University of Strathclyde

Department of
English Studies
Glasgow G1 1XH
0141-552 4400

Week 10: Writing Essays

A. Condensed version of Tom's Essay Guidelines (link on front page of Children's Literature Website)

Also see 'Punctuation Matters' on front page of class website.

(NB You should not choose passages focussed on in lectures or workshops: do your own independent reading and develop your own ideas.)

1. Essays should be double-spaced.

2. Begin with introductory paragraph in which you explain what you will do in rest of essay: 'In this essay I want to develop a reading of XXX in order to show that ...'; or 'This essay will focus on XXX in order to explore ...'; or 'In what follows we will analyse XXX in order to demonstrate ...' [or a variation on any of these]. It's often better to write your introduction after you've finished the rest of your essay.

3. Everything you write should contribute towards (and can be seen to contribute towards) your answer to the question. If it doesn't, cut it out.

4. Write properly punctuated, grammatically coherent sentences. If you don't know how to do this, consult 'Punctuation Matters' or a book on punctuation (see below); also see the on-line interactive guide to punctuation produced by Glasgow University at http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/STELLA/ARIES/

5. Write in paragraphs: paragraphs are not arbitrary divisions but related to divisions in argument. Remember: same point, same paragraph; new point, new paragraph.

6. Each paragraph should make one main point (each sentence should contribute to that point). Since every point needs to be supported by quoted evidence (see 7), every paragraph (though not the introduction and conclusion) should contain at least one relevant quotation.

7. Answer the question by developing an argument: present and analyse textual evidence in support of all important claims (not only about text you are analysing but also about general issues, such as nature of childhood in eighteenth century). Remember: assertions (claims unsupported by evidence) earn no marks in academic essays.

8. Speculations about authorial intention (if they can't be substantiated from written evidence or derived from text being discussed) or about readers' feelings (unless you do a survey, or quote a published survey) have no place in an academic essay.

9. Textual evidence (quotations) should be presented according to guidelines set out on Department website.

10. Quotations should be introduced in ways that make it clear who or what you are quoting, and why. Formulae such as the following are useful: 'Richardson suggests that childhood is a recent invention: [quotation]'.

11. Whether you put a punctuation mark between your own words and the quotation depends on syntactical relationship between your words and the quotation. The rule is: use same punctuation mark you would use if you were not quoting. Sometimes this means that you don't need a punctuation mark at all.

12. All quotations should be followed by a reference in form specified on Department website. All references should be correlated with items in a bibliography at the end whose layout conforms to the guidelines set out on the Department website.

13. Sometimes quoted passage speaks for itself. But it's usually worth analysing the quotation, especially if it is long or complex, or if the point you are trying to make with it is not obvious. Quotation and analysis is the central technique of essay writing in English Studies.

14. Discuss texts in present tense: 'Locke argues that ...'.

15. Titles of books should be underlined or italicised, and do not have inverted commas; titles of parts of books (poems, essays, short stories, etc) should be marked with inverted commas (not italicised or underlined).

16. End with a concluding paragraph. This should consist of more than a single sentence. It should not normally introduce new material or ideas. Nor should it wax lyrical about how wonderful the author or text is. Try to draw together and reflect on main points you have demonstrated or discovered and on how they constitute an answer to the question. Your conclusion should announce that it is a conclusion by beginning with phrases like 'We have seen that...'. Phrases such as 'To conclude' can be used, but they sound like school essays, not university work.

17. The secret to good writing is re-writing: read your own writing with a critical eye; become your own best critic.

B. General advice (modified) from Department Website

(a) Avoid plagiarism as follows:

give a reference to an author's work at the moment of quoting or alluding. It is not adequate to use someone else's words in your essay and then just include a reference to them in your bibliography; this would be considered plagiarism.

Internet or Library?

Keep a full record of all the notes you take from all sources.

Do not copy someone else's written material, essay drafts, etc. As a general safeguard, put a note on any coursework you submit where you have benefited from discussion with someone else.

