Select one of the thirty approved writing prompts for your Final Research Paper from the Research Paper Guidelines document. Your persuasive argument will be presented through a well-written thesis statement. Consider your chosen writing prompt, the available research, and the definition of argument as you prepare a working thesis statement. Also, reflect on the thesis statement and topic sentences presented in the “Who Stole the American Dream?” article. In addition, watch the Ashford University Library video, Quick ‘n’ dirty, and develop a list of 10 to 20 key words.

Share your one- to two-sentence thesis statement and your key word list with the class by Day 3. Be sure to provide a critique of your thesis using the Thesis Checklist and Ashford Writing Center (AWC) resources to guide your evaluation. Explain in detail how your thesis aligns with the requirements on the checklist and the AWC resources. Feel free to revise your thesis statement throughout the week and share your progress in the discussion forum.

Your initial post must be 200 to 300 words in length

Class: For this discussion, here’s what you need to post:

1. Share your one- to two-sentence thesis statement

2. Share your key word list (there should be 10-20)

3. Critique your thesis using the Thesis Checklist and Ashford Writing Center (AWC) resources to guide your evaluation.

4. Explain in detail how your thesis aligns with the requirements on the checklist and the AWC resources.

**When it comes to writing a thesis statement: here are some things to watch out for specifically:

1. Make sure your thesis is not written in first person (I, me, my, we, us, our, etc.) or second person (you, your, etc).

2. Make sure your thesis is not a question. It should be a statement. (Hence, thesis statement)

3. The thesis should be debatable. Ask yourself if someone could dispute your thesis. If it’s unlikely that someone would dispute your thesis because it’s a statement of fact, your thesis is not debatable and will not work for a persuasive paper.

• Take a look at this thesis: Childhood obesity is causing many health problems in the youth today, and something should be done about it.
• Is it likely that people would argue that obesity doesn’t cause health problems? Would people argue against trying to reverse this trend? That is unlikely. This it NOT a strong thesis statement as it is not worthy of debate. 

4. A thesis statement should 1) take a stand and 2) offer an organized plan to prove that stand. One simple way to format a thesis is like this:

State the position + because + reason 1, reasons 2, and reason 3.

A variant of this is as follows:

State the position + should + reason 1, reasons 2, and reason 3.

You can have as many reasons as you like, but I would give at least two. If you only state two, realize that you will need multiple body paragraphs exploring each of those reasons.

In your peer responses: review and critique the thesis statements and keywords of at least two of your classmates according to the Thesis Checklist, AWC resources, and Ashford University Library video. Be open and honest with classmates as you help them improve their work. In addition, be tactful.