Writing · Writing: Essays and Literary Analysis

The Grade 12 Thesis: Arguable, Specific, Significant

2.1 1.2About 65 minutes

Learning goals

I can write a thesis that has a motive, an arguable claim and a significance.
I can test a thesis: is it arguable, specific, significant and supportable?
I can choose between an open and a closed thesis and place it effectively.
I can revise a working thesis into a final thesis that matches what my essay actually proves.

Words to know

thesis
The central claim of an essay, which every paragraph helps to prove.

arguable
Open to reasonable disagreement; a fact or a universal truth is not arguable.

significance
The answer to so what?: why the claim matters to how we read the text or understand the issue.

closed thesis
A thesis that lists the main points the essay will cover, in order.

open thesis
A thesis that states the claim without listing the supporting points; common in longer university essays.

swap test
Replacing the title in a thesis with another text's title; if the thesis still works, it is too general.

One sentence that carries the whole essay

You have written theses since Grade 9. In Grade 10 you learned what, how, why; in Grade 11 you added a tension and an insight. A Grade 12 thesis does all of that and is measured against a university standard: it must say something a thoughtful reader could disagree with, about this specific text or issue, for a reason that matters.

A useful way to see a strong thesis is as three working parts: a motive (the puzzle or usual view it answers), a claim (your arguable answer) and a significance (why it matters).

The motive sets up the problem, the claim answers it, and the significance explains why the answer matters. Not every thesis uses this exact order, but strong ones contain all three jobs.

The four tests

Arguable. Ozymandias is a sonnet about a ruined statue is a fact. Ozymandias suggests that art outlasts power can be disputed. If nobody could disagree, there is nothing to argue.
Specific. Use the swap test: replace the title with another text's. This novel shows that power corrupts works for dozens of books, so it fails. A specific thesis names this text's particular words, images, choices or characters.
Significant. Ask so what? A thesis can be arguable and specific but trivial: The poem uses more words beginning with s than with t. True, checkable, and pointless unless it leads somewhere.
Supportable. Can you prove it with evidence in the length allowed? Shelley's poem changed how Europeans saw Egypt would need historical research far beyond a 1500-word literary essay.

Run every thesis through all four gates. Most weak theses fail the first or second test.

Open and closed theses

A closed thesis lists the points: Through the inscription, the sands and the sculptor's mockery, Shelley shows that art outlasts power. It is clear and works well for shorter essays and timed writing.

An open thesis states the claim and lets the paragraphs reveal the route: Ozymandias quietly places its faith in art, suggesting that the artist, not the ruler, wins the contest with time. University essays of 1500 words or more often use open theses, because a list of three items can make an essay feel mechanical and limits how the argument develops. Ask your teacher which they prefer for a given task.

Where does the thesis go?

In most Grade 12 and first-year essays, the thesis comes at the end of the introduction, after the motive is set up. In longer essays, a writer sometimes adds a short roadmap sentence after the thesis (This essay first examines..., then...). Avoid announcing: In this essay I will discuss... tells the reader the topic, not the claim.

Types of thesis by task

Analytical (how a text makes meaning): Through X, the text suggests Y.
Evaluative (how well something works): The ending is effective because..., although...
Lens-based (what a critical lens reveals): Read through a feminist lens, the narrator's journal becomes...
Argumentative (a position on an issue): Canada should..., because..., even though...

Weak thesis patterns to avoid

The announcement: This essay will discuss imagery in the poem.
The fact: The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet.
The device list: The poem uses imagery, irony and alliteration.
The universal truth: Love is important.
The overhedge: It could possibly be argued that the poem might be about power in some ways.
The overreach: This poem proves that all rulers are evil.

Worked example

Let's revise a working thesis into a final thesis

A student's working thesis for an essay on Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 is: Sonnet 73 uses three metaphors to show that the speaker is getting old. Run it through the four tests and revise it.

