or
Because , .
If you are just starting out, and you are still developing an original, evidence-based claim to defend, a simpler formula is probably best. Once you have done the research, and you understand the subject, then a formula like the following won’t look like random words; it will suggest a way to frame a nuanced, complex argument that goes beyond making non-controversial factual statements.
While says , says . While the two authors disagree over , they both share a deep concern over . refusal to accept suggests that is . | |
What really matters is not guessing the magically correct words to fit some secret formula that your mean instructor is refusing to tell you. What matters is that you have researched your subject, that you have found and engaged meaningfully with peer-reviewed academic sources, and that you are developing an evidence-based claim, rather than summarizing or giving unsupported opinion. |
Academic Argument: Evidence-based Defense of a Non-obvious Position
Parts of a Thesis Statement
The thesis statement has 3 main parts : the limited subject , the precise opinion , and the blueprint of reasons .
Make sure you’ve chosen a subject that meets your instructor’s requirements for the assignment. (It never hurts to ask.)
The precise opinion gives your answer to a question about the subject. A good precise opinion is vital to the reader’s comprehension of the goal of the essay .
A blueprint is a plan. It lets the builder know that the foyer will be here, the living room will be to the east, the dining room to the west, and the family room will be north.The blueprint of an essay permits you to see the whole shape of your ideas before you start churning out whole paragraphs.While it’s okay for you to start writing down your ideas before you have a clear sense of your blueprint, your reader should never encounter a list of details without being told exactly what point these details are supposed to support. (For more details on the reasoning blueprint, see Blueprinting .)
The biography challenges the Western genre’s stereotype of the “savage Indian” through . | |
In the blueprint, the author . The author of the example above introduces three different kinds of evidence: Informed by this blueprint, the reader expects to encounter one section (a paragraph or more) devoted to each subtopic.The . |
If your thesis statement introduces three reasons A, B and C, the reader will expect a section on reason A, a section on reason B, and a section on reason C.
For a single paragraph, you might only spend one sentence on each reason. For a 2-3 page paper, each reason might get its own paragraph. For a 10-page paper, each reason might contain its own local thesis statement, with its own list of reasons, so that each section involves several paragraphs.To emphasize the structure of your essay, repeat keywords or paraphrased ideas from the blueprint as you introduce the sections in which you expand on each point. Crafting good transitions is a skill that takes time and practice. ( See Transitions and Reminders of Thesis ).
Note : If you repeat your blueprint phrases and your thesis statement robotically (“The third point I want to talk about is how Black Elk Speaks accurately represents the Indian lifestyle through its direct quotes from Black Elk.”), your writing will be rather dry and lifeless. Dull writing is probably better than aimless rambling, although neither is terribly effective. |
Note : A thesis statement amounts to nothing if the paper is not completely focused on that main point . Blueprinting helps create the coherency of the thesis throughout the entire essay, which makes it a necessary part of the thesis statement.
accurately represents Indian lifestyle through its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. | |
: The representation of Indian lifestyle in the book Black Elk Speaks : the book is accurate : the book pays attention to it uses , and it uses . (The rest of the paper will establish the truth of teach of these supporting points, and then explain why they add up to support the truth of the thesis statement.) |
Is a tragedy? | |
This is a question, not a statement. It’s fine to sit down at the keyboard with the intention of writing a paper to answer this question, but before you start churning out the sentences, you should have a clear idea of what answer you’re trying to support. |
This paper will look at the book’s attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotations from Black Elk, in order to determine whether accurately represents Indian lifestyle. | |
The above sample is slightly better because it offers more detail, but it still doesn’t say what position the author is taking on the topic of whether the book is accurate. |
Because the events in the story emphasize Black Elk’s role as a Sioux Warrior, and do not describe his eventual conversion to Catholicism and membership in the Society of St. Joseph, presents a skewed and simplified view of the complex history of Native Americans. | |
Note that the above sample contains a (the accuracy of Black Elk Speaks), (it is skewed and simplified), and (because the book only tells part of the story). You don’t need to present those three parts in that exact order every time; furthermore, your instructor may have a good reason to ask you for a different organization. But most of the time, including these three parts will help your reader to follow your ideas much more closely. |
Biographies of all types can teach us many things about the past. What was the culture like? What was the language like? And what did the people say? One such book is Black Elk Speaks, which tells the story of a Sioux warrior in the late 1800s. How accurate is this book? This paper will investigate the cultural details, the language, and what Black Elk actually said, in order to determine the answer. | |
The above sample starts off with a wordy, general statement about biographies. But the main topic isn’t about biographies of all types, it’s specifically about one book, Black Elk Speaks. |
17 Oct 2000 — originally posted by Nicci Jordan, UWEC Junior 08 Dec 2000 — first posted here. Maintained by Prof. Jerz. 13 Dec 2003 — links updated 22 Sep 2006 — moderate revisions by Jerz 29 Oct 2011 — updated by Jerz 14 June 2015 — minor adjustments
Blueprinting: Planning Your Essay A blueprint is a rough but specific plan , or outline, which defines the structure of your whole essay. The blueprint, usually located within the thesis statement, is a brief list of the points you plan to make, compressed into just a few words each, in the same order in which they appear in the body of your paper.
