Pulling it all together

Pulling it all together:
A fail-proof format*

I. Introduction	Why should the reader be interested?	A personal story, a shocking statistic, a powerful quote... get the reader to care about your topic!
II. Thesis statement	What is the point you are trying to prove?	Every paper you write NEEDS a thesis. Dogs are superior companions than cats.
III. Supporting evidence	What are your main pieces of evidence? Who supports your thesis?	Examples of evidence or "proof" that you are right: History, statistics, scientific studies, newspaper articles, websites, case studies, videos, literature reviews, tables... Dogs are superior companions than cats because of the following points~ Name the sources you found in your research: Brown and Smith (2005) demonstrate that ___. The study by the Association of Canines (1999) shows ___.
IV. Conclusion	What do you want the reader to walk away with?	Re-state your thesis: As clearly shown in this paper, dogs are superior~ Make suggestions for future research, offer solutions to the issues...
V. Bibliography	Where did you get your information from?	Cite ALL the sources you used for evidence in a proper citation style.

* from Mr. Henry, Melanie’s high school speech arts teacher
(good for almost any paper, speech, PowerPoint presentation, argument, etc!)