Topic Sentence: Supports argument/ thesis and introduces CLAIM #1

Address Point: Sub-claim #1 statement

Back it Up/Evidence (Cite source)

Connect

Back it Up/Evidence (Cite source)

Connect

Closing statement/Transition

Use Academic Templates!

Our learned strategies will help to “Connect”- “Explaining Quotations, So What?, Who Cares?, Why Does this Matter?This will be helpful to extend your point.

Address Point: Sub-claim #2 statement

Back it Up/Evidence (Cite source)

Connect

Address Point:/Evidence (Cite source)

Connect

Counterargument

Rebuttal

Closing statement/Transition

Use Academic Templates!

“Naming Your Naysayer”, “Agreeing and Disagreeing Simultaneously” and “Making Concessions While Still Standing Your Ground”

Address Point:Sub-claim #3 Illustration/Evidence (Cite source)

Connect

Illustration /Evidence (Cite source)

Connect

Closing statement

Continue with this general format until you have gone through all sub-claims for claim #1, then repeat for claims #2,#3, etc..

When you’re done with your body paragraphs…

Stop & REFLECT

NOW YOU’RE READY

TO WRITE THE

INTRODUCTION & CONCLUSION

Introduction Structure

General statement/ background about the topic.

Overview of claims.

State your argument/thesis.

Use “metacommentary” templates to help guide your reader.

Use a academic tone.

*Bullet points are not indicators of the number of sentences in the paragraph.

Adding Metacommentary

• In other words, _________.
• What _____________ really means by this is ______________.
• My point is ____________.
• Essentially, I am arguing that _______________.
• My point is not that we should _____________, but that we should _____________.
• What __________ really means is________.
• In other words, ___________.
• To put it another way, _____________.
• In sum, then, ______________.
• My conclusion, then, is that ____________.
• In short, ______________.
• What is more important, ______________.
• Incidentally, ________________.
• By the way, _______________.
• Chapter 2 explores _____________while Chapter 3 examines _________________.
• Having just argued that __________, le us now turn our attention to ____________.
• Although some readers may object that _____________, I would answer that __________

Conclusion structure

• Opinion and synthesis of viewpoint.
• Reaffirm argument/thesis.
• Maintain formal academic language.
• Avoid any conversational phrasing or tone.
• Articulate the big picture of your argument.
• *Bullet points are not indicators of the number of sentences in the paragraph.

Evidence and citations

Academic Language Templates

From Research Question
to a Working Thesis

Note: Please make sure that in using these templates for academic language that you necessarily must adjust according to the expectations of your teacher. For example, when your instructor tells you that an essay should not use the first person, stay away from it; don’t use I, my, we etc. In addition, as you become proficient at correctly using these templates in your writing, you should be able to modify them appropriately to suit your purposes. These are models and starting points, not unvarying recipes.

• You have created a research question
• You have done a significant amount of research
• Now what?
• After surveying your research you should evaluate what it tells you.

This should help you determine your working thesis.

Here’s an example

• My research topic was “Food production and the Consumer”.
• My research question was “ How are food producers regulated and are they effective in protecting consumers?”
• After researching I determined that consumer protections are not effective.
• My working thesis then became: “Regulatory governmental bodies that are meant to protect American food consumers are ineffective”.

• While many students like to start with a working thesis because they see a big picture emerge easily.

• Others, struggle- if you fall into this group, work backwards. Start with claims, evaluate as a whole and then create thesis.

Identify statement claims

• Claims are like topic sentences, they are subject and opinion statements that help to support your overall argument/thesis.
• Remember you will organize your paper by claims NOT sources.

Here is a sample of claim statements for the argument:

Regulatory governmental bodies that are meant to protect

American food consumers are ineffective.

Claim #1 The US public food policies protect large food producers.

Claim #2 Regulators fail to effectively safeguard the health and welfare of Americans.

Claim #3 The US government has not advocated policies that support environmental sustainability.

(Remember each claim may have many sub-claims)

Introducing WHAT ‘They Say”

• A number of sociologists have recently suggested that X’s work has several fundamental problems.
• It has become common today to dismiss X’s contribution to the field of sociology.
• In their recent work, Y and Z have offered harsh critiques of Dr. X for ___________.