Hochstein, Jordan, and Jerz Thesis Reminders A thesis reminder is a direct echo of the thesis statement . In a short paper, the topic sentence of each paragraph should repeat words or phrases from the thesis statement.
Dennis G. Jerz Timed Essays: Planning and Organizing in a Crunch
this did not help at all
I can’t win them all.
Gibberish person may be skimming too fast. This always helps. I’m in the middle of replying to a student email on how to rework her thesis statement and I use your explanation as a clear explanation.
This has helped a lot, thank you.
I find this page helpful. Thank you!
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please I want some more examples of how to construct a very good acedamic essays
From this class,I kind of know what is thesis statement.It is a strong support of a whole passage,it can inform people of what the passage is telling,only by using a few words .It should have the keywords and a good organization to make itself brief but rich.After learning this class,I think I will be better at writing the thesis statement.Thanks
I am doing a project for my MST…but iam finding it difficult in putting up my paragraphs which needs to include my subject and limited subject…..pliz advice me on how to put up my paragraph
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I am doing preparation of ielts exam . but I faface difficulty in grammar and especially in thesis line which I confuse that what should i write in thesis line among all kinds of essay …plz tell me but should I do to improve it.
I think you should read more and write more.After writing,you can ask someone that is good at English learning to help you know what your mistakes are.
Vehicles has become a essential part of human being life. People used to bicycle but by the time mode of commute has been replaced by car .however, still in some cities people prefer to ride bicycle for travelling.
Plz tell me how can I impressive to my intro and how can I improve my writing skill
Jonu, I’d say the most important helpful thing you can do is expose yourself to English as spoken by native English speakers, talking with people who know the language well enough that they can correct you immediately, in casual conversation, when you make one of the word-level errors that only an expert user of the language would spot. There is no shortcut — exposing yourself to a language is the only way to learn it.
I happened to come across this video, which is geared towards a young audience, but is written for English language learners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqxuNrhKhMc
Hi i am doing the preparation of competitive exam , i have to write an Essay of 2500-2800 words, data should be critical and researched base, for example there is Essay on Climate change , then please tell me how i develop a thesis statement, and how we write thesis statement, is it is written in the start of Essay or in the end of introduction, some people said that thesis satement should be written in start other say that this written in end of introductory paragraph. please help me with example thanks
Rab, if you are looking for my advice on thesis statements, you have found the right page. If you have any specific questions or comments about the content of this page, I’d be happy to address them. I’ve already put lots of time into this page, and at the moment I can’t think of a way to present my advice any more clearly.
Although you did say “please,” even so, “tell me how I develop a thesis statement” is asking for quite a lot.
What is your college major or your area of professonal expertise? If I asked you to tell me, right here on my blog, what I need to know in order to succeed in a competitive exam in your field, what would you say?
If I went to a doctor and said “Tell me how to diagnose a patient,” or I went to a judge and said “Tell me how to interpret the law,” or I went to an artist and said “Tell me how to be creative,” do you think they would be able give me a few sentences that completely answer my question and prepare me for professional work as a doctor, judge, or artist? If they had spent years as students learning their subject matter, and additional years teaching or writing a textbook on their specialty, they might be very good in their professions but I’d bet they’d all find it tough to answer such a question in any meaningful way.
