Empoword

Part Three: Research and Argumentation 321 research, draft, and revise: you might tweak the wording, adjust your scope, change your position or even your entire topic in the course of your work. Because your thesis is a “working thesis” or “(hypo)thesis,” you should use the following strategies to draft your thesis but be ready to make adjustments along the way. In Chapter 6, we introduced the T3, Occasion/Position, and Embedded Thesis models. As a refresher, • A T3 statement articulates the author’s stance, then offers three supporting reasons, subtopics, or components of the argument. Throughout history, women have been legally oppressed by different social institutions, including exclusion from the workplace, restriction of voting rights, and regulations of healthcare. • An Occasion/Position statement starts with a statement of relevance related to the rhetorical occasion, then articulates the author’s stance. Recent Congressional activity in the U.S. has led me to wonder how women’s freedoms have been restricted throughout history. Women have been legally oppressed by many different institutions since the inception of the United States. • An Embedded Thesis presents the research question, perhaps with a gesture to the answer(s). This strategy requires that you clearly articulate your stance somewhere later in your paper, at a point when your evidence has led you to the answer to your guiding question. Many people would agree that women have experienced oppression throughout the history of the United States, but how has this oppression been exercised legally through different social institutions? Of course, these are only three strategies to write a thesis. You may use one of them, combine several of them, or use a different strategy entirely. To build on these three strategies, we should look at three kinds of claims: three sorts of postures that you might take to articulate your stance as a thesis. • Claim of Phenomenon : This statement indicates that your essay will explore a measurable but arguable happening. Obesity rates correlate with higher rates of poverty. Claims of phenomenon are often more straightforward, but should still be arguable and worth discussion. • Claim of Evaluation : This statement indicates that your essay will determine something that is better, best, worse, or worst in regard to your topic. The healthiest nations are those with economic safety nets. Your thesis statement can and should evolve as you continue writing your paper. Often, I prefer to think of a thesis instead as a (hypo)thesis—an informed estimation of the answer(s) to your research question.