Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Composing The Working Thesis, Nicole Trackman

Writing Bootcamp Unit

This lesson will review the proper format of effective thesis statements. Students will review sample thesis statements, reflect on their own work and revise.

Claims And Enthymemes: The Rudiments Of Argument, Adam Kotlarczyk

Writing Bootcamp Unit

In Rhetoric, Aristotle called the enthymeme the syllogism of persuasion. More recently, philosopher Stephen Toulmin used a similar structure to form “practical arguments” in his Model of Argument in The Uses of Argument (1958). Essentially, such an argument consists of three components: claim, evidence, warrant. The claim is an arguable conclusion, for example “Edward Hopper is a famous painter.” The evidence provides a reason to support this claim, for example “because his work is at the Art Institute in Chicago.” The warrant is an assumption inherent in an argument, usually unstated, in this case, that famous artists have work …

Thesis Group Activity, Margaret T. Cain

Writing Bootcamp Unit



This is not an introduction to the thesis statement, but serves well as a second or reinforcing lesson. This activity asks students to practice, in the comfort of a group, drawing out and expressing complete, coherent statements from an essay. These statements will be in four areas of criticism: intention, tone, world view and skill; the teams of students will shape these statements into theses. This activity requires one entire class of at least 60 minutes.