Part 1:How to Nail Your Essay

November 12, 2009

Today

1. Essay Workshop: Part 12. Jeopardy Quotation Selection

1: Read Comments from Earlier

1: Read Comments from Earlier

FormatStructureContentSentence-levelDocumentation

2. Talk to Your Instructor

3. Start Early

Topic Brainstorming Thesis Outline Research Draft Revision Final

4. Brainstorming

1. Start with every example that strikes your topic

2. List them all3. Start grouping in logical categories

4. Brainstorming/Outlining

Is Gertrude a good mother?

Topic

•Wants him to get out of his funk (1.2.68)•Unaware of Hamlet’s digs (1.2.75)•Wants him to stay at Elsinore (1.2.119)•More interested in R&G as Hamlet’s friends, not using him (2.2.19)•Diminishes “ov’r hasty marriage 2.2.56)•Wants to cut to the chase (2.2.97)•Want the extant reading (2.2.114)•Aware that he walks (2.2.161)•Wants the cause to be Ophelia (3.1.39)•Unaware of mirror in the play (3.2.210)•Polonius recognizes Gertrude as a buffer (3.4.1)•Gertrude unaware of Hamlet’s accusations (3.4.38)•Oblivious (3.4.50)•Understanding through her son (3.4.69)•Bothered by accusations (3.4.84; 181)•Looking for excuses (3.4.96; 127; 4.1.6))•Looks for advice (3.4.164)•Runs to Claudius (4.4)•Rats out Hamlet in favour of Claudius (4.5.124)•Helpful to other children: wants to listen to Ophelia to relieve her madness•Delivers news to Laertes that Ophelia is dead (4.7.134)•In the sword fight, Gertrude is on Hamlet’s side (5.2.230)

4. Brainstorming/Outlining

Is Gertrude a good mother?

Topic

•Wants him to get out of his funk (1.2.68)•Unaware of Hamlet’s digs (1.2.75)•Wants him to stay at Elsinore (1.2.119)•More interested in R&G as Hamlet’s friends, not using him (2.2.19)•Diminishes “ov’r hasty marriage 2.2.56)•Wants to cut to the chase (2.2.97)•Want the extant reading (2.2.114)•Aware that he walks (2.2.161)•Wants the cause to be Ophelia (3.1.39)•Unaware of mirror in the play (3.2.210)•Polonius recognizes Gertrude as a buffer (3.4.1)•Gertrude unaware of Hamlet’s accusations (3.4.38)•Oblivious (3.4.50)•Understanding through her son (3.4.69)•Bothered by accusations (3.4.84; 181)•Looking for excuses (3.4.96; 127; 4.1.6))•Looks for advice (3.4.164)•Runs to Claudius (4.4)•Rats out Hamlet in favour of Claudius (4.5.124)•Helpful to other children: wants to listen to Ophelia to relieve her madness•Delivers news to Laertes that Ophelia is dead (4.7.134)•In the sword fight, Gertrude is on Hamlet’s side (5.2.230)

5. Outline

6. Thesis

Concession-refutationExample: Although experts say that eating burnt

food can cause cancer, a child who refuses to eat a burnt marshmallow at summer camp could face more immediate consequences of social alienation.

Example: While Harlen may appear as a liar, he actually distinguishes between harmful lies and untruths that help people, justifying his transgressions of sincerity.

6. Thesis (cont’d)

Has to be an argument Cannot just be a restatement or

summary of plot Can begin as a “working thesis” that

changes as you write the paper Comes as the last sentence of the first

paragraph (the introduction) Can include a path (the main major

points you will be making)

6. Thesis: Example

7. Paragraph Mechanics

Is 6-12 sentences long—easy reading.

Begins with a topic sentence Is indented Expresses ONE idea Includes a transition Get away from the strictly five paragraphs!

7. The Perfect Paragraph

Topic Sentence

Topic Sentence

Point #3

Point #3

Point #2

Point #2

Point #1

Point #1

Concluding Sentence to Summarize and

Transition

Concluding Sentence to Summarize and

Transition

7. 4-F Test

FocusTopic Sentence

Fine PointsDetails

FlowTransitions

FinalityConcluding Sentence

8. Quote Integration

Frame all quotes with your own writing Spend as much time or more explaining each

quote as the quote is long Change tense or pronouns from original that

do not mesh with your own framing text Only put a comma before the quote if it

could be replaced with the word “that” Commas and periods belong inside quotation

marks Page number comes after the quote

8. Quote Integration

Use present tense when discussing any type of text or author.

Herrmann displays the statistics from her ethnographic survey she conducted in 1995.

She highlights a study that concludes “working women, even managers and professionals, perform 79% of the housework.”

8. Tense

The article was about the gender differences in garage sale sellers and buyers.

The author discussed how female buyers differ from male buyers.

8. Number

The article begins with a quote from Lisa McFarren who states that “I’ve known many men to have a garage sale.”

The author explicitly states that “my field research indicates there is indeed a division of labour.”

8. Quote Integration

Spend as much space discussing the direct quotation as is the length of the quote.

Quote too long? Summarise Paraphrase, or Use ellipses.

8. Block Quotations

Remember: spend the same space on the quote as the discussion

No quotations around a block quote Use a block quote if format of original is

important (eg poetry and stanza breaks) Use a block quote if quoting more than

three lines in your own writing

8. Other Direct Quotation Rules Never drop a quote without discussion of

it Too much altering (with brackets and

ellipses)? Summarize or paraphrase Use “sic” to denote any errors in the

original quote

9. Introduction

Gripping first sentence Background Narrow thesis Path No low-content spots No diving into details yet Write this last

10. Conclusion

Restate topic sentences (using new wording)

Remind the reader of how great your paper was

Write this second to last

Taking Stock