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THE N O R T O N

I N T R O D U C T I O N

TOLiteratureP O R T A B L E T E N T H E D I T I O N

A L IS O N B O O T H University of Virginia

К JELLY J. MAYS University of Nevada, Las Vegas

w. w. NORTON & COMPANY New York, London

THE WRITING PROCESS

I t’s fairly easy to describe the purpose and form al elem ents o f an essay. Actually w riting one is more difficult. So, too, is prescribing a precise for­m ula for how to do so. In practice, the w riting process w ill vary from writer to w riter and from assignm ent to assignm ent. No one can give you a recipe. However, th is chapter presents a m enu o f possible approaches an d exer­cises, which you should test ou t an d refine for yourself.

As you do so, keep in m ind th a t w riting needn’t be a so litary enterprise. M ost w riters—w orking in every genre, a t every level—get insp iration , guid­ance, help, and feedback from other people th ro u g h o u t the w riting process, and so can you. Your in s tru c to r may well create opportun ities for collabo­ration , having you and your colleagues work together to p lan essays, cri­tique d rafts, an d so on. Even i f th a t isn’t the case, you can always reach ou t to others on your own. Since every essay w ill u ltim ately have to engage read­ers, why no t b ring some actual readers and fellow w riters in to the w riting process? Use class discussions to generate and test ou t essay topics and the­ses. Ask your in s tru c to r to clarify assignm ents or to ta lk w ith you about your plans. Have classm ates, friends, o r room m ates read your drafts.

O f course, your essay u ltim ately needs to be your own work. You, the ind iv idual writer, m ust be the u ltim ate arbiter, critically scru tin izing the advice you receive, d ifferen tia ting valid reader responses from groundless ones. But in w riting about literatu re , as in reading it, we all can get a much b etter sense o f w hat we th in k by considering o thers’ views.

17.1 GETTING STARTED

17.1.1 Scrutinizing the Assignment

For stu d en t essayists, as for m ost professional ones, the w riting process usually begins w ith an assignm ent. T hough assignm ents vary greatly, all im pose certain restrictions. These are designed no t to h inder your creativ­ity b u t to d irect it in to productive channels, ensuring th a t you hone certain skills, try ou t various approaches, and avoid com m on pitfalls. Your first task as a w riter is th u s to scru tin ize the assignm ent. M ake sure th a t you

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fully understan d w hat you are being asked to do (and no t do), and ask ques­tions about anyth ing unclear or puzzling.

A lm ost all assignm ents restrict the length o f the essay by giving w ord or page lim its. Keep those lim its in m ind as you generate and evaluate p o ten ­tia l essay topics, m aking sure th a t you choose a topic you can handle in the space allowed. M any assignm ents im pose fu rth e r restrictions, often in d i­cating the texts an d /o r topics to be explored. As a result, any given assign­m ent will significantly shape the rest o f the w riting process—determ ining, for example, w hether and how you should tackle a step such as “Choosing a Text” or “Identifying Topics.”

Here are three representative essay assignm ents, each o f which im poses a d ifferent set o f restrictions:

1. Choose any story in this anthology and write an essay analyzing the way in which its protagonist changes.

2. Write an essay analyzing one of the following sonnets: “Nuns Fret Not,” “Range-Finding,” or “London, 1802.” Be sure to consider how the poem’s form contributes to its meaning.

3. Write an essay exploring the significance of references to eyes and vision in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What, through them, does the play sug­gest about both the power and the limitations of human vision?

The first assignm ent dictates the topic and m ain question. It also p ro ­vides the kernel o f a thesis: In [story title], [protagonist’s name] goes from being a_______ to a ________OR By the end o f [story title], [protagonist’s name] has learnedthat_______ . The assignm ent leaves you free to choose which story you willwrite about, a lthough it lim its you to those in which the pro tagonist clearly changes or learns a lesson o f some kind. The second assignm ent lim its your choice o f texts to three. Though it also requires th a t your essay address the effects o f the poet’s choice to use the sonnet form , it doesn’t require th a t th is be the m ain topic o f the essay. Rather, it leaves you free to pursue any topic th a t focuses on the poem ’s meaning. The th ird assignm ent is the m ost restrictive. It indicates b o th the text and the general topic to be explored, while requiring you to narrow the topic and form ulate a specific thesis.

