The Essay Clinic - learn more here
Unlock the secrets of academic writing success as we dissect the critical component that has both students and parents scratching their heads: the thesis statement. Yours truly, Francesca, is here to lead the charge in transforming your or your teen's essays from good to exceptional. Say goodbye to confusion as we lay out a detailed blueprint for constructing thesis statements that pack a punch. We'll look at real examples to distinguish between a thesis that fizzles out and one that firmly grasps your reader's attention, all while ensuring precision, specificity, and direction are at the heart of your argument.
This episode isn't just about theory; it's an interactive masterclass complete with actionable tips and a treasure trove of resources. The Essay Clinic digital course is spotlighted as an indispensable tool for budding writers in an AI-dominated world, perfect for those mastering the art of transforming thoughts into compelling written words. Plus, I've tucked away a handy checklist in the show notes, ensuring your teen's writing journey stays on a triumphant path. Join us as we empower the next generation of thinkers and communicators to conquer the academic battlefield with confidence and finesse.
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For more free resources, check out my guide to the 5 secret habits of teens who succeed. Jam packed with advice, tips and strategies. Yours free!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, welcome back to Challenge your
Mind, change the World.
Francesca here, your host andguide on this journey to better
communication and criticalthinking.
Today we are talking aboutcrafting the perfect thesis
statement.
This is a guide for parents,but if you have got a teenager
or a young person in yourhousehold that is studying at
the moment or they're writingfor a big test or, dare I say it
(00:23):
, massive exam coming up, thenthis is a really good episode to
pass over to them as well, tolisten, to Put it on in the car
on the way to school or at hometonight when you're cooking tea,
because we have got so manyreally cool ways to break down a
thesis statement and get peoplewriting.
In today's episode, we willexplore what a thesis is, why
(00:43):
it's so important.
Day's episode we will explorewhat a thesis is, why it's so
important and how you, asparents, can help your wonderful
teenagers craft strong,effective thesis statements,
because the last thing that wewant to see is, written in red
pen, a comment from the teachersaying thesis statement needs to
be stronger.
Who has had an essay like thatat home?
(01:04):
They are so common and they canbe so confusing too if your
teenager doesn't actually knowwhat a thesis statement is and
why it's so important.
So we're going to get into thattoday.
Understanding the thesisstatement.
What is a thesis statement?
Well, it's really hard topronounce.
That's for starters.
But let's start with the basics.
So a thesis statement is a oneor two sentence summary.
(01:28):
There's a lot of S's in this, alot of alliteration.
A one or two sentence summaryof the main point or claim of an
essay.
It's the foundation upon whichthe entire essay is built.
It is, if you want to thinkabout it, it is the main
headliner, not the topic of theessay.
But if you were to summarizethe essay in one line, it would
(01:52):
be a thesis statement.
So think of it as a roadmap forthe reader.
It tells them what to expectand what the essay will argue or
discuss.
It's almost like if yourteenagers have got Instagram at
home and they've got thatprofile little piece at the top
and there's only so manycharacters that they can use to
(02:13):
type in their about me section.
A thesis statement is like that.
It's really short and to thepoint, but it tells the audience
or the reader in this case,exactly what the essay is about
or, on Instagram, exactly whatyour page is about.
It's a really limited amount ofcharacters that you have to
basically summarize everythingthat you're about.
(02:35):
That is what a thesis statementis To illustrate.
We'll start with.
Here's a good thesis statementSchool uniforms should be
mandatory in all public schoolsbecause they promote equality,
reduce bullying and enhanceschool spirit Full stop.
Boom Done.
Here's a weak one, and I wantyou to try and think about why.
(02:57):
The first one was the betterone and this one is the weaker
one.
Here we go School uniforms arebad, full stop.
Can you see the difference?
The good thesis is clear andspecific, while the weak one is
vague and lacks direction and isa little short four words total
.
Let me repeat those two again,just so that you can hear them.
