Now that you have declared a thesis statement for your argumentative research paper and have begun analyzing sources related to it, you are ready to begin writing your paper. The road becomes suddenly wider now, since your job is to develop your ideas rather than narrow them, as you have been doing throughout the first four phases of the Main Journey.

When you declared a thesis statement, you probably figured the time would come when you would have to provide reasons to support your thesis. You probably knew that, at some point on the Main Journey, you would be asked to explain your thesis. You probably knew at some point on the Main Journey you would be asked to explain your thesis. For instance, when Ryan declared his thesis, "Amateur mountain climbers should not be prohibited from climbing Mt. Everest," his readers demanded to know "Why?" Before writing his paper, he had to devise a list of three reasons why he believed amateur mountain climbers should not be prevented from climbing Mt. Everest. Now in Phase 4, you will have to do the same thing--come up with a list of three reasons, or main points, that support your tentative thesis statement. These three reasons will become three major sections of your research paper.

Later in Phase 4, you will be asked to choose one of your three main points to develop into several paragraphs. It will be like writing one-third of the body of your paper. Then, after receiving feedback on this small portion of your paper, you'll be prepared to write the rest of the paper by developing the other two main points . . . and you'll do it WITH CONFIDENCE!

It all starts by developing a list of three main points.