English
Mr. Moran
Consult this guide as you write your essays and use it as a template to check the product when you are done.
1. Thesis
The thesis statement is traditionally a one sentence statement that crystallizes the main idea and approach of the essay. It often implies the structure of the essay, as “Macbeth is a model tragic hero because of his greatness, his destruction, and his fate,” implying a clear paragraph on each of the three points. The thesis traditionally appears at the END of the introduction as the last sentence, whether the intro is one paragraph or three pages.
The thesis follows an introduction that again traditionally moves from a fairly broad opening sentence related to the topic of the essay through a series of intermediate sentences that gradually narrow to the thesis. For example:
The character of Macbeth has been of great interest to critics through the centuries. Many have debated whether or not he has sufficient stature to be considered tragic. Despite several clear deficiencies, this character clearly possesses qualities that render him worthy to be considered with Hamlet and Lear. Macbeth’s greatness, his destruction, his flaw, and his fate clearly make him a model tragic hero.
Note the specificity of the thesis and the way it implies the content of four body paragraphs. Also note that the intro is reductive and NOT redundant or repetitive.
2. Topic Sentences
For our purposes, every body paragraph MUST begin with a clear topic sentence that is derived from part of the thesis and that is NOT a statement of or about the plot. For example, following the sample intro and thesis above, the sentence “When the play opens, Macbeth is the general who saves Scotland from the Vikings” is terrible and does nothing to advance the analysis, even though it may be vaguely related to the concept of Macbeth’s greatness. Much better (and derived from part of the thesis ) would be “Macbeth establishes his greatness in the opening scenes and throughout the play,” thus responding to the thesis and setting up a discussion of different scenes.
3. Plagiarism
At no point in the essay should ANY of your language, concepts, or ideas be derived from ANY other source, including introductions in the textbook and the teacher’s phrasing of the question. ANY such copying, much less from internet sources of Cliff’s
type notes, would be grounds for failure on the paper and possibly the course in college.
4. Quotations
a. Quotations should ALWAYS be introduced in the text with an appropriate set-up of context. Your reader should NEVER wonder who said or wrote the words and when or where they appeared in the text. Explanations of the lines follow the quotation, but you still must create a context for them before.
b. Shorter quotations (25 words or fewer) should be incorporated in the text with quotation marks, as with the thesis statement in #1above.
Longer quotations (more than 25 words) should be indented and single spaced in the manner of the sample intro in #2 above - though yours should not have a first-line indentation.
Poetry and Shakespeare have specialized formats to be discussed in class.
5) Passive Voice
Passive voice is appropriate in only three situations: when the performer of an action is unknown (“The store was robbed last night”), when the receiver of an action is more important than the performer (“The president was assassinated yesterday by a lone gunman”), or to create special emphasis (“The evil Mr. M. was torn apart by angry juniors”).
Your problems with the passive voice stem from two sources: failure to recognize it, and use of inappropriate words and phrases.
Passive voice is the verb construction that exists when the subject is not the direct performer of the action. It is formed from part of the verb “to be” with the past participle (-ed or “sink, sank, SUNK) as in “it is formed.” It is a WEAK form of writing if it is not required.
You can go a long way to eliminating passive voice by removing the following destructive and misemphasis-producing words from your essay writing vocabulary: seen, regarded, said, considered, apparent, evident.
Alarm bells should go off whenever you use part of the verb “to be.” Is this a passive construction? Is it justifiable according to the three cases above? Is there any question about who is performing the verb in the sentence?
6. Speculation
Always write about what DOES happen in a story or poem; don’t speculate on what MIGHT have happened.
NEVER write a sentence beginning with an “If he had not,” as in “If Dimmesdale had not hidden his guilt, he would not have suffered so much.” Rather, this sentence should be “Because Dimmesdale hid his guilt, he suffered enormously..”
Write about what HAPPENS, not what MIGHT or WOULD have happened.
7. Language
Contractions and slang are not appropriate in school essays, nor are parenthetically humorous comments or comments to the teacher. Write these on a separate piece of paper and I will be happy to see them - but NOT in an essay. Slang, by the way, includes the oft-abused employment of “there for her” to mean supportive or helpful.
8. Organic Transitions
This means attempting to make a transition from one paragraph to another - which you need - by anticipating the next topic sentence in the conclusion sentence of the paragraph. THIS IS VERY DIFFICULT TO DO WELL.
You must maintain a paragraph’s integrity at all points. Conventional transitions - connective words or phrases used in the topic sentence of the subsequent paragraph - are easier to do correctly, and you should use them.
Consider the sample intro and thesis above. My first paragraph should be about Macbeth’s greatness and should END with a related comment - NOT with a sentence like,”Not only is Macbeth great, but he also suffers destruction.”
Such a sentence RUINS a paragraph, destroying its structural integrity.
A good organic transition slips the idea of the next topic sentence into an otherwise fully relevant concluding sentence, such as “Macbeth’s greatness, only partially negated by his downfall, is a major element of the play.” The “downfall” anticipates the next topic sentence about destruction.
If you attempt to use an organic transition, the idea for the next topic sentence should be BURIED and HIDDEN in the conclusion.
9. Tense
Maintain consistency of tense throughout your paper. It is traditional to discuss literature in the present tense.
10. Characters
Refer to characters by their LAST names, never their first, unless the author does so.
11. In conclusion
Do NOT open your conclusion paragraph with this. It is mechanical and cliched and is appropriate for SPEECHES rather than essays.
A good “result” word like “clearly,” “therefore” or “thus” makes for much better style.
12. Pronouns
Concerning “I,” “we,” “us” “our” “You” and “your” - they NEVER fit into an analytical essay. Use no first or second person pronouns except in direct quotations. Also avoid using “the reader” unless you are writing a specifically reader-response essay.
13. Notation
a. All titles of longer works - full-length books, novels, movies, plays, albums, and longer poems - should be italicized in your essays. If you are handwriting an exam, these MUST be underlined.
b. Shorter works - short stories, one-act plays, shorter poems, songs on an album, and TV shows - should be in quotation marks.
14. Tone and Topic
Never forget that you are writing about literature, not history, sociology, or the modern world. References to these are disruptive to the structure and integrity of your essay’s topic or tone.
Never end with a comment like“This is still true today”; never open with a reference to history unless it is the topic of the paper.
