Composition Skills

Ausima Sultan
Overview
• Topic Sentences and Thesis Statements
• Analyze a paragraph (topic sentence + supporting points)
• Thesis statement – neither too broad, nor too narrow
• How to write a thesis statement
• How to write a thesis statement for an Argumentative essay
• General guidelines
Topic sentences
• Identify the topic and controlling idea:

There are many reasons why pollution in ABC Town is the worst in the
world.
Topic: pollution in ABC Town is the worst in the world
Controlling idea: many reasons
• Identify the topic and controlling idea:

Dogs make wonderful pets because they help you to live longer.
• Topic: dogs make wonderful pets
• Controlling idea: because they help you to live longer
Identify the topic and controlling idea:

Crime in poverty-stricken areas occurs as a result of a systemic

discrimination.
• Topic: Crime in poverty-stricken areas
• Controlling idea: discrimination within the system
Analyzing a Paragraph
• Read the following paragraph and answer these questions:
1) What is the topic and controlling idea?
2) What are the supporting points?
3) Are any supporting points not strictly relevant to the main point?
4)Which sentences are statements of fact and which are opinions?
 [1] No wild animal has been a greater incitement to the discovery
of new worlds than the beaver. [2] North America was largely explored by
men seeking to profit from an insatiable European market for felt hats
made from shorn and pressed beaver fur. [3] The Hudson’s Bay Company,
established in 1669 to trade with the Indians for beaver pelts, was the
effective government of most of Canada from the French and India War
until the mid-nineteenth century. [4] American beaver traders such as
Jedediah Smith preceded gold miners and settlers to the West Coast by
several decades. [5] During the height of the beaver trade, after the steel
trap began to be produced industrially and before new felt-making
processes depressed the price of a beaver pelt by some 80 percent, a
beaver trapper could average a daily income estimated at thirty-two
times that of a farm laborer. [6] It’s no wonder that mountain men
explored every watershed from Santa Fe to Vancouver in the 1820’s. [7]
Even after beaver prices fell in the 1840’s, an estimated 500,000 beavers
were being killed every year, primarily for their fur, which was (and is)
used to make coats and collars.
- David Rains Wallace, “The Mind of the Beaver”
Thesis statements
• A thesis statement expresses the main idea of an essay/article
• It is contained in the introductory para
• The topic sentences of each subsequent paragraph should connect
with the thesis statement of the essay
• The thesis statement is often longer and more complexly structured
than a topic sentence.
• A thesis statement should be broad enough so that it can relate to multiple
supporting points and specific examples.
• Too narrow: Reading can develop a child's analytical mind.

• This statement restricts you to writing about analytical abilities.

• Words like "can," aren't strong enough.

• Appropriate: Reading develops creative as well as analytical abilities in young minds,

besides widening their horizons of experience beyond the immediately possible.
• Appropriate: Reading develops a child’s mind by fostering comprehension skills,
building vocabulary, and fueling the powers of imagination.
• Thesis statements should be precise enough to determine a particular
focus for the essay
• Too broad: Shakespeare’s Macbeth accomplishes a powerful critique
on human nature.
• Appropriate: In Macbeth, William Shakespeare uses the theme of
prophecy and fate to critique the superstitious beliefs of his era.
How to Write a Thesis Statement
1. Determine what kind of composition you are writing:
• An analytical paper breaks down an issue/idea into its component
parts, explores how these are interrelated, and presents an evaluation
of the issue or idea to the audience
• An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.
• An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this
claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a
proposal, an evaluation, an interpretation, etc. The goal of the
argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true
based on the evidence provided.
• 2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what
you will discuss in your composition and should be supported with
specific evidence.
• 3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first
paragraph of a paper.
• 4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your
thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the
paper.