Writing about Literature/ Draft Workshop

Your Name_________________________________________________ Date______________

Draft workshop

Trade papers with a partner.  Read your partner’s essay over quickly, noting grammar and mechanical errors right where they occur. After you’ve read the essay, locate the paper’s thesis, underline it, and decide if the thesis clearly states an assertion that is supported by the rest of the essay.  Then write your comments on a back page (or pages) of the essay itself (not this handout) so they can refer to them when they revise.  (The most helpful comments you can make are about questions on this sheet to which you answer “No”.)   

Here are things to look for in the essay:	Yes	No
Does the thesis clearly state the writer’s position on the topic?  (If you answer no, try and suggest ways the thesis could be modified.)
Is the thesis specific?   (i.e. makes a workable, pointed argument?)
Does the paper give evidence that directly supports the thesis?  (If it does not, try and suggest evidence which would, or ways the thesis could be modified in order to reflect what the essay writer’s really trying to argue.  Be specific about which evidence you mean and what paragraph of the essay it can be found in.
Are there clear explanations of what the evidence means?
Are there explanations of how the evidence supports the thesis?       (That is, does the writer prove the evidence makes the case the writer claims it does?)  If any of the explanations are unclear, confusing, too general, or otherwise don’t support the argument, state specifically which explanations you mean and what paragraph of the essay they can be found in.
Does the writer provide various types of evidence?  (i.e. facts, statistics, examples, anecdotes, testimony etc.).  Do they develop and support the thesis convincingly?  If not, try to suggest how he or she may add to the evidence to better round it out and make it more effective.
Are the paragraphs unified, coherent, and developed?  (Are there clear topic sentences, are there transitions between ideas, etc.?  Be specific about where they might be added.)
Do the language, word usage, grammar and mechanics, tone, and other aspects of the presentation detract from the paper?  (If yes, be specific about what and where.)

If anything harms the overall impression the essay makes, use the backs of pages of the essay to state specifically which aspects you mean and what paragraph of the essay they can be found in.  Any suggestions you make should given (and taken) in the spirit of helping a colleague improve their work.

Name of the paper’s author: ________________________________________________________

(To print this worksheet, you might want to copy everything above this sentence into another document and print it.)


From Dr Tracy, here is a list of do’s and don’ts when writing your papers for this class:

1) A paper about literature tells its reader things that will help them better understand and appreciate the stories or poems it's written about. The best way to begin is to organize your paper around a thesis, which is a statement of the position you are taking (for instance, your thesis might state that the symbols in a particular story give clues to its overall meaning). In other words, a thesis is a short summary (one or two sentences) of the paper's overall argument. After you've decided on a working thesis (at this point it's a "working thesis" because you may try to fine-tune or improve on it as you get deeper into the paper), everything in the paper should be devoted to backing up what you say in the thesis.

2) Never give long plot summaries. You’re not giving a book report, you’re analyzing literature. Assume that the reader of your paper has read the story. Recapping the events of the plot is a) an insult to your reader's intelligence and b) taking up valuable time and space which would be much better spent arguing your case. If a general summary of a particular passage or sequence of events is essential to making a point, go ahead and do that, but BE BRIEF. In other words, get right to the point and stick to it.

3) Through active reading and participating in class discussions you’ll draw conclusions about what is going on in the reading. State your conclusions clearly and precisely, and back them up by directly quoting from the text. However, you should only quote the specific term, phrase, sentence, or pertinent parts of a longer passage from which you draw specific conclusion(s) (the non-pertinent parts should be cut out and represented by ellipses […]).

4) Be sure to explain how and why this evidence (the particular quote[s] you’re using, the passage[s] you're discussing) leads to your conclusion(s). This is basically connecting cause (what the text actually says) to effect (what you conclude the text means/ suggests/ implies/ reveals). Obviously, you have to be able to convince your reader that the cause does lead to the effect.

• 4 a. Never assume readers already make the connections you see and will reason out on their own why the text leads to your conclusion(s). In fact, assume they don’t - you’re writing to shed light on the story for them. In other words, explicitly state how the evidence leads to the conclusion, just like a lawyer would in a court case.
• 4 b. However, if the conclusion is so obvious that they should make this connection without your doing it for them, you shouldn't be taking up your space in the paper and their time with it. Don’t waste everyone's time telling them things they already know. Find a point that does shed new light on the story and make that point instead (and back it up). Plenty of points worth making will come out in your own thoughts about your reading, and our discussions.

5) Don’t repeat information you’ve already given or points you’ve already made earlier in the essay. This goes for the same reasons as much of the above – it wastes time and space in the essay that could be used more productively, and insults the intelligence of the reader.

The material below is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice at bottom.

Contributors: Purdue OWL.

Summary: This handout covers major topics relating to writing about fiction. This covers prewriting, close reading, thesis development, drafting, and common pitfalls to avoid.

