Clearly developed thesis statement that takes a position in response to what's college for An introductory paragraph that presents the thesis statement and frames the thesis within the context of a "conversation" related to the class's closed research theme Arguments in support of the thesis that include evidence from the articles "How to access the real payoff of a college degree" by Scott Carlson "Do the benefits of college still outweigh the costs?" By Richard Deitz & jaison R Abel Annotated mini bibliography my Thesis statement for my researched argument : While some suggest that the benefits of a college degree may not outweigh the costs, Research and statistics show that higher education yields numerous long term personal and financial advantages making it a valuable investment for individuals or independent library research, and effective reasoning that explains how the evidence proves the argument, clarifies ideas and perspectives, and/or elaborates on what the writer means Effective use of transitional words and phrases to show the relationships of ideas between and within paragraphs In-text citations of "They Say" summaries and quotations of the closed research theme readings, background readings, and/or independent library research Use of at least 3 sources, at least 1 of which comes from the 4 approved databases (Opposing Viewpoints, Points of View Reference Center, Research Library ProQuest, and/or Academic Search Complete) found in the Ivy Tech Library databases. The other 2 should be closed research theme readings or background readings from our class. background reading I've chosen is is two years better than four liz addison also keeping the community in community colleges Observation of the conventions of Standard Written English . keeping community in community colleges, author anna clark