to develop a thesis statement and establish criteria is to answer your focus question with 3-5 reasons (criteria), which can be drawn from your claim/theory.

Fill in the work sheet below. Refer to the sample in Step 4 as your guide.

Topic:

Focus Question:

Theory/Claim:

Using the above, formulate your thesis, breaking down your theory/claim into 3-5 points or criteria. Copy them below.

Thesis statement: ____________________________________________

(criteria 1) ___________________________________________________

(criteria 2) ___________________________________________________

(criteria 3) ___________________________________________________

(criteria 4) ____________________________________________________

(criteria 5) ____________________________________________________

The criteria above will be used to find source material. You are now ready to begin looking for your sources based on your criteria, which become the keywords/phrases you will use in your search.

Part 2

Checking for Logical Fallacies

Before proceeding, test the validity of your claim/theory. In order for a claim to be valid, it must be free of logical fallacies.

A logical fallacy occurs when one’s reasoning is incorrect, which in turn, makes the entire argument invalid. To avoid faulty or incorrect reasoning be sure that you can support your claim/theory with evidence. What constitutes evidence? An accumulation of facts, testimony from experts in the field, quotations, statistics, etc., gathered from your research.

Once you begin to compile evidence, avoid making hasty generalizations . For example, if you were researching the health benefits of eating strawberries and in your research you found one article stating that three out of six people who consumed strawberries in their breakfast cereal each day developed skin lesions, and you then concluded strawberries should be avoided because they are a health risk, that would be a hasty generalization (based on limited data-- a small study in one article), and thus a logical fallacy.

Closely related to hasty generalizations are sweeping generalizations. A sweeping generalization occurs when one applies the results of one situation to all situations. For example, according to one study, students at University X consume diet cola more than any other beverage offered in the campus vending machines, therefore all college students at all universities prefer to drink diet cola.

Once you determine that your claim/theory is free of logical fallacies, you are ready to begin looking for sources based on your criteria, which become the keywords/phrases you will use in your search.

Step 5: Identifying keywords/phrases

Part 1

Come up with 3-5 keywords/phrases for your topic that you pull from your criteria and do a keyword search using three different search engines. Find at least 5 results for each keyword/phrase and copy in the spaces below

KEYWORD/PHRASES FILE WORKSHEET

(Refer to Sample in Step 5 to fill out your worksheet)

KEYWORD/PHRASES:

Keyword/phrase #1

Sources:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Keyword/phrase #2

Sources

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Keyword/phrase #3

Sources

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Keyword/phrase # 4

Sources

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Keyword/phrase # 5

Sources

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Part 2

For each of the above sources you found, you must create a source card and in-text citation which you will use later in your paper.

Here’s how to do that:

· go to MS Word on your toolbar:

· select the “Reference” tab,

· go to: “Insert Citation,”

· then click: “add new source”

Follow the directions and add the source material. Alternatively, you can also go to: www.citationmachine.net , make an electronic citation and save it in the appropriate file.

NOTE: After you complete this exercise, if you find you are not finding enough material on your topic, it will be necessary to go back and re-define your topic.

Once you have completed this exercise, you should have at least 15 sources for your paper.

Step 6: Taking notes

Make a Note Card file in your computer. Use a note card(s) to take notes from each of your sources. Organize your note cards by your Keywords/phrases (Refer to Sample note card in Step 6) When taking notes use paraphrase, summary and direct quotations (see Section III)

Use at least 3 sources for each keyword/phrase and take notes on a separate notecard for each one. When you are finished, you should have at least 12-15 sources and corresponding notecards.

Make a note card for each of your sources organized by keyword/ phrases as follows:

Keyword/Phrase: ______________________________ Note #1 Source:________________________________________

After you have recorded your information on note cards, remember to group your cards by keywords/phrases in your Keyword File. These keyword/phrase groups will correspond to the criteria you established in your thesis and become body paragraphs in your paper. Once you have finished taking all your notes, you are ready to read through the notes and write your research paper outline.

Submit one note card above for this part of the assignment

Step 7: Composing your outline

Use the following worksheet to compose your research paper outline using the information you have gathered in the preceding steps. (Refer to sample in Step 7)

RESEARCH OUTLINE WORKSHEET

Topic _________________________________________

Introduction:

Background: (Give a short introduction to your topic)

Sources: (list any sources you used for the above)

Focus Question: (pose your focus question)

Thesis: (copy your thesis which includes your claim and 3-5 reasons/criteria)

Body Paragraphs:

· First Criteria:

Support 1:

Sources:

Support 2:

Sources:

Support 3:

Sources:

· Second Criteria:

Support 1:

Sources:

Support 2:

Sources:

Support 3:

Sources:

· Third Criteria:

Support 1:

Sources:

Support 2:

Sources:

Support 3:

Sources:

· Fourth Criteria (if you have one)

Support 1, 2, 3

Sources 1,2,3

Conclusion: (sum up your paper by re-stating your thesis and offering closing remarks)

Sources:

9