Demonstration
on
Creating Thesis Statments
Using
Always Running as an
example
Brainstorm on issues in Always
Running:
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Kids having
kids................................................Drug
use
Role of community
centers.................................Police
brutality
The realities of urban
living.................................Roles
and duties of the police
Sexism...............................................................Political
activism of the 60's and 70's
Discrimination and
racism...................................Blame
and responsibility
Treatment of
women..........................................The
family
The different aspects of gangs and gang
life.......
The government
The two-tiered school system: unfair education
...Gang
loyalty vs. betrayal
Growing self-awareness: maturing, gaining
skills...Gangs:
legitimate and the not legitimate
Cycles of
violence...............................................Role
models
Loss of friends, family, close
ties.........................Fighting
within communities
The draw of "La Vida
Loca"...............................
Hate
Crimes
Gov. & society vs.
individual
responsibilities........Cultural
collisions
The life and treatment of Latinos in the
U.S...........The
economics of poverty and racism
The significance of art in Luis's
life.......................Positive
and negative influence of schools
Luis's inspirations and
motivations.......................Environmental/neighborhood
influence
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Creating a
thesis:
Remember: every thesis and topic sentence must contain not
only a topic but also a controlling idea which tells us the
attitude of the writer toward the topic.
(1)
Form questions
using words from the brainstorm
.....................(use
the journalists' questions:
.................who,
what, how, why, where,
when)
Questions: Why did Luis join the gang? Why didn't he
get out?
(2)
Create a thesis; answer the questions
......................(seek
opinions that need to be
proven.not
unarguable
facts)
Answer: Luis joined a gang because it made him feel
better
about himself.
(3)
Deepen the thesis by asking "so what?"
....................Why
should we be concerned?
....................How
is this important in the novel? In life?
....................What
can be
learned
So What?:
Concerned? Because gangs are growing and we need to
......................understand
why.
Importance in novel? Rodriguez wants the reader to
understand
......................
his
motivations and to see he had no choice.
Importance in life? If we know why people join gangs perhaps
we
......................
can create
solutions to stop them.
What can be learned? There are many reasons why
Rodriguez
......................
became trapped
in gang life and it wasn't entirely his fault.
Possible Thesis: Rodriguez shows
the many reasons why he had no
choice but to join a gang and perhaps through writing this
novel
he wants to show how to help other young people avoid the
same.
Click here for
examples on
Testing
Thesis
Statements
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