I won’t be evaluating your submission, so my opinion on debatable topics such as where the thesis should go won’t be of any specific use to you.
thesis statement should be the last statement in your introductory paragraph, it will consist of a short explanation as to why you are writing the essay and what is involved.
That’s certainly a valid place to put a thesis statement, jentar. If your instructor tells you to put a thesis statement in a certain place, then putting it anywhere else is risky. But it’s also possible to start with a paragraph that grabs the reader’s attention with a gripping example that illustrates what’s at stake, and then give the thesis statement in the second paragraph.
This is great stuff. I wonder if you didn’t mean expansive rather than expensive in the following sentence. “Instead of claiming that a book “challenges a genre’s stereotypes,” you might instead argue that some text “provides a more expensive but more ethical solution than X” or “challenges Jim Smith’s observation that ‘[some quote from Smith here]’” instead.
Thanks for your feedback. I’m glad you found the page useful. I really did mean “expensive” in that example, though I am simply suggesting that considering cost is worth exploring in an argument, depending on the kind of argument you are making.
I found the information to be very informative and easy to understand. Thank you
Hi. I began an essay on the topic ; reasons why pursuing college education is important. I had it started off this way… Aristotle said it best when he stated, “Education is the best provision for life’s journey.” Pursuing a college education provides individuals with career pportunities, higher income and experiences necessary in the journey of life. Please do you think I started off good or too weak? I need your help as this is a great assignment for me to make up for my mid semester examination which I was unable to attend!
Your instructor is the one who will grade the assignment, so he or she is the best source of feedback. Without knowing what grade/level you are, or what kind of class you are taking, I can’t really advise you. However, unless you have read Aristotle’s works yourself and can place that quote in its context, I would not recommend pulling a random quote from a website and using it to start a paper. The complete quote is “Education is the best provision for the journey to old age,” but what does that mean?
The word “best” means there is at least a “good” and a “better,” and that by some measurement or judgement, a third thing is “best.” What are the two other sayings (at least) that you have compared to Aristotle, and what are the two other things (at least) that Aristotle thinks are not as good provision for life’s journey to old age? Why does your opinion (on at least three different sayings, of which the best is Aristotle’s), and at least three different provisions for old age (of which the best is education) help you to answer your instructor’s prompt about the reasons for pursing a college education?
What we think of as “college” is very different from the education that Aristotle would have received (or provided). I suggest you look into ways that a college education encourages critical thinking, which is a different way of thinking than “Did I get the right answer? Will my teacher approve? What’s the secret ‘correct’ answer in the back of my instructor’s book that I should memorize and spit back?” Maybe your instructor wants you to determine for yourself whether you feel gaining a college education is worth the intellectual effort.
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Understanding what makes a good thesis statement is one of the major keys to writing a great research paper or argumentative essay. The thesis statement is where you make a claim that will guide you through your entire paper. If you find yourself struggling to make sense of your paper or your topic, then it's likely due to a weak thesis statement.
Let's take a minute to first understand what makes a solid thesis statement, and what key components you need to write one of your own.
A thesis statement always goes at the beginning of the paper. It will typically be in the first couple of paragraphs of the paper so that it can introduce the body paragraphs, which are the supporting evidence for your thesis statement.
Your thesis statement should clearly identify an argument. You need to have a statement that is not only easy to understand, but one that is debatable. What that means is that you can't just put any statement of fact and have it be your thesis. For example, everyone knows that puppies are cute . An ineffective thesis statement would be, "Puppies are adorable and everyone knows it." This isn't really something that's a debatable topic.
Something that would be more debatable would be, "A puppy's cuteness is derived from its floppy ears, small body, and playfulness." These are three things that can be debated on. Some people might think that the cutest thing about puppies is the fact that they follow you around or that they're really soft and fuzzy.
All cuteness aside, you want to make sure that your thesis statement is not only debatable, but that it also actually thoroughly answers the research question that was posed. You always want to make sure that your evidence is supporting a claim that you made (and not the other way around). This is why it's crucial to read and research about a topic first and come to a conclusion later. If you try to get your research to fit your thesis statement, then it may not work out as neatly as you think. As you learn more, you discover more (and the outcome may not be what you originally thought).
