Teaching my students the 1A Grading Rubric, I tell them an A thesis is clear, compelling, and sophisticated; in contrast, a B thesis lacks the latter two qualities.
The problem is defining "compelling" and "sophisticated." I provide the defining characteristics of these terms:
A compelling and sophisticated thesis must be
1. beyond a cliche or over-familiar statement
2. must challenge the intellect on not be a truism or platitude that the reader already knows
3. must not be something one would stumble upon on a fifth grade essay
Here is a thesis that is not compelling or sophisticated:
Jealousy is a mental problem characterized by obsession, insecurity, delusion, and violence.
Here is an improved thesis with more sophistication:
Jealousy is a mental disease of the narcissist, the person who projects his own cheating tendencies onto his mate; who invests so much worry and energy in the fantasy that his partner is cheating on him that he actually wants her to cheat on him; who has no capacity for love or empathy but can only exist in the most hellish form of solipsism.
If your thesis is part of an argumentative essay, as in your final paper, I explain that you should have a dependent clause and an independent clause and the latter speaks back to the former. As I explain here:
You need a dependent clause that often poses objections to your thesis
And you need an independent clause, your thesis, that is in part a response to your dependent clause.
Example
While decriminalizing marijuana will no doubt increase consumer addiction, this argument falls flat on its face when we examine the way underground marijuana increases crime organizations, increases violence, and remains stigmatized even as other legal consumer addictions permeate society in far more dangerous ways in the form of alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs, junk food, etc.
If you have an argumentative thesis with a dependent clause that shows objections, then part of your essay should address those objections, called a counterargument.
Recent Comments