Collaborative Learning Exercise:
Toward the Construction of a Thesis Statement

Objective:
In preparation for your first formal easy, the assignment for today required you to construct one or two possible thesis statements for The Red Badge of Courage based on the guidelines in The Bedford Handbook. This collaborative exercise is designed to develop further that thesis, to eliminate any inconsistencies in its logic, and to get you to think about the final goal of producing a well-written and thoughtful work of literary analysis.

Procedure:
1. Class will be divided into groups of three students each.
2. Exchange thesis statements.
3. Evaluate the thesis statement according to the criteria listed below. Each evaluator should put his or her name in the upper right hand side of the thesis statement page.
4. On the back of the thesis statement page, offer a paragraph of constructive commentary. Discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of the thesis statement, and make suggestions for possible improvements. Consult the text when necessary.
5. Spend ten minutes with each evaluation; the instructor will let you know when to switch papers.
6. At the end of the twenty-minute evaluation process, take five minutes to discuss each thesis statement as a group.
7. Submit all thesis statements, with attendant commentary, to the instructor at the end of the class meeting.

During the process of thesis evaluation, you are encouraged to exchange ideas which may better your argument. Remember, this is a collaborative exercise.

Evaluation Criteria for the Thesis Statement:
What constitutes a thesis statement?

Does the thesis take a position on a particular issue? Is it merely an observation, or do the observations serve to support a larger claim about the text? One way to determine whether the thesis takes a position is to consider whether a counter argument exists.

Is the statement simply a summary of the plot or some aspect of the plot? In your critical writing, you are to assume that your reader has a working knowledge of the text in question plot summary of any kind is unnecessary. For example, to say that

"In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry Fleming's initial enthusiasm for a war quickly dissipates with his first battle experience"

doesn't tell us anything about the text that we don't already know. Such an observation may serve to support a thesis statement, but does not suffice as a thesis statement, but does not suffice as a thesis statement itself.

Is the thesis statement too broad? To say that

"In The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane criticizes war,"

would be correct, but it's so obvious a statement that you would prove little by writing about it.

Is the thesis statement too narrow? Is there enough textual evidence to support the claims that the thesis makes? For example, while it would be accurate to say that

"In The Red Badge of Courage, Henry's mother is reluctant for him to go off to war because it would leave her with unmanageable burdens at home,"

you could hardly sustain an argument about if for a full five pages.

Is the thesis statement too vague?

"The Red Badge of Courage is a great anti-war novel."

Or is it based on conjecture or supposition?

"Crane takes an anti-war stance in The Red Badge of Courage because he was a draft dodger."

Neither one of these approaches will produce a viable thesis statement.

Or is the thesis statement just right? Does it take a readily discernible position on some theme or issue in the text? Does it show evidence of original thinking, or is it simply a rehash of the ideas we have discussed in class? Are you, as a reader of this thesis statement, made to think of the text in new and challenging ways? Does the statement make you want to read the paper itself? Well, does it?