Developing a Thesis

1. Once you've read the story or novel closely, look back over your notes for patterns of questions or ideas that interest you. Have most of your questions been about the characters, how they develop or change?

For example:

If you are reading Conrad's The Secret Agent, do you seem to be most interested in what the author has to say about society? Choose a pattern of ideas and express it in the form of a question and an answer such as the following:

Question: What does Conrad seem to be suggesting about early 20th century London society in his novel The Secret Agent?

Answer: Conrad suggests that all classes of society are corrupt.

Pitfalls:

Choosing too many ideas.

Choosing an idea without any support.

2. Once you have some general points to focus on, write your possible ideas and answer them.

For example:

Question: How does Conrad develop the idea that all classes of society are corrupt?

Answer: He uses images of beasts and cannibalism whether he's describing socialites, policemen or secret agents.

3. To write your thesis statement, all you have to do is turn the question and answer around. You've already given the answer, now just put it in a sentence (or a couple of sentences) so that the thesis of your paper is clear.

For example:

In his novel, The Secret Agent, Conrad uses beast and cannibal imagery to describe the characters and their relationships to each other. This pattern of images suggests that Conrad saw corruption in every level of early twentieth century London society.

4. Now that you're familiar with the story or novel and have developed a thesis statement, you're ready to choose the evidence you'll use to support your thesis. There are a lot of good ways to do this, but all of them depend on a strong thesis for their direction.

For example:

Here's a student's thesis about Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent.

In his novel, The Secret Agent, Conrad uses beast and cannibal imagery to describe the characters and their relationships to each other. This pattern of images suggests that Conrad saw corruption in every level of early twentieth century London society.

This thesis focuses on the idea of social corruption and the device of imagery. To support this thesis, you would need to find images of beasts and cannibalism within the text.

Pre-Writing Activities and Drafting Your Essay

Pre-Writing Activities

1. Freewrite

Without referring to the text or your notes, write for five to ten minutes on all the images (or the device you have chosen to examine) you can recall. This will provide an initial list which will make up your body of evidence.

2. Review

Look back through the text and your notes to further identify evidence, keeping focused on the particular device you want to discuss.

3. Research

Optional: Ask your instructor about outside sources before you use them.

Once you've identified enough textual evidence to support your thesis, you may want to see what other writers have had to say about your topic. This kind of appeal to other authorities helps you back up and interpret your reading of the work.

4. Evaluate

You will probably generate more evidence than you can use. One way to decide which evidence to take and which to leave is to limit your choices to the best, most illustrative examples you can find. Focus on how the devices are used to develop major characters, major scenes, and major turning points in the work.

Drafting Your Essay

You've read and annotated the work, developed a thesis, and identified your evidence. Now you're ready to work your evidence into your draft. Here are some effective techniques.

1. Quoting

What is a quote?

Quoting involves taking a word, phrase, or passage directly from the story, novel, or critical essay and working it grammatically into your discussion. Here's an example:

In his novel, The Secret Agent, Conrad describes Verloc as "undemonstrative and burly in a fat-pig style.... " (69). The pig image suggests that Verloc is not a lean, zealous anarchist, but is actually a corrupt, complacent middle class man who is interested in preserving his comfortable status.

Notice three things about the example above:

o The passage from the novel is enclosed in quotes and the page number is indicated in parentheses. For more help see our handouts on MLA and APA.

o The passage is introduced in a coherent grammatical style; it reads like a complete, correct sentence. For more help, see our handout on using quotation marks.

o The quote is interpreted, not patched on and left for the reader to figure out what it means.

When should I quote?

o To make a particularly important point

o When a passage or point is particularly well written

o To include a particularly authoritative source

How should I quote?

o All quotes must be introduced, discussed, and woven into the text. As you revise, make sure you don't have two quotes end-to-end.

o A good rule of thumb: Don't let your quotes exceed 25% of your text.

2. Paraphrasing

What is paraphrasing?

o This is using your own words to say what the author said. To paraphrase the quote used above, you might say something like:

o Conrad describes Verloc as a big man who isn't very expressive and who looks like a pig.

When should I paraphrase?

o Paraphrasing is useful in general discussion (introduction or conclusion) or when the author's original style is hard to understand.

o Again, you would need to interpret the paraphrase just as you would a quote.

o For more help, see the OWL handout on paraphrasing.

3. Summarizing

What is summarizing?

o This is taking larger passages from the original work and summing them up in a sentence or two. To use the example above: Conrad uses pig imagery to describe Verloc's character.

When should I summarize?

o Like paraphrasing, summary is useful in general discussion which leads up to a specific point and when you want to introduce the work and present the thesis.

o For more help, see the OWL handout on Summarizing.

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Subject-Verb Agreement

For most English verbs, there are in effect only two verb forms: Third-person singular subjects (he, she, it) take verbs which usually end in “s”; all others usually take a verb without an “s” at the end:

I see dead people.
You see what I mean.
He sees a therapist.
We see eye to eye.
You seniors see why those freshmen failed English 101, don’t you?
They see the scenic sea from their seats by the seashore.