Additionally, your thesis statement shouldn't be too big or too grand. It'll be hard to cover everything in a thesis statement like, "The federal government should act now on climate change." The topic is just too large to actually say something new and meaningful. Instead, a more effective thesis statement might be, "Local governments can combat climate change by providing citizens with larger recycling bins and offering local classes about composting and conservation." This is easier to work with because it's a smaller idea, but you can also discuss the overall topic that you might be interested in, which is climate change.
So, now that we know what makes a good, solid thesis statement, you can start to write your own. If you find that you're getting stuck or you are the type of person who needs to look at examples before you start something, then check out our list of thesis statement examples below.
A quick note that these thesis statements have not been fully researched. These are merely examples to show you what a thesis statement might look like and how you can implement your own ideas into one that you think of independently. As such, you should not use these thesis statements for your own research paper purposes. They are meant to be used as examples only.
If you are still uncertain about how to write a thesis statement or what a good thesis statement is, be sure to consult with your teacher or professor to make sure you're on the right track. It's always a good idea to check in and make sure that your thesis statement is making a solid argument and that it can be supported by your research.
After you're done writing, it's important to have someone take a second look at your paper so that you can ensure there are no mistakes or errors. It's difficult to spot your own mistakes, which is why it's always recommended to have someone help you with the revision process, whether that's a teacher, the writing center at school, or a professional editor such as one from ServiceScape .
The $6 trillion in money market funds will not save the stock market from a painful decline.
A common component of the bullish thesis for stocks over the past year is that trillions of dollars of sidelined cash are set to flood the stock market once the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, putting downward pressure on the juicy, risk-free 5% yield most money market funds offer.
But Bank of America says not so fast, offering two structural reasons money market funds won't be the catalyst for a continued bull rally many investors expect.
First, a measly 25-basis point interest rate cut from the Fed likely won't change the behavior of savers, as a cash yield of closer to 4% would still be a lot better than near-0% rates offered from 2009 through 2021.
An interest rate decline of hundreds of basis points wouldn't do the trick either, according to the bank.
"Historically, MMF [Money Market Fund] AUM growth y/y is typically positive unless front-end rates <2%," Bank of America rates strategist Mark Cabana said in a note on Thursday.
According to Cabana, for money market funds to see negative outflows, the Fed would need to cut rates by at least 300 basis points, and that's not scheduled to happen anytime soon.
"Fed cuts will see MMF inflows slow but remain positive unless rates near zero," Cabana said.
The December 2025 target for the federal funds rate is just above 3%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The second issue is that even if the Fed were to substantially cut interest rates and spark a wave of redemptions from money market funds, that cash probably wouldn't flow into the stock market.
According to Cabana, bonds would be the big beneficiary instead because money market funds compete mainly with checking accounts that offer near 0% yields rather than stocks.
"If MMF outflows happen cash likely to move into higher yielding fixed income, not equities. MMF to equities = bridge too far," Cabana said.
Stock market bulls should ultimately retire the idea that trillions of dollars of money market funds will help buoy stock prices, the analysts said.
"MMF cash should remain sidelined from a risk taking perspective," Cabana concluded.
A boy accused of killing four people at his high school in Georgia was interviewed last year by police about anonymous online threats, the FBI has said.
Colt Gray, 14, denied to police in May 2023 he was behind internet posts that contained images of guns, warning of a school shooting.
The suspect opened fire on Wednesday at Apalachee High School in the city of Winder, killing two teachers and two pupils, investigators say. Eight students and one teacher were injured.
He was arrested on campus. Gray was charged with four counts of murder on Thursday and will face court on Friday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Police have identified the victims as teachers Christina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall and 14-year-old students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo.
In a news conference, Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Chris Hosey said the gun used was an "AR-platform style weapon".
The FBI said its National Threat Operations Center had alerted local law enforcement in May 2023 after receiving anonymous tips about "online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time".
The agency said that within 24 hours investigators had determined that the threats originated in Georgia.
Sheriff's deputies interviewed the boy and his father, who "stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them", the FBI said.
The suspect, who was 13 years old at the time, denied making the online threats and officials "alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject".
"At the time, there was no probable cause for an arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state or federal levels," added the FBI statement.