(03:20):
Now that you know the reasons,a really great thesis statement
sounds like this School uniformsshould be mandatory in all
public schools because theypromote equality, reduced
bullying and enhanced schoolspirit Full stop.
And then here's the weak one.
School uniforms are, but howmany followers do you think the
thesis statement school uniformsare bad are going to get?
(03:41):
Well, no one really knows.
But how many followers do youthink an Instagram profile would
get if they had?
School uniforms should bemandatory in all public schools
because they promote equality,reduce bullying and enhance
school spirit.
Boom, boom, boom.
We've got one, two, three.
We've got three differentexamples promote equality,
reduce bullying and enhanceschool spirit.
That is going to prick up theears of so many more people than
(04:04):
just the simple school uniformsare bad.
It's a lot easier said thandone about crafting a good
thesis statement.
I get that.
I understand that.
So let's have a look and see howdo we craft a really strong
thesis statement.
And there's three keycomponents of a really strong
thesis statement.
We've got the topic, which iswhat the essay is about.
Secondly, we've got the claim,which is the writer's stance or
(04:27):
their main argument.
And thirdly, we've got thereasoning, a brief overview of
the supporting points.
So I'll say that, again, thereare three key components of a
thesis statement Topic, claim,reasoning.
Let's see how we can break onedown.
Step one is identify the essaytopic.
Let's say your teenager iswriting about the impact of
social media on teenagers.
(04:48):
That is the essay topic.
Step two would be decide onyour starts, or your main
argument.
So perhaps they believe thatsocial media has negative impact
and so that's going to be theirstarts, their position, their
main opinion, their mainargument for the essay.
And then step three is outlineyour supporting points.
(05:08):
Your teenager then might wantto argue that social media
causes anxiety.
That's a supporting point.
It distracts from schoolworkthat's another supporting point.
And it promotes unrealisticbody images.
So that's a third supportingpoint.
We've got three and always go.
Rule of thumb is always go forthree, always go for three
supportive points.
And then step four is combinethese elements into a single
(05:31):
coherent sentence.
So this is the skill.
This is the Instagram profile.
You've only got 150 charactersto get all of this information
into one sentence.
The thesis statement could soundsomething like this Social
media negatively impactsteenagers by increasing anxiety,
distracting them fromschoolwork and promoting
(05:52):
unrealistic body images Fullstop.
Can you see how I've summarizedall of those steps into one
sentence?
I'll say that again Socialmedia negatively impacts
teenagers by increasing anxiety,distracting them from school
work and promoting unrealisticbody images.
Now I will put these steps on afree checklist for you and I'll
(06:13):
link it in the show notes.
So if you do have a teenager athome that does need help with
their thesis statement, then youcan click on the link and get
the free download.
I'll have that available at theend of this episode for you,
but here are some otherpractical tips that you can do
at home to help with yourteenager's writing, and one that
we're big, big, big, big, big,big hearted about here is
(06:36):
encouraging critical thinking.
So what I mean by that is askopen-ended questions to help
your teenager refine theirthesis.
For example, what do you thinkis the most important point
about this topic?
Or you could ask them why doyou believe this to be true?
Because these questionsencourage deeper thinking and it
(06:58):
helps your teenagers clarifytheir own argument.
If they have to repeat it backto you, then it will clarify and
distill some of the thoughtsthat they are still crafting
themselves on paper.
So asking critical thinkingminded questions like what do
you think is the most importantpoint about this topic,
(07:22):
questions like what do you thinkis the most important point
about this topic is a great wayto support your teenager.
Another way that parents cansupport their children is
providing constructive feedback,and when you're reviewing your
child's thesis statement, ifthey ask you for help, or if the
teacher has mentioned that theyneed help with their writing,
when you look at their thesisstatement, focus on clarity and
specificity Instead of sayingthis is confusing, you might say
(07:45):
instead, can you be morespecific about how social media
increases anxiety?
Can you see the differencethere, rather than just saying
this is confusing?
When you're looking at theirthesis statement, by crafting
the feedback in a way thatgently nudges them in the right
direction of where they shouldstart the thinking is a great
(08:06):
way to subtly provide feedback.
