1d Draft a plan.

Listing and organizing supporting ideas, whether informally or formally, will help you develop your thesis. An informal outline can be drafted and revised quickly to help you figure out a tentative structure.

Here is one student’s informal outline:

Working thesis: Animal testing should be banned because it is bad science and doesn’t contribute to biomedical advances.

• Most animals don’t serve as good models for the human body.
• Drug therapies can have vastly different effects on different species—92 percent of all drugs shown to be effective in animal tests fail in human trials.
• Some of the largest biomedical discoveries were made without the use of animal testing.
• The most effective biomedical research methods—tissue engineering and computer modeling—don’t use animals.
• Animal studies are not scientifically necessary.

A formal outline may be useful later in the writing process, after you have written a rough draft, to help you see the logic and organization of your draft and to help you identify any gaps.

Exercise 1–2

In each of the following pairs, which sentence might work well as a thesis for a short paper? What is the problem with the other one? Is it too factual? Too broad? Too vague? Use the problem/solution approach from “How to solve 5 common problems with thesis statements” to evaluate each thesis.

1. 1. Many drivers use their cell phones irresponsibly while driving.
   2. Current state laws are inadequate to punish drivers who use their cell phones irresponsibly to text, read email, or perform other distracting activities.
2. 1. Although Facebook was designed to help college students keep in touch, it actually keeps them apart by discouraging face-to-face interactions and creating an illusion of intimacy.
   2. Facebook was designed to make it easier for people to keep in touch.
3. 1. As we search to define the intelligence of animals, we run the risk of imposing our own understanding of intelligence on animals.
   2. How does the field of animal psychology help humans define intelligence?
4. 1. The high cost of college needs to be reduced because it affects students and their families.
   2. To reduce the high cost of college, more students should be offered opportunities for dual-enrollment courses and a three-year college degree.
5. 1. Opioid addiction affects people of all ages and from every socioeconomic group.
   2. The most effective way of treating opioid addiction is with combination therapies; often a single therapy is not enough.