17.1.2 Choosing a Text

I f the assignm ent allows you to choose which text to write about, try let­ting your in itia l im pressions or “gu t reactions” guide you. I f you do so, your first im pulse may be to choose a text th a t you like or “get” righ t away. Perhaps its language resembles your own; it depicts speakers, characters, or s ituations th a t you easily relate to; or it explores issues th a t you care deeply about. Following th a t first im pulse can be a great idea. W riting an engaging essay requires being engaged w ith whatever we’re w riting about, and we all

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find it easier to engage with texts, au thors, an d /o r characters th a t we like immediately.

You may discover, however, th a t you have little interesting or new to say about such a text. Perhaps you’re too em otionally invested to analyze it closely, or maybe its m eaning seems so obvious th a t there’s no puzzle or problem to drive an argum ent. You m ight, then , find it more productive to choose a work th a t provokes the opposite reac tio n -o n e th a t in itially puz­zles or angers you, one whose characters or situations seem alien, one th a t investigates an issue you haven’t previously though t m uch abou t or th a t articulates a them e you don’t agree with. Sometimes such negative responses can have surprisingly positive results when it comes to writing. One s tu ­dent writer, for example, sum m ed up her basic response to W illiam Blake’s The Marriage o f Heaven and Hell w ith the words ״ He’s crazy.” Initially, the book m ade no sense to her. A nd th a t’s precisely why she decided to write about it: She needed to do so, to m ake sense o f it for other readers, in order to make sense o f it for herself. In the end, she w rote a pow erful essay explor­ing how the book defined, and why it celebrated, seem ing insanity.

When w riting abou t a text th a t you’ve discussed in class, you m ight make sim ilar use o f your ״gu t responses” to th a t conversation. Did you strongly agree or disagree w ith one o f your classm ate’s in terp retations o f a particular text? I f so, why no t w rite about it?

17.1.3 Identifying Topics

When an assignm ent allows you to create your own topic, you are m uch more likely to b u ild a lively and engaging essay from a particu la r insight or question th a t captures your a tten tion and m akes you w ant to say some- thing, solve a problem , or stake ou t a position. The best papers originate in an individual response to a text an d focus on a genuine question about it. Even when an in s tru c to r assigns a topic, the effectiveness o f your essay will largely depend on w hether or no t you have m ade the topic your own, tu rn ­ing it in to a question to which you discover your own answer.

Often we refer to find ing” a topic, as if there are a bevy o f topics “out there” ju st w aiting to be plucked like ripe fru it o ff the topic-tree. In at least two ways, th a t’s true. For one th ing , as we read a literary work, certain to p ­ics often do jum p ou t and say, “Hey, look a t me! I’m a topic!” A title alone may have th a t effect: W hat makes the ״ h ills like white elephants” im por­tant to Hem ingway’s story? Why is Keats so keen on th a t da rn nightingale; what does it symbolize for him? Why does Ibsen call N ora’s hom e ״a doll house”?

For another th ing, certain general topics can be adapted to fit alm ost any literary work. In fact, th a t’s just another way o f saying th a t there are certain common types (or subgenres) o f literajry essays, ju st as there are o f short sto­ries, plays, and poems. For example, one very com m on k ind o f literary essay

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explores the significance o f a seemingly insignificant aspect or elem ent o f a work—a word or group o f related words, an image or image-cluster, a m inor character, an incident or action, and so on. Equally com m on are character- focused essays o f three types. The first explores the outlook or worldview o f a character and its consequences. The second considers the way a m ajor character develops from the beginning o f a literary work to its end. The th ird analyzes the na tu re and significance o f a conflict between two charac­ters (or two groups o f characters) and the way th is conflict is u ltim ately resolved. Especially when you’re utterly befuddled abou t where to begin, it can be very useful to keep in m ind these generic topics and essay types and to use them as sta rtin g points. But rem em ber th a t they are ju s t starting points. One always has to adap t an d narrow a generic topic such as “im ag­ery” or “character change” in order to produce an effective essay. In prac­tice, then , no w riter simply “finds” a topic; he or she makes one.

Similarly, though the topic th a t leaps ou t a t you im m ediately m ight end up being the one you find m ost in teresting, you can only discover th a t by giving yourself some options. I t’s always a good idea to in itia lly come up w ith as m any topics as you can. Test ou t various topics to see which one will work best. M aking yourself identify m ultiple topics w ill lead you to th in k harder, look more closely, and reach deeper in to yourself and the work.