A third way that you can giveyour teenagers help is using
real life examples.
Discussing current events ortopics of interest to your
teenager can make this processmore engaging.
So, finding things that arerelevant in real life that is
linked to the thesis statementor linked to that essay question
(08:28):
that they're writing about.
For instance, if they'reinterested in environmental
issues, you might work togetherto craft a thesis statement on
the importance of reducingplastic waste, and once again, I
will put these strategies orthese practical tips for parents
in the show notes.
I'll link those as well.
So you've got these here if youwant to be able to refer to
them.
If you've had thoseparent-teacher interviews and
(08:49):
one of the feedback items thatyour child's English teacher has
mentioned is their essaywriting needs to be stronger
well, a good place to start islooking at their thesis
statements.
Another way that you can helpthem if the feedback has not
been great from their Englishteacher or you know that your
teen does struggle with writingis be on the lookout for vague
(09:10):
language.
And when I say vague language Imean encourage your teenagers
to be really specific in theiressay writing, for example.
Instead of a vague thesisstatement like there are many
pros and cons to school uniforms, full stop, a more specific
version would be school uniformsshould be mandatory in public
(09:31):
schools because they promoteequality, reduce bullying and
enhance school spirit.
Can you see how I have got thethree main lines of argument in
that statement?
I've got promotes equality,reduced bullying and enhanced
school spirit.
I'll say that line again Schooluniforms should be mandatory in
public schools because theypromote equality, reduced
(09:52):
bullying and enhanced schoolspirit.
You can see how the morespecific thesis statement has
got those three examples inthere.
Another way that you can checkyour child's writing.
Or if you're a teenagerlistening to this and you're
doing your own proofreading becareful for overly broad
statements.
A broad thesis like pollutionis bad for the environment, full
(10:14):
stop, can be refined.
So we want to get more specific.
We can refine it down further.
We can say, reducing plasticwaste is essential for combating
ocean pollution and protectingmarine life.
Can you see what I've done?
I've jumped from just sayingpollution, I've refined it down,
I've got specific, not justpollution in general, because
(10:37):
that's a broad, sweeping term.
That could mean many differenttypes of pollution.
In this case we're talkingabout plastic waste.
So I have refined it down tosaying plastic waste and then
I've given some examples.
It's essential for combatingocean pollution and protecting
marine life, because this makesthe essay more focused and
easier to argue, to argue Easierand when I say easier to argue,
(11:03):
I mean easier to come up withsome really good examples of
ocean waste and protectingmarine life.
And there's many, many cases inreal life that you can draw on
Now if you do need more help andif you do need to be able to
improve your writing, or ifyou're worried about your
teenager's writing abilities, orthe teacher at school has
mentioned that their writingcould be better, or their grades
are not where they should be,or you've noticed a dip in their
(11:26):
grades, or you would like theirgrades to be better, or, as
parents, you want to ensure thatyour teens are able to write
coherently if they have gotexams looming at the end of the
year or they're about to leaveschool and into the workforce or
enter future training, then Ihave put together a beautiful
digital course called the EssayClinic, and this course is
(11:49):
packed with resources to helpwonderful teenagers improve
their essay writing skills, andit's really designed for
learning the basics and learningthem quickly, because there's
no point running before you canwalk, and a lot of the times
what happens is teenagers in theearly years of high school.
Those first two years they learnessay writing, but they don't
(12:11):
learn it to the point where theyhave mastered it.
And then they hit their thirdyear of high school, which, in
the Southern Hemisphere, whichis normally around about 15, 16
years of age, when that firstset of quite serious exams kick
in and they haven't quitemastered the skill of essay
writing and by that time it'stoo late to go back and reteach
it.
The teachers have got thecurriculum to teach to, they've
(12:33):
got the syllabus to teach to,they've got exams to teach to,
and it's really left up to theindividual to get that help that
they need to improve theiressay writing.