Introducing “Standard Views”

• Americans today tend to believe that _______________.
• Conventional wisdom has it that ______________.
• Common sense seems to dictate that ___________.
• The standard way of thinking about topic X has it that ___________.
• It is often said that _________.
• My whole life I have heard it said that ______________.
• You (or One) would think that _____________.
• Many people assumed that ______________.

Making What “They Say” Something You Say

• I’ve always believed that _______________.
• When I was a child I used to think that ___________.
• Although I should know better by now, I cannot help thinking that ____________.
• At the same time I believe _____________, I also believe______________.

Introducing Something Assumed or Implied

• Although none of them ever said so directly, my teachers have often give me the impression that ______________.
• One implication of X’s treatment of ____________ is that _____________.
• Although X does not say so directly, she apparently assumes that ___________.
• While they rarely admit as much, ____________often take for granted that.

Introducing An Ongoing Debate

• In discussions of X, one controversial issue has been ____________. On the other hand, __________argues ____________. On the other hand, _________contends ________. Others even maintain ________. My own view is ___________.
• When it comes to the topic of ______________. Most of us will readily agree that ________. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of _________. Whereas some are convinced that _____________, others maintain that ____________.
• In conclusion, then, as I suggested earlier, defenders of __________ can’t have it both ways. Their assertion that _______ is contradicted by their claim that ___________.

(Please note that the phrase, in conclusion, used above comes at the end of an argument, not a concluding paragraph)

Capturing Authorial Action

• X acknowledges that ______________
• X agrees that ___________.
• X argues that ___________.
• X believes that ___________.
• X denies, does not deny that _________.
• X claims that ___________.
• X complains that ___________.
• X concedes that ___________.
• X demonstrates that ___________.
• X deplores the tendency to ___________.
• X celebrates the fact that _______.
• X emphasizes that ___________.
• X insists that __________.
• X questions whether _________.
• X questions whether ____________.
• X refutes the claim that ___________.
• X reminds us that ___________.
• X reports that _____________.
• X suggests that __________.
• X urges us to __________.

Introducing Quotations

• X states that, “____________.”
• As the prominent philosopher puts it, “___________.”
• According to X, “_____________.”
• X himself writes, ____________.”
• In her book, ___________, X maintains that “____________.”
• Writing in the journal Commentary, X complains that “ _____________.”
• In X’s view, “ ____________.
• X agrees when she writes, “_____________.”
• X disagrees when he writes, “ _____________.”
• X complicates matters further when he writes, “_____________.”

Explaining Quotations

• Basically, X is saying ______________.
• In other words, X believes ___________.
• In making this comment, X argues that ______________.
• X is insisting that ______________.
• X’s point is that _______.
• The essence of X’s argument is that ________.

Disagreeing, with Reasons

• I think X is mistaken because she overlooks _________.
• X’s claim rests upon the questionable assumption that ______.
• I disagree with X’s view that ______because, as recent research has shown, _________.
• X contradicts herself/can’t have it both ways. On the other hand, , she argues _________. But on the other hand, she also says ______.
• By focusing on ____________, X overlooks the deeper problem of ___________.
• X claims _____________, but we don’t need him to us that. Anyone familiar with _______ has long known that ___________.

Agreeing with a Difference

• I agree that ___________ because my experience confirms it.
• X surely is right about ______________ because, as she may not be aware, recent studies have shown that __________.
• X’s theory of ____________ is extremely useful because it sheds insight on the difficult problem of _________.
• I agree that _____________, appoint that needs emphasizing since many people believe ___________.
• Those unfamiliar with this school of thought may be interested to know that it basically boils down to ______________.
• If group X is right that _____________, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the popular assumption that _____________.

Agreeing and Disagreeing Simultaneously

• Although I agree with X up to a point, I cannot accept his overall conclusion that ____________.
• Although I disagree with much that X says, I fully endorse his final conclusion that _______________.
• Though I concede that _____________, I still insist that __________.
• Whereas X provides ample evidence that ______, Y and Z’s research on ______ and _______ convinces me that _________instead.
• X is right that _______, but she seems on more dubious ground when she claims that _______________.
• While X is probably wrong when she claims ____________, she is right that __________.
• I’m of two minds about X’s claim that ____________. On the one hand, I agree that _____________. On the other hand, I’m not sure if _______________.
• My feelings on the issue are mixed are mixed. I do support X’s position that ___________, but I find Y’s argument about _______ and Z’s research on _______to bew equally persuasive.

