Thesis Statements

The class discussion on generating thesis statements proved to be very interesting, and quite helpful to me! I am a communication disorders major, and will be entering the graduate program within the next couple of semesters. With that being said, I am sure I will have to come up with many thesis statements throughout my educational career. 

One of the most difficult times I had with formulating a thesis statement was during my sophomore semester in English 2, which I took at West Kentucky Community and Technical College. During this course, I was required to write a research paper over conspiracy theories and the attacks of 911. Writing over something you care nothing about proved to be a very difficult task in this situation. After weeks of gathering what I thought was pointless information, I finally neared the end of my research. My entire paper broke down and attempted to disprove the conspiracy theories about the attacks that happened on September 11, 2001. I used many books, youtube videos, and government documents to do so. This was the most difficult time I have had with formulating a thesis statement, mainly because I was not interested in the topic.

The class discussion directed towards formulating thesis statements was helpful, because now I know how to break down certain topics from general to more specific, use key words for research, and pick a side based on the direction of my paper. The following link to the Purdue Owl website also includes more detailed information on basing your thesis on what kind of paper you are writing, whether it be expository, analytical, argumentative, etc... http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/1/