jeopardy game thesis statement

Thesis Statements Jeopardy Game

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Do your students struggle with how to write a valid thesis statement? If so, here is an interactive game/activity to increase their knowledge of what a good thesis statement should look like. They will not only need to identify whether the statement is a valid thesis, but justify why or why not. This is a great addition to any thesis lesson.

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Thesis Statement Throwdown!

Every English teacher has experienced the frustration of introducing a writing skill, like how to write a thesis statement, over and over again without it “sticking.”

Three years ago, I began “flipping” my writing instruction, so students watch videos on my YouTube channel , take Cornell notes, then come prepared to class to do the actual writing. I love this approach to teaching writing! Students can watch my explanations as many times as they need to over the course of the year. Plus, I get to support them as they write in class. (See my post on synchronous editing ).

Alas, there are always students who need more practice. That said, I can only read so many essays in a year. Instead of feeling frustrated, I decided to design a fun activity to practice writing thesis statements. This is how thesis statement throwdown was born!

Thesis throwdown is a quirky combination of group collaboration, writing practice, funky music, and competition. Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Write an essay prompt on the board. I vary my questions between informative and argumentative topics. KQED’s Do Now series is an excellent place to grab writing prompts!

Step 2: Put students into small groups and give them 5 minutes to construct a solid thesis statement in response to the essay question. The conversations that take place are incredible!

Step 3: Randomly select two groups to compete. I don’t tell them ahead of time who will compete in the actual throwdown because I want everyone to give it 100%.

Step 4: As each group writes their thesis statements on separate whiteboard, I play a fun but slightly random song. Our thesis throwdown music list has ranged from “Everybody Dance Now” to “Eye of the Tiger.” My philosophy is that the music keeps everyone interested and entertained while the two groups write their thesis statements on the board.

Step 5: Once both thesis statements are written on the board, I turn off the music and set to work! I edit each thesis statement and “think out loud” as I work, so students can hear what I am responding to in a positive way–strong vocabulary, parallel language, and clearly stated assertion–and what needs to be added, removed or edited. The more I let them into my process as an editor, the more likely they are to successfully edit their own work.

Finally, a winner is declared!

The entire activity takes 10 minutes from beginning to end. It’s hard to believe a writing activity can be so much fun, but this is really entertaining if you add the music and just have fun with it.

In the two weeks, we’ve done thesis statement throwdown, I am shocked by the improvement in the quality of the thesis statements. It’s worth a try if you are feeling like your students just aren’t delivering quality thesis statements. After all, the thesis is the most important sentence of an essay. We want students to leave our classes confident crafting a strong thesis statement!

48 Responses

Love it. I’ve actually been struggling with helping my GRE prep students with the essays. Can’t wait to try this out. I don’t use any music in my classes, so I’m sure turning it on will create a memorable moment they’ll associate with the theses for a long time:)

Jeremy http://stuartmillenglish.com

I hope they enjoy it, Jeremy! I’m sure the addition of music will make it interesting 😉

I read your page as a student at Heaton Middle School it helps understand your point of view.

[…] Thesis Statement Throwdown! Every English teacher has experienced the frustration of introducing a writing skill, like how to write a thesis statement, over and over again without it “sticking.” […]

[…] http://cluttered-record.flywheelsites.com/2015/02/thesis-statement-throwdown/ […]

Love it! What fabulousness do you do to help them write hooks that go beyond the BrainyQuote or “Do you have a hero? I have a hero. Let me tell you about my hero” hooks.

Pretend there’s a question mark on the end there… 🙂

No, I’ve only done this with thesis statements at this point. That said, I can imagine it would be fun for almost any type of writing review.

I teach seventh grade and I can’t wait to try this with my students.

As a wrter, editor, photojournalist & author for more than 67 years, I applaud this approach to an often-difficult task for novice writers. Way to go, Catlin. Wish I’d had teachers like you back in the 1940s when I was in hight school. – DigitalKen

[…] ideas either and sometimes it is a fine line with engagement as well. So, I modified this idea from Catlin Tucker who is just simply AMAZING and if you haven’t visited her site, you are REALLY missing […]

I think this is a winning idea for several reasons! First of all, I’m really intrigued by the idea of flipping the writing instruction so that students are doing more of their writing practice in the classroom where the support is available. I would imagine that this would lead to less student frustration and that students are finding themselves better equipped to tackle the roadblocks that occur during writing. I like the fact that this activity asks students to work collaboratively to create thesis statements and build off of each other’s ideas. Also, I really like the fact that the teacher models editing and thinking out loud. This is a great way to show students what you mean, rather than just telling them. Finally, making this activity fun with music and good-natured competition will most likely make for more engaged students. Love the fact that this idea can be adaptable to other mini writing lessons. Thanks for the great idea!

