Thesis paragraph and reverse outline-Although not necessarily the first paragraph of your position paper, the thesis paragraph is the paragraph containing the paper’s thesis. This paragraph should contain background information pertaining to the thesis and a clear thesis stated in one OR two sentences. For example:
Thesis: High-school curricula and educator training should include information about and strategies for dealing with partner violence, which is on the rise among teens in the U.S.
Forecasting Thesis: High-school curricula and educator training should include information about and strategies for dealing with partner violence, which is on the rise among teens in the U.S. Teaching tools such as role-playing, service work, and research projects are especially effective in reducing the incidents of such violence among high-school students.
Reverse Outline
The reverse outline can be a very effective tool for revising. The reverse outline is an outline of a completed rough draft of a paper. To complete a reverse outline:
1. Finish a rough draft of your paper.
2. Take a break from the rough draft.
3. Return to the rough draft to outline exactly what you see on the page-not what you think you wrote.
4. Look over your outline to see if the organization of the sections makes sense, sections are sufficient to support the thesis, all sections are necessary, all sections are clearly related to each other but do not repeat other sections, and so forth.