Sheriff Jud Smith described the attack as "pure evil" and said officers were on scene within minutes of receiving emergency calls at 10:20 local time (14:20 GMT).
Two officers assigned to the school "immediately encountered the subject" and the boy "immediately surrendered", the sheriff said.
The boy has been interviewed and spoke with investigators once while in custody, Mr Smith said.
He added that no motive had been identified and that law enforcement did not know of "any targets at this point".
Students described chaotic scenes as alerts went out that an attacker was on campus. Classes at Apalachee began last month, but many students across the US are returning to schools this week.
Lyela Sayarath, who was in the alleged attacker's class, told CNN that the suspect left the room at the beginning of an algebra lesson.
She said he came back and knocked on the door, which had locked automatically, but another student refused to let him in after noticing he had a gun.
Lyela told CNN the attacker then went to the classroom next door, where he began shooting.
Marques Coleman, 14, said he saw the attacker holding a "big gun" just before the shooting began.
"I got up, I started running, he started shooting like, like 10 times. He shot at least 10 times," he told CBS News, the BBC's US partner.
"My teacher started barricading the door with desks," he said.
After standing up, the pupil said he saw "one of my classmates on the ground bleeding so bad", another girl shot in the leg and a friend shot in the stomach.
A vigil was held on Wednesday evening in the city of 18,000 residents about 50 miles (80km) from Atlanta.
This was the 23rd US school shooting of 2024, according to a database maintained by magazine Education Week, which counts 11 dead and 38 injured in such attacks so far this year.
David Riedman, who runs the K-12 School Shooting Database, told Reuters news agency that the shooting in Georgia was the first "planned attack" at a school during this autumn term.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney announced Friday that he will cast his ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris this fall, confirming news that was first made public by his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney , earlier in the day.
Both Cheneys are Republicans, and the elder served under President George W. Bush. The younger Cheney, who endorsed Harris earlier this week, is one of former President Donald Trump ’s most prominent conservative critics.
"In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Dick Cheney said in a statement. "He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again."
“As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” he added.
Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said that the vice president was “proud” to have Cheney’s support.
“He joins hundreds of Republicans who are backing the Vice President and her patriotic vision of America over former President Trump, because, as Vice President Cheney said, the very future of our republic is at stake in this election,” O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
In a Truth Social post Friday night, Trump bashed both Cheneys, using the acronym for Republican in Name Only. “Dick Cheney is an irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter, who lost by the largest margin in the History of Congressional Races!" he wrote.
Liz Cheney was ousted in 2021 from her position in House Republican leadership after criticizing Trump. In 2022, she lost her congressional primary race to a Trump-backed challenger.
During the midterm campaign cycle, Dick Cheney taped an advertisement for his daughter’s campaign, in which he called Trump a “coward.”
Liz Cheney revealed who her father would vote for during an interview Friday at the Texas Tribune Festival.
"Dick Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris," she said.
"If you think about the moment that we’re in, and you think about how serious this moment is, my dad believes and he’s said publicly that there’s never been an individual in our country who is as grave a threat to our democracy as Donald Trump is," Cheney added. "And that’s the moment that we’re facing."
Asked for comment Friday about her remarks, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung replied, “Who the f--- is Liz Cheney?”
Liz Cheney had said when announcing her support for Harris on Wednesday that people do not have "the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, particularly in swing states."
"Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris," she said.
Cheney said on Friday that she has not spoken with Harris this week.
The former Wyoming congresswoman also said during her Friday interview with The Atlantic's Mark Leibovich that she would support Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, in his Senate bid. Allred is challenging Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who has served in the Senate since 2013.
"Here in Texas, you guys do have a tremendous, serious candidate running for the United States Senate, and his name is —" she paused as the audience cheered and Leibovich asked them to let her speak.
"It’s not Ted Cruz," she said.
Cheney went on to praise Allred's credentials, noting the time she served in the House with him.
"We need people who are going to serve in good faith," Cheney said. "We need people who are honorable public servants, and in this race, that is Colin Allred. So I’ll be working on his behalf."
In a statement, Allred called Cheney a "patriot" and said he was "honored to have her support."
"Though we may not agree on everything, we’ve been able to find common ground by putting our country over political parties," Allred said. "Importantly, we both believe in protecting our democracy, our constitution and the foundational promise of our great country. And we both agree that Texans cannot afford six more years of Ted Cruz."
