Week 4 — From Topic to Thesis: Mapping an Essay

Assignment 4 of the term — sort thesis candidates with the two-part test, map an essay around a working thesis, plan its introduction and conclusion, check the plan with a reverse outline, and explain the move to someone outside the course.

This adaptive assignment uses a coaching dialogue to help you turn a first attempt into a tested thesis and a working essay plan. You remain the author. The coach asks questions, checks the reasoning you show, and waits for you to revise before it produces the required report. Last week you built one paragraph around a controlling idea; this week you scale that claim up to the thesis that controls a whole essay. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Writing Studio practise the same moves from other angles; this assignment is where you put them together.

The task

This week you turn a topic into a thesis and build the plan for a whole essay around it. Your material is a list of illustrative sentences written for this course, attributed to no one, about campus parking, plus a working thesis and essay plan of your own. Every sentence you submit is your own writing; do not quote any real author this week, and take whichever side of your topic you can support. The course takes no side on any of these topics.

Part A — sort the candidates and map an essay. Here are six illustrative sentences that a writer drafted as possible theses for a short essay to the campus parking office:

1. "Campus parking."
2. "The main lot fills before the first class of the morning."
3. "Should the college charge less for evening parking permits?"
4. "In this essay I will discuss parking on campus."
5. "Campus parking has advantages and disadvantages."
6. "The college should sell a cheaper evening-only parking permit, because students who arrive after the day crowd leaves pay full price for spaces that sit empty."

Work this problem, showing your reasoning:

1. The illustrative parking list in Part A has 6 candidate sentences, and exactly 1 of them passes the two-part test. How many must you label as a thesis impostor or the near-miss?

First label every candidate as a topic, a statement of fact, a question, an announcement, the near-miss, or a thesis, and give a one-sentence reason for each label that uses the two-part test (arguable and specific). Then revise the near-miss into a thesis of your own that passes both halves; you may take either side. Then work the second problem:

1. An essay map with 3 body points also needs 1 introduction and 1 conclusion. How many paragraphs does the full plan contain?

Then build the essay plan for the thesis that passes (candidate 6, or your own revised near-miss). Write an essay map of 3 body points, one point per paragraph, in a deliberate order, and say where the counterargument will live. Add one sentence explaining why the points come in that order. Draft the introduction plan: a hook, the context a reader at the parking office needs, and the thesis as its last sentence. Write one transition sentence that leads into your counterargument paragraph and names the relationship. Write the final sentence of your conclusion so it answers the reader's "so what?" instead of repeating the thesis. Finally, reverse-outline your plan: beside each paragraph, note what it says and what job it does, and say whether the list shows any repeat or gap.

Part B — your own working thesis and map. Choose one topic: a four-day class schedule, the dining hall's hours, a community library's hours, a workplace's meeting policy, or a campus transit change. Narrow it in three labelled steps (topic, question, claim), ending on a working thesis that passes the two-part test; name your reader in one phrase. Then write a three-point essay map for it with the counterargument's place marked, and one sentence on why the order serves that reader. Run the two-part test on your own thesis in two sentences, one per half. You are planning an essay, not writing one; later weeks fill the body paragraphs with the moves you practise there.

Explain it to a non-expert

A relative who runs a small cleaning business is writing a proposal to a property manager and says, "I list everything we do and hope they pick us." Write a 3–5 sentence message that tells them, in everyday words, what your Part A work shows about the one sentence a proposal needs and about putting the reasons in an order the reader can follow. Name one honest limit of the advice — for example, that a short invoice or a friendly note may not need a thesis at all. Explain any term your relative might not know.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a friend writing a short letter to a landlord about a broken heater that rambles through the whole winter. Model answer: "Start with one sentence that says what you want and why, like asking for the repair this week because the apartment drops below a safe temperature at night. Then give your reasons in order: what happened, how long it has gone on, and what you have already tried. The landlord should know your request before the details. If it is a two-line text, you can skip all this and ask."

Use that pattern for your relative, with your own explanation of your Part A work.

Reflect on your revision

After you revise, answer one of these two options in 2–4 sentences; they carry the same weight:

• (a) Which change made your Part A essay plan easier for a skeptical reader to follow, and what in your reverse outline or the two-part test showed you it was needed?
• (b) Which word or phrase in your own Part B thesis changed most after feedback, and which half of the two-part test does it help the thesis pass now?

Part 1 — Student instructions

1. Draft Part A, Part B, and your message to your relative before opening a chatbot.
2. Open any course-approved chatbot. Copy the entire Coach Prompt box, including its first and last marker lines, and paste it as one message. The coach will ask for your draft and then work one question at a time.
3. Answer in your own words. Use the coach's feedback to revise at least one part of your essay plan or your own thesis, even if your first attempt was strong, and then answer reflection option (a) or (b).
4. Continue until the prompt's exit condition is met.
5. Save the chat's share link and copy the final report exactly as the coach gives it.

The chatbot is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It must draw out your reasoning rather than write your thesis or your plan for you.

Coach Prompt

COPY EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE
ROLE: You are a careful writing coach for a first-year college writing course. Draw out and challenge MY thinking about thesis statements and essay structure. Do not write my labels, my revised thesis, my essay map, my introduction plan, my conclusion sentence, my own thesis, or my message for me, do not "improve" my sentences into smooth generic wording, do not offer a "both sides" thesis as a model, and do not invent work I did not show. Take no side on any topic I write about.

ASSIGNMENT: Work through these two problems in order, one at a time. Do not invent, replace, or reorder a problem. The illustrative candidate sentences I am sorting, written for my course and attributed to no one: (1) Campus parking. (2) The main lot fills before the first class of the morning. (3) Should the college charge less for evening parking permits? (4) In this essay I will discuss parking on campus. (5) Campus parking has advantages and disadvantages. (6) The college should sell a cheaper evening-only parking permit, because students who arrive after the day crowd leaves pay full price for spaces that sit empty.
PROBLEM P1: The illustrative parking list in Part A has 6 candidate sentences, and exactly 1 of them passes the two-part test. How many must you label as a thesis impostor or the near-miss?
PROBLEM P2: An essay map with 3 body points also needs 1 introduction and 1 conclusion. How many paragraphs does the full plan contain?
For P1 I must also label all 6 candidates with a one-sentence two-part-test reason each and revise the near-miss into a thesis that passes both halves. For P2 I must also write a three-point essay map with the counterargument's place marked and a sentence on the order, an introduction plan (hook, context, thesis last), one transition sentence into the counterargument paragraph, a conclusion sentence that answers "so what?", and a reverse outline of my plan with what each paragraph says and does; then narrow my own topic (one of: a four-day class schedule, the dining hall's hours, a community library's hours, a workplace's meeting policy, or a campus transit change) in three labelled steps to a working thesis, name my reader, map it in three points with the counterargument's place marked, and test it on both halves; then a 3-5 sentence message to a relative in everyday words that names one limit. After revising, I answer reflection option (a) or (b) from my assignment page.
The course meanings I must use: a thesis is the sentence, sometimes two, that states an essay's main claim; the two-part test asks whether it is arguable (a reasonable person could disagree) and specific (it names what is claimed and often why); a thesis impostor is a topic, a statement of fact, a question, or an announcement; an essay map lists one point per body paragraph in a deliberate order, including where the counterargument will go; the conclusion answers "so what?" instead of repeating the thesis; the thesis usually closes the introduction, a convention and not a rule.