Thank you, Sara! Not only do the kids enjoy this activity, but their thesis statements have improved so much in such a short window of time. I also plan to use the same strategy for other mini writing lessons.

Take care. Catlin

Thank you, Catlin! This is a great way to practice thesis statements. I will try it this fall.

I love this idea. Getting students to write thesis statements and then support those statements with well-crafted topic sentences are the keys to building an argument. It’s a skill the students struggle with but is such a key skill to success in all subjects. A variation to this could be to get another group to edit the students’ thesis statements.

My students absolutely love this activity. It got amazing reviews at the end of the year. I’m trying to figure out how to use a similar strategy to analyze textual evidence.

I hope your kids enjoy it!

[…] #1 Thesis Statement Throwdown […]

Is there a place where writing prompts are put together without the instructor having to create them? If so, this would be a great help. My urban seventh graders need many, many practice prompts to become adept at creating introductory sentences and thesis statements.

I design many of my own writing prompts. I also grab topics from KQED Do Now ( http://ww2.kqed.org/education/category/do-now ) and the released SAT essay prompts ( https://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/prep/essay-prompts ). The KQED Do Now topics will be a better fit for your 7th-grade students than the SAT release questions. Many of the KQED Do Now questions lend themselves to argumentative writing.

Thank you, Catlin! I am a lazy curriculum author looking for an easy way to gather prompts. After thinking about my request, prompts without the context of the article would be kind of useless. I’m in Florida where we had argument tested last year. I have been concentrating on informative this year but have the kids ready for argument just in case. Since text-based writing is new to students, I developed a template for them to follow at the beginning of the year and find them now differentiating their writing from the template.

[…] learned about this activity from Catlin Tucker’s blog. I adapted it a bit, but the idea is the same. My students are in Lit Circles and competing to earn […]

[…] for each prompt. See my post about this step here. The idea was inspired by Catlin Tucker’s blog post. Check it […]

I did this lesson in my 9th grade classes today, and it went really well. One student requested I play Michael Jackson, and I discovered every single kid likes him, so I went with that. Thanks for the great idea!

I’m so glad it went well, Mindi! I will occasionally take requests too 😉

Sorry, but the nature of a good thesis depends to a great extent on the nature of the assignment–the kind of essay you’re being asked to write.

If the assignment is to write an argumentative or persuasive essay, the thesis should be a sentence that clearly states your position on the issue you’re writing about.

If you’re writing an extended definition, a one-sentence formal definition would be a good thesis: “A ____ is a ____ with _____.” (I. e. it should put the thing being defined in its class or category and distinguish it from other members of that class.)

If you’re writing a process analysis, the thesis should describe the process in one sentence–say whether it’s a simple process or a complex one, or mention the number of steps, or simply say in that one sentence what it does.

[…] Tucker’s “Thesis Statement Throwdown”, you can see the original lesson plan here. My mini-lesson is totally different from Tucker’s, but if you look hard into hers, you can […]

I might give this a try with my ESL students in China. Getting them to write thesis statements hasn’t been easy, even for the smartest ones. Solid idea. Thanks.

Since their first language is not English, I think I’ll probably give them more than 5 minutes to come up with their thesis statements though.

Love this and planning on trying it in class tomorrow! Should you see this before then – how do you go about choosing a winner? Do you “judge” the edited or unedited versions of the thesis statements?

Hi Shannon,

I judge the original versions since I make the edits.

Catlin –

Love the Thesis Statement Throwdown and would like to share it with our teachers as way to provide feedback. Would it be okay to link to your site in a document that we are sharing with our teachers? It will be in our curriculum repository that is only accessible to teachers in Fairfax County Public Schools. Thank you for your consideration.

Yes, you are more than welcome to link to my site! I hope it’s a useful resource for your teachers.

Thank you for sharing! I teach AP US History and the students struggle with developing thesis statements. I look forward in using this strategy with my AP kids.

[…] KQED’s Do Now series is an excellent place to grab writing prompts! […]

I did this with my juniors today and it was great. I chose really thought provoking prompts from the website you recommended. I did it three times and saw the thesis statements improve with each round. This was really engaging and the first time I’ve taught thesis statements in a fun way. Thank you for sharing.

I’m currently in my education clinicals (student teaching with one class), and I’ll be using this activity tomorrow with high school seniors. They struggled with thesis statements, so I’m hoping this will be a fun way to practice!

I love this idea, but after students show some improvement (or even at the beginning of the process), how can students be more in charge of their learning? In other words, I’d love for students to be the ones acting as the Editor and doing the judging. Maybe using a few strong writers of the group be a guest judge and let them lead by example? I don’t want to be gatekeeper forever, and I believe students will and can step up when given the chance. Love the idea. Going to try soon!

Absolutely, Jane! Once kids can hear you talk through correcting a few and have a better handle on what a strong thesis statement looks like, they should absolutely be able to give each other feedback!

