Choosing a topic and narrowing it down to a thesis can seem terrifying. To begin, consider subjects in today’s society that interest you and browse articles to pinpoint a topic.

After exploring the topic through various articles, you should be able to focus your topic further, and eventually take a stand on a specific issue (your thesis). For example, if you are interested in health issues, the process of narrowing your topic and eventually developing a thesis might look something like this: THESIS: With adolescent obesity more than tripling in the last thirty years, leading to multiple health issues, schools must develop policies that support healthy behaviors and provide opportunities for students to learn about and practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.

Constructing a Strong Thesis Statement Requires Two Things:

1. Debatable: you must make a claim with which people could reasonably agree or disagree. If your thesis is something people generally agree upon or accept as fact, your paper will serve no purpose. Through a strong thesis supported by research, your goal should be to convince people to agree with your claim.

RATCHET EXAMPLES because they're non-debatable: - Dropping out of high school negatively impacts individuals.

- The high school dropout rate in our society is too high.

2. Narrow/specific: The more focused your thesis/claim, the more effective your argument. In order to convince your reader, you need to provide relevant research that directly supports your position, so if you choose a thesis that is too broad, you will wind up needing far too much information that ultimately does not fully address the issue or provide a concrete solution.

RATCHET EXAMPLES because they're too broad: - State laws that provide incentives to stay in school will increase graduation rates.

- Giving students more flexibility will decrease the number of high school dropouts.

TRILL (TRUE, REAL) EXAMPLES OF A SPECIFIC, DEBATABLE THESIS - Since nearly half of all high school dropouts leave school due to economic or personal needs which conflict with traditional school requirements, every school district should offer flexible, online educational programs.

- Instituting laws tying driving privileges to high school attendance and graduation will reduce the number of dropouts in our country, providing greater opportunities for individuals and decreasing dependence on governmental assistance. After fully reading this workshop, please complete the instructions in this annotation!AND THEN YOU: