HurtBreaker
New member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2026
- Messages
- 14
I've been working on this argumentative essay for my political theory class for like two weeks now and every time I think I have a solid thesis, my professor sends it back with "this is an observation, not an argument." I genuinely don't understand the difference at this point and it's starting to mess with my confidence in a way that feels kind of disproportionate to the assignment itself.
Like I wrote "social media has changed how young people engage with politics" and she said that's a fact, not a claim worth arguing. So I revised it to "social media has negatively affected political engagement among young people" and she said that's closer but still too broad to be defensible in five pages. I'm going in circles.
I think the core issue is that I was never really taught the difference between a strong thesis and a weak one — high school rewarded me for having a thesis, not necessarily a sharp one. And now that gap is showing up in a class where the writing actually matters.
Has anyone else gone through this specific struggle? How did it click for you? I feel like I'm one good example away from understanding this
Like I wrote "social media has changed how young people engage with politics" and she said that's a fact, not a claim worth arguing. So I revised it to "social media has negatively affected political engagement among young people" and she said that's closer but still too broad to be defensible in five pages. I'm going in circles.
I think the core issue is that I was never really taught the difference between a strong thesis and a weak one — high school rewarded me for having a thesis, not necessarily a sharp one. And now that gap is showing up in a class where the writing actually matters.
Has anyone else gone through this specific struggle? How did it click for you? I feel like I'm one good example away from understanding this