Can any one give me a feedback about my thesis statement, thank you in advance

“Although most students have an awareness about basic academic integrity in their previous education; it is significant to students taking a class about academic integrity before they apply college or university because of the increasing number of cheating, plagiarism and academic dishonesty in the higher education”.

[…] a sample letter. Letter for Change Standard Met: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1. Se connecter à Facebook. Thesis Statement Throwdown! Every English teacher has experienced the frustration of introducing a writing skill, like how to […]

This is amazing. Thank you! I’ve been looking for a fun activity to bring the point home with my students. This will definitely help!

Wonderful! I hope they enjoy it!

Catlin! I did this today with my Grade 10’s and was it ever valuable! I did the edits and each one was a learning opportunity for students. We had a quick discussion about each edit and moved on. The lesson flowed beautifully, and the music was a fun touch. I will definitely get students to do the editing after the first few Thursdays (our bellringer for the day) and have them talk through their edits as well. Great lesson! Thanks for sharing.

Yay! I’m so happy to hear that you used this strategy and you all enjoyed it, Wendy!

Just a heads up…your kids will get good at thesis statements FAST, so be prepared for your throwdown to evolve. We started doing analytical throwdowns with quotes after thesis statements and the “throwdown” format worked well for any type of writing practice. I also started taking song requests from the winning teams which they LOVED 😉

[…] Catlin Tucker: Thesis statement throwdown […]

[…] librarian does – I started researching. I came across the idea of the Thesis Throw Down from Catlin Tucker but decided to alter it a bit to put my own spin on it. I tried the lesson a couple of times last […]

I love how you explain it.

I like that you used this strategy.

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• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

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 .

Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

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.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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Thesis and Prompt Quiz

Created on February 22, 2021

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All STAAR Writing prompts come in 3 parts: Read, Think, WriteIt’s important to ONLY focus on the ____ prompt which will always start with…

If you write your essay about the Read or the Think part, you will earn a score of.... (out of 4 points)

A good THESIS STATEMENT will...(choose one)

Read and analyze each of the thesis statements. Determine if each thesis statement is strong or weak.All criminals are bad and need to be locked up.

Read and analyze each of the thesis statements. Determine if each thesis statement is strong or weak.JK Rowling is a great author.

Read and analyze each of the thesis statements. Determine if each thesis statement is strong or weak.Implementing a school uniform policy benefits students, faculty, and parents.

Read and analyze each of the thesis statements. Determine if each thesis statement is strong or weak.Technology is changing lives as it allows for more connection between humans.

Read and analyze each of the thesis statements. Determine if each thesis statement is strong or weak.Have you ever wondered what happens to recycled plastics?

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How to Win Jeopardy Besides Knowing Stuff 

W hen people ask me how they can become a Jeopardy champion, I often find that what they really mean is: How can they know more stuff? Which is not quite the same question. It’s like asking how to get better at shooting a basketball, rather than asking how to get better at basketball; necessary, but far from sufficient. So yes, by all means, keep learning! But there’s more that you’ll need to do, if you truly hope to live the glamorous lifestyle of a Jeopardy champion.

First off, you need to practice. Which may seem obvious, but the way that you practice is crucial . I imagine that most aspiring Jeopardy champions watch the show regularly, shouting out answers from their couch at home. That’s a kind of practice, sure, but not the most effective kind. You need to practice the game the same way you’re going to play it.

For one thing, you need to keep score. Hold yourself accountable. Use a ballpoint pen as a “buzzer,” only giving yourself credit if you ring in before a contestant is called on, and penalizing yourself for ringing in with an incorrect answer. On your couch, there’s no penalty for making an incorrect guess (barring the occasional light-hearted teasing from friends and loved ones). On the show, guessing wrong costs money, and one wrong answer could be the difference between winning and getting to play again, or losing and being done with Jeopardy forever. So before you ring in, you need to know how likely your guess is to be correct, and you have to know it instinctively, because if you stop to debate how sure you are, it’ll already be too late. Remember that, on the show, the buzzers are only enabled after the host has finished reading the entire clue. If you try to ring in early, then your buzzer will be enabled a quarter second later than those of the other contestants. For many questions, multiple contestants will know the answer, so buzzer timing is critical.

In fact, preparation is about more than just practice. You need to really think about what playing the game will feel like. What clothes are you going to wear? Will you be comfortable in them? And not just physically comfortable, but mentally comfortable, confident in your appearance? I’ve worn heels on the Jeopardy stage, because while they made my feet hurt a little, they also helped me remember that I’m an actual, grown-up, successful woman who earned her place on stage, and not the fraudulent child that my brain sometimes tries to convince me I am. Think through your morning routine. Plan what breakfast you’re going to eat, and what snacks you’re going to bring. If you want caffeine to be part of your day, make sure you know how your body reacts to it in unusually stressful situations. Because it will be stressful.

