[diane.colville]

Does the thesis paper necessarily need to be American literature based? For example, my daughter is really interested in WW2 and communism and Hitler. Not sure how she can tie this in. Thank you for any guidance!

[Ben Crist]

Hi Diane! The thesis paper can be anything that fits with your larger goal for her homeschooling year. If she’s studying WW2 in her history class, for instance, and you’d want her paper to be from a historical topic but ‘graded’ under her English credit, go for it! I actually had one of the students in the class we filmed do just that.

[Cynthia]

Hi, I have a related question. Would contemporary newspaper accounts fit in the category of “American literature” for the purpose of citing sources for this paper? Thank you!

[Ben Crist]

Great question! I would certainly encourage students to use contemporary newspapers as a source. I might not lean on them as the heavy hitter in my proof, but then again there were several American writers who were also journalists.

I’m a bit old-fashioned in considering ‘literature’ a distinct category of ‘writing.’ I enjoyed the courses for my English degree, but the constant push to make everything a ‘text’ runs counter to biblical excellence in the arts.

In other words, food advertisements from 100 years ago may be a great source of linguistic interest and change, but for culture shaping and virtue development I’d have students read The Read Badge of Courage over journalism any day.

[diane.colville]

Hi this is Olivia. I’ve changed my topic and was wondering if you could give me feedback on this thesis…

Not wanting to settle for less than equal treatment under the law, Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. each helped shape and impact the Civil Rights Movement with their pursuit of equality, social justice and liberty, through the historical events they heroically took place in.

[Ben Crist]

Hi Olivia!

I like that you’ve attempted to structure your thesis with clear signposts of what you want to cover.

The one danger I see is that there are multiple threads that complicate the work involved in each proof, mostly caused by the conjunctions you’re using.

As a reader I have the expectation that you will discuss each of these figures in each of your proof areas. For instance, I would expect you to discuss how Ruby Bridges shaped and impacted the Civil Rights movement through her pursuit of equality, how Rosa Parks did the same, and how Martin Luther King, Jr. did the same. That may be intentional on your part. Or, you may be wanting to write about how Ruby Bridges impacted the Civil Rights movement by pursuing equality, Rosa Parks impacted the Civil Rights movement by pursuing social justice, etc.

Here are a couple of hints to make your work easier:

1. Do you need both “shape” and “impact”? And “helped”? I’d stick with one strong verb which controls the whole statement here.
2. Do you think you will have clear ways to distinguish between equality, social justice, and liberty? You may—which is great—but I’ve seen students get mushy here which causes the paper to feel repetitive to them as they write.
3. How many historical events are you considering? This may be where you want to zero in on three proofs. Example below.

Possible thesis revisions to illustrate my points:

• Rather than settling for less than equal treatment under the law, Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. each heroically shaped the Civil Rights Movement by their pursuit of equality, social justice, and liberty.
• Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. each shaped the Civil Rights Movement by pursuing equality, social justice, and liberty.
• Not wanting to settle for less than equal treatment under the law, Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. each shaped the Civil Rights Movement through heroic actions.
• Not wanting to settle for less than equal treatment under the law, Civil Rights leaders pursued equality, social justice, and liberty.
• Not wanting to settle for less than equal treatment under the law, Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. shaped the Civil Rights Movement through HistoricalEvent1, HistoricalEvent2, and HistoricalEvent3.

Hope that gives you some ideas. Godspeed!

[diane.colville]

Thank you so much Mr. Crist! After some narrowing down, I’ve decided to go with your second option which was, “Ruby Bridges, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. each shaped the Civil Rights Movement by pursuing equality, social justice and liberty”.

For the future, is this the best way I can reach you if I have any further questions?

Thanks again!

[Ben Crist]

I’m glad to have been useful. This is a good place for any questions you have that would be beneficial for other students/users to see as well. If it’s something very specific about your own work, you can message me privately from your connections list.

Have a great day!

[Cynthia]

This makes sense and I appreciate the sentiment. My son really wants to explore the question of how the French and Indian War influenced colonial attitudes toward Britain and led towards independence. I will encourage him to find real books, but allow a few other sources as well. I’m sure he would welcome any source suggestions you may have.

Thank you for your response.

[Ben Crist]

With that historical and focused a topic, I’d definitely encourage journalism as a source. Primary sources will give him a sense of the American mind at that time. I’d start with Paul Johnson’s A History of the American People and look up any footnotes in that chapter.