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Planning

Jamie Z 2025-04-22

Learning goal

Apply the ISMG to an exemplar and craft a clear thesis statement for FA1.

Apply the ISMG to the R&J exemplar

  • Identify the criteria and descriptors that the exemplar meets
  • Note specific evidence that matches each descriptor
  • Translate these moves into steps for your own paragraph

Writing your thesis

Your thesis is the roadmap of your response. It states your answer and sets up the arguments you will prove.

  • Make one specific, defensible claim
  • Introduce the topic and your stance
  • Pass the “so what?” test by saying something insightful, not just summary
  • Keep it focused so every paragraph clearly supports it
  • Preview your arguments by the end of your introduction

Quick check: If a thesis could lead to pure plot summary, revise until it requires analysis.

Sample thesis statements

  • Question: Who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?
    • Juliet is the primary catalyst for the tragedy due to wilful ignorance and impulsive decisions.
  • Question: What is one perspective on identity in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird?
    • Harper Lee presents identity as shaped by race, class, and moral choice, arguing that principled action, not labels, defines who we are.
  • Question: What is one perspective on identity in Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe?
    • Trent Dalton frames identity as a negotiation between circumstance and choice, forged through resilience, love, and the pursuit of goodness.

Building a thesis for LITM (identity prompt)

Guiding idea: Identity involves duality — shaped by the past and oriented by hope for the future.

  • Argument 1: Shaped by the past
  • Argument 2: Directed by future hope

Evidence planning — Argument 1 (past)

  • Relationship with Erica Finlay and constant questioning about names
  • “Hey, Mum, What’s My Real Name?” game
  • Gaps in memory and unknown past
  • “Eight billion people” comparisons
  • Library research on the Finlays seeking answers
  • Learning Erica is not her biological mother
  • Abduction
  • Domestic violence motif and the recurring “waltz”

Evidence planning — Argument 2 (future/hope)

  • The mirror as a symbol of aspirational self
  • Relationship with Danny Collins
  • Hope invested in Christina
  • E. P. Buckle narrations
  • Discovering the truth about identity
  • Planning for art school
  • Sergeant Millar’s faith in her recovery and future
  • Self‑naming as an artist, often grouping “we” with Danny
  • Rejecting the real name because it is tethered to the past

Model quote and AF/SD focus

“They all thought you were done. So did the nurses.” Millar points at the sketches. “But I kept telling them there was no way you weren’t comin’ back because you still had an exhibition to get to in New York.”

  • Aesthetic feature (AF): Hopeful tone and future‑oriented imagery around the exhibition and New York
  • Stylistic device (SD): Dialogue and foreshadowing, with repeated references to the Met building momentum toward the artist identity
  • Use: Supports Argument 2 by aligning resilience with a future artistic self

Turn this into PCIAS

  • P — Point: Make the claim that connects identity to past and future
  • C — Context: Place the evidence in the plot
  • I — Interpretation: Link to identity concepts and CASA insights
  • A — Analyse: Explain how AF/SD construct meaning and position readers
  • S — Synthesise: Show how your analysis advances the thesis