Write a precise thesis and topic sentences
Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence
Circle the best answer.
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A Repair Café for Ashby (argument draft)
[1] In most kitchens and garages in Ashby, there is at least one lamp, toaster or jacket that still almost works but has been pushed aside because nobody at home knows how to fix it. [2] Other towns have answered this problem by holding a monthly event where volunteers with tools and know-how help residents repair broken household items for free. [3] The Ashby Community Center should think about doing something like this, because it could be good for people in a lot of ways.
[4] A monthly repair café would keep useful objects out of the town landfill, which is filling faster than planners expected. [5] According to the county waste office, Ashby households threw away roughly forty tons of small appliances and furniture last year, and a large share of those items had a single broken part. [6] If even a fraction of them were mended instead of discarded, the landfill would fill more slowly, and the town could put off the cost of opening a new site.
[7] There is also something else that matters here. [8] A survey of three hundred residents by the community center found that most of them would rather fix a broken item than buy a new one, but fewer than one in five had the tools or skills to do it. [9] At a repair café, residents would sit beside a volunteer while the repair happens, so they would leave knowing how to handle the same problem the next time.
[10] The event would also cost the community center very little to run. [11] Retired electricians, tailors and carpenters have already offered to volunteer, and the center's large meeting room sits empty on most Saturday mornings.
[12] For these reasons, the Ashby Community Center should hold a free repair café on one Saturday each month. [13] Residents would keep their belongings working longer, and many of them would learn to make the next repair on their own.
Ari sees that sentence [3] is vague. Which thesis is precise and defensible, and fits the body of the draft?
- The Ashby Community Center should hold a free monthly repair café, since it would cut landfill waste, teach repair skills and cost little.
- Several towns in the region already hold monthly events where volunteers help their residents repair broken household items.
- A monthly repair café would solve the landfill problem in Ashby for good and turn its residents into skilled repair workers.
- The Ashby Community Center should hold a repair café, since it would be a positive and helpful step for the town and its people in many ways.
Bo wonders whether sentence [4] is the thesis, since it makes a claim. Which label and reason fit sentence [4]?
- Evidence: it gives the county's count of the waste a repair café would save.
- A topic sentence: it previews the waste, skills and cost reasons in the draft.
- The thesis: it states the position on the monthly repair café that the whole draft defends.
- A topic sentence: it states one reason, less landfill waste, that paragraph 2 develops.
Esme sees that sentence [7] opens paragraph 3 weakly. Which topic sentence states that paragraph's point and ties it to the thesis?
- The Ashby Community Center should hold a free repair café on one Saturday of each month.
- Fewer than one in five residents surveyed by the center had the tools or the skills to fix an item at home.
- A repair café would also keep many broken lamps, toasters and chairs out of the town landfill.
- A repair café would also teach residents the repair skills that most of them say they want but lack.
A Late Study Room at Brookhaven High (argument draft)
[1] During the two weeks before final exams, the Brookhaven High library closes at four o'clock, just as many students finish practice, club meetings or their after-school jobs. [2] Students who need a quiet place to study then have to find one at home, where younger children, televisions and shared bedrooms often make careful work difficult. [3] The library's study hours are an important issue that the school should look at more closely.
[4] Keeping the library open until eight o'clock during exam weeks would give working students a fair chance to prepare. [5] A guidance office survey found that 140 Brookhaven students hold after-school jobs, and most of their shifts end between five and six o'clock. [6] Those students currently lose the quiet, well-lit space the school offers at exactly the hour when they are finally free to use it.
[7] On top of that, there is the matter of the computers. [8] The library holds forty computers and the school's color printer, and many families in the district do not have a reliable printer or a fast internet connection at home. [9] Students who must type and print essays during exam weeks could finish that work on campus instead of searching the town for an open copy shop.
[10] The longer hours would cost far less than the district might fear. [11] Two certified staff members have offered to supervise on a rotating schedule, and the building is already heated and lit until nine o'clock for evening sports.
[12] The district should therefore keep the Brookhaven High library open until eight o'clock on weekdays during exam weeks. [13] With those extra hours, students who work or lack a computer at home would have a quiet place and the tools to prepare.
Jun sees that sentence [3] is vague. Which thesis is precise and defensible, and fits the body of the draft?
- During the two weeks before final exams, the Brookhaven High library closes its doors at four o'clock each afternoon.
- The library should stay open until eight on exam-week evenings, giving working students quiet space and computers at little cost.
- The school should change the library's hours during exam weeks, because doing so would really help a great many different students there.
- Longer library hours during exam weeks would guarantee that Brookhaven students earn higher grades on their final exams.
Kira wonders whether sentence [10] is the thesis, since it makes a claim. Which label and reason fit sentence [10]?
- The thesis: it states the position on the library hours that the whole draft defends.
- A topic sentence: it previews the jobs, computers and cost reasons in the draft.
- A topic sentence: it states one reason, the low cost, that paragraph 4 develops.
- Evidence: it gives the staff offer and the heating hours that keep costs down.
