Unit 2 Essay Structure and Thesis Statement
Unit 2: Essay structure and Thesis Statements
Question (Instructions)
This week, you are starting to learn what a thesis statement is. As you continue to read for
this course, you will start to recognize a thesis statement in the articles that you read. A thesis
statement is really just the author's big idea: it's the thing that they believe is true and want to
share with you.
This website, Pro-Con.org, is a website which lists different sides of controversial topics. It's
a good way to get an idea of different types of thesis statements. Click on the link below to
read some of the arguments for and against making college free.
Should College Be Free?
As you can see, some of the thesis statements listed on the website are:
Tuition-free college will help decrease crippling student debt.
Tuition-free college is not free college and students will still have large debts.
The US economy and society has benefited from tuition-free college in the past.
Taxpayers would spend billions to subsidize tuition, while other college costs remained high.
Each of these thesis statements would make a great essay! However, as you can see, there can
be multiple thesis statements on the same topic, and it is possible to have thesis statements
that are not in agreement with each other!
What do you think, should college be free? Post your own practice thesis statement in the
discussion!
, Citing/Quotating sources properly is essential to avoiding plagiarism. Use a direct quotation
only if you must use the exact phrasing of the original material. If you can paraphrase the
idea in your own words, do so.
Answer (Response)
My thesis statements: The poor, the immigrants, those from below also get to university, as
long the Tuition-free college should be a right, not a privilege. As humanity and knowledge
advance, access to higher education becomes necessary, whether to generate a more qualified
workforce or to educate ourselves more as a society. Considering that tuition should be free
would help reduce the costs borne by the student and facilitate access to education for the less
privileged classes: An educated society is a progressive society.
Max Page, Professor of Architecture, and Dan Clawson, Professor of Sociology, both at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst, both cited in the reading article, stated: “A century ago
high school was becoming a necessity, not a luxury; today the same is happening to college.
If college is essential for building a career and being a full participant in our democracy as
high school once was, shouldn’t it be free, paid for by public dollars, and treated as a right of
all members of our country?” 1
Max Page and Dan Clawson, “It’s Time to Push for Free College,” nea.org (accessed Mar. 7,
2019)
ProCon.org. “Should College Be Free? Top 3 Pros and Cons.” ProCon.org, 25 Aug. 2022,
www.procon.org/headlines/free-college-top-3-pros-and-cons
Unit 2: Essay structure and Thesis Statements
Question (Instructions)
This week, you are starting to learn what a thesis statement is. As you continue to read for
this course, you will start to recognize a thesis statement in the articles that you read. A thesis
statement is really just the author's big idea: it's the thing that they believe is true and want to
share with you.
This website, Pro-Con.org, is a website which lists different sides of controversial topics. It's
a good way to get an idea of different types of thesis statements. Click on the link below to
read some of the arguments for and against making college free.
Should College Be Free?
As you can see, some of the thesis statements listed on the website are:
Tuition-free college will help decrease crippling student debt.
Tuition-free college is not free college and students will still have large debts.
The US economy and society has benefited from tuition-free college in the past.
Taxpayers would spend billions to subsidize tuition, while other college costs remained high.
Each of these thesis statements would make a great essay! However, as you can see, there can
be multiple thesis statements on the same topic, and it is possible to have thesis statements
that are not in agreement with each other!
What do you think, should college be free? Post your own practice thesis statement in the
discussion!
, Citing/Quotating sources properly is essential to avoiding plagiarism. Use a direct quotation
only if you must use the exact phrasing of the original material. If you can paraphrase the
idea in your own words, do so.
Answer (Response)
My thesis statements: The poor, the immigrants, those from below also get to university, as
long the Tuition-free college should be a right, not a privilege. As humanity and knowledge
advance, access to higher education becomes necessary, whether to generate a more qualified
workforce or to educate ourselves more as a society. Considering that tuition should be free
would help reduce the costs borne by the student and facilitate access to education for the less
privileged classes: An educated society is a progressive society.
Max Page, Professor of Architecture, and Dan Clawson, Professor of Sociology, both at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst, both cited in the reading article, stated: “A century ago
high school was becoming a necessity, not a luxury; today the same is happening to college.
If college is essential for building a career and being a full participant in our democracy as
high school once was, shouldn’t it be free, paid for by public dollars, and treated as a right of
all members of our country?” 1
Max Page and Dan Clawson, “It’s Time to Push for Free College,” nea.org (accessed Mar. 7,
2019)
ProCon.org. “Should College Be Free? Top 3 Pros and Cons.” ProCon.org, 25 Aug. 2022,
www.procon.org/headlines/free-college-top-3-pros-and-cons
