sexual images on MTV

o What is considered “enough”?

o What is the problem?

o What are the results

4. Omit any general claims that are hard to support.

Working thesis: Today’s teenage girls are too sexualized.

Revised thesis: Teenage girls who are captivated by the sexual images on MTV are conditioned to

believe that a woman’s worth depends on her sensuality, a feeling that harms their self-esteem and

behavior.

It is true that some young women in today’s society are more sexualized than in the past, but that is not

true for all girls. Many girls have strict parents, dress appropriately, and do not engage in sexual activity

while in middle school and high school. The writer of this thesis should ask the following questions:

o Which teenage girls?

o What constitutes “too” sexualized?

o Why are they behaving that way?

o Where does this behavior show up?

o What are the repercussions? E X E R C I S E 3

In the first section of Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?”, you determined your purpose for

writing and your audience. You then completed a freewriting exercise about an event you recently

experienced and chose a general topic to write about. Using that general topic, you then narrowed it down

by answering the 5WH questions. After you answered these questions, you chose one of the three

methods of prewriting and gathered possible supporting points for your working thesis statement.

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Now, on a separate sheet of paper, write down your working thesis statement. Identify any weaknesses in

this sentence and revise the statement to reflect the elements of a strong thesis statement. Make sure it is

specific, precise, arguable, demonstrable, forceful, and confident.

Collaboration

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Writing at Work

In your career you may have to write a project proposal that focuses on a particular problem in your

company, such as reinforcing the tardiness policy. The proposal would aim to fix the problem; using a

thesis statement would clearly state the boundaries of the problem and tell the goals of the project. After

writing the proposal, you may find that the thesis needs revision to reflect exactly what is expressed in the

body. Using the techniques from this chapter would apply to revising that thesis.

K E Y T A K E A W A Y S

 Proper essays require a thesis statement to provide a specific focus and suggest how the essay will be

organized.

 A thesis statement is your interpretation of the subject, not the topic itself.

 A strong thesis is specific, precise, forceful, confident, and is able to be demonstrated.

 A strong thesis challenges readers with a point of view that can be debated and can be supported

with evidence.

 A weak thesis is simply a declaration of your topic or contains an obvious fact that cannot be argued.

 Depending on your topic, it may or may not be appropriate to use first person point of view.

 Revise your thesis by ensuring all words are specific, all ideas are exact, and all verbs express action.

9.2 Writing Body Paragraphs L E A R N I N G O B JE C T I V E S

1. Select primary support related to your thesis.

2. Support your topic sentences.

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If your thesis gives the reader a roadmap to your essay, then body paragraphs should closely follow

that map. The reader should be able to predict what follows your introductory paragraph by simply

reading the thesis statement.

The body paragraphs present the evidence you have gathered to confirm your thesis. Before you

begin to support your thesis in the body, you must find information from a variety of sources that

support and give credit to what you are trying to prove.

Select Primary Support for Your Thesis

Without primary support, your argument is not likely to be convincing. Primary support can be described

as the major points you choose to expand on your thesis. It is the most important information you select

to argue for your point of view. Each point you choose will be incorporated into the topic sentence for each

body paragraph you write. Your primary supporting points are further supported by supporting details

within the paragraphs.