OUTLINE: Step 1

STEP 1
State Your Thesis

You should begin your outline by stating the thesis of your paper [at the very top for clarity of where the paper is going and what it will argue]: 

The English Civil War was caused by a combination of factors, including the empowerment and organization of Puritan forces, the absolutist tendencies of James I and the personal ineptitude of his son Charles I.

The THESIS will be the last sentence in the INTRODUCTION paragraph once you begin constructing your content.  While Step 1 deals directly with the THESIS as a single sentence with a clear arguable statement, the content below will help you with INTRODUCTION paragraphs overall.

INTRODUCTIONS

BASICS of an INTRODUCTION

• Everything You Need to Know about Introductions
• Audience
• Sources in Introductions
• Questions in an Introduction
• Forecasts in an Introduction

Introduction Step 1: "Hook"

• "Hooks" for the INTRODUCTION
• Questions in an Introduction
• Sources in Introductions
• Quote Resources for "Hooks"
• Try One of These STARTERS...

Introduction Step 2: Background

• Basics of an Introduction
• Providing Background in Introduction
• Sources in the Background Section??

Introduction Step 3: Thesis Statement

• What is a Thesis??
• How to Write a Good Thesis Statement
• Thesis Structure / Argument Support Development
• Strong Thesis Statements
• Thesis Presentation and Lessons
• Thesis Statement Exercise

The content above was written by The Writing Center at UOttowa as part of the Writing Paragraphs chapter of their program in Canada.  You may find some of their terms different from how we would express situations in America.

This content does not belong to J. Dick.  If you are looking for general guidance, the content above is standard writing information.  If you are looking for a specific style assigned by J. Dick for a specific writing assignment, be sure that you understand the argument style assigned as well as the Hamburger Method in conjunction with the content above.

If you have not read the Hamburger Method handout from this site, please take a moment to do so before continuing with this reading.  You can click on any of the sections below for detailed help in that area or work your way through the reading one topic at a time.

1. Outlines
2. Using the Hamburger Method
3. Writing Topic Sentences
4. Analyzing a Topic Sentence
5. Dividing your Argument
6. Developing Unified and Coherent Paragraphs
• Paragraph Development by Detail
• Paragraph Development by Comparison and Contrast
• Paragraph Development by Process
• Paragraph Development by Combination