文科寫(xiě)作writinginartsfulledition

1、Lecturers advice1. How well do most students do in the practice essay?Summary： Stude nts gen erally receive scores in the Pass/Credit ran ge, and improve with the sec ond assig nment.In the first-year En glish Literature, the quality of the first assig nment (the practice essay) is ofte n disappo in

2、 ti ng. The most com mon problems are lack of un ity, in adequate argume ntati on, and in formal prese ntati on. Marks higher tha n 14 out of 20 are rare, and many stude nts score 10.5 or 11.Students clearly learn useful tips from this, however, and the second assignment (the first full-le ngth essa

3、y) usually in dicates a marked improveme nt, with more succi net and directed writing, in a style more appropriate to tertiary-level work. Many students move up a grade, from pass to credit, or from credit to disti ncti on.Back to top2. Why do we do a practice essay anyway?Summary： To give you pract

4、ice in writing a line of argument that clearly sets out your resp onse to the text, but that also takes into acco unt differi ng viewpo in ts.I hope that stude nts will use their research to develop a focus for their own resp onse to the literary text, and that theyll discover that more than one res

5、ponse is possible and legitimate. I hope that during the writing of the essay students improve their ability to argue a case, and that, in doing so, will take account of conflicting opinions.Back to top3. How can I avoid just describing?Summary： Dont just talk about what happens, give an analysis of

6、 why it happens.Perhaps the most freque nt problem stude nts have is a tendency to just deserwh at happens in a text, when they should be attempting an analysis ofhy it happens. An example of just descripti on is whe n you tell the story in your own words, or you provide a summary of the n ature of

7、the characters, but you n eglect to in dicate what the theme of the story is and how the various eleme nts in the story con tribute to making the theme more evide nt.The theme of the story is not usually encapsulated in some direct statement. The theme of a story emerges through your interpretation

8、of the various elements in the story. These eleme nts can in elude, for example, metaphors that are used, and particularly symbolic moments, actions, or objects in the text.So what a stude nts an alysis should be aiming to produce is the crucial ideas that lie at the centre of the story. If you simp

9、ly tell the reader of your essay what happe ns in the story youve not assisted the reader in any way to un dersta nd the story better, because the reader could have done that himself or herself.One way of in dicati ng why someth ing happe ns in a text is to look at the arran geme nt of the plot, but

10、 also to look at the psychology of the characters and the traits of a character that push or predispose that character to act in a certa in way. Through that youre getting close to indicating why something happens in the story rather than just telli ng us what happe ned.Back to top4. How do I relate

11、 to the world of the text?Summary: Dist in guish betwee n the con diti ons and values of your own world and those of the text.Ano ther problem that stude nts freque ntly have whe n they are writ ing on literature is that they dont distinguish between the values and conditions of the world in which t

12、hey themselves live - in the present day, in a particular part of the world - and the con diti ons and values of the world of the text. I n un dersta nding the world of the text, we also n eed to dist in guish betwee n the world in which the text is produced (for example, the world as it was when th

13、e noveljane Eyre was written) and, most importantly, the conditions of the world as it is set up and depicted within the novel.For example, one of the un derly ing themes inJa ne Eyre is that wome n have to fight harder than men do in their world - in the world of the novel - to make themselves hear

14、d and to leave a mark on the world. Men in the no vel may or may not be treated sympathetically, but they are more likely to be in positi ons of power tha n wome n are, and they tend to set up situations in which the lives of women are circumscribed. If you dont recog nise that the con diti ons of J

15、an es world are differe nt from your own then youre going to be bli nd to some of the importa nt concerns of the no vel.Gen erally speak in g, literature of the dista nt past is more likely to in habit a world that is different from our own than literature of the present. A case of a different kind

16、is Wide Sargasso Sea WSS. Wide Sargasso Sewas produced much n earer to our own time (1966), but the action in the novel is set back in the first half of the 19h century.The author, Jean Rhys, has in fact made exactly the kind of imaginative leap from her own time to the time of the characters in the

17、 novel that readers of literature need to make. In any case, a 21f-ce ntury reader of WSSn eeds to make some allowa nee for social relati on ships as they were in the West In dies in the early part of the 19 cen tury - and affected as they were by eth nic and racial an tag oni sms and hostilities.So

18、me of these issues are prese nted as being extremely complex in the worldWSS Now weve got to ask ourselves what a world would be like in which these were importa nt factors. So thats the kind of imag in ative leap that stude nts ofte n n eed to make when they are writing on a work of literature.It m

19、ight still be the case that a student could allow for the fact that the texts assumpti ons about huma n relati on ships are no rmal for the time, but n evertheless the stude nt might still want to say, thats wrong, thats an in adequacy in the world view of the text. They can say that, but it require

20、s quite a lot of con fide nce on the part of the student, and also they would need to have faced their own value system to make that kind of judgeme nt.One of the reas ons for study ing Literature is to broade n men tal horiz ons, and that invoIves questioning the assumptions of your own time and pl