And that's when parents look atthings like after-school tutors
or paying for really expensiveone-on-one tutoring, and so I
really wanted to put together adigital course that teenagers
(12:55):
could do in their own time.
When they are free.
They can work through it attheir own pace.
That is really cost effectiveand they will have for life.
They can keep returning to ittime and time again, and if
you've got other children in thefamily that you know are going
to be coming up through highschool, then this resource will
be great for them too, and itjust really reinforces and
teaches the basics of essaywriting in a way that resonates
(13:19):
with teenagers that are notunderstanding it in class.
We learn about introductions,body paragraphs, conclusions,
how to bring it all together,what the way to proofread and to
give your essays polish andsparkle.
It's a really great resourceand, as I say, it's a resource
that your teenager will returnto time and time again, and
(13:40):
you'll be able to use this innot just English, but other
subjects that require essaywriting, like history or
classics or geography, any ofthose humanities subjects.
One, because in this age of AI,especially with our teenagers,
(14:02):
the temptation to get AI to doall the work for them, to do all
the essay writing for them, issomething that is here and we
all acknowledge that.
But there will still be timeswhere your child will be
assessed in an environment wherethey will not have those skills
or those tools to hand.
And that is the whole point isthat they're being tested on
their ability to thinkindependently, to think
critically and to be able toorganise their thoughts on paper
in a coherent way.
(14:22):
And it doesn't matter whatlevel or ability you have in a
subject like English.
Any student, of any level orany ability, needs to know how
to be able to put togetherthoughts in a coherent way, and
the best way to test that isessay writing.
So if that sounds like yourchild, who definitely does need
to have a little guidance inessay writing, then come and
(14:46):
check it out.
I'll put the link on the pageas well.
It's called the Essay Clinicand I am absolutely thrilled.
I've put together 20 years ofeducational experience and
research and writing into this.
This is the model that I havetaught my students and they have
had fantastic results from thiseach and every time.
So today we covered what athesis statement is, why it's
(15:08):
important and how to help yourteenager craft a strong one.
Remember, a good thesisstatement is clear, specific and
sets the direction for theentire essay.
I encourage you to try outthese tips we discussed today.
Sit down with your teenager andpractice crafting peace
statements together, and don'tforget to check out the essay
clinic for more in-depthguidance.
(15:30):
The link will be in the shownotes.
Thank you for joining me onthis episode of Challenge your
Mind, change the World.
I hope you found it helpful andinspiring.
If you have any questions orthoughts, feel free to reach out
on social media or through ourwebsite.
Until next time, keepchallenging your mind and
changing the world.
Hello everybody, welcome back to Challenge your
Mind, change the World.
Francesca here, your host andguide on this journey to better
communication and criticalthinking.
Today we are talking aboutcrafting the perfect thesis
statement.
This is a guide for parents,but if you have got a teenager
or a young person in yourhousehold that is studying at
the moment or they're writingfor a big test or, dare I say it
(00:23):
, massive exam coming up, thenthis is a really good episode to
pass over to them as well, tolisten, to Put it on in the car
on the way to school or at hometonight when you're cooking tea,
because we have got so manyreally cool ways to break down a
thesis statement and get peoplewriting.
In today's episode, we willexplore what a thesis is, why
(00:43):
it's so important.
Day's episode we will explorewhat a thesis is, why it's so
important and how you, asparents, can help your wonderful
teenagers craft strong,effective thesis statements,
because the last thing that wewant to see is, written in red
pen, a comment from the teachersaying thesis statement needs to
be stronger.
Who has had an essay like thatat home?
(01:04):
They are so common and they canbe so confusing too if your
teenager doesn't actually knowwhat a thesis statement is and
why it's so important.
So we're going to get into thattoday.
Understanding the thesisstatement.
What is a thesis statement?
Well, it's really hard topronounce.
That's for starters.
But let's start with the basics.
So a thesis statement is a oneor two sentence summary.
(01:28):
There's a lot of S's in this, alot of alliteration.
A one or two sentence summaryof the main point or claim of an
essay.
