beautiful thesis statement

Summarizing and Synthesizing

04/10/2023 Template copyright www.brainybetty.com 2005

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Summarizing and synethesizing

• http://www.speakaboos.com/story/the_three_bears • http://

www.speakaboos.com/story/little_red_riding_hood

http://www.speakaboos.com/story/the_three_bears

http://www.speakaboos.com/story/little_red_riding_hood

http://www.speakaboos.com/story/little_red_riding_hood


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A Beautiful Thesis Statement

• Step One: Summarize each story in four sentences or less. Try to get an accurate “big picture” of the story.

• Step Two: What are the connections between the two?


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• A single declarative sentence that states what you want you readers to know, believe or understand after having read your essay.


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A thesis statement should not• Be an open ended question• Mention more than you write about• Be so broad that you cannot prove it• Present multiple ideas• Contain conflicting ideas• Use personal pronouns


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Why is this not beautiful?

too broad / conflicting ideas / open-ended question• The World’s Fair in New Orleans was a disaster

because of the way the press criticized the way it was run, but it was exciting for little children and had many good food booths.


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too broad / conflicting ideas / open-ended question• TV commercials are obnoxious to the person

who is intent on watching a good show; on the other hand, they provide entertainment in the antics of the performers and they provide a good opportunity to take a snack break.


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too broad / conflicting ideas / open-ended question• Since politicians are constantly bombarding

each other, how do they except anyone to know who is right and who is wrong?


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too broad / conflicting ideas / open-ended question• Rap music is a popular form of art because it is

creative and original and because it follows the traditions of other spontaneously developed music like jazz.


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too broad / conflicting ideas / open-ended question• Unless people are conscious of pollution, the

world will be destroyed by the year 2050.


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Choose the better thesis statement

• The American steel industry has many problems.

• The primary problem of the American steel industry is the lack of funds to renovate outdated plants and equipment.


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• Hemingway’s stories helped create a new prose style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and strong Anglo-Saxon words.

• Hemingway’s war stories are very good.


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• The thesis of this paper is the difficulty of solving our environmental problems.

• Solving our environmental problems is more difficult than many environmentalists believe.


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• People are poisoning the environment with chemicals merely to keep their lawns clean.

• People use many lawn chemicals.


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• Stephen Hawking’s physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world renowned physicist.

• Stephen Hawking’s physical disability has not prevented him from becoming a world renowned physicist, and his book is the subject of a movie.


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• Social Security and Old Age.• Continuing changes in the Social Security

System make it almost impossible to plan intelligently for retirement.


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Goldilocks & Red Riding Hood

• Step Three: Create a thesis that unifies the two sources.

Vedantam’s Hidden Brain

• Find the thesis statement• Find an example of an “apt phrase” that is in

quotations• Find an example of a paraphrase• Find an example of a summary• Find an example of a direct quote• Find two examples of phrases that tell the

reader that an idea or word are Shankear’s • Find an example of plagiarism

beautiful thesis statement

Education