Dr. Ormsby-Lennon's Helpful Hints for Writing Essays    HOME

Section 3 and 4 of the Brief Holt Handbook ("BHH") offer guidance on critical thinking and writing an essay that argues a thesis; section 41b discusses correct manuscript form; and section 36a explains correct MLA citation form (used in the humanities). Section 19 discusses common errors in word usage.

But the basic rule is: Be Kind to your Reader! Only in the artificial situation of the university classroom does the person to whom you are offering your essay know more about the subject than you do. No matter whether a senior partner attorney who wants lowly you to research a point of law and report back to him, members of the board who want you to explain your plan for next year's sales, a magazine that wants you to review a book for its readers, or your mother or room mate who wants to know about a movie you just saw, you know more about the subject than they do, and THEY CANNOT READ YOUR MIND. Thus punctuation, pronoun reference, idiomatic usage, correct sentence structure, and exact diction are all important because they convey the contents of your mind to your reader.

Students routinely ask me what I look for in a successful essay. They are, understandably, dissatisfied with my answer that the essay should be well-written, well-argued, and well-illustrated from the literary works under discussion. For none of my desiderata are self-explanatory or incontrovertible. And since even accomplished readers disagree in their literary judgements--does Henry James afford a better stylistic model than Ernest Hemingway?--it is hardly surprising that there is no unanimity about the hallmarks of good student prose. What follows, then, must comprise my own views--although I am ready to defend them energetically! [and not "to energetically defend them"].

Once students know the topic upon which they will write, they should start making notes for their essays. It is crucial that they do not postpone such jotting until they begin the serious business of writing. If students do encounter difficulties in writing, they may wish to break the logjam by employing "junk-writing" or "garbage-writing." Students should avoid leaving the composition of their paper until the eleventh hour. Ideally they should allow themselves several days for the revision of style and argument.

Evolve a memorable title. Search for a resonant epigraph. Ensure that your introductory sentence is crisp and arresting: revise it carefully, paying attention to rhythm and readability. Avoid stating the obvious in your opening sentence--e.g. "In the following paper two poems will be compared and contrasted." Avoid bogus drum-rolls--e.g. "Ever since the dawn of time, people have been writing poems." And avoid cheap thrills--e.g. "CRASH!" I believe that the use of the first person pronoun is acceptable in student essays--used sparingly, the "I" can have a powerful effect--but when students are given permission to use the first person, they tend to overuse it. Lavish sprinklings of "I think," "I believe," or "I feel" weaken rather than strengthen your arguments.

Papers should have beginnings, middles, and ends. Your opening paragraph is particularly important. You may wish to develop some tension between title or epigraph and your introductory observations. In your first paragraph, you will, customarily, want to define both the thesis of your paper and the approach you propose to take in proving it.

Choose a coherent topic; do not try to discuss too many issues. As you move from paragraph to paragraph, ensure that the logic linking them is harmoniously deployed. Paragraphs should be neither too short nor too long. Quote from the works you discuss in order to clinch your arguments. But do not throw in quotations like slabs of marble: comment upon the style and significance of the passages you have chosen for quotation.

Final paragraphs are difficult to write: on the one hand, you will want to touch upon some of the main points in your argument; on the other, you will want to avoid banal summary and statements of the obvious.

You should leave ample time for revision between the completion of your drafts for the paper and the submission of the revised essay to me. In my opinion, revision comprises the most crucial stage in the composition of effective essays--not least because one can teach its rudiments (unlike the rudiments of, say, pre-writing). When one revises a piece of writing, one should step away from the pains and pleasures of composition in order to imagine how readers will understand and enjoy what you have had to say. You endeavor to stand outside rather than inside your essay. Ask a room-mate or friend to read your paper so that you can gauge its effects. You must not be afraid to embark upon some major revisions (and this is why you have allowed yourself ample time!). Take a trip to the Writing Center. As you revise, delete limp diction and colloquialism. Search for active, vigorous verbs. Excise unnecessary "ands" (andy-pandy).

Students wonder, quite legitimately, about their audience for a paper (is it just the instructor?) and how much they can assume or take for granted when writing. There is no simple or satisfactory way of addressing these concerns; in fact, they exercise all writers. As a rule of thumb, I suggest that papers should be intelligible to a student's room-mate who has not read the works discussed in it. You will need to provide the reader with essential information (avoid plot summary!) but you will also need to develop a novel or interesting argument from it.

Students who write the most effective papers usually take risks and don't adhere to all the "rules" (so-called). Of course, agreement about what constitutes an "effective" paper will never be universal! The suggestions I have offered so far are designed to help students write "safe" rather than "creative" essays: yet all writing is creative, and there is an art to writing good expository prose. I don't discourage students from being innovative in their writing, but they will run a greater risk of failure than those who dedicate themselves to polishing their more modest essays. The only unassailable rule is: What works works. But who says?

* * * * * * * * * *

The following "Paramedic Method" comes from Richard Lanham Revising Prose, Second Edition (New York: Macmillan, 1987), p. xii:

1. Circle the prepositions.

2. Circle the "is" forms. [Izzy-wizzy.]

3. Ask "Who is kicking who?" [Sic!]

4. Put this "kicking" action in a simple (not compound) active verb.

5. Start fast--no mindless introductions.

6. Write out each sentence on a blank sheet of paper and mark off its basic rhythmic units with a "/".

7. Read the passage aloud with emphasis and feeling.

8. Mark off sentence lengths in the passage with a "/".

***********

I now offer some local advice which should be easier to follow--at least mechanically--than several of the global suggestions tendered thus far. As regards the most local issues of usage--e.g. the correct use of apostrophes--students sometimes ask whether "getting the little things right" is as important as turning in a lively paper. The distinction is a false one. Bad grammar, misspellings, and the faulty use of diction all detract from the success of a paper: good papers are rarely awash with such problems. And since you have chosen to attend university, you have presumably committed yourself to acquiring an education--and to learning how to write effectively. Adherence to the letter of grammatical law can never, of itself, produce effective papers; but students must familiarize themselves with the essential rules of grammar which we dismiss as shibboleths at our peril. Grammatical correctness is no less important than non-sexist usage!

Apostrophes customarily designate the possessive rather than pluralization. The plural of hoagie is not "hoagie's" but "hoagies." Apostrophes do not appear pronominally, however. "It's" = "it is" and does not = "of it." There are no such words as its', theirs', their's or her's (as a loony counter-example, think of the absurdity of hi's!). Learn where to place the apostrophe when using singular and plural possessives. "Friends'" is the plural possessive of "friend;" the singular possessive is "friend's."

Learn how to spot (and eliminate) a dangling participle: "Driving into Philadelphia, the signs said Fly American." Who's driving? (And distinguish who's from whose.) In short, don't dingle-dangle. And avoid a "ding-a-ling" concatenation of "ings." E.g. "At Villanova today's students are increasingly finding that teaching is interestingly innovative."

Avoid weak qualifiers like "a bit," "slightly," "somewhat" "etcetera" and "so." Commit yourself to the opinions you have chosen to espouse. It is often better to be energetically wrong rather than consistently but limply and fuzzily right!

Note these idioms: "center on" "different from" "The criterion is" "After we have decided to quote from the work, we find that quotations often prove indispensable."