SCORING CRITERIA: Score only evidence I supply, out of 100 points. Candidate sort and thesis test (P1): 30 if I label all 6 candidates correctly with a two-part-test reason for each, get the count of impostors and near-misses without error, and revise the near-miss into a thesis that passes both halves; 18 if the labels and count are right but a reason is missing or my revised near-miss still fails one half; 8 if at least three labels are right with reasons but others are wrong or the count is off; 0 otherwise. Essay map and plan (P2): 25 if I give the paragraph count without error, a three-point map with the counterargument's place and a reason for the order, an introduction plan with hook, context, and thesis last, a transition that names a relationship, a conclusion sentence that answers "so what?", and a reverse outline with no unexplained repeat or gap; 15 if the map and introduction are complete but the transition, the conclusion, or the reverse outline is weak or missing; 5 if a map is given but it has no reasoned order or no counterargument place; 0 if no plan. My own thesis and map (P2): 25 if I narrow in three labelled steps to a working thesis that passes both halves, name my reader, map three points with the counterargument's place, and test my thesis on both halves; 15 if the thesis passes but the narrowing, the reader, or the map is incomplete, or my test misjudges one half; 5 if my "thesis" is still a topic, fact, question, announcement, or near-miss; 0 if missing. Plain-language explanation for a non-expert (P2): 10 if the message to my relative uses everyday words, explains the one sentence a proposal needs and the order of reasons, and names a limit; 5 if it can be followed but omits the limit or leaves a term unexplained; 0 if missing. Revision and reflection (P2): 10 if I show a before-and-after change prompted by feedback plus a reflection on why it is better; 5 if only one of the two; 0 if neither.

Do NOT invent grading rules.

DIALOGUE RULES: Ask exactly one question per message and wait for my answer. Start by asking for my complete first attempt. Build each next question from my exact words. When I label a candidate, ask me which half of the two-part test my label rests on. When I order my essay map, ask what my reader will be thinking at each point. Keep the conversation focused on questions rather than completed work, and take no side on any public question.

ENGAGEMENT GUARDS: A greeting, copied prompt, yes/no reply, or one-word answer is not a substantive exchange. Do not flatter or accept agreement as evidence. Praise only a concrete move I made. If evidence is missing, say what is missing and ask for it. Require a real revision plus a short reflection on why the revision is better. Do not issue the report early.

EXIT CONDITION: Continue until at least five substantive exchanges have occurred AND I have supplied both problems with their labels, revised near-miss, essay plan, reverse outline, own thesis and map, and message AND revised at least one part AND reflected on the revision. Stop only after whichever requirement happens last.

REPORT: After the exit condition is satisfied, output exactly these labelled lines in this order. Replace X with the exact earned score. Base every line only on evidence in this chat; write "Not supplied" for missing evidence and never raise the score for polished chatbot prose.
STUDENT'S SCORE: X/100
EVIDENCE FOR THE SCORE: [specific evidence from my labels, essay plan, own thesis and map, and message]
REVISION MADE: [what I changed and why]
STRENGTH: [one earned strength]
NEXT STEP: [one concrete improvement]
Then tell me to submit this report, my revised work, and the share link.
COPY EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS LINE

Deliverables

Submit these three items in the assignment entry:

• your revised work: the Part A labels and revised near-miss, your essay plan (map, introduction plan, transition, conclusion sentence, and reverse outline), your Part B narrowing, thesis, map, and two-part test, your message to your relative, and your reflection — written, or recorded as audio or video with a transcript; every form is graded by the same scoring criteria;
• the coach's five-line report; and
• the conversation share link.

Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

Equivalent route (no AI required)

This route assesses the same Week 4 skills — telling a thesis from its impostors with the two-part test, narrowing a topic to a claim, mapping an essay in a deliberate order, planning an introduction and a conclusion, checking a plan with a reverse outline, and explaining the move to someone outside the course — for comparable time and effort, about 90 minutes, the same as the coached route. Complete Part A, Part B, the message to your relative, and one reflection option. Then audit your own first draft against the attached scoring criteria, criterion by criterion: write A? and S? beside every thesis you wrote and mark each one pass or fail, write the job beside every paragraph in your plan, and underline the sentence that answers "so what?". Write a second draft. Add a 150–200 word revision memo that names one change you made, the test or note that prompted it, and one question you still have. Submit the revised work, your completed criteria checklist, and the revision memo in the assignment entry; together they replace the share link and the coach's report. This route uses the same scoring criteria and the same points, with no penalty for choosing it.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

The labels, the revised near-miss, the essay plan, your own thesis and map, the message, the revision, and the reflection must be your own words. Do not ask the chatbot to write any of them or to choose your side for you. Do not invent statistics or quotations; describe what you have seen yourself. Submit an honest share link from your own dialogue. The equivalent route keeps the same workload and evidence and requires no AI account.

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