What Makes a Good Lit. Paper

8/12/2019 What Makes a Good Lit. Paper

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What Makes a Good Literature

Paper?

Keys to Success on the Synthesis

Essay


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Key #1a: An Argument

Your literary essay is essentially anargument

You are arguing that your perspectiveaninterpretation, an evaluative judgment, or acritical evaluationis a valid one.


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Key #1b: A Debatable Thesis

Statement You must have a specific, detailed thesis-

statement that reveals your perspective.

Your perspective must be one which isdebatable.

You want to avoid a thesis statement like this:Spirituality means different things to different

people. King Lear, The Book of Romans, andZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenanceeach view the spirit differently.


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The Problem?

That says nothing that is not already self-evident. Why bother writing a paper about that?

You are not writing an essay to list works that havenothing in common other than a general topic likespirituality.

You want to find certain works or authors that, while

they may have several differences, do have somespecific, unifying pointthat point is your thesis.


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A Better Thesis

Lear, Romans, and Zen each view thesoul as the center of human

personality. Then you prove it, using examples from

the text that show that the soul is the

center of the personality.


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Key #3: Avoids Right Answer

Roulette An assumption that

writing about

literature is a no wingame in which thestudent writer isforced to guess the

RIGHT ANSWER thatonly the teacherknows.


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Key #4: Avoids the Everything is

Subjective Shuffle Assumes that ANY

interpretation of any literarypiece is purely whimsy orpersonal taste.

It ignores the necessity oftesting each part of aninterpretation against thewhole text.

Consequently, it the piece fails

to validate each idea byreference to specifics from thetext or quotations anddiscussions from the text.


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Key #5: Avoids the How Can YouWrite 500 Words About One Short

Story? Blues Assumes that writing the paper is only a way of

stating the answer rather than an opportunity toexplore an idea or explain what your own ideasare and why you have them.

This assumption leads to padding, repeatingthe same idea in different words.

Or, even worse, it can lead to indiscriminateexpert quoting: using too many quotes orquotes that are too long with little or nodiscussion.


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Developing a Thesis (1)

Once you have read the work(s) closely,look back over your notes for patterns of

questions or ideas that interest you. Have most of your questions been about

characters, how they develop or change?


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Example

If you are reading Conrads The Secret Agent, do youseem to be most interested in what the author has tosay about society? Choose a pattern of ideas andexpress it in the form of a question and an answer suchas the following:

Question: What does Conrad seem to be suggestingabout early 20thcentury London society in his novel TheSecret Agent?

Answer: Conrad suggests that all classes of society arecorrupt.

Pitfalls: Choosing too many ideas, or choosing an ideawithout any support.


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Once you have some general points tofocus on, write your possible ideas and

answer them. For example:

Question: How does Conrad develop the ideathat all classes of society are corrupt?

Answer: He uses images of beasts andcannibalism whether he is describingsocialites, policemen, or secret agents.


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To write your thesis statement, simply turn thequestion and answer around. You have already given the answer, so now just put it

in a sentence (or two) so that the thesis of yourpaper is clear.

For example: In his novel, The Secret Agent, Conraduses beast and cannibal imagery to describe the

characters and their relationships to each other. Thispattern of images suggests that Conrad sawcorruption in every level of early twentieth centuryLondon society.


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Now that you are familiar with the work(s) andhave developed a thesis statement, you are

ready to choose the evidence you will use tosupport your thesis.

For example, a student proving the previousthesiswhich focuses on the idea of social

corruption and the device of imagerywouldneed to find images of beasts and cannibalismwithin the text and connect them to the claim.


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Pre-Writing Activities and Drafting

Your Essay 1. Freewrite

Without referring to the text or your notes,

write for five to ten minutes on all the images(or the device you have chosen to examine)you can recall.

This will provide an initial list which will makeup your body of evidence.


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Your Essay 2. Review

Look back through the text and your notes to

further identify evidence, keeping focused onthe particular device you want to discuss.


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Your Essay 3. Research

Once you have identified enough textual

evidence to support your thesis, you maywant to see what other writers have had tosay about your topic.

This kind of appeal to authorities helps youback up and interpret your reading of thework.


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Your Essay 4. Evaluate

You will probably generate more evidence

than you can use. Limit your choices to the best, most

illustrative examples you can find.

Focus on how the devices are used to developmajor characters, major scenes, and majorturning points in the work.


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Common Weaknesses in Literature

Essays Mismatch between

thesis and

introduction orbetween introductionand body

The list, or museum

tour, structure Missing sub-ideas


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Thesis-Content Mismatch

Sometimes a first orsecond draft ends upbeing a tool for

discovering what yourthesis really is.

As a result, you may findthat the thesis of yourdraft (or your entire

introduction) does not fitthe argument you haveended up making.


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Solution?

Start your revision by reworking the thesisand introduction.

Then, work your way back through theessay, making sure that each claim ortopic sentence fits the new thesis.


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Museum Tour Structure

In a draft, writers sometimes present each claim as if it were anitem on a list (First, second, etc.) or as a stop on a tour of ideas(And this is also important).

This keeps readers from making logical connections between ideas,and it may also prevent your argument from developing.

It can also be a symptom of the fact that you have ceased arguingentirely, falling into mere plot summary or description.


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Solution?

Check to see if number-like words or phrases appearprominently at the beginning of your paragraphs or ifyour paragraphs could be put into a different word order

without fundamentally changing what you are saying. At times, solving this problem will require wholesale

rethinking and reorganizing.

Other times, you will just need to add or rework topicsentences.

Make sure you have a clearly-stated, debatable claim up-front and in charge of each paragraph And that each claim relates to, but differs from, the thesis.


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Missing Sub-Ideas

You may find that youhave skipped a logicalstep in your argument

that the claim you makein, say, body paragraphthree actually dependson, or makes sense only

in light of, a more basicclaim that you took forgranted in your draft.


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Solution?

Create and insert anew paragraph that

articulates, supports,and develops this keyclaim.

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What Makes a Good Lit. Paper