Senior English Skill #1
 A thesis statement is probably the most
important sentence in:
 An short response English answer
 An essay
 A persuasive speech
 A feature article
 A news report
 And, many other analytical of informative
texts that you have to be able to write in
senior English
 Purpose = reason / point / idea /
 Statement = declaration / “answer” (to a question)
/ announcement / assertion /
 Unified = makes clear sense / ideas are “stuck”
together and make sense / joined / cohesive /
integrated / bring together / matching ideas all
together
 Facilitates = enables / assists / helps / makes
simple / makes easy
 You start with a combination of:
1.
The words in the topic name (or the concept) of the unit of study
(the course) you are doing in class
AND / OR
2. The actual words in the question that you have been asked to answer:
 Short answer question
 Essay question
 Feature article topic
 Etc…
In Loch Ard Gorge, how does John Foulcher
represent the main concerns of the poem?
 How = ???
 Represent (as in an
= ???
 Concerns = ???
 English question)
 “how” = “what language forms and features
have been used?”
 “represent” = show / illustrate / suggest /
depict / imply / convey / influence the
reader
 “concerns” = ideas / issues / themes /
concepts / opinions / beliefs / values
 In Loch Ard Gorge, how does John Foulcher represent the
main concerns of the poem? (original question)
Rewrite as…
In Loch Ard Gorge, what language forms and
features does John Foulcher use to show the main
ideas in the poem?
… Use
the words in the new question – and
change the question into a statement…
In Loch Ard Gorge, what language forms and
features does John Foulcher use to show the main
ideas in the poem?
Change into
a statement
In Loch Ard Gorge, John Foulcher uses a
variety of language forms and features to
show the main ideas in his poem.