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Thesis, Lead Lines, and Reverse Outline Exercises


Provisional Thesis Statement Exercise:
In this paper I present the idea that excess amounts of time spent on smartphones can have detrimental effects on a college student's state of wellbeing. When phone usage is beyond a responsible time limit, I show that it can have a number of effects on students by first analyzing my own smartphone activity, showing how it can result in decreased sleep quality, providing examples of how it acts as a source of social pressures, and examining how it can negatively affect academic performance.

Leads Exercise:
1) The smartphone has become an ever-growing influence on our planet. Entertainment, productivity, and communication have been compiled into just one powerful device, leading it to become an another necessary component of daily life.

2) Ping! Ping! Ping! Everyday, it seems as if I receive notification after notification from my phone all day long. I try my best to ignore the stream of alerts and stay focused on whatever task I may be working on. However, the fear of missing a crucial message from a friend or professor is usually far too great to ignore.

3) According to researchers at Baylor University, the average college-aged female will spend approximately 600 minutes, or 10 hours, daily on their cell phone (Roberts 2014).

Reverse Outline Worksheet:
Click to view Google Doc worksheet

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