For a few weeks, you’ve been reading about your selected topic. Now, it’s time to decide what you–individually–will select for a research paper topic. The idea is to find an aspect of the larger topic on which you want to focus. For example, if your group topic were immigration, you as a group might have discussed several key issues:
• The sheer number of illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S. and the question of whether to—and if so, how to—make them legal aliens or U.S. citizens.
• The problem of businesses hiring illegal immigrants.
• The question of rights of illegal immigrants—should they be allowed to attend our schools, get reduced or free care in our hospitals, not pay taxes…?

So, you need to decide on what—specifically—you want to focus your paper. Then, you’ll need to draft a THESIS sentence for your ARGUMENTATIVE research paper.

Check out Purdue’s OWL or Teen Space’s A+ Research and Writing for step-by-step help in understanding the research process, including how to write a thesis sentence.

One last tip: writing the thesis sentence for the argumentative paper is similar to writing the thesis for the style analysis essay. In a style analysis essay, the thesis is the topic plus the author’s “so what?” (his position/point/argument). This time, instead of identifying and explaining an author’s position, you are crafting your own position on a topic.

Below is a screenshot (or you can see my sample research page) of what your research page might look like with a thesis sentence sentence. Be creative, however, and format the page using your creative genius!