Exploring Writing 2nd Edition by John Langan

Exercise 20

Sometimes a subject must go through several stages of limiting before it is narrow enough to write about. Below are four lists reflecting several stages that writers went through in moving from a general subject to a narrow thesis statement. Number the stages in each list from 1 to 5, with 1 marking the broadest stage and 5 marking the thesis.
List 1
______ Teachers
______ Education
______ Math teacher
______ My high school math teacher was incompetent.
______ High school math teacher
List 2
______ Bicycles
______ Dangers of bike riding
______ Recreation
______ Recreational vehicles
______ Bike riding in the city is a
______ dangerous activity.
List 3
______ Retail companies
______ Supermarkets
______ Dealing with customers
______ Working in a supermarket
______ I've learned how to handle
______ unpleasant supermarket customers.
List 4
______ Camping
______ First camping trip
______ Summer vacation
______ My first camping trip was a
______ disastrous experience.
______ Vacations
Later in this chapter you will get more practice in narrowing general subjects to thesis statements.