Here are some add itional techniques to identify po ten tia l topics. In each case, write your though ts down. D on’t w orry a t th is p o in t about w hat form your w riting takes or how good it is.

٠ Analyze your initial response.I f you’ve chosen a text th a t you feel strongly about, s ta r t w ith those responses. Try to describe your feelings an d trace them to the ir source. Be as specific as possible. W hat m om ents, aspects, o r elem ents o f the text m ost affected you? Exactly how and why did they affect you? W hat was m ost puzzling? am using? annoying? in triguing? Try to articu late the question beh ind your feelings. O ften, strong responses result when a work either challenges or affirm s an expectation, assum ption, o r con­viction th a t you, the reader, b ring to the work. T h in k about w hether and how th a t’s true here. Define the specific expectation, assum ption, or conviction. How, where, and why does the text challenge it? fulfill and affirm it? W hich o f your responses an d expectations are objectively valid, likely to be shared by o ther readers?

٠ Think, through the elements.S tart w ith a lis t o f elem ents an d work your way th ro u g h them , th in k ­ing about w hat’s unique or in teresting or puzzling about the text in term s o f each. W hat stands ou t abou t the tone? W hat about the speaker? the situation? o ther elements? Come up w ith a statem ent about each. Look for p a tte rns am ong your statem ents. Also, th in k about the questions im plied or overlooked by your statem ents.

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٠ Pose motive questions.In a rticu la ting a motive in your essay’s in troduction , your concern is prim arily w ith the readers, your goal being to give them a solid reason to keep reading. But you can often work your way tow ard a topic (or topics) by considering motive. As suggested earlier (16.3.1), there are three com m on motives. T urn each one in to a question in order to iden­tify po ten tia l topics:

1. W hat elem ents) o f this work m ight a casual reader misinterpret?2. W hat in teresting paradox(es), contradiction(s), o r tension(s) do

you see in th is text?3. W hat seem ingly m inor, insignificant, easily ignored element(s)

or aspect(s) o f th is text m ight in fact have m ajor significance?

17.1.4 Formulating a Question and a Thesis

Almost any elem ent, aspect, o r p o in t o f in terest in a text can become a topic for a sho rt essay. Before you can begin w riting an essay on th a t topic, however, you need to come up w ith a thesis or hypothesis—an arguable statem ent abou t the topic. Q uite often, one comes up w ith topic and thesis sim ultaneously: You m ight well decide to w rite about a topic precisely because you’ve got a specific claim to make abou t it. At o ther times, th a t’s not the case: The topic comes m uch m ore easily th an the thesis. In those cases, it helps to form ulate a specific question about the topic and to develop a specific answer. T h a t answer w ill be your thesis.

Again, rem em ber th a t your question and thesis should focus on some­th ing specific, yet they need to be generally valid, involving m ore th an your personal feelings. W ho, after all, can really argue w ith you about how you feel? The following example dem onstrates the way you m ight freewrite your way from an in itia l, subjective response to an arguable thesis:

/ really admire Bartleby.But why? w hat in the story encourages me to respond th a t way to

him? Weil, he stocks to his gates and in sltts on doing only w hat he “pre­fers’ to do. He doesn’t ju s t follow orders. That makes him really different from, a ll the other characters in the story (especially the narrator). And also from a lo t o f people I know, even me. He’s a nonconformist.

Do I th in k other readers should fee l the same way? Maybe, bu t maybe not. After all, his refusal to conform, does coouse problems for everyone around him. And axtwally i t doesn’t do him a lo t o f good either. Plus, he w ould be annoying in real life. And, even fy o u admire him, you can’t really care about him becassse he doesn’t serem to care about anybody else.

Maybe th a t’s the point. Through Bartleby, M elville explores both how rare and important, and how dangerous, nonconformity can be.

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Regardless o f how you arrive a t your thesis or how strongly you believe in it, i t ’s s till helpful a t th is early stage to th in k o f it as a working hypothe­sis—a claim th a t’s provisional, s till open to re th in k in g and revision.