(b) An essay needs a structure

An argument that is all over the place or a discussion which keeps jumping from one idea to another without clear direction is very confusing for your reader. It should not be a mere line-by-line commentary on a poem, or a chapter-by-chapter paraphrase of a novel - you do not need to summarise the plot; assume that your reader already knows the story. [I have problems with this last suggestion.]

(c) The essay should be relevant to the question

In planning your essay ask yourself what the central issues and problems raised by the question are, and address yourself to these. This is one of the functions of an introduction to your essay: it may be useful to discuss the implications of the question to begin with and explain how you are going to construct an argument in response to it. In doing this you are, in effect, turning a question into a topic which you have yourself to some extent defined.

(d) Work out a plan for your essay before writing it

(e) The complexity of literary works means there is often much to be said on both sides of an argument. A good essay reflects that complexity – don't feel you must arrive at a simple conclusion in response to the question. Yet your argument needs to be coherent.

(f) Well-formed paragraphs are the sign of a well-developed argument

A paragraph develops a single point, with examples, evidence, and relevant comment. ... One-sentence paragraphs, or illogical and arbitrary paragraph breaks, are the sign of a scrappy, unstructured and unfocused argument. Under our grade criteria that means they are unlikely to earn more than 50%.

(g) The art of writing is largely the art of rewriting.

(h) Titles of books (novels, plays, long poems, collections of essays, etc) should be italicized or underlined: Women in Love, The Tempest, Paradise Lost, A History of Childhood.

Titles of texts in books (short stories, poems, articles, etc) should be in single inverted commas: 'The Captain's Doll', 'Lycidas', 'Tradition and the Individual Talent'.

(i) Presenting quotations (follow original wording, spelling, punctuation).

A short quotation can be contained within your text and marked off by single quotation marks; it should be grammatically integrated into your own sentence and punctuated accordingly.

Abrams reminds us that a monologue 'is a long speech by a single person' (Abrams 1993, p.45).

If you quote a longer passage which takes up three or more lines of text on the page, you must separate it from your text, indent the left margin for the whole passage, and put it in single spacing. In this case the quotation does not need quotation marks.

The final paragraph of Frankenstein seems ominously open-ended:

He sprang from the cabin window as he said this, upon the ice raft which lay close to the vessel. He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance. (Shelley 1998 [1818]. p.261)

Verse must be quoted as verse, though when quoting a short phrase from a poem that runs over a line ending you can indicate the line-break with an oblique

The house has been 'Twenty years out / Of her hand'.

(j) Referencing: 'author-date' system – does not involve footnotes/endnotes; all sources must be referenced (direct quotations, paraphrases, even information or ideas from published sources); use following basic convention:

name of author of book + date of publication + page numbers

(Hirsch 1984, p.51)

For a poem, give line numbers; for a play, give act, scene, and line numbers (e.g., 5.2, 29-30 = Act V, Scene 2, lines 29-30).

Give publication date of edition you are using, but you can add original date of publication in square brackets; thus if you were quoting from the Norton edition of Great Expectations you would reference it as (Dickens 1999 [1861], p.43).

Internet sources: references in your main text should be (Internet 1), (Internet 2), etc.

(k) Bibliography at end of essay; must contain full details of all works referred to – i.e., each short reference within the essay must be linked to an entry in the bibliography; bibliography should be in alphabetical sequence, according to authors' surnames.

Books: Surname of author, author's initials or forenames [space] date of publication. Title of Book [underlined], place of publication: name of publisher.

Milton, John 1998 [1667]. Paradise Lost. Edited Alastair Fowler, 2nd edition, London: Longman.
Sharpe, Kevin 1987. Criticism and Compliment: The Politics of Literature in the England of Charles I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Articles in Journals: Surname of author of article, author's initials or forenames [space] date of publication. 'Title of article'. Name of Journal volume, page numbers.

Hirsch, E D 1984. 'Meaning and Significance Reinterpreted'. Critical Inquiry 11, 43-57.

