Choosing evidence for a reflection on formality
For the reflection component, you must write 250 words on how Serbian address forms shape relationships, using evidence from your own interactions. You have three pieces of evidence: (1) a teacher who always uses Vi with students; (2) a host sister who switched from Vi to ti with you after two weeks; (3) a shop assistant who used ti with you immediately. You plan to write: 'Serbian is informal because people use ti a lot.' Your teacher says the claim is too broad and that your evidence actually shows something more interesting. You have 250 words and must stay within them.
1. Critique the planned claim and state a sharper thesis the evidence supports.
Read the worked answer
The claim 'Serbian is informal because people use ti a lot' is a sweeping generalisation built on frequency alone. It ignores the teacher's consistent Vi, which shows formality is alive and purposeful.
A sharper thesis: address choice in Serbian is a resource for signalling and negotiating relationship, not a fixed rule of national character. The three examples support this:
- Teacher → students: Vi maintains institutional distance and respect.
- Host sister: the shift Vi → ti after two weeks marks growing intimacy; the change itself carries meaning.
- Shop assistant: immediate ti reflects a transactional, low-distance service frame, not universal friendliness.
This thesis uses all three data points and explains variation rather than flattening it. It also fits 250 words because it makes one claim with three compact illustrations.
2. Explain how you would select and order the evidence within 250 words to support the thesis.
Read the worked answer
Selection principle: keep only evidence that varies along the dimension the thesis names (relationship type), and cut anything merely decorative.
Ordering: start with the contrast that overturns the stereotype - the teacher's Vi - because it immediately problematises 'Serbian is informal'. Then the host sister's shift, which shows address is dynamic over time. End with the shop assistant's ti, the case closest to the stereotype, and reinterpret it as situational rather than national.
This order moves from counter-example to nuance to reinterpretation, so the reader's view is revised step by step. Each example gets roughly 50–60 words, leaving about 70 for the thesis and a closing sentence. The discipline is to resist adding a fourth anecdote that would crowd out analysis.