1 7.2 PLANNING

Once you’ve form ulated a tentative thesis, you need to (1) identify the rele­vant evidence and (2) figure ou t how to s truc tu re your argum ent, a rticu la t­ing and ordering your claim s o r sub-ideas. Generally speaking, it works best to tackle s truc tu re first—th a t is, to first figure ou t your claim s an d cre­ate an ou tline—because doing so w ill help you get a sense o f w hat k in d o f evidence you need. However, you may som etim es get stuck and need to reverse th is process, gathering evidence first in order to then form ulate and order your claims.

17.2.1 Moving from Claims to Evidence

I f you w ant to focus first on structu re , s ta r t by looking closely a t your thesis. As in m any other aspects o f w riting, it helps to tem porarily fill your readers’ shoes, try ing to see your thesis and the prom ises it m akes from the readers’ po in t o f view. W hat w ill they need to be shown, and in w hat order?

I f a good thesis shapes readers’ expectations, it can also guide you, as a writer. A good thesis often im plies w hat the essay’s claim s should be and how they should be ordered. For instance, a thesis th a t focuses on the devel­opm ent o f a character im plies b o th th a t the first body paragraphs w ill explain w hat the character is in itially like an d th a t la ter paragraphs will explore how and why th a t character changes over the course o f the story, poem , or play. Similarly, the Bartleby thesis developed in the previous exam ple—Through Bartleby, Melville explores both how rare and important, and how dangerous, nonconformity can be.—im plies th a t the w riter’s essay will address four m ajor issues and will thus have four m ajor parts. The first p a rt m ust show th a t Bartleby is a nonconform ist. The second p a rt should estab­lish th a t th is nonconform ity is rare, a quality th a t isn’t shared by the o ther characters in the story. Finally, the th ird and fo u rth p arts should explore, respectively, the positive and negative aspects o r consequences o f Bartleby’s nonconform ist behavior. Some or all o f these parts may need to include m ultiple paragraphs, each devoted to a more specific claim.

At th is stage, i t ’s very helpful to create an outline. W rite dow n or type ou t your thesis, an d then list each claim (to create a sentence outline) or each o f the topics to be covered (to create a topic outline). Now you can re tu rn to the text, rereading it in order to gather evidence for each claim . In the p ro ­cess, you m ight discover facts th a t seem relevant to the thesis b u t th a t don’t relate directly to any o f the claim s you’ve articu lated . In th a t case, you may need to insert a new claim in to the outline. A dditionally, you may find (and

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should actively look for) facts th a t challenge your argum ent. Test and reas­sess your claim s against those facts.

17.2.2 Moving from Evidence to Claims

I f you are focusing first on evidence, s ta r t by rereading the literary work in a m ore strategic way, searching for everything relevant to your to p ic - words, phrases, s tru c tu ra l devices, changes o f tone, and so forth . As you read (slowly and single-mindedly, w ith your thesis in m ind), keep your pen constantly poised to m ark or note down useful facts. Be ready to say som e­th ing abou t the facts as you come upon them ; im m ediately w rite down any ideas th a t occur to you. Some o f these w ill appear in your essay; some won’t. Just like m ost o f the footage shot in m aking a film, m any o f your notes will end up on the cutting-room floor. As in film m aking, however, having too m uch raw m ateria l is preferable to no t having enough.

No one can tell you exactly how to take notes. But here is one process th a t you m ight try. Be forewarned: This process involves using notecards or un ifo rm sheets o f paper. H aving your notes on individual cards makes it easier to separate and so rt them , a concrete, physical process th a t can aid the m ental process o f organizing thoughts and facts. I f you are w orking on a com puter, create notecards by p u ttin g page breaks between each note or by leaving enough space so th a t you can cu t each page down to a un ifo rm size.

1. Keep your thesis constantly in m ind as you reread and take notes. M ark a ll the passages in the text th a t bear on your thesis. For each, create a notecard th a t contains bo th (a) a single sentence describ­ing how the passage relates to your thesis and (b) the specific in fo r­m ation abou t the passage’s location th a t you will need to create a paren thetical citation. (The info rm ation you need will depend on the k ind o f text you’re working with; for specifics, see 19.2.1.) Also, m ake cards for o ther relevant, evidentiary facts—like aspects o f a poem ’s rhyme scheme.

2. Keep read ing and tak ing notes u n til any o f the following occur:

٠ You get too tired and lose your concentration. (Stop, take a break, come back later.)

٠ You stop finding relevant evidence or perceive a noticeable drying up o f your ideas. (Again, i t ’s tim e to pause. Later, when your m ind is fresh, read the text one more tim e to ensure th a t you d id n ’t miss anything.)

