thesis

2021/9/22 下午11:43 Write a Thesis

https://canvas.pasadena.edu/courses/1117051/assignments/9003812 1/2

Write a Thesis

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Good news! The Sheridan Baker Thesis Machine will write your thesis statement for you!

Well, not exactly, but it can help you generate and improve a thesis.

Here is the thesis machine: Sheridan Baker Thesis Machine.pdf

It is also the next item in the module.

Assignment: Look over the first paper assignment, and then use the Sheridan Baker Thesis Machine, or some other method, to write a working thesis statement for your first paper.

Here is the Paper 1 prompt:

English 1A Paper 1 (Fall 2020)

Write a thesis-driven essay of 3-5 pages in answer to one of the following prompts. The essay should be double-spaced, in 12 point type, and the essay should use MLA citation format including a Works Cited page. The question stem for each prompt (that is, the question your thesis is answering) is in boldface.

1. Both Jared Diamond and Kim Stanley Robinson present causal arguments. Diamond says the turn from hunter gatherer societies to agricultural societies some 10,000 years ago is responsible for, among other things, epidemics and class divisions, while Robinson identifies a particular “structure of feeling” that has until now perpetuated neo-liberal capitalism’s ravaging of the environment. Write an essay explaining and evaluating each author’s causal argument. What problem or problems are they concerned with and how do the causal factors they identify function (for example, how does agriculture cause tyranny)? How convincing are their arguments (or aspects of their arguments)? What makes them convincing or unconvincing? Finally, what response or responses to the problems they identify do the authors’ arguments suggest either explicitly or implicitly?

2. Do a rhetorical analysis of Timothy Morton’s radio broadcast, “The End of the World Has Already Happened.” What are the most effective examples and the relative importance of ethos, logos, and

2021/9/22 下午11:43 Write a Thesis

https://canvas.pasadena.edu/courses/1117051/assignments/9003812 2/2

pathos in the broadcast? Are there any logical fallacies? Overall, do you think the broadcast is an effective rhetorical intervention on the issue of global warming? Why or why not?

3. Analyze the argument of any one of the authors from the Nature, Science, and Environment unit. Do you agree with their argument? Why or why not?

4. In her recent book, Anthropocene Back Loop, after defining resilience thinking in some detail, urban geographer Stephanie Wakefield questions its value, writing, “What about the rest of us, for whom the safe operating space of existing society is not safe at all? How to move forward? How to break out of this cycle?” To explore the value of resilience thinking for yourself, analyze the “Applying Resilience Thinking” pamphlet from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and use your analysis to answer this question: Are there any problems with resilience thinking given that its goals are to sustain rather than fundamentally change systems? What are some implications of applying resilience thinking to other problems (the current pandemic, systemic racism, educational institutions, etc.)? Rather than addressing the application of all seven principles in your paper, you might focus on a selection of (one, two, three … ?) principles in more detail.