In the season one finale of the television series, Mad Men, advertising executive Don Draper evokes nostalgia by flashing a series of his family photographs to sell the Carousel concept to Kodak. In just a couple of minutes, he reduces a man to tears and leaves everyone in the room amazed by his pitch to rename a product. This pitch is so successful because Draper has considered his audience and what will move them, and he has prepared for the presentation. If you wish to see Draper's pitch, go to YouTube and search "Mad Men the Wheel" to access a link to the scene.

For this week's project, you will begin laying the foundation for your own "big idea" by creating a provisional thesis statement, describing your research strategy, and creating a brief "pitch" to a selected audience. The project should be at least two to three well-developed paragraphs.

First of all, you will revise the provisional thesis statement that you generated in the Unit 2 Invention Lab. Make sure the thesis is concise (1-2 sentences) and clearly expresses a persuasive argument related to your topic. Then, discuss why you think this thesis will be an effective one and what challenges you might face in supporting this thesis. For more on creating effective persuasive thesis statements, review the following Writing Center resources:

• Give Your Paper Direction: Developing a Strong Thesis Statement
• Writing a Thesis for a Persuasive Essay

Next, describe a research strategy for finding sources that could help you to support your thesis. What library databases might be helpful? What organizations or government web sites could have useful information? Have you thought about interviewing anyone? How will you avoid biased research that uses logical fallacies? You can review the Writing Center resource on creating a logical argument here: How to Support an Argument and Avoid Logical Fallacies, and for more on using the Kaplan Library, review this workshop.

Once you have established a possible thesis statement and outlined your research strategy, write a paragraph creating a "pitch" for your big idea. Imagine that you have an audience for only a minute or two; how, in that space of time, can you persuade them of the value of your "big idea"? You could target your pitch to a local organization such as a PTA, a larger one like a state legislature, or the audience you imagine you could have on your blog.

Be sure that you include a title page and that your project is double-spaced and uses 12 point font size.