٠ You find yourself an n o ta tin g every sentence or line, so th a t the evidence all ru n s together in to a single blob. (If th is happens, your thesis is probably too broad. Sim plify and narrow it. Then continue notetaking.)

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٠ You become im patien t w ith your no te tak ing and can’t w ait to get s tarted writing. (S tart d ra fting immediately. But be prepared to go back to system atic no te tak ing i f your ideas stop com ing or your energy fades.)

٠ You find th a t the evidence is insufficient for your thesis, th a t it points in ano ther direction, or th a t it contradicts your thesis. (Revise your thesis to accom m odate the evidence, an d begin rereading once more.)

3. W hen you th in k you have finished no te tak ing , read all your note- cards over slowly, one by one, and jo t dow n any fu rth e r ideas as they occur to you, each one on a separate notecard.

Use your notecards to work tow ard an outline. Again, there are many ways to go abou t doing this. Here’s one process.

1. Sort your cards in to logical groups or clusters. Come up w ith a keyword for th a t group, and w rite th a t word at the top o f each card in the group.

2. Set your notecards aside. O n a fresh sheet o f paper or in a separate docum ent on your com puter, w rite all the m ajor po in ts you w ant to make. W rite them random ly, as they occur to you. T hen read quickly th ro u g h your notecards, and ad d to your lis t any im por­ta n t po in ts you have left out.

3. Now it’s tim e to order your points. P u tting your po in ts in order is som ething o f a guess a t th is point, and you may well w ant to reor­der later. For now, m ake your best guess. Taking your random list, p u t a “1” in fron t o f the p o in t you will probably begin w ith, a “2” before the probable second point, and so on.

4. Copy the list in num erical order, revising (if necessary) as you go.

5. M atch up your notes (and examples) w ith the po in ts on your ou t­line. Prepare a title card for each p o in t in the outline, w riting on it the p o in t an d its probable place in the essay. T hen line them up in order before you begin w riting. I f you’re w orking on a com puter, use the search function to find each instance o f a keyword, phrase, or nam e. T hen cu t and paste in order to arrange your electronic “cards” under the headings you’ve identified.

6. At th is po in t, you may discover cards th a t resist classification, cards th a t belong in two or more places, an d /o r cards th a t don’t belong anywhere a t all. I f a card relates to more th an one point, pu t it in the pile w ith the lowest num ber, bu t w rite on it the num ­ber or num bers o f o ther possible locations. Try to find a place for the cards th a t don’t seem to fit, and th en pu t any th a t rem ain u nso rted in to a special file m arked “?” or “use in revision.”

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Before you begin d rafting , you may w ant to develop a m ore elaborate outline, incorporating examples and including topic sentences for each paragraph. O r you may wish to work directly from your sketchy outline and cards.

17.3 DRAFTING

I f you’ve taken enough tim e w ith the p lann ing process, you may already be quite close to a first d raft. I f you’ve instead jum ped stra igh t in to w riting, you may have to move back and fo rth between com posing and tak ing some o f the steps described in the last section. E ither way, rem em ber th a t first d rafts are often called rough drafts for a reason. T h in k o f yourself as a pain ter ״ roughing o u t” a sketch in p reparation for the more detailed pain ting to come. The m ost im p o rtan t th in g is to s ta rt w riting an d keep a t it.

Try to s ta rt w ith your thesis an d work your way step by step th rough the entire body o f the essay at one sitting. (However, you don’t actually have to sit the whole tim e; i f you get stuck, jum p up an d down, walk a round the room, water your plants. T hen get back to work.) You will a lm ost certainly feel frustrated a t tim es—as you search for the righ t word, struggle to decide how the next sentence should begin, or discover th a t you need to tackle ideas in a different order th an you had originally planned.

Stick to it. I f you become tru ly stuck, try to explain your p o in t to another person, or get ou t a piece o f paper or open a new com puter file and try work­ing out your ideas or freew riting for a few m inutes before re tu rn in g to your draft. Or, i f you get to a section you simply can’t w rite a t the m om ent, make a note about w hat needs to go in th a t spot. Then move on and come back to tha t point later.

