Thesis Statements

The Thesis Statement is the main argument of your paper,

condensed down into one sentence. An easy way to think of a
thesis is that it is the answer to your research question. For
example, if I was writing a paper about the plague, I would first
look at the research question:

"Is the Black Plague deserving of the negative reputation it

receives?"

Based on the research I have done, and everything I have

learned about the plague, I answer the question:

"The Black Plague does not deserve the negative reputation it

receives, because..."

Plan of Development

The plan of development consists of the three topics that you will
address in your body paragraphs. Often, research paper writers
will include the plan of development in their thesis statement.

Example:

"The Black Plague does not deserve the negative reputation it

receives, because it increased technological innovation, led to
the growth of cities, and was totally gnarly."
 Topic Sentences

The topic sentence should be the first sentence of your body

paragraph. Basically, topic sentences should restate one of the
items in your plan of development:

Plan of Development:

"The Black Plague does not deserve the negative reputation it

receives, because it increased technological innovation, led to
the growth of cities, and was totally gnarly."

Example Topic Sentence:

The Black Plague led to numerous technological innovations,

specifically in agricultural machinery.

The Outline:

The Plan of Development acts as a map for your paper, and

forms the basis of the research outline. Each item in the Plan of
Development should become a topic sentence; each topic
sentence begins one of your body paragraphs; thus, you should
have a section of your outline devoted to each of these items.

Here is the basic format of the Research Outline (which we will

complete in Noodletools)

I. Thesis Statement with Plan of development

II. Body Paragraph #1

a. Topic sentence: This should introduce the topic of the
paragraph.
Ex. The Black Plague led to numerous technological innovations,
specifically in agricultural machinery.
 b. Supporting Detail #1 (your first notecard)

c. Supporting Detail #2 and #3 and as many as you need (your

2nd, 3rd, nth notecards)

d. Closing sentence: Wrap up your ideas and move into next

topic.

III. and IV. Repeat steps from Body Paragraph 1 for Body Paragraph 2
and 3.