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Back to #10 (epollock), I pulled up the sites you mention and found some info that seems pertinent to the discussion. This is from http://ol.scc.spokane.edu/cbucher/wtw/thesis.htm

1. An implicit thesis is not stated in one specific statement, rather after the reader finishes reading the report, she knows exactly what the point of it is.
2. An explicit is a specific statement which contains the subject, purpose, focus and the writer's point-of-view about those. Fact plus opinion is one way to envision the explicit thesis.

According to these people, then, an implicit thesis is one that is only implied and not stated at all. I guess it lives only in the writer's mind. An explicit thesis states directly what the writer will explain and support in the paper.

A couple of examples given:

Right: Computers cause problems in the classroom and should be banned.

Right: Computers should be used in the classroom, as they are tools that help students achieve success.

This site is more detailed:

http://www.chesapeake.edu/faculty/Wefelmeyer/ENG082DevelopingaThesis_sum05.pdf

It won't let me copy/paste, but it suggests various steps to take in fashioning a thesis. One step is to write an explicit thesis statement that is the type you mentioned, with the points of argument listed.

Then, the point is made that whether or not to use the explicit thesis is up to the writer, IF the writer has a working outline and knows where the paper is going. In other words, using an explicit thesis is not required. (This is the method I've always taught, writing from a simple working outline of main points to stay on track in explaining and supporting the thesis.) The additional point is made on the site that using an explicit thesis is one way of making sure the writer stays on track. I think I have paraphrased accurately here what I just read.

More on the site points to the concept of developing thesis statements into thesis paragraphs, which seems to be the approach taken at your school. It doesn't go into detail, though, as to how this is achieved.

What I'm thinking now is that there are a variety of approaches in writing thesis statements and not one "correct" method. I'm still curious to find out if this expanded concept of thesis writing has been incorporated into current textbooks or is found only in educational websites, so far.

Also, please give me some ideas as to how you would direct your students to turn a simple thesis statement into a thesis paragraph. I want to see if we are doing the same thing but calling it different names.

Does anyone else have experience with these different approaches? How is thesis writing taught in your school?