Articles or Contributions in Books: Surname of author, initials or forenames [space] date of publication. 'Title of article'. Name of editor(s) of book, Title of Book. place of publication: name of publisher.

Pinkus, K 1999, 'Emblematic Time'. In Wygant, E (ed.) New Directions in Emblem Studies, 93-108.

References to other media (TV programs, films, records, websites, etc) should be listed separately from references to books and articles.

TV programme: title of programme. name of network. broadcast date

Newsnight. BBC2. 25 Oct. 2000.

Film or video recording: title of film. Name of director. Distributor, year.

It's a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. RKO, 1946.

Sound recording: name of artist/group/composer. Date first recorded (if needed). Title of song/composition/work. Title of recording (if different). Type of recording (e.g. LP, CD, Audiocassette). Date of recording actually used.

Holiday, Billie. 'God Bless the Child'. Rec.1941. The Essence of Billie Holiday. Audiocassette. Columbia, 1991

Website: 'Internet 1', 'Internet 2', etc, plus complete URL and date you consulted it.

(Internet 1) http://www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/English. consulted 25/2/02.

C. Digest of Assessment Criteria for fourth year coursework and dissertations (on website).

General assessment criteria determined by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences for fourth year students taking the BA degree:

Students at this level will … show an ability to undertake independent research, display a wide grasp of the relevant literature and a capacity for independent learning with minimal support and supervision. They will show a sound understanding of the key methodology of their discipline.

In your essays and dissertation, you should aim to meet the following criteria.

1) Write articulate and clear English. This involves using appropriately constructed sentences and paragraphs, and accurate punctuation.
2) Answer the question or appropriately address the topic. This involves: showing that you understand all the aspects and complexities of the question and the issues it raises; presenting and analysing appropriate textual evidence (i.e., quotations); and making sure that every part of the essay is relevant to the question.
3) Follow the scholarly conventions of the discipline. This involves following the Department's guidelines on the presentation of titles, quotations, references, bibliography, and so on.
4) Develop a clearly-structured and well-supported argument. This involves the presentation and analysis of textual evidence together with careful signalling of how your argument is developing (including reflections on how your argument is related to the question or topic).
5) Use contextual information and comparative examples in relevant ways. This involves the recognition that no text is an island and that literary texts exist in complex relationships with their historical and cultural context, with other literature and perhaps even with our contemporary concerns as readers. This may involve importing knowledge or skills from other English classes or from your second subject.
6) Use published criticism critically. This involves recognising that both the question and your response to it will be related to a larger (published) debate about the author, text or theoretical issues involved. At the same time … you should not simply summarise the existing debate - use criticism only where it is relevant, use it sparingly, use it critically.
7) Display relevant theoretical sophistication. This involves reading literature as literature by paying attention to formal and generic features as well as displaying an awareness of the theoretical issues raised by the question or topic and by your response to it.
8) Display original thinking and research. This involves thinking about the question and the texts concerned in an independent and intelligent way. It may involve what has recently been called 'reading against the grain' - i.e. not taking at face value what a text says about itself or what critics say about it. This criterion means that the most valued work will not simply reproduce what a lecturer has said in lectures.

In the above list, all essays should meet criteria 1-3. To get a mark of above 59 your writing should meet the fourth criterion about argumentation. Criteria 5-6 will be expected when relevant. The most successful written assignments will normally be expected to meet criteria 7-8 in addition to the others.

Books that will help you with essay writing, style and punctuation include the following:

Fabb, Nigel and Alan Durant 1993. How to Write Essays, Dissertations & Theses in Literary Studies. Longman.

Peck, John and Martin Coyle 1999. The Student's Guide to Writing: Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling. Macmillan.

Pirie, David B 1989. How to Write Critical Essays. Routledge; the library holds various copies of this, including an electronic version.

Truss, Lynne 2003. Eats Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Guide to Punctuation. Profile.

Venolia, Jan 2001. Write Right: A Desktop Digest of Punctuation, Grammar and Style. Ten Speed Press.

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