HMXP Thesis Statements 08 Summer

Exercise:

Here are your thesis statements from Paper Three.  Work in groups and start with different items.  Evaluate each one in terms of the following features and criteria:

• A thesis must have three parts:
  • An “Although” clause that sets up the opposition
  • An “I will argue that” clause that states the paper’s position (a controversial idea about the focused topic)
  • A “because” clause that anticipates the argument
• Ideally, all three parts of the thesis should be about the focused topic.
• The thesis forges a connection to one of the texts in our anthology.
• Things that a thesis is not:  a fact, a question, a truism, a huge generalization

1. Although some Christians believe that being saved requires performing good works, I will argue that my personal experience of being saved by grace shows that Loury’s position [that he is ‘set free by grace’] is correct because Christianity is part of who I am.

2. Although Emerson stresses the importance of true independence in developing self-reliance, after evaluating my own experiences I will argue that a strong relationship with nature is key to Emerson’s view of self-reliance because to rely on one’s self you have to rely on nature.

3. Although Menkiti’s comparison of the African and Western countries customs of progressing through life emphasizes the differences in obtaining full personhood, I will argue that the two cultures are analogous in some aspects because most of my life was spent in an environment that embodied a similar structure for becoming a fully fledged member of my gymnastics society.

4. Although society preaches conformity to “dead dogma”, I argue that self-reliance is required by any “living truth”, because testing one's beliefs is necessary to maintaining its integrity.

5. Although Menkiti refers to the “processual nature of being” (132) as a person being born always as “it”, and then eventually becoming “he” or “she” after the society’s shaping process, I will argue that this concept does not necessarily apply to the small status-freak city where I came from.

6. Although many youth are influenced by cigarette advertisements, I will argue that the media does not have an impact on my choice to become a smoker because I do not have a desire to follow society’s pattern to destruction.

7. Although it seems each individual has the capabilities and the opportunity to express themselves, I will argue that not everyone has the opportunity, and reaching the point of capability can be difficult, as it was for the female interviewees in Belenky’s “Silence,” and for myself because of the oppression of expression by my authority figures during my childhood and adolescent years.

8. Although some of my fellow officers would argue that the uniformity that nepotism promotes is a virtue, I will use my negative experience of nepotism in the NYPD to argue that it is inappropriate because it makes a force less effective by dividing it into what Myers calls “ingroup” and “outgroup”.

9. Although my work as a maid fulfilled an innate desire to help others, I will use my overall misery as a cleaning lady to argue that I was alienated in the Marxist sense because I experienced estrangement from my upcoming wedding plans, my ability to carry out dreams, and my inner power.

10. Although my prosperity through real estate might be a mere coincidence, I will argue that my success in this area stems from the law of attraction because a pattern of success is likely to be more than a coincidence.

11. Although Marx’s argues that labor alienates laborers in various ways with a negative affect, I will use my own personal experience from working at a horse stable to argue that alienation can a positive, because alienation for other human beings helped me connect to nature and my inner self on a deeper level.

12. I am seen as a black SKATEBOARDER by other African Americans and a BLACK skateboarder to the other skateboarders.

13. Although my husband, Ryan, and mine honeymoon was not a fool’s paradise, I will argue that our vacation was an amazing getaway in paradise, because of the time that we were able to spend alone as a newly wedded couple.

14. Myers says in his text that a biased person can make decisions in order to favorite his group, so it is possible to see why the referee in Argentina did decide borderline manners favoring my opponent.