It's the foundation upon whichthe entire essay is built.
It is, if you want to thinkabout it, it is the main
headliner, not the topic of theessay.
But if you were to summarizethe essay in one line, it would
(01:52):
be a thesis statement.
So think of it as a roadmap forthe reader.
It tells them what to expectand what the essay will argue or
discuss.
It's almost like if yourteenagers have got Instagram at
home and they've got thatprofile little piece at the top
and there's only so manycharacters that they can use to
(02:13):
type in their about me section.
A thesis statement is like that.
It's really short and to thepoint, but it tells the audience
or the reader in this case,exactly what the essay is about
or, on Instagram, exactly whatyour page is about.
It's a really limited amount ofcharacters that you have to
basically summarize everythingthat you're about.
(02:35):
That is what a thesis statementis To illustrate.
We'll start with.
Here's a good thesis statementSchool uniforms should be
mandatory in all public schoolsbecause they promote equality,
reduce bullying and enhanceschool spirit Full stop.
Boom Done.
Here's a weak one, and I wantyou to try and think about why.
(02:57):
The first one was the betterone and this one is the weaker
one.
Here we go School uniforms arebad, full stop.
Can you see the difference?
The good thesis is clear andspecific, while the weak one is
vague and lacks direction and isa little short four words total
.
Let me repeat those two again,just so that you can hear them.
(03:20):
Now that you know the reasons,a really great thesis statement
sounds like this School uniformsshould be mandatory in all
public schools because theypromote equality, reduced
bullying and enhanced schoolspirit Full stop.
And then here's the weak one.
School uniforms are, but howmany followers do you think the
thesis statement school uniformsare bad are going to get?
(03:41):
Well, no one really knows.
But how many followers do youthink an Instagram profile would
get if they had?
School uniforms should bemandatory in all public schools
because they promote equality,reduce bullying and enhance
school spirit.
Boom, boom, boom.
We've got one, two, three.
We've got three differentexamples promote equality,
reduce bullying and enhanceschool spirit.
That is going to prick up theears of so many more people than
(04:04):
just the simple school uniformsare bad.
It's a lot easier said thandone about crafting a good
thesis statement.
I get that.
I understand that.
So let's have a look and see howdo we craft a really strong
thesis statement.
And there's three keycomponents of a really strong
thesis statement.
We've got the topic, which iswhat the essay is about.
Secondly, we've got the claim,which is the writer's stance or
(04:27):
their main argument.
And thirdly, we've got thereasoning, a brief overview of
the supporting points.
So I'll say that, again, thereare three key components of a
thesis statement Topic, claim,reasoning.
Let's see how we can break onedown.
Step one is identify the essaytopic.
Let's say your teenager iswriting about the impact of
social media on teenagers.
(04:48):
That is the essay topic.
Step two would be decide onyour starts, or your main
argument.
So perhaps they believe thatsocial media has negative impact
and so that's going to be theirstarts, their position, their
main opinion, their mainargument for the essay.
And then step three is outlineyour supporting points.
(05:08):
Your teenager then might wantto argue that social media
causes anxiety.
That's a supporting point.
It distracts from schoolworkthat's another supporting point.
And it promotes unrealisticbody images.
So that's a third supportingpoint.
We've got three and always go.
Rule of thumb is always go forthree, always go for three
supportive points.
And then step four is combinethese elements into a single
(05:31):
coherent sentence.
So this is the skill.
This is the Instagram profile.
You've only got 150 charactersto get all of this information
into one sentence.
The thesis statement could soundsomething like this Social
media negatively impactsteenagers by increasing anxiety,
distracting them fromschoolwork and promoting
(05:52):
unrealistic body images Fullstop.
Can you see how I've summarizedall of those steps into one
sentence?
I'll say that again Socialmedia negatively impacts
teenagers by increasing anxiety,distracting them from school
work and promoting unrealisticbody images.
Now I will put these steps on afree checklist for you and I'll
(06:13):
link it in the show notes.
