Name_______________________________ Period_______

Prompt/Question: Who is most culpable in Juliet and Romeo’s death?

Opinion:

Supporting Reasons
Supporting Reason 1 Supporting Reason 2 Supporting Reason 3

Create a topic sentence using each supporting reason and three concrete details for each topic
sentence.
Argument/Topic Sentence #1: Three concrete details:
1.
2.
3.

Argument/Topic Sentence #2: Three concrete details:

1.
2.
3.

Argument/Topic Sentence #3: Three concrete details:

1.
2.
3.

Declaration statement: _____________________________________________________________

Write a thesis statement [declaration (opinion) + 3 reasons]:

________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Write a statement that includes your three points of development (if you haven’t included them in the
same sentence with your thesis statement):

________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Examples of setting up the thesis statement and points of development.

a. Combine points of development with the thesis statement in one sentence:

“Studying the Essay”

“Ever since cave dwellers discovered that they could draw on the ground with pointed sticks or
scratch designs on the wall of their caves with pieces of flint, people have been trying to communicate
with one another using written symbols. Although writing today is a more complicated process than in
the days of the cave dwellers, the motives for writing have remained the same: to communicate and to
share knowledge, ideas, and feelings with someone. One important mode used for written
communication is the essay. Discovering the purpose, the subject, and the form of an essay
should help a student accept the challenge of writing an essay to express himself.”

OR

b. Use separate sentences for the thesis statement and points of development:

“My Job in an Apple Plant”

“In the course of working my way through school, I have taken many jobs I would rather forget. I
have spent nine hours a day lifting heavy automobile and truck batteries off the end of an assembly
belt. I have risked the loss of eyes and fingers working a punch press in a textile factory. I have served
as a ward aide in a mental hospital, helping care for brain-damaged men who would break into violent
fits at unexpected moments. But none of these was as dreadful as my job in an apple plant. The
work was physically hard; the pay was poor; and, most of all, the working conditions were
dismal.”