I’ve been teaching writing to high school and university students for over a decade. One of the parts of essay writing, or any form of argumentative writing, really, that I’ve always found most challenging to teach: the thesis. Perhaps, it goes back to the frustration I had as a student, where sometimes I would be told that I had a strong argument but more often I was met with the dreaded note in the margin: “So what?” I’ve found many of my own students similarly struggle with that same question, sometimes hitting the nail on the head, but more often missing that one last step that would make the argument come together. The problem I found–as I repeatedly wrote that same feedback I got in essay after essay–was that the “so what” element seemed elusive, always shifting, never quite defined. So, I set out to put specific words to it–to help students find the “so what” in their argument at the beginning of the writing process.

What I came up with: SASS

An effective argument or thesis statement will include a clearly defined SUBJECT, ACTION, STAKES, and SCOPE.

I refer to this as SASS 1. because it’s fun, which it helps students remember, 2. because then I can write notes in the margins of their papers that say “love that SASS!” and 3. because I intend to hold onto my title of Gayest Professor You’ve Ever Had.

SUBJECT: Who or what are you talking about? (be specific)

ACTION: What verb best describes what the subject did/does?

STAKES: Why does it matter? Or what was the impact?

SCOPE: What’s the context? Or who will this matter to?

I add sample questions, tailored to each course, that can help get to the heart of the broader questions and tell students that their thesis–or their introduction–should clearly answer one question from each of the sections.

By far, this has been the most effective method I have found for teaching argumentative or thesis-based writing. In the four semesters since implementing this tool into my classes and using it as a touchstone throughout the term, I’ve seen significant improvement in the clarity, strength, and specificity of students’ writing on the whole.

What’s working:

1. Students have clearly defined expectations for what constitutes a strong argument, taking the guesswork out of thesis writing.
2. It gives us a shared vocabulary, which has led to more effective revisions when students receive feedback.
3. Students are better able to recognize, specifically, what makes their writing stronger, which seems to increase motivation to engage in the revision process.
4. Students are able to check their argument against the questions in the early drafting stage, so they begin with a stronger argument from the outset.
5. It provides a useful structure for peer reviews, giving students a framework to provide one another with specific, actionable feedback on drafts.

I have two versions of this tool, working with the SASS framework. The first I developed for my Criticizing Television class, an upper-level undergraduate writing course. The second, I adapted for my U.S. Civil Rights and the Arts class, an undergraduate history course.

Please feel free to borrow, adapt, reshape this tool for your own classroom. If you do, I request you let me know–I’d love to hear where these experiments have travelled and how it went!

Thesis SASS

History SASS