So if you do have a teenager athome that does need help with
their thesis statement, then youcan click on the link and get
the free download.
I'll have that available at theend of this episode for you,
but here are some otherpractical tips that you can do
at home to help with yourteenager's writing, and one that
we're big, big, big, big, big,big hearted about here is
(06:36):
encouraging critical thinking.
So what I mean by that is askopen-ended questions to help
your teenager refine theirthesis.
For example, what do you thinkis the most important point
about this topic?
Or you could ask them why doyou believe this to be true?
Because these questionsencourage deeper thinking and it
(06:58):
helps your teenagers clarifytheir own argument.
If they have to repeat it backto you, then it will clarify and
distill some of the thoughtsthat they are still crafting
themselves on paper.
So asking critical thinkingminded questions like what do
you think is the most importantpoint about this topic,
(07:22):
questions like what do you thinkis the most important point
about this topic is a great wayto support your teenager.
Another way that parents cansupport their children is
providing constructive feedback,and when you're reviewing your
child's thesis statement, ifthey ask you for help, or if the
teacher has mentioned that theyneed help with their writing,
when you look at their thesisstatement, focus on clarity and
specificity Instead of sayingthis is confusing, you might say
(07:45):
instead, can you be morespecific about how social media
increases anxiety?
Can you see the differencethere, rather than just saying
this is confusing?
When you're looking at theirthesis statement, by crafting
the feedback in a way thatgently nudges them in the right
direction of where they shouldstart the thinking is a great
(08:06):
way to subtly provide feedback.
A third way that you can giveyour teenagers help is using
real life examples.
Discussing current events ortopics of interest to your
teenager can make this processmore engaging.
So, finding things that arerelevant in real life that is
linked to the thesis statementor linked to that essay question
(08:28):
that they're writing about.
For instance, if they'reinterested in environmental
issues, you might work togetherto craft a thesis statement on
the importance of reducingplastic waste, and once again, I
will put these strategies orthese practical tips for parents
in the show notes.
I'll link those as well.
So you've got these here if youwant to be able to refer to
them.
If you've had thoseparent-teacher interviews and
(08:49):
one of the feedback items thatyour child's English teacher has
mentioned is their essaywriting needs to be stronger
well, a good place to start islooking at their thesis
statements.
Another way that you can helpthem if the feedback has not
been great from their Englishteacher or you know that your
teen does struggle with writingis be on the lookout for vague
(09:10):
language.
And when I say vague language Imean encourage your teenagers
to be really specific in theiressay writing, for example.
Instead of a vague thesisstatement like there are many
pros and cons to school uniforms, full stop, a more specific
version would be school uniformsshould be mandatory in public
(09:31):
schools because they promoteequality, reduce bullying and
enhance school spirit.
Can you see how I have got thethree main lines of argument in
that statement?
I've got promotes equality,reduced bullying and enhanced
school spirit.
I'll say that line again Schooluniforms should be mandatory in
public schools because theypromote equality, reduced
(09:52):
bullying and enhanced schoolspirit.
You can see how the morespecific thesis statement has
got those three examples inthere.
Another way that you can checkyour child's writing.
Or if you're a teenagerlistening to this and you're
doing your own proofreading becareful for overly broad
statements.
A broad thesis like pollutionis bad for the environment, full
(10:14):
stop, can be refined.
So we want to get more specific.
We can refine it down further.
We can say, reducing plasticwaste is essential for combating
ocean pollution and protectingmarine life.
Can you see what I've done?
I've jumped from just sayingpollution, I've refined it down,
I've got specific, not justpollution in general, because
(10:37):
that's a broad, sweeping term.
That could mean many differenttypes of pollution.
In this case we're talkingabout plastic waste.
So I have refined it down tosaying plastic waste and then
I've given some examples.
It's essential for combatingocean pollution and protecting
marine life, because this makesthe essay more focused and
easier to argue, to argue Easierand when I say easier to argue,
(11:03):
I mean easier to come up withsome really good examples of
ocean waste and protectingmarine life.
