Now, it is time to take the first step in writing your research paper. Since you have learned how to narrow the scope of your topic and develop an effective thesis statement to guide your research, put this knowledge to use in finding direction and focus for your paper.

Part A: Topic Selection and Prewriting

In order to select the topic for your paper, revisit the Warm-Up activity from this topic. Decide if one of these topics will provide enough information for you to examine. If you have developed another interest while completing this topic, you can also choose that. Once you have selected your topic, try some prewriting strategies to narrow down your topic. You should save any documents that you create related to your pre-writing to submit along with your thesis statement (see Part B below).

Part B: Developing a Thesis

Now, use your prewriting to develop a strong thesis statement. Remember, your thesis statement should clearly state your claim or position, establish the scope of your topic, and briefly outline the main points of your argument. In addition, make sure that the claim you make in your thesis is arguable, or has an opposing viewpoint.

Before you begin, review the Thesis Statement Checklist to make sure that you include all of the items required for full credit. You may need to use resources outside of this course to complete this assignment, so please submit a Works Cited document. If you need assistance, visit the Developmental Module for information on citing any resources that you used.

Once you have completed your prewriting and your thesis statement, please submit your work to the dropbox.