Signaling Who is Saying What

• X argues _______________
• According to both X and Y ______________.
• Politicians __________________, X argues should _________________.
• Most athletes will tell you that _________.
• My own view, however, is that ______.
• I agree, as X may not realize, is that ______________.
• But _______________ are real and arguably, the most significant factor in ____________.
• But X is wrong that _____________.
• However, it is simply not true that ______________.
• Indeed, it is highly likely that _______________.
• But the view that ______does not fit all the facts.
• X is right that ____.
• X is wrong that________.
• X is both right and wrong that _________.
• Yet a sober analysis of the matter reveals _____________.
• Nevertheless, new research shows ______________.
• Anyone familiar with _______should see that _______.

Embedding Voice Markers

• X overlooks what I consider an important point about _______________.
• My own view is that what X insists is a ____________ is in fact a ______.
• I wholeheartedly endorse what X calls _______.
• These conclusions, which X discusses in _______, add weight to the argument that _____________.

Entertaining Objections

• AT this point I would like to raise some objections that have been inspired by the skeptic in me. She feels that I have been ignoring ___________. “___________,” she says to me “_______________.”
• Yet some readers challenge the view that ____________. After all, many believe ___________. Indeed, my own argument that ______________seems to ignore ________and ______________.
• Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion that ______.

Naming Your Naysayers

• Here many feminists would probably object that _______________.
• But social Darwinists would certainly take issue with the argument that ___________.
• Biologists, of course, may want to dispute my claim that _______________.
• Nevertheless both followers and critics of Malcom X will probably argue that ___________.
• Although not all Christians think alike, some, some of them will probably dispute my claim that _______.
• Non-native English speakers are so diverse in their views that it’s hard to generalize about them, but some are likely to object on the grounds that ______________.

Introducing Objections Informally

• But is my proposal realistic? What are the chances of its actually being adopted?
• Yet is it always true that ________? Is it always the case as I have been suggesting that _____________.
• However, does the evidence I’ve cited prove conclusively that ____________?
• Impossible you say. “Your evidence must be skewed.”

Making Concessions while Still Standing Your Ground

• Although I grant that _____________, I still maintain that _______________.
• Proponents of X are right to argue that ____________. But they exaggerate when they claim that ____________.
• While it is true that _____________, it does not necessarily follow that ____________.
• On the one hand, I agree with X that ___________. But on the other hand, I still insist that ______________.

Indicating Who Cares

• _____________ used to think ____________. But recently [or within the past few decades] _______suggest that ______________.
• What this new research does, then, is correct the mistaken impression, held by many earlier researchers that _____________.
• These findings challenge the work of earlier researchers who tended to assume that _________.
• Recent studies like these tend new light on _________, which previous studies had not addressed.
• If sports enthusiasts stop to think about it, many of them might simply assume that the most successful athletes ____________. However, new research shows ____________.
• These findings challenge dieters assumptions that _____________.
• At first glance teenagers appear to ___________. But on closer inspection ____________.

Establishing Why Your Claim Matters

• X matters/is important because ____________.
• Although X may seem trivial, it is in fact crucial in terms of today’s concern over _____________.
• Ultimately what is at stake here is ____________.
• These findings have important consequences for the broader domain of _____________.
• My discussion of X is in fact addressing the larger matter of _________________.
• These conclusions/This discovery will have significant applications in ______as well as in ______________.
• Although X may seem of concern to only a small group of ___________, it should in fact concern anyone who acres about ______________.

Adding Metacommentary

• In other words, _________.
• What _____________ really means by this is ______________.
• My point is ____________.
• Essentially, I am arguing that _______________.
• My point is not that we should _____________, but that we should _____________.
• What __________ really means is________.
• In other words, ___________.
• To put it another way, _____________.
• In sum, then, ______________.
• My conclusion, then, is that ____________.
• In short, ______________.
• What is more important, ______________.
• Incidentally, ________________.
• By the way, _______________.
• Chapter 2 explores _____________while Chapter 3 examines _________________.
• Having just argued that __________, let us now turn our attention to ____________.
• Although some readers may object that _____________, I would answer that __________.