Whatever it takes, stay w ith your d ra ft u n til you’ve at least got a m iddle, or body, th a t you’re relatively satisfied with. T hen take a break. Later or even tom orrow come back and take ano ther shot, a ttach ing an in troduc­tion and conclusion to the body, filling in any gaps, doing your u tm ost to create a relatively satisfying whole. Now pat yourself on the back and take another break.

17.4 REVISING

Revision is one o f the m ost im p o rtan t and difficu lt tasks for any writer. I t ’s a crucial stage in the w riting process, yet one th a t is all too easy to ignore or mismanage. The difference between a so-so essay and a good one, between a good essay and a great one, often depends entirely on effective revision. Give yourself tim e to revise and develop revision strategies th a t work for you; the investm ent in tim e and effort w ill pay rich dividends.

Ideally, the process o f revision should involve three d istinc t tasks: assess­ing the elements, im proving the argum ent, and editing and proofreading.

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Each o f these may require a separate draft. Before considering those three tasks, however, you should be aware o f the following three general tips.

First, effective revision requires you to tem porarily play the role o f reader, as well as writer, o f your essay. Take a step back from your draft, doing your u tm ost to look a t it from a more objective p o in t o f view. Revi­sion dem ands re-vision—looking again, seeing anew. As a result, th is is an especially good tim e to involve o ther people. Have a classm ate or friend read and critique your draft.

Second, at th is stage it helps to th in k less in absolute term s (right and ١vrong, good and bad) th an in term s o f strengths and weaknesses (elements and aspects o f the d ra ft th a t work well and those th a t can be improved th rough revision). I f you can understand w hat’s m aking your essay work, as well as w hat’s detracting from it, then you’re b etter able to improve it. D on’t get distracted from th is im p o rtan t work by gram m atical errors, spelling m istakes, or other m inutiae; there w ill be tim e to correct them later.

T h ird , learn to take fu ll advantage o f all the capabilities o f the com ­puter, bu t also recognize its lim itations. C u tting and pasting make experi­m enting w ith d ifferent organizational strategies a breeze; word-processing program s identify problem s w ith gram m ar, spelling, and syntax; the search function can locate repetitive or problem atic wording; and so on. You should fam iliarize yourself w ith, and use, all o f the tools your com puter provides and be th an k fu l th a t you barely know the m eaning o f the word white-out. But you should also rem em ber th a t the com puter is ju st a tool w ith lim its and th a t you m ust be its m aster. Like any tool, it can create new problem s in the process o f solving old ones. W hen it comes to gram m ar, syntax, and spelling, for instance, you should always pay a tten tion to your program ’s queries and suggestions. But i f you let it m ake a ll the decisions, you may end up w ith an essay fu ll o f m alapropism s at once h ilarious and tragic (one s tuden t essay consistently referred to hum an beings as human beans'.) or o f sentences th a t are all exactly the same size and sh a p e -a ll per­fectly correct, and all perfectly boring. Also, because the com puter makes cu tting and pasting so easy an d only shows an essay one screen a t a time, i t ’s m uch easier to reorganize bu t m uch harder to recognize the effects o f doing so. D uring revision, then, you should a t tim es move away from the com puter screen. P rin t ou t a hard copy periodically so th a t you can assess your essay as a whole, identifying problem s th a t you can re tu rn to the com ­pu ter to fix.

17.4.1 Assessing the Elements

The first step in revision is to m ake sure th a t a ll the elem ents or w orking p arts o f the essay are indeed working. To help w ith th a t process, ru n th rough the following checklist in order to identify the strengths an d weak­nesses o f your draft. Try to answ er each question honestly.

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Thesis□ Is there one claim th a t effectively controls the essay?□ Is the claim debatable?□ Does the claim dem onstrate real thought? Does it tru ly illum inate

the text and the topic?Structure

BEGINNING

□ Does the in troduc tion establish a clear motive for readers, effec­tively convincing them th a t there’s som ething w orth th ink ing , reading, an d w riting abou t here?

□ Does it give readers a ll (and only) the basic in fo rm ation they need about the text, author, an d topic?

Does the in □؛ troduction clearly state the central claim or thesis? Is it obvious which claim is the thesis?

MIDDLE

□ Does each paragraph sta te one debatable claim? Is the m ain claim always obvious? Does everything in the paragraph relate to, and help support and develop, th a t claim?

□ Is each o f those claim s clearly related to (bu t d ifferen t from ) the thesis?