And there's many, many cases inreal life that you can draw on
Now if you do need more help andif you do need to be able to
improve your writing, or ifyou're worried about your
teenager's writing abilities, orthe teacher at school has
mentioned that their writingcould be better, or their grades
are not where they should be,or you've noticed a dip in their
(11:26):
grades, or you would like theirgrades to be better, or, as
parents, you want to ensure thatyour teens are able to write
coherently if they have gotexams looming at the end of the
year or they're about to leaveschool and into the workforce or
enter future training, then Ihave put together a beautiful
digital course called the EssayClinic, and this course is
(11:49):
packed with resources to helpwonderful teenagers improve
their essay writing skills, andit's really designed for
learning the basics and learningthem quickly, because there's
no point running before you canwalk, and a lot of the times
what happens is teenagers in theearly years of high school.
Those first two years they learnessay writing, but they don't
(12:11):
learn it to the point where theyhave mastered it.
And then they hit their thirdyear of high school, which, in
the Southern Hemisphere, whichis normally around about 15, 16
years of age, when that firstset of quite serious exams kick
in and they haven't quitemastered the skill of essay
writing and by that time it'stoo late to go back and reteach
it.
The teachers have got thecurriculum to teach to, they've
(12:33):
got the syllabus to teach to,they've got exams to teach to,
and it's really left up to theindividual to get that help that
they need to improve theiressay writing.
And that's when parents look atthings like after-school tutors
or paying for really expensiveone-on-one tutoring, and so I
really wanted to put together adigital course that teenagers
(12:55):
could do in their own time.
When they are free.
They can work through it attheir own pace.
That is really cost effectiveand they will have for life.
They can keep returning to ittime and time again, and if
you've got other children in thefamily that you know are going
to be coming up through highschool, then this resource will
be great for them too, and itjust really reinforces and
teaches the basics of essaywriting in a way that resonates
(13:19):
with teenagers that are notunderstanding it in class.
We learn about introductions,body paragraphs, conclusions,
how to bring it all together,what the way to proofread and to
give your essays polish andsparkle.
It's a really great resourceand, as I say, it's a resource
that your teenager will returnto time and time again, and
(13:40):
you'll be able to use this innot just English, but other
subjects that require essaywriting, like history or
classics or geography, any ofthose humanities subjects.
One, because in this age of AI,especially with our teenagers,
(14:02):
the temptation to get AI to doall the work for them, to do all
the essay writing for them, issomething that is here and we
all acknowledge that.
But there will still be timeswhere your child will be
assessed in an environment wherethey will not have those skills
or those tools to hand.
And that is the whole point isthat they're being tested on
their ability to thinkindependently, to think
critically and to be able toorganise their thoughts on paper
in a coherent way.
(14:22):
And it doesn't matter whatlevel or ability you have in a
subject like English.
Any student, of any level orany ability, needs to know how
to be able to put togetherthoughts in a coherent way, and
the best way to test that isessay writing.
So if that sounds like yourchild, who definitely does need
to have a little guidance inessay writing, then come and
(14:46):
check it out.
I'll put the link on the pageas well.
It's called the Essay Clinicand I am absolutely thrilled.
I've put together 20 years ofeducational experience and
research and writing into this.
This is the model that I havetaught my students and they have
had fantastic results from thiseach and every time.
So today we covered what athesis statement is, why it's
(15:08):
important and how to help yourteenager craft a strong one.
Remember, a good thesisstatement is clear, specific and
sets the direction for theentire essay.
I encourage you to try outthese tips we discussed today.
Sit down with your teenager andpractice crafting peace
statements together, and don'tforget to check out the essay
clinic for more in-depthguidance.
(15:30):
The link will be in the shownotes.
Thank you for joining me onthis episode of Challenge your
Mind, change the World.
I hope you found it helpful andinspiring.
If you have any questions orthoughts, feel free to reach out
on social media or through ourwebsite.
Until next time, keepchallenging your mind and
changing the world.
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