The Allred campaign also noted that he and Cheney cosponsored more than 50 bills together, a nod to their efforts to work across the aisle.
When reached for comment, a Cruz campaign spokesperson called Cheney “the poster child of flip-flopping.”
“We’re definitely super surprised to hear that Liz Cheney, the poster child of flip-flopping, is endorsing Colin Allred,” the spokesperson said. “Two years ago, the voters of Wyoming overwhelmingly rejected her, just like the voters of Texas will overwhelmingly reject Colin Allred this November. But hey, misery loves company.”
The Cheneys are the latest in a steady stream of Republicans who, despite policy differences, say they plan to cast ballots for Harris.
Last week, more than 200 Republicans who have worked for both Bush presidents, Sen. Mitt Romney and the late Sen. John McCain announced that they are backing Harris.
"Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz. That’s to be expected," said the former staffers said in a statement. "The alternative, however, is simply untenable."
Several prominent GOP critics of Trump, including former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, appeared onstage at the Democratic National Convention last month to back Harris. In his speech, Kinzinger urged voters to "put country first" and argued that Trump has "suffocated the soul" of the GOP.
Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Openings expected wednesday in menendez corruption trial, by mike catalini and larry neumeister • published may 14, 2024 • updated on may 14, 2024 at 9:33 pm.
Opening statements were expected to occur Wednesday in the New York corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez after the jury selection process is completed in the morning, a federal judge said Tuesday.
Judge Sidney H. Stein also made rulings that will define what evidence lawyers can present to the jury. He said he expected to have a jury in place by mid-morning, clearing the way for openings and the presentation of evidence after jury selection stretches into a third day.
Among the evidence he excluded with his rulings was the testimony of a psychiatrist who was expected to say that Menendez habitually stored cash in his home as a “fear of scarcity” response to family stories about how their savings were confiscated in the Communist revolution in Cuba, before he was born, and because of financial problems stemming from the gambling problem of his father, a struggling carpenter.
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FBI agents who searched the senator’s New Jersey home in 2022 found a stash of gold bars, worth more than $100,000, and more than $486,000 in cash, some of it stuffed into the pockets of clothing hanging in his closets.
Prosecutors say the gold bars and cash were bribes from three wealthy businessmen in his home state who he performed a variety of favors for in return, including meddling in criminal investigations and taking actions benefitting the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
He is on trial with two of the businessmen. A third has pleaded guilty in a cooperation deal and is expected to testify against the senator. Menendez's wife, also charged in the case, is scheduled for trial in July.
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The trial defendants, along with Menendez's wife, have pleaded not guilty to charges that they used Menendez’s power as a senator to their advantage as he was showered with gifts.
Also Tuesday, Stein mentioned the names of prominent U.S. senators including Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Cory Booker as he alerted prospective jurors to a list of people who could be named or might testify at the trial.
Stein also read the names of Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, among others. Other names included former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal as well as current and former state lawmakers.
During the jury selection process, Stein has heard a variety of reasons why people say they should be excused from the trial of the Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, resident that is projected to stretch to July. Some have cited medical reasons while others say their jobs or travel plans would be too adversely affected.
But several have said they worry that they have heard too much to be fair about the case in which Menendez, 70, was charged with bribery, extortion, fraud and obstruction of justice, along with acting as a foreign agent of Egypt.
“I’m a news junkie, and I’ve learned about the case already significantly. I knew it was Bob Menendez the second I walked in,” one juror said.
“As did many people,” the judge shot back before asking if the man could still decide the case based on trial testimony. The man said he thought he could.
Jurors were identified only by numbers during the selection process.
After his arrest last fall, Menendez was forced from his powerful post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
After three terms in the Senate, he has announced he will not be seeking reelection on the Democratic ticket this fall, although he has not ruled out running as an independent.
Menendez has faced trial before in an unrelated case. In 2017, a federal jury deadlocked on corruption charges brought in New Jersey, and prosecutors did not seek to retry him.
In the new case, an indictment accused the senator of taking actions on behalf of the businessmen that would benefit the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez has insisted he did not do anything unusual in his dealings with foreign officials.