□ Are the claim s/paragraphs logically ordered?□ Is th a t logic clear? Is each claim clearly linked to those th a t come

before and after? Are there any logical “leaps” th a t readers m ight have trouble taking?

□ Does each c laim /paragraph clearly b u ild on the last one? Does the argum ent move forw ard, o r does it seem more like a lis t or a tou r th rough a m useum o f in teresting observations?

، J Do any key claim s or steps in the argum ent seem to be missing?

T i p : You may be better able to discover structural weaknesses if you1. re-outline your draft as it is. Copy your thesis statement and each of

your topic sentences into a separate document. Then pose the above questions. OR

2. read through the essay with highlighters of various colors in hand. As you read, color-code parts that could be restatements of the same or closely related ideas. Then reorganize to match up the colors.

ENDING

□ Does the conclusion give readers the sense th a t they’ve gotten somewhere and th a t the journey has been worthwhile?

٥ Does it indicate the im plications o f the argum ent, consider relevant evaluative questions, or discuss questions th a t rem ain unanswered?

17.4 Revising 1269

Evidence□ Is there ample, appropriate evidence for each claim?□ Are the appropriateness and significance o f each fact—its relevance

to the claim —perfectly clear?□ Are there any weak examples or inferences th a t aren’t reasonable?

Are there m om ents when readers m ight ask, “But cou ldn’t th a t fact instead m ean th is?”

□ Is all the evidence considered? W hat abou t facts th a t m ight com ­plicate or con trad ict the argum ent? Are there m om ents when read­ers m ight th in k , “But w hat abou t th is o ther fact?”

□ Is each piece o f evidence clearly presented? Do readers have a ll the contextual in form ation they need to understand a quotation?

□ Is each piece o f evidence gracefully presented? Are quo tations var­ied by length and presentation? Are they ever too long? Are there any unnecessary block quotations, or block quo tations th a t require add itional analysis? (For more specific explanations and advice on effective quotation , see 19.1.)

Though you w ant to pay a tten tion to all o f the elem ents, first d rafts often have sim ilar weaknesses. There are three especially com m on ones:

٠ Mismatch between thesis and argument or between introduction and body Sometimes a first or second d ra ft ends up being a tool for discover­ing w hat your thesis really is. As a result, you may find th a t the the­sis o f your d ra ft (or your entire in troduction) doesn’t fit the argum ent you’ve ended up m aking. You thus need to s ta rt your revision by reworking the thesis and in troduction . T hen work your way back th rough the essay, m aking sure th a t each claim or topic sentence fits the new thesis.

٠ The list, or “museum tour,” structureIn a draft, writers sometimes present each claim as i f it were just an item on a list (First, second, and so on) or as a stop on a to u r o f ideas (And this is also important. . . ) . But presenting your ideas in th is way keeps you and your readers from m aking logical connections between ideas. I t may also prevent your argum ent from developing. Sometimes it can even be a sign th a t you’ve ceased arguing entirely, falling into mere plot sum m ary or description. Check to see i f num ber-like words or phrases appear prom inently a t the beginning o f your paragraphs or if your paragraphs could be pu t into a different order w ithout fu n ­dam entally changing w hat you’re saying. At times, solving th is p rob­lem will require wholesale reth inking and reorganizing. But a t other times, you will ju st need to add or rework topic sentences. Make sure th a t there’s a clearly stated, debatable claim at the beginning o f each paragraph and th a t each claim relates to, bu t differs from , the thesis.

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٠ Missing sub-ideasYou may find th a t you’ve skipped a logical step in your argum ent— th a t the claim you m ake in , say, body paragraph 3 actually depends on, or makes sense only in ligh t of, a m ore basic claim th a t you took for gran ted in your draft. In th a t case, you’ll need to create and in sert a new paragraph th a t articulates, supports, an d develops this key claim.

