After being out of school for fifteen years, I finally summoned the courage to enroll in college. Because of a family crisis, I had been reading many self-improvement books and had sought counseling. That’s why I decided that psychology would be a very interesting subject. Was I ever wrong!

After reading many self-improvement books, I summoned the courage to enroll in college. Intrigued by the psychological theories I had been reading about, I signed up for Psychology 101, certain that it would give me insights into myself and others. Unfortunately, this course focuses more on physiology and experiments with rats and pigeons than it does on human behavior.

The second sentence provides engaging details that lead to a focused thesis statement.

For more help, see section C1–c.