Thesis! Thesis! Thesis!

If you have a bad thesis, you will have a bad essay. I have described the thesis in several places:

Part 3 in this post
Here's my example thesis and an explanation
And this is another post emphasizing the importance of the thesis

You NEED a thesis. Your thesis should be a statement, not a question. It should be debatable, not a random opinion. It should take a position.

Here's a test for your thesis. If you said it to a friend, could they argue with you? If the answer is yes, you have a good thesis. If the answer is no, then try to rework your thesis.

Consider some of these theses from your peers. Do you think they're good or bad? How could they be improved? After you decide look for my thoughts in the hidden text:

Law should not control the freedom of expression and it has to guarantee the right to express freely.

Thoughts?
- This thesis is debatable, but it is taking two positions which is too broad. "Law should not control the freedom of expression." or "Law has to guarantee the right to free expression." would be better theses. 

To prevent some disasters, Information must be regulated in the internet. 

Thoughts?
- This is a pretty good thesis. We want it to be as simple and direct as possible though. I think we can simplify it by saying, "Information must be regulated on the internet," and then in different parts of the essay, maybe the confirmation, explain that we need to regulate it to prevent disasters. 

The human behavior radically comes from emotions rather than reason.


Thoughts?
- Again, pretty good, but lets make it as simple as possible. Is the sentence different if we omit "radically"? I think here the perfect thesis is, "Human behavior comes from emotions rather than reason."

Citation and Avoiding Plagiarism

To me and any academics, plagiarism is the worst academic crime you can commit. Plagiarism is taking someone else's ideas and using them as your own. To avoid plagiarism, we have to cite our sources. This is also known as referencing sources, or providing a bibliography. Now, in our first draft, citations are not a top priority, but we can save ourselves time by providing links to our sources in our first draft. For example, look at my example confirmation.

Actually, this supposition stems from a famous scenario from philosopher John Searle in the 1980s. He proposed that an Englishman with no knowledge of Chinese, if locked in a room with an instruction manual for reading and writing Chinese characters, could successfully interpret and respond to messages passed under the door to him from a native Chinese speaker on the outside of the room.

I linked to the article (From Stanford, a reliable academic source) and provided the name of the philosopher. Now everyone knows that this Chinese Room example is not my original work, and no one will think I am trying to take credit for someone else's work. Add links like this:

(Highlight the text you want to link to (1), then click the blue link button in the formatting bar (2), then enter the URL of your source (3), then click Ok)

Later in the quarter we will use APA citations. If you want to get a head start, look here.

Confirmation Example

Instructions:
1. Answer the following questions.
2. Write your confirmation.
3. Start linking to your sources. 

1. What is my thesis?
Although computers are constantly evolving, they will never be as powerful as the human brain.

2. What types of source am I using to defend my thesis? 
I am using expert opinions, a famous and relevant philosophical example and a fun article.

3. Are my arguments mostly based on evidence, logic or emotion?
My arguments have no hard evidence. In fact, I think that is one of the biggest problems with my confirmation. I have good quotes from famous people, and a good example with the Chinese Room, but no statistics or studies to support my thesis. There are no emotional appeals either, but I don't think those would be useful.

My Confirmation

Perhaps one of the challenges to adequately discussing this topic is the difficulty of defining the human brain in a way that can be compared to a computer so as to compare the power of the two. Let's first look at the human brain through a terrible lens, and one that sci fi concepts seem to constantly attribute to computers: the power to destroy. Perhaps the unique human ability to war and fight at a level unique to our species (Dolphins, as predatory and scary as they may be, will never launch a mortar barrage against an enemy pod or engage in genocide.) so will robots ever reach this uniquely human metric? Computer science professor at the University of Sheffield, England Noel Sharkey says no. "They are just computer systems... the only way they can become dangerous is when used in military applications." To Sharkey, robots and artificial intelligence have the greatest growth potential in toy markets, a strong indication of the potential for nefariousness he sees in future computing technology. He goes on to point out that the largest developments in robotics come not from software, but from their hardware. Robots that can walk or navigate difficult terrain seem to be the new trend for robots mimicking human behavior.

An article from Vox.com makes an interesting case about why computers will never be able to match human intelligence:

A computer program has never grown up in a human family, fallen in love, been cold, hungry or tired, and so forth. In short, they lack a huge amount of the context that allows human beings to relate naturally to one another.

Basically, the argument is that even if a computer can match our brain's computational power (A very far off and unlikely possibility), it will never be able to pass as a human because it lacks the experiences that really create our humanity. Or, in other words, humans are so much more than our brain power - we are the products of our upbringings. Our tenacity, will, passions and dreams all come from the sum of our experiences, not how fast we think. Because of that, computers will not be able to function at a human level of creativity or character.

Actually, this supposition stems from a famous scenario from philosopher John Searle in the 1980s. He proposed that an Englishman with no knowledge of Chinese, if locked in a room with an instruction manual for reading and writing Chinese characters, could successfully interpret and respond to messages passed under the door to him from a native Chinese speaker on the outside of the room. Theoretically, given enough time, the Englishman could respond so accurately that the native Chinese speaker would be sure that she was in fact corresponding with another native Chinese speaker.  Essentially, the Englishman would have passed himself off as a Chinese person with no contextual understanding of what it means to be Chinese. The extension of the argument into artificial intelligence is that even if we create a computer that can mimic and interact with humans so convincingly that we believe we are conversing with a real human, that machine will not be human because it lacks the contextual understandings of humanity.

