Writing Anti-Guide
Ten Things You Can Do In Your Paper
To Make Me Pull My Hair Out

 

1. Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

Yes, we all know that the humanities are more subjective than the sciences, and allow for more expression of feeling and individual opinion. BUT (and this is a big but), too much focus on your personal emotion, and you are writing about you, not about the text . If you want to talk about personal reaction, fine, but don't wallow in it,and use evidence to talk about how the emotion is evoked.

2. Going Over-Broad

This holds true for general statements as well as your paper's thesis. Professors run screaming when they read the words "Since the beginning of time" or "We have always known" They say absolutely nothing, and if you aren't prepared to back them up with historical evidence (and I mean a lot of evidence), then don't do use them. You should also avoid thesis statements that are too broad or unfocused. What can you say that is interesting and even mildly original on the topic "Love is important" or "We should all be nice to one another?" Be precise, not vague, in your language and focus your argument.

3. Duh

A thesis is not just something you can say about a text. It should be something worth saying, and worth arguing about. If your thesis is so obvious it screams, why should I bother reading your paper? A good essay teaches readers something new, or shows them a new way to think about an issue. Avoid the obvious; it will put your reader (and you) to sleep.

4. In Summary

Don't get so thrilled with having read and enjoyed the story that you spend the whole paper rewriting it. The purpose of a humanities essay is to make a point and stimulate thought, not retell the story. You should assume the reader knows the story, and get to the point. A little summary is good, even necessary. A lot is deadly. A concise encapsulation can help your paper, but only if you move on to write a critical essay with a point.

5. Showing Off

Remember show and tell? You need both. Too often students write papers that are all show no tell or all tell and no show. Don't just describe the thing you are writing about ("It is a poem with 6 lines. It rhymes. It sounds pretty"), think about why is it important or interesting and write about that. So it's a short story about a boy and his dog, so what? Why is this interesting? And don't just tell me what you think the text means, show me the quotations that support your argument.

6. The Wanderer

Don't simply jump from one interesting topic to another. Focus your argument and your essay. Don't wander away from your thesis, and have a reason for every paragraph (and only one reason, or it isn't a paragraph). Give your reader an idea of your direction, and then take the reader with you step by step. You are your own tour guide.

7. Speak No Evil/Drop-Kicked Quotes

Quotations (properly cited) are the evidence you need to make the case for your thesis. Without quotes you get nowhere, and vague references to quotations (without actual quotations) make for, at best, a mediocre paper. Select citations that support your argument, and add to its development (don't say the same thing 10 times). Quotations alone are not enough. If it is important enough to quote, it is important enough to discuss. Don't drop quotations into your essay without exploring them critically. As a general rule, your analysis of the quote should be at least as long as the quote itself.

8. Blast From the Past

I'll let you in on a humanities professor pet peeve: Writing about literature or film in the past tense. A good rule of thumb is if it still exists, if you can read it, watch it, or touch it, use the present tense. If the author is dead you can talk about him or her in past tense, but the work must be referred to in present tense.

9. What's That You Say?

If you are going to use any terminology in your essay, define your terms. Don't assume that all of your readers will have the same political or religious beliefs that you do. So be specific. What do you mean by gothic or traditional? Family values?

10. Malapropisms Other Good Bad Words

It is important to know and use your literary terms. It is also important to use them correctly and for a purpose. If you notice irony in your text, be sure that it is irony, and then be sure there is a reason for you to mention it. The fact that it is there is great, but it is not important enough to mention without a reason.

Finally:
Pick a topic that interests you and have fun.
Oh, and give your paper a title that gets your reader interested in what you have to say.

 

Some Things You SHOULD Do in Your Essay

  • Give your paper an original and interesting title that helps the reader understand where you will be heading. I am a big fan of the "Catchy Title: Descriptive Title" format (Republic of the Damned: Plato's Republic and the Problem of Free Will).
  • Your thesis statement (argument/purpose/direction) should appear somewhere in the introductory paragraph along with a quick synopsis of the stops we will be making in your evidence paragraphs as we construct your argument.
  • Your thesis statement must not be self evident; it must be an arguable statement. "In 'The New Atlantis,' Bacon reveals anti-semetic tendencies " is not an arguable statement. "In 'The New Atlantis,' Bacon's casual anti-semetism does something or means something " is arguable. As a general guideline, if you are going to argue for something, someone should be able to argue against it. Make sure to tell me the what and the why. Observation, Hypothesis, Significance.
  • As you are trying to prove a point in your paper, you need evidence. This evidence should be in the form of quotations from the text (properly cited). Don't simply recap the plot to me (I've read/seen it too), bring specific attention to those parts of the text which help build your argument. Don't make statements you can't prove from the text itself!
  • Your evidence paragraphs should identify themselves with a topic sentence, and remind the reader why this stop is made and its relation to your overall argument.