17.4.2 Enriching the Argument

Step 1 o f the revision process aim s to ensure th a t your essay does the best possible job o f m aking your argum ent. But revision is also an o p p o rtu ­nity to go beyond th a t—to th in k about ways in which your overall argu­m ent m ight be m ade more thorough and complex. In d ra fting an essay our a tten tion is o ften an d rightly focused on em phatically stak ing ou t a partic­u la r position an d proving its validity. This is the fundam en ta l task o f any essay, and you certainly don’t w ant to do any th ing at th is stage to com pro­mise tha t. At the same tim e, you do w ant to m ake sure th a t you haven’t purchased clarity a t the cost o f oversim plification by, for example, ignoring evidence th a t m ight underm ine or complicate your claims, alternative in ter­pretations o f the evidence you do present, or alternative claim s or points o f view. Remember, you have a b e tter chance o f persuading readers to accept your po in t o f view i f you show them th a t i t ’s based on a thorough, open- m inded exploration o f the text and topic. D on’t invent unreasonable or irrel­evant com plications or counterargum ents. Do try to assess your argum ent objectively an d honestly, perhaps testing it against the text one more time. T h ink like a reader ra ther th an a writer: Are there points where a reasonable reader m ight object to, or disagree w ith, the argum ent? Have you ignored or glossed over any questions or issues th a t a reasonable reader m ight expect an essay on th is topic to address?

17.4.3 Editing and Proofreading

Once you’ve go tten the overall argum ent in good shape, it’s tim e to focus on the sm all bu t im p o rtan t s tu ff—words and sentences. Your prose should no t only convey your ideas to your readers bu t also dem onstrate how m uch you care about your essay. Flawless prose can’t disguise a vapid or illogical argum ent, bu t faulty, flabby prose can destroy a potentially per­suasive and th o u g h tfu l one. D on’t sabotage all your hard work by failing to correct m isspelled words, gram m atical problem s, m isquotations, incorrect citations, or typographical errors. Little oversights m ake all the difference when it comes to clarity and credibility.

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Though you will w ant to check all o f the following aspects o f your essay, it w ill probably be easier to spot m istakes and weaknesses i f you read th rough the essay several tim es, concentrating each tim e on one specific aspect.

Every w riter has individual weaknesses an d strengths, and every w riter tends to be overly fond o f certa in phrases an d sentence structu res. W ith practice, you will learn to watch ou t for the k inds o f m istakes to which you are m ost prone. Eventually, you can and should develop your own personal­ized editing checklist.Sentences

□ Does each one read clearly and crisply?□ Are they varied in length, s truc tu re , and word order?□ Is the phrasing d irect ra ther th an roundabout?

T i p s :1. Try circling, or using your computer to search for, every preposition and

to be verb. Since these can lead to confusion or roundabout phrasing, weed out as many as you can.

2. Try reading your paper aloud or having your roommate read it to you.Note places where you stumble, and listen for sentences that are hard to get through or understand.

Words□ Have I used any words whose m eaning I’m no t sure of?□ Are the idiom s used correctly? Is my term inology correct?□ Do my key words always m ean exactly the same thing?□ Do I ever use a fancy word or phrase where a sim pler one m ight do?□ Are there any unnecessary words or phrases?□ Do my m etaphors and figures o f speech m ake literal sense?□ Are my verbs active and precise?□ Are my p ronoun references clear and correct?□ Do my subjects and verbs always agree?

Mechanics□ Is every quo ta tion correctly worded and punctuated?□ Is the source o f each quo ta tion clearly indicated th ro u g h paren­

thetical citation?□ Have I checked the spelling o f words I’m no t sure of? (Remember

th a t spell-checks won’t indicate how to spell every word an d th a t they som etim es create m istakes by substitu tin g the w rong word for the m isspelled one.)

□ Are my pages num bered?□ Does the first page o f my essay clearly indicate my nam e (and any

o ther required identifying inform ation), as well as my essay’s title?

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17.5 CRAFTING A TITLE

Complete your essay by giving it a title. As any researcher try ing to locate and assess sources by browsing titles will tell you, titles are extremely im portan t. They’re the first th in g readers encounter and a w riter’s first o p p o rtu n ity to create a good im pression an d to shape readers’ expecta­tions. Every good essay deserves a good title. A nd a good title is one th a t b o th informs an d interests. In fo rm readers by telling them b o th the work(s) your essay will analyze and som ething abou t your topic. In terest them with an especially vivid and telling word or a sho rt phrase from the literary work (“ ‘We all said, “she will kill herself’” : The N arrator/D etective in W illiam F aulkner’s 'A Rose for Emily’”), w ith a b it o f wordplay (‘“ T in tern Abbey’ an d the A rt o f A rtlessness”), or w ith a little o f bo th (“A Rose for ‘A Rose for Emily’”).