Luz sees that sentence [7] opens paragraph 3 weakly. Which topic sentence states that paragraph's point and ties it to the thesis?
- Longer hours would also give students who work after school a fair chance to prepare for their exams.
- The Brookhaven High library holds forty computers and a color printer that students may use.
- Longer hours would also give students without a home printer or fast internet the computers they need for essays.
- The library at Brookhaven High should stay open until eight o'clock on weekdays during exam weeks.
A Fenced Dog Run for Corliss Park (argument draft)
[1] On most mornings, Corliss Park is shared by joggers, parents with strollers, players on the soccer field and dozens of people walking their dogs. [2] Although the town's leash rule is posted at the gates, many owners let their dogs run loose on the open lawn because there is nowhere else in town for a dog to run freely. [3] Something needs to change at Corliss Park, and a dog area might be one possible answer.
[4] A fenced dog run would make the park safer for the people who use it. [5] The parks office logged thirty-seven complaints last year about loose dogs knocking over children or chasing joggers, which was more than for any other problem in the park. [6] A fence would give those dogs a separate place to run, so the open lawn would be free again for families, games and runners.
[7] Dogs are a big part of the story too. [8] The town animal shelter reports that many of the dogs given up by their owners are young, high-energy breeds whose owners say they could not give them enough exercise. [9] A safe place where dogs can run off the leash for half an hour helps them burn that energy, and owners who visit dog runs often report less chewing and barking at home.
[10] Building the dog run would also cost the town much less than building a new park. [11] The unused tennis court on the park's north side already has a tall fence on three sides, so the town would need only a gate, a water spigot and a fourth wall of fence.
[12] The town should turn the old north tennis court at Corliss Park into a fenced dog run. [13] The change would protect the people who visit the park, give dogs the exercise they need and ask very little of the town budget.
Noah wonders whether sentence [4] is the thesis, since it makes a claim. Which label and reason fit sentence [4]?
- Evidence: it gives the parks office's count of the complaints about loose dogs.
- A topic sentence: it states one reason, a safer park for people, that paragraph 2 develops.
- The thesis: it states the position on the dog run that the whole draft defends.
- A topic sentence: it previews the safety, health and cost reasons that the draft goes on to give.
Pia sees that sentence [7] opens paragraph 3 weakly. Which topic sentence states that paragraph's point and ties it to the thesis?
- A dog run would also give high-energy dogs the hard exercise that keeps them healthier and calmer at home.
- The town should build a fenced dog run on the old north tennis court at Corliss Park.
- A dog run would also keep loose dogs from knocking over children and chasing joggers on the lawn.
- Many dogs given up at the town shelter are young, high-energy breeds that did not get enough exercise at home.
Wildflowers on Halvorsen Avenue (argument draft)
[1] Halvorsen Avenue runs for two miles through the center of Dunsford, and its wide grass median is mowed by a town crew every week from April to October. [2] Several nearby towns have replaced their mowed medians with native wildflowers and grasses, which need far less care once they are established. [3] Dunsford's medians are something the town council should really think about changing.
[4] Planting native wildflowers on the median would save the town money over time. [5] According to its most recent budget, the public works department spends about 18,000 dollars each season on fuel, mower repairs and crew hours to cut the Halvorsen median. [6] Native plants usually need watering and weeding in their first two years and then a single cutting each fall, so most of that yearly cost would disappear.
[7] Then there is the nature side of things. [8] Native wildflowers provide nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies and other pollinators, which have lost much of their habitat as fields and meadows have been paved over. [9] A two-mile strip of flowers would give those insects a long chain of feeding spots across the center of town, where very little food for them grows now.
[10] The change could also make the avenue look more appealing to residents and visitors. [11] In a town poll last spring, sixty-one percent of the residents who answered said that they would like to see flowers instead of plain grass along the main roads.
[12] The council should replace the mowed grass on the Halvorsen Avenue median with native wildflowers and grasses. [13] The change would save money, feed pollinators and brighten the busiest street in Dunsford for the people who travel it each day.
Ren sees that sentence [3] is vague. Which thesis is precise and defensible, and fits the body of the draft?
- Wildflowers on the Halvorsen Avenue median would rescue the pollinators of the whole region and erase the mowing budget for good.
- The council should do something new and different with the long grass median on Halvorsen Avenue, because a change there would be very worthwhile.
- A town crew mows the wide, two-mile grass median on Halvorsen Avenue each week from April through October.
- The council should plant native wildflowers on the Halvorsen Avenue median, which would save mowing costs, feed pollinators and brighten the town.
Tala wonders whether sentence [10] is the thesis, since it makes a claim. Which label and reason fit sentence [10]?
- The thesis: it states the position on the median that the whole draft defends.
- A topic sentence: it previews the cost, pollinator and beauty reasons in the draft.
- Evidence: it gives the town poll result about flowers along the main roads.
- A topic sentence: it states one reason, a more appealing avenue, that paragraph 4 develops.