According to an indictment, codefendant Fred Daibes, a real estate developer, delivered gold bars and cash to Menendez and his wife to get the senator to help him secure a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund by acting in ways favorable to Qatar’s government.
The indictment also said Menendez did things benefitting Egyptian officials in exchange for bribes from codefendant Wael Hana as the businessman secured a lucrative deal with the Egyptian government to certify that imported meat met Islamic dietary requirements.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A man who gunned down 10 people in a supermarket mass shooting was not insane when he unleashed terror in a Colorado college town but a calculated killer who knew what he did was wrong, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday in an opening statement swiftly disputed by the defense attorney.
Years of legal wrangling over the mental state of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa during the March 2021 shooting will likely continue through his three-week trial.
Alissa’s attorney argued that his client, who has been diagnosed with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, suffered from hallucinations — hearing screaming voices, seeing people who weren’t there and believing he was being followed — in the runup to the shooting at the King Soopers grocery store in Boulder.
Alissa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity . No one, including Alissa’s lawyers, disputes he was the shooter.
“We’re not running from that. But if you’re going to point the finger at this guy, you deserve to hear the truth about him. This man, Ahmad Alissa, is an ill individual,” said his attorney, Samuel Dunn, in his opening statement.
Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/David Zalubowski
A prosecutor argued Alissa was able to determine right from wrong and therefore sane.
“The victims were random, but the murders were absolutely deliberate and intentional,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty told jurors.
Dressed in a striped white dress shirt, Alissa sat beside his attorneys in court, sometimes swiveling in his chair and turning to look up at a video screen where lawyers presented evidence and bullet points of their arguments.
Relatives of the victims filled rows on the opposite side of court, dabbing their eyes at times and comforting one another.
Alissa is charged with 10 counts of murder, 15 counts of attempted murder and other offenses for the shooting in Boulder, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of Denver.
Alissa’s motive, if he had one, has remained unclear and Dougherty did not posit one. He argued Alissa acted with intent and full knowledge of his wrongdoing.
Most of those shot inside and outside the store were killed in just over a minute. Alissa targeted people trying to flee and made a special effort to finish off those he wounded with additional shots, Dougherty pointed out.
“The shooter prepared to kill them, planned to kill them, and went and executed 10 people at King Soopers. That’s why you’re here,” Dougherty told the jury after showing photos of each victim and describing why each was at the store that day.
No one who was shot survived. After shooting eight people, Alissa prowled the store — which had fallen quiet except for background music still playing over the store speakers — then spotted and killed Suzanne Fountain, 59, as she left a hiding spot in another aisle.
His final victim was Boulder Police officer Eric Talley, a father of seven and one of the first three officers who entered the store.
Alissa surrendered to other police who arrived, voluntarily stripping down to his underwear and complying with their instructions as they approached and handcuffed him.
“There’s no hallucinating, there’s no delusion, there’s no confusion,” Dougherty said of Alissa’s behavior.
Alissa’s attorney described a range of hallucinations, delusions and social withdrawal that relatives said Alissa experienced before the shooting and that psychiatrists later verified.
The schizophrenia was so severe it took years for him to engage with therapists and only after he was given a drug, clozapine, which Dunn pointed out is used only when other treatments don’t work.
Before the shooting, Alissa had gone without treatment as a member of a Syrian immigrant family whose father believed possession by an evil spirit, or djinn, was to blame, Dunn said.
“I want you to imagine that between your ears, where you have no shelter or reprieve, you can’t identify the source of it: You just hear yelling and screaming,” Dunn said. “That’s what was being broadcast in Ahmad Alissa’s mind.”
Once, Alissa’s father awoke at 3 a.m. and his son, who was also awake, asked if he had seen a man in the bathroom. The father looked and nobody was there, Dunn said.
“The law says you can have intent and be insane. But what the law doesn’t allow is you to ignore plain, clear evidence someone’s mental illness that is severe and chronic and say that person is sane, that person is capable of telling right from wrong,” Dunn said.
He told jurors to use “common sense, apply the law,” and find Alissa insane.
If successful, Alissa’s plea of not guilty by reason of insanity could enable him to avoid prison and instead be committed indefinitely to the state mental hospital.