Arguable? Barely. Most readers agree the speaker presents himself as ageing. It reports the obvious.
Specific? It names the sonnet and "three metaphors", but shows that the speaker is getting old could describe many poems. Weak.
Significant? No so what?: why does it matter that he is ageing, and why three metaphors?
Look for a motive: the metaphors change: a season (lines 1-4), a single day (5-8), then a fire burning out (9-12). Each covers less time than the one before. That is a puzzle: why does time shrink?
Look at the ending: the couplet turns from the speaker to the listener: This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong (13). The poem is not only about ageing; it is about how awareness of loss affects love.
Final thesis (open): As its metaphors shrink from a season to a day to a dying fire, Sonnet 73 makes time feel as if it is running out faster and faster, and that acceleration is the point: the speaker suggests that love grows strongest precisely when the beloved is forced to see how little time remains.
Re-test: arguable (a reader might say the couplet is a plea, not a description); specific (shrinking metaphors are particular to this poem); significant (it explains the link between time and love); supportable (fourteen lines, closely read).

The working thesis described; the final thesis argues. It has a motive (why do the metaphors shrink?), a claim (time accelerates) and a significance (awareness of loss strengthens love).

Hands-on activity

Thesis gym

You need: five index cards or scraps of paper, a pen, and someone at home to act as a skeptic.

Write five theses on five cards: one for a text you are studying, one for a film or series you know well, one for a song, one argumentative thesis on a school or community issue, and one deliberately weak thesis.
Hand the cards to your skeptic. For each, they ask the four test questions: Could someone disagree? Could this be about something else? So what? Could you prove it in five paragraphs?
Mark each card with the tests it fails.
Rewrite each failing thesis until it passes all four. Label the motive, claim and significance with brackets.

What to look for: every final thesis is one or two sentences, avoids the weak patterns, and passes the swap test.

Just for fun

The swap test, tried on a famously vague thesis: This text explores the human condition. It works for Hamlet. And The Odyssey. And a cereal box, if you read the side panel slowly enough at breakfast.

Your turn

Name the three working parts of a Grade 12 thesis.

Apply the swap test: This novel shows that greed leads to destruction.

Which test does this fail? Shakespeare wrote Sonnet 73.

Rewrite as an open thesis: Through the inscription, the sands and the sculptor, Shelley shows that art outlasts power.

Why is In this essay I will discuss the theme of time weak?

Fix the overhedge: It could possibly be argued that the poem might be about loss in some ways.

More practice: warm-up

What is a closed thesis?

Where does a thesis usually go in a Grade 12 essay?

Is Love is important a strong thesis? Why?

What question checks significance?

Name the four tests.

More practice: on your own

Write an evaluative thesis about the ending of a film or novel you know.

Which test does this fail, and how would you fix it? Shelley's sonnet caused the decline of interest in monuments.

Identify motive, claim and significance: Although readers often see the couplet of Sonnet 73 as comforting, its demand that the beloved "love that well" sounds more like a test, suggesting that the speaker fears being loved less as he ages.

Write an argumentative thesis on whether high schools should allow students to use AI tools to brainstorm essays.

Explain why open theses are common in longer university essays.

Challenge

Write two different arguable theses about Sonnet 73's couplet that a reader could choose between, then say which one the evidence supports better.

A teacher writes thesis drift on an essay. Explain the problem and two ways to fix it.

Turn this weak thesis into a lens-based thesis: The Yellow Wallpaper is about a woman who goes mad.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which thesis is arguable?

The swap test checks whether a thesis is:

Which is an announcement, not a thesis?

A thesis that answers so what? passes the test for:

Which is the best revision of the overhedged thesis It could possibly be argued that the poem might be about loss in some ways?

Which thesis fails the supportable test for a 1500-word literary essay?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: The thesis is part of expectation 2.1 (writing for different purposes and audiences using appropriate forms). At Grade 12 a thesis is judged by university standards: arguable, specific, significant and supportable.

How to help: play the skeptic. When your teen reads a thesis aloud, ask Could anyone disagree? and Couldn't you say that about any book? Be friendly but persistent. If they can answer so what? in one sentence, they probably have a real thesis.

Common difficulties: announcements; device lists; theses so hedged they claim nothing; theses so big no essay could prove them; and thesis drift, where the essay ends up arguing something better than the introduction says. The fix for drift is often to rewrite the thesis, not the essay.