Whether we define the brain by what it produces (In this paper I discussed the example of war, but many other examples would suffice, art or romance, for example), or in terms of raw computational power or how the experiences that mold each molecularly similar brain into such unique masterpieces the conclusion remains the same: Any computer, no matter how powerful or well conceived, can approach a human level of thought or existence.

Account Safety

Many students are not signing out of Google. This is dangerous, because anyone else can accidentally or intentionally use your account for bad reasons. So make sure you log out, and never let the computer save your password. Here are other tips from Google for keeping your account safe (#2 and #3 are very important).

Keeping your account secure

At Google, we take account security very seriously. To ensure that your computer and account remain safe, we strongly recommend following these steps regularly:

1. Check for viruses and malware. Run a scan on your computer with a trusted anti-virus software. If the scan detects any suspicious programs or applications, remove them immediately. Read more.
2. Regularly update your account recovery options. Make sure to update your account recovery options to check that they are always up-to-date.
3. Enroll in 2-step verification. 2-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your account by requiring you to sign in with something you know (your password) and something you have (a code sent to your phone).
4. Perform regular operating system and browser updates. Whether you use Windows or Mac OS, we recommend enabling your automatic update setting, and updating when you get a notification. To check for browser updates in Internet Explorer, select the Tools tab and click Windows Update. In Firefox, just click the Help tab and select Check for Updates. Note that Google Chrome automatically updates to a newer version when one is released.
5. Never use your Google Account password on another website. If you enter your password in an external website and it's compromised, someone could try to sign in to your Google Account with the same information.
6. Protect your password. Never enter your password after following a link in an email from an untrusted site. Always go directly to mail.google.com or www.google.com/accounts/Login. Also, never send your password via email. Google will never email you to ask for your password or other sensitive information.

If you use Gmail:

• Update your recovery email address and your security question. This will help you recover your account if you ever lose access to it. Make sure that you have access to the email address listed as your recovery, and the answer to your security question is easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess. Learn more.
• Use a secure connection when signing in. In your Gmail settings, select 'Always use HTTPS.' This setting protects your information from being stolen when you're signing in to Gmail on a public wireless network, like at a cafe or hotel.Read more.

You should also be sure to:

• Never tell anyone your password; if you do tell someone, change it as soon as possible.
• Use a strong password, and don't write it down or send it via email.
• Run scans and change your password immediately after noticing any changes in your account that you didn't initiate.
• Always sign out of your account when you're using public computers. Just click your name or email address at the top of the page, and select Sign out.
• Clear forms, passwords, cache, and cookies in your browser on a regular basis, especially on a public computer.

You should perform these steps more frequently if you begin to notice suspicious behavior in your computer, such as general slowness and pop-up advertisements. For more information on keeping your account secure, check out Google's Safety Center.

If you believe that your account has been compromised, please reset your password immediately.

For more tips about online safety, visit Google's Safety Center.

Week 8 Objectives - The Confirmation

1. Review Google account safety info (And always log out of your Google account!)
2. Read this blog post (Make sure to check for hidden text).
3. Read my example confirmation.
4. Write your own confirmation post with the label "classical argument".
5. Start linking to your sources.

This is similar to the body paragraphs we wrote for 5 paragraph essays. The confirmation is where you support and explain your thesis.

Let's review.

What's the most important part of your essay?

Answer: The thesis

What's a thesis?

Answer: The thesis is a single argument your entire essay is based on. 

What's a good thesis?

Answer: A good thesis is clear, direct and a usable argument (For example, "Red is a pretty color" is not a great thesis because nobody especially cares, and it is an opinion most people would not disagree with).


Now that you have a fabulous thesis, how do you support it? What are some of the tools or methods we've used to support theses, arguments and opinions in the past?

My answers: Expert opinions, reliable internet sources, statistics and facts, logical explanations, but there are many different ways you could support your thesis.

As you write your confirmation, you want to keep asking yourself the question, "Why does my evidence support the thesis?" Make sure your reader understands how your evidence and information supports your position. Logically link your evidence to make a chain of reasoning. 

Your confirmation is arguably the most important section of your essay. This is where you will convince your reader that your opinion, your argument, is correct. This is where your persuasive essay will persuade the reader to your side of reasoning. Make it convincing and compelling!

Also, this is where you need to start citing your sources. That means when you use information from someone else (A newspaper, an interview, a statistic) you need to say where that information came from. 

What's your thesis statement?

Pop quiz! Think about each question then highlight the answer to read it.

What's the most important part of your essay?

Answer: The thesis

What's a thesis?

Answer: The thesis is a single argument your entire essay is based on. 

What's a good thesis?

Answer: A good thesis is clear, direct and a usable argument (For example, "Red is a pretty color" is not a great thesis because nobody especially cares, and it is an opinion most people would not disagree with).

Since it is so important, I thought maybe you'd like some feedback on your thesis statement - Is it good? Is it bad? Can it better? If you want feedback please leave your thesis statement as a comment on this post. 

Questions?

Do you have any questions? Do you want me to look at your blog and give you feedback? Do you want another explanation about the difference between an introduction in a 5 paragraph essay and the introduction in a classical argument?

You can ask me here (Or in person). Just leave a comment below and I will answer you as soon as possible.