Prosecution witnesses who testified Thursday included Alison Sheets, an emergency room doctor who heard the gunfire while shopping and hid sideways on a shelf of potato chips. There, she heard more shots and somebody in the next aisle taking their last breath — a sound she recognized from work.
“It was a sigh, almost,” she said. Prosecutors said it was Fountain’s dying breath.
A mental health evaluator testified during a competency hearing in 2022 that Alissa said he bought firearms to carry out a mass shooting and suggested he wanted police to kill him.
Relatives have said he irrationally believed that the FBI was following him and that he would talk to himself as if he were talking to someone who was not there, according to court documents.
Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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Step 2: Write your initial answer. After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process. The internet has had more of a positive than a negative effect on education.
A thesis statement is a sentence in a paper or essay (in the opening paragraph) that introduces the main topic to the reader. As one of the first things your reader sees, your thesis statement is one of the most important sentences in your entire paper—but also one of the hardest to write! In this article, we explain how to write a thesis ...
A thesis statement: tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself.
A thesis statement . . . Makes an argumentative assertion about a topic; it states the conclusions that you have reached about your topic. Makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of your paper. Is focused and specific enough to be "proven" within the boundaries of your paper. Is generally located near the end ...
A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example, if you're writing a seven-to-ten page paper on hunger, you might say: World hunger has many causes and effects. This is a weak thesis statement for two major reasons.
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Here is how to write a thesis statement: Write a thesis statement by clearly stating your topic, expressing your position, and providing key points. For example: "Social media impacts teens by influencing self-esteem, enabling cyberbullying, and shaping social interactions.". Be specific, concise, and arguable.
Thesis Statements. A thesis is the main claim you are making in an argument, similar to the hypothesis in a scientific experiment. It is what you are trying to prove or persuade your audience to believe or do. It's helpful to develop a working thesis to guide your composition process. "Working" is the operative word here; your ideas are ...
Thesis | Harvard College Writing Center
Step 4: Revise and refine your thesis statement before you start writing. Read through your thesis statement several times before you begin to compose your full essay. You need to make sure the statement is ironclad, since it is the foundation of the entire paper. Edit it or have a peer review it for you to make sure everything makes sense and ...
Learning how to form a thesis statement is very important. A thesis statement is an imperative trait to form a strong essay. Normally one or two sentences, a thesis unifies and provides direction for a piece of writing. There are two main reasons why thesis statements are so important for an essay. First, the writer develops a thesis to create ...
Thesis Statements What this handout is about This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, ... Included in this working thesis is a reason for the war and some idea of how the two sides disagreed over this reason. As you write the essay, you will
Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence. 3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper. 4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what ...
It does contain at least two clauses, usually an independent clause (the opinion) and a dependent clause (the reasons). You probably should aim for a single sentence that is at least two lines, or about 30 to 40 words long. Position: A thesis statement always belongs at the beginning of an essay.
Developing Strong Thesis Statements - Purdue OWL
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examine why thesis statements are crucial to a paper. For a Reader Thesis statements act as a roadmap that drive readers from one paragraph to another. Having a thesis statement gives the reader a "notice" on points that will be discussed in the paper. Moreover, having a thesis statement gives the reader a reason to continue reading. Without a
Thesis statements will vary depending on the type of paper you are writing, such as an expository essay, argument paper, or analytical essay. ... Later-start school days increase student success for a variety of reasons. Because the role of the thesis statement is to state the central message of your entire paper, it is important to revisit ...
A thesis statement makes a promise to the reader about the scope, purpose, and direction of the paper. It summarizes the conclusions that the writer has reached about the topic. A thesis statement is generally located near the end of the introduction. Sometimes in a long paper, the thesis will be expressed in several sentences or an entire ...
The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons: It gives your writing direction and focus. It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point. Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.
A thesis statement is the single, specific claim that your essay supports. A strong thesis answers the question you want to raise; it does so by presenting a topic, the position you wish to defend, and a reasoning blueprint that sketches out your defense of your chosen position. A good thesis is not merely a factual statement, an observation, a personal opinion or preference, or the question ...
What that means is that you can't just put any statement of fact and have it be your thesis. For example, everyone knows that puppies are cute. An ineffective thesis statement would be, "Puppies are adorable and everyone knows it." This isn't really something that's a debatable topic. Something that would be more debatable would be, "A puppy's ...
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