Writing a strong thesis statement

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Writing a strong thesis statement

• Lessons gleaned from Mid-term Essays

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Strong thesis statements

• The most evident of these causes for revolution
  is, in fact, the ideas posed by Enlightenment
  thinkers. There would have been no revolutions
  (in France or America) if the ideas of
  Enlightenment thinkers had not reached the
  people.

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Another strong thesis statement

• The American Revolution freedom from England! No
  taxation without representation! The French
  Revolution Freedom from the tyrant! Taxation
  with representation! If the Americans can do it,
  so can we! .(While the Americans fought for
  independence and economic reasons, the French
  sought social and political equality.)

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A 3rd strong thesis

• The essential ideas of the French and American
  revolutions were the same--but what about the
  causes? In both, revolutions, unfair taxation was
  a factor. In the American revolution, the
  geographic removal of the colonies played a role.
  In the French, a weak monarch with a poor sense
  of leadership (was a large factor.) But in both,
  the biggest driving force was the ideas of
  Enlightenment thinkers.

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Contrast these 3 with.

• .These two revolutions possessed similar causes
  but overall they were significantly different
  from each other.
• In both cases, the people rose up against unjust
  monarchs to secure their independence. The causes
  of both revolutions were very similar with only a
  couple of differences.

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Last example..

• Two of the most important events in history, the
  American and French revolutions drastically
  changed the world forever and the modern world
  would look very different had these events not
  occurred. Although different people, different
  locations and different times were involved in
  the two revolution, they share many of the same
  causes.

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Thesis statements should be..

• Precise
• Specific
• Arguable.they should not state what most of the
  world already knows!
• How can one argue there were many different
  causes to these revolutions or
• these two revolutions shared many of the same
  causes