21、ace, your own culture. You n eed to be aware too that there are possibilities for criticism of the world in which you live. The text gives you an opportunity to evaluate your own assumptions. The really worthwhile literature very rarely simplifies its moral positions; it usually shows aware ness of

22、the complexity of the issues being talked about and this will overlap with the world we live in.Back to top5. What is the difference between thauthor and the speake?Summary: The pers on who speaks in the text is ofte n the n arrator, or a character in the text, and is not the same pers on as the aut

23、hor of the text.Theres one other thi ng that stude nts n eed to be min dful of and that is the differe nce between the author and the speaker. For example, there is a temptation to think that the person who speaks inJane Eyre(that is, Jane Eyre herself because shes telling her own story) is the auth

24、or, Charlotte Bronte. That is, we tend to think that the character Jane Eyre is authoritative, has the last word, and therefore that we should accept what Jane says in judgeme nt of other people. If we believe Jane Eyre to be a reliable n arrator, it ought to be because of who she is, because of wha

25、t we know about her character, not because she is Charlotte Bron tes represe ntative.The differe nce betwee n the speaker and the author is crucial in respect of poetry. Because so many poems are short and so many poems use the first pers on, and because there are times where the poet has used ide n

26、tifiably biographical experie nces, the temptation is to say that it is the poet himself or herself who is speaking.I dont object actually to students saying the poet says as an unidentified or general poet speaker, but what I do object to is John Donne or William Wordsworth was feeli ng this on a p

27、articular day. So the disti ncti on betwee n the speaker and the author is a useful one; it allows for much more flexibility and sensitivity to in terpretati on of the literary text.Back to top6. How can I improve my writing?SummaryMake sure that you have a un ified argume ntLink your ideasRemi nd y

28、ourself of the key terms of the topicIts important when you are writing your essay to make sure that it is a unified piece of work. In other words, what you are argu ing for in your ope ning paragraph - or the claims you make about the piece of literature that you are interpreting - these need to be

29、 supported and developed in the succeed ing paragraphs. The con clusi on of the essay should relate to the opening paragraph, so if you find that the key terms in the ope ning paragraphs are not visible in the con clud ing paragraph, that might be a sig n that youve wandered from the point. So be de

30、finite in your exposition at the beg inning of the essay and make sure that you carry over the sense of your argume nt from paragraph to paragraph. Dont get led away into gen eralities.The best thing to do when you are writing an essay is to remind yourself of the key terms of the topic that you are

31、 writing on. Ask yourself in relation to each of your own paragraphs: Is this a paragraph that is releva nt to the topic that I un dertook to an swer? You dont ask yourself whether the paragraph is releva nt to somethi ng importa nt, say in Jane Eyre, which it may well be, but what you ask yourself

32、is whether the paragraph is releva nt tothat aspect ofJane Eyrethat you were going to discusSo releva nee to thetopic takes priority over releva nee to thetext.Back to top7. What analytical framework should I use when reading texts?Summary： Be guided by the in dividual assig nment topic. Gen erally

33、speak ing, most of your essays will be very text-focused.There are so many differe nt legitimate ways of going about readi ng a text, an alys ing it, and describ ing it, so the safest guideli ne for the stude nt is to look at the parameters set up by the topic and stick with them, because differe nt

34、 topics may require differe nt read ing approaches.The subject booklet alerts students to the various ways a text might be interpreted. We supply some passages of critical read in gs. The bits of criticism that we print therethcome from various times in the 20 century, but they do show different sor

35、ts of approaches. They show how opinions of Jane Eyre and Rochester and Bertha and our un dersta ndings of the three have cha nged over time.In fact, theres one passage there which looks at the way in which the novel has been revalued since the on set of femi nism. It summarises what some of the cri

36、tical articles have said about the no vel. A stude nt who is con scie ntious can discover that there are a variety of approaches for exam ining texts.What is com mon to most approaches no wadays is that they are in the end text-focused. That is, they dont feel comfortable in maki ng asserti ons abou

37、t the text uni ess they can back it up from the text. Eve n dec on structi oni sts, who very typically look at whats not said in a text, are looking at whats there in order to uncover whats not there - so its still text-focused. That is, deconstructionists allow for the things that are not being sai

38、d which are n evertheless active in the text.For example, what is not said is important inJane Eyrebecause Bertha Masons story is literally not described. This is why the later novel, Wide Sargasso Seawhich tells Bertha Masons story from her own perspective, is so valuable because it is an attempt t

39、o fill in the gap. It is sig nailed to us as we readJa ne Eyre that there is someth ing were not being told. SoWide Sargasso Seacomes along and says, so here is what was not said inJane Eyre. By putt ing the two texts together we do actually have quite a good opportunity to use quite recent critical

