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Focus and Detail
For this assignment, I will be closely examining focus and detail.
The best advice is to choose a very limited topic. Try to pick one that will affect the reader
Examine the two quotes below:
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Possible Topics
We should / should not use capital punishment for murder, kidnapping, and rape.
College athletes should / should not get any special treatment.
WWF should / should not be disbanded.
This school should / should not require uniforms.
The smoking age should / should not be raised to twenty-one.
People should / should not be able to talk about religion in public.
People should / should not be able to burn the flag without any consequences.
Minorities should / should not get into college with lower scores than Whites.
Students should / should not be able to eat whatever they want in the lunchroom.
Parents should / should not be legally responsible when their children become obese.
All drugs should / should not be legal.
Drug dealers should / should not get longer sentences.
Kids should / should not be allowed to be as lazy as they want.
BFS should / should not be a required course.
Each student should / should not be required to take ten years of a foreign language.
People should / should not vote third party.
Music should / should not be a required course.
Parents should / should not be required to teach certain things before kindergarten (ABCs, potty-training, colors, shapes, etc).
People should / should not be able to inherit wealth.
People should / should not be required to make a will.
The minimum wage should / should not be raised.
People should / should not use the government to try to control others' lives.
Prisoners should / should not get only educational TV.
The USA should / should not become vegetarian.
All kids should / should not have curfews.
Hunting should / should not be outlawed.
Fur should / should not be outlawed.
Boxing should / should not be outlawed.
________ should / should not be taken off TV.
Little kids should / should not be allowed to eat whatever they want; forcing them to eat nutritionally violates their freedom.
Intelligence is an inherited trait.
People should / should not show their emotions.
Art isn't as important as athletics.
Schools should / should not save money by not building gyms or buying athletic equipment.
Most students are unable to detect propaganda in film.
School grade-levels should / should not be based on ability, not age.
Parents' expectations of their children are too low.
We should / should not stop burning oil.
Cars should / should not be banned in cities.
Everyone should / should not write out his or her own ethical code.
People should / should not be forced to recycle.
Other topics
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There are many topics that affect thousands or even millions of people, such as abortion, racism, gun control, or AIDS. If you choose one of these, your writing should lead the reader from a broad, impersonal topic to details that are specific, personal, or in some other way can engage the reader. If you can't think of any, then ask yourself why you are writing about this topic.
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Also: Avoid topics that will turn into lists:
All the equipment needed for horses / to scuba dive / to repair bikes.
All the people in the band / on the team / who played James Bond.
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Here is a rule that another teacher put on his website to keep his students from writing vague thesis statements:
Students in this class are absolutely forbidden to write a thesis that makes "any kind of claim about Society, The History of Mankind, People Since the Beginning of Time, All the People of the World, Everyone Who Ever Lived, etc."
Michael Barsanti
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