Formulate a working thesis stating your overall judgment.

Printed Page 387

You may already have a good idea about how you want to assert your thesis: stating whether your subject is good or bad, or better or worse than something else in the same genre or category. Remember that evaluations can be mixed—you can concede shortcomings in a generally favorable review or concede admirable qualities in a mostly negative assessment. If you feel comfortable drafting a working thesis statement now, do so. You may use the following sentence strategies as a jumping-off point—you can always revise them later—or use language of your own. (Alternatively, if you prefer to develop your argument before trying to formulate a thesis, skip this activity now and return to it later.)

As you develop your argument, you may want to rework your thesis to make it more compelling by sharpening the language and perhaps also by forecasting your reasons. You may also need to qualify your judgment with words like generally, may, or in part.

Ways In

HOW CAN I ASSERT A TENTATIVE OVERALL JUDGMENT?

A good strategy is to begin by naming the subject and identifying the kind of subject it is, and then using value terms to state your judgment of the subject’s strengths and weaknesses:

  • is a brilliant embodiment of [the genre/category], especially notable for its superb and thorough .
  • Because I admire [another artist’s other work], I expected to be . But I was [disappointed/surprised] by .
  • has many good qualities including and ; however, the pluses do not outweigh its one major drawback, namely that .