How do you handle stress ? What coping mechanisms have worked for you in the past, and what haven’t, and how are you going to remember which is which? This is what really starts to separate the trivia knowers from the Jeopardy champions. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have stored away in your brain if, when the time comes, your brain is so busy managing your emotions that it can’t retrieve that knowledge for you. Ask yourself: when you’re on that stage, and the cameras are on, and the audience is looking at you, and everything you do or say will be broadcast to the entire country, and a dream you’ve had for years is about to be either realized, or permanently destroyed, when that time comes, how are you going to be able to shut all those facts out, so that you can remember the capital of Tanzania, or who wrote The Turn of the Screw?

Read More: 6 Expert-Backed Ways To Manage Your Stress

Now, I don’t know the answer to that question. But the good news is you do! In fact, you are the only person who does know how you handle pressure best. As always, the first step on the road to finding an answer is simply asking the question. How am I going to feel? What am I the most afraid of? What sort of things might cause my brain to lose its focus? And when those things happen (which they will) how can I bring that focus back? For myself, I had a few answers ready, a few different phrases to tell myself when things started to go wrong. “Nothing is more important than this moment right now.” “The next question is the only one that matters.” “ This is Genevieve’s money, don’t let these people take her money.” But I don’t know if they’d work for you. For one thing, you’re not married to Genevieve, so thinking about her is unlikely to offer you much motivation. But the general strategy I can recommend to anyone. You need to prepare to lose.

One of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut quotes is “In terms of basketball alone, almost everybody has to lose.” The same applies to Jeopardy. No matter how good you are, no matter how much you prepare, nothing is guaranteed. In my first game, I happened to get matched up with Andrew He, one of the best Jeopardy players to ever step on to that stage. I stuck with my plan, stayed focused, and tried to play my best game. But when he took a $9 thousand lead over me with only 15 clues remaining, it became clear that I was quite probably about to lose, about to go home with a second-place prize and some memories. I’d always hoped to play Jeopardy someday, and dreamed about winning a game, maybe even winning a bunch of them! Now I was a few minutes away from losing that dream forever. A wave of devastation started to build in my brain, a feeling of grief and anger and panic, and—

And I let it go. I focused on the next question, got it right, and kept playing the game, kept maximizing whatever chance I had left. Because in the weeks leading up to my taping, I had planned for this exact moment, the moment when it all fell apart, when all seemed lost. I didn’t want to be in that position, but I knew it was a possibility, no matter what I did to prevent it. What would I do then?

Again, my answer to that question isn’t that important, because it won’t be the same as yours. The important thing isn’t what I had planned for that moment, it’s that I had a plan at all. Don’t get me wrong: You should also plan for success , believe in yourself, visualize achieving your dreams. But ultimately, I don’t believe you can achieve your dreams unless you know you can fail at them, can see them shatter to pieces all around you—and then look around at the wreckage, accept it, and move on. You can’t win unless you know how to lose.

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4 The Jeopardy Thesis

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• Published: August 2001
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According to the jeopardy thesis, democracy will endanger or even destroy values that we hold dear: cultural excellence, freedom, and economic prosperity. The proponents of the jeopardy thesis are many and various, ranging from proto‐fascists (Nietzsche, Maurras) and conservatives (T.S. Eliot, Ortega y Gasset) through to progressive liberals (J.S. Mill) and laissez‐faire liberals (Hayek). It is concluded that they were unduly alarmist and underestimated democracy's ability to adapt to other values.

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How many thesis´ did Marthin Luter write?

What was the purpose of the counter-reform?

To recover the power of the church

Was the church demolished by the reform?

In what continent did the reformation occur?

According to the presentation, what did the enlightenment/reform promote?

Who were the main leaders of the counter reform?

The Catholic Church

What type of government do we use thanks to the reform?

Thanks to it we use a democracy.

In what century did the reformation occur?

16th century

Who was another leader of the reform?

Jhon Calvin

Who was the Pope leading the Counter-reform?

Pope Paul II

What was the church separated with after the reform?

From where was Marthin Luther?

What was the purpose of the reform?

To create doubt about the church´s authority?

Which was the type of government that ruled beside the church that tried to stop the reform?

What did Christianism divide into after the reform?

Branches such as Catholicism, Calvinism, and more.

In what year did Marthin Luther write his thesis´?

What were the two main concepts of the religious reform?

Individualism and Rationalism

How did the Church rule before the reform?

It had some laws that had to be obeyed, or else there would be serious punishment.

What important value in modern society, related to belief and expression, was influenced by the changes the reform caused?

Religious Tolerance

From where was Jhon Calvin?

Enlightenment Game (Religious Reform)

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