40、 approaches.So, uni ess the topic in dicates otherwise, you should en sure that your an alysis is supported by the text itself.Back to top8. What will you look for when marking my essay?SummaryThat you know the text wellThat you have un derstood the questi onThat you have a clear stateme nt of your

41、argume ntThat you have supported your argume nt with refere nces to the text an d, if appropriate, sec on dary sourcesThat you have come to a clear con clusi on about the issuesAn essay should reveal a stude nts un dersta nding of both the text and the questio n being asked about the text. Your essa

42、y should state its objective succ inctly, shouldsupport its claims by refere nee to the text and should feature an appropriate con elusi on.We do look very much for un ity, releva nee, and cohere nee (see the an swer to Questio n 3, What kind of problems should I look out for?)The asserti on that yo

43、u should support your argume nt with refere nee to the text is an obvious one, but it is important to handle your referenees to the texts in an efficient and succi net way. You dont n eed to have len gthy quotati ons; you can make a refere nee to a chapter or to an in cide nt in the chapter and simp

44、ly give a page refere nee for where that in cide nt will be found.Quotations that are too lengthy can interrupt the flow of your argument and they also suggest that you have run out of ideas for yourself and you are trust ing that the passage you quote will speak for itself and therefore save you a

45、bit of analytical effort. So students should be sparing with your quotations, make them short and sharp and make sure they do relate to the point.Back to top9. How much should I read for my essay?Summary You must read and re-read the primary text, but its up to you if you want to read sec on dary so

46、urces. These can be very helpful, but not strictly n ecessary.Many students are uneasy about the amount of material they need to read for their particular essay. It is, of course, importa nt to know the primary text in detail, so you must read it, and then you must read it again, and perhaps you mig

47、ht read it once more after that.As to sec on dary sources - thats a more difficult matter to decide. The course booklet recommends a limited amount of reading in addition to the primary text. This further read ing is not inten ded to suppla nt the primary text or to supply the whole an swer to the e

48、ssay question, but rather to help the student understand what the imortant critical issues are. The booklet states that it is possible to tackle the essay questi ons successfully without hav ing recourse to sec on dary sources.Some stude nts can write very good essays without eon sult ing any sec on

49、 dary sources at all. That probably wont happe n absolutely for your essays oda ne Eyre because if you think about it, your edition of Jane Eyre gives you an introduction - you might read part of it, if not the whole of it - and there are annotations in your edition ofJane Eyre and these no tes some

50、times prese nt a point of view. Some editi ons Jd ne Eyre actually in elude critical articles in the back. If you are read ing in troducti ons, no tes, critical articles, you are probably being in flue need by them and therefore you ought to in dicate that.One way of in dicat ing that you are ack no

51、 wledgi ng your sources is through your bibliography .In the bibliography, you list all the works that you have read in relati on to your primary text. This might in clude the in troducti on and editorial no tes to your editi on of the text.If you do use sec on dary sources, the best way to use them

52、 is in what I would call the yes, but manner. That is, you dont take a critic, Critic A, and say, Critic A has said the final word on this topic so I will just tell you what Critic A says and I agree absolutely and wholeheartedly with Critic A. Thats that not very rewardi ng for you or for the reade

53、r; in fact, it allows you to escape the challenge of being confronted by the primary text yourself.So, a better manner is to say, Critic B has made this assertion aboua ne Eyre There is something to be said for this, but it fails to recognise, or is deficient in this respect or respects. This shows

54、that you have read the primary text and it shows that youve read a sec on dary text about the primary text with in tellige nee and discrim in ati on. It shows that you recog nise the stre ngths of the argume nt put forward by the sec on dary source, and that youve got a mind of your own.After a whil

55、e it will become second nature to you and you will do it in all of your courses. In challe nging somebody elses argume nt, youre en teri ng into the world of scholarship; youre en teri ng into the world of debate and the clash of ideas. The expectati on is that through the clash of ideas, through di

56、scussi on, a greater in sight into whatever it is that were discussing will emerge.So, use sec on dary sources as a start ing point or as a stimulati on for develop ing your own point of view and if you do that and if - very importa ntly - you ack no wledge all the sources that youve used, you wont

57、be in any dan ger of being accused of plagiarism. Plagiarism is where you take somebody elses ideas and pass them off as if they were your own. That is, you copy them out more or less verbatim, but you dont sig nal through foot no tes or through the bibliography that youve actually used somebody els

58、es ideas. This is to be avoided at all costs and severe pen alties apply.Back to top10. What final piece of advice do you have?SummaryAn alyse the topicSummarise argume nts on either sideReview your work to assess the stre ngth of your argume ntFirst, ide ntify the key con cepts in the set topic. In

59、 the pla nning stages, if youve got any doubts about your un dersta nding of the topic, it is quite reas on able for you to ask to see your tutor and check to see whether your in terpretati on of the meanings and purpose of the topic are along the right lin es. What the tutor wont do for you is read a final draft of your essay and give you a t