Writing a Thesis Statement: Lesson and Activities

The thesis statement is the most critical aspect of an essay. For that reason, I spend quite a bit of time making sure my students' thesis statements are perfected before we begin pre-writing.

This thesis statement lesson focuses specifically on writing solid, effective thesis statements for argumentative essays. It contains:

1. A 26-slide presentation that covers the purpose of a thesis statement, the difference between a thesis and topic as well as between a thesis and topic sentence, common thesis-writing mistakes, and "Your Turn!" exercises for students. This document is included in both EDITABLE and SECURE versions. The secured version features special copyrighted graphics and fonts. The editable version does not.
2. Three different exercises to reinforce the material in the presentation. Two of them are worksheets that will allow students to practice identifying weak thesis statements and writing strong ones. One of the practice worksheets asks students to turn a topic into a thesis statement because students often confuse the two.
3. Sixteen task cards for review and discussion purposes. An answer sheet and answer key are included.
4. An informal game that can be played as a whole class or in small groups. The purpose is to allow students fun repetition in creating argumentative thesis statements for different topics.
5. Three graphic organizers to help students begin brainstorming for their own thesis statements and supporting reasons.
6. A suggested lesson and usage guide.

If you want to make sure your students are thoroughly prepared to write strong argumentative thesis statements, use this lesson.

Please note: This lesson is not intended for literary analysis essays. The examples and tips included were created for argumentative, persuasive, and debate-style topics.

If used according to the suggestions provided, this lesson should take approximately 4 days (with 45 minute class periods). Time may vary depending on the length of your discussions.

These teaching resources are perfect for grades 7 through 10 and should especially resonate with struggling writers. The explanations and examples are simple and clear so as not to add unnecessary frustration.

Looking for additional writing tools to add to your repertoire? Find these in my store:

Writing Pre-Assessment

Color-Coded Essay Graphic Organizer

Embedding Quotations in Research Papers MLA Practice

The Writing Games! Engaging MLA Research and Writing Skills Dice Game

Argumentative Research Paragraph Instructional Materials

Plagiarism Minilesson

MLA Research and Writing Skills Unit Assessment or Final Exam or Question Bank

Seven Deadly Sins of Sentence Fluency

Rules for Commas & Semicolons

Verbals Practice or Review Worksheet, Activity, & Task Cards

Verbals Unit Bundle

Prepositional Phrases Bundle

Types of Sentences Bundle

The Grammar Games! Dice Review

And more here!

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