blog 9

Thesis/thesis statement: (http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/)
Directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
In my own words: An outline of the main idea of your essay.
For example: in the first paragraph of an essay “in my opinion I think all elephants should be killed, because”, would be considered your thesis statement.

Research: (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/research)
1 : careful or diligent search
2 : studious inquiry or examination; especially : investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws
3 : the collecting of information about a particular subject
In my own words: Looking for information
For example: for this blog entry I searched for the definition of several words online.

Argument: (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/research)
: a coherent series of statements leading from a premise to a conclusion
In my own words: a rebuttal to the original opinion
For example: if one person has an idea, but a second person expresses a different opinion that is now an argument.

Claim: (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/claim)
to assert or maintain as a fact

in my own words: to present an idea as the truth
for example:
Reasons: (http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/reasons)
a statement offered in explanation or justification
Evidence: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidence)
Everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion
MLA citation style: (http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/mla)
MLA citation style refers to the rules and conventions established by the Modern Language Association for acknowledging sources used in a research paper. MLA citation style uses a simple two-part parenthetical documentation system for citing sources: Citations in the Text of a paper are used to point to an alphabetical Works Cited list that appears at the end of the paper. Together, these references identify and credit the sources used in the paper and allow others to access and retrieve this material.