1) Indefinite Pronouns: The indefinite pronouns anybody, anyone, anything, everybody, everyone, everything, somebody, someone, something, nothing, no one, and nobody are always singular and, therefore, always require third-person singular verbs:
• Everybody loves somebody some time.
• Nobody likes a sore loser.
Some indefinite pronouns — such as all and some — can be singular or plural, depending on what they're referring to. If the thing referred to is countable (1 person, 2 people), it’s plural. If it isn’t countable, it’s singular:
• Some of the people are amused.
• All of the fun has gone out of it.

2) None can be either singular or plural; none meaning not one usually gets a singular verb, none meaning not any often gets a plural verb (though the Brits would disagree with this, but what do they know about English?):
• None of them wants a piece of pie?
• None of the cabins have a lake view?

3) Everyone, everybody, and each are always 3rd person singular:
• Everyone loves Raymond.
• Everybody hates Raymond.
• Each of these episodes is lamer than the last one.

4) Phrases such as together with, as well as, and along with modify the subject, and therefore do not create plural (compound) subjects (as the word and would):
• The governor, along with his cronies, is going to jail.
• The governor and his cronies are going to jail.

5) The pronouns neither and either are singular and require singular verbs:
• Neither of the bums is worth voting for.
• Either one is a bad choice.

6) When nor or or is used, the subject closer to the verb determines the number (plural or singular) of the verb (no matter whether the subject comes before or after the verb):
• Either my cat or my dogs are going to travel with me.
• Neither my dogs nor my cat is going to come.
• Have either my cats or my dog made a mess?
• Has either my dog or my cats bitten you?

7) The words there and here are not subjects. The subject of a sentence is always one or more persons, places or things:
• There are two kinds of people: those who think there are only two kinds of people, and everybody else.
• There is no second option.
• Here are two ways to look at it.

8) Sometimes modifying phrases come between a subject and its verb, but these modifiers do not change the agreement between a subject and its verb:
• The man, who owns many stocks and bonds, is very particular about whom he trusts.

9) Some words that end in -s are actually singular and require singular verbs.
• The news from Washington is all bad.
• Politics is a dirty business.

10) Collective nouns that do not end in "s" take a singular verb:
• The family is trying to recover from the tragedy.
• This group needs a new leader.

An exception to this rule is sports teams:
• The Chicago Fury have a fantastic goalie.
• The Stanford Cardinal suck.

Common Writing Errors and How to Fix Them

You would never think of showing up to a public speaking engagement or business meeting drunk, badly needing a bath, and drooling on your shirt. But writers are in danger of making (almost) as bad an impression on their readers when they make glaring mistakes. Don’t be that writer! Here are some common mistakes and tips on avoiding them:
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Fouled-up Fragments: Make sure each sentence contains a grammatically complete and independent thought that can stand on its own. How do you know it’s a complete sentence? It has a subject (that is, one or more persons, places or things) doing or being something (a verb).

Example: Dante is a poet. Dante, a person, is the subject. The verb is "is."

Note: Sometimes the subject is implied or understood, and when that’s the case, it usually is “you.” Example: Scram! (Scram is the verb, the subject is you, you so and so.)

Often a writer creates a fragment by assuming the subject or verb in the previous sentence carries over to the next one, as in the following example (where the second sentence is a fragment): “I like fruit. Apples, oranges, that kind of thing.” This type of second sentence is probably OK in conversation, and occasionally in writing (for effect), but it can’t stand alone as a complete thought (since without the previous sentence it makes no sense). Any sentence without a subject and a verb is a fragment, and is not appropriate for academic or formal writing.
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Messed-up Modifiers: A modifier changes the meaning of (or modifies) another word in the sentence, usually by adding information about it. A lot of times a modifier is just a one-word adjective, but sometimes a modifier can be a rather long phrase or clause. When this is the case, a couple of errors may creep in:

a) One common error is that the grammar of the sentence may suffer; particularly, subject-verb agreement. To avoid this error, make sure the modifier can be removed without affecting the agreement between subject and verb. Eg: “The man, who owns many stocks and bonds, is very particular about whom he trusts.” The modifier is the phrase “who owns many stocks and bonds.” The subject is the man, not his stocks or bonds, which are mentioned to give you more info about the man. When in doubt, check the sentence by removing the modifier and seeing if the grammar is correct: “The man is very particular about whom he trusts.”

b) Another common error is made when you insert a misplaced modifier into your sentence (also sometimes called a “dangling modifier” or “dangling participle”). It happens when something comes between the modifier and the thing being modified. Example: “Stinking to high heaven, Andre threw the rotten fish in the garbage.” We hope the modifier, “stinking to high heaven,” describes the rotten fish and not Andre, but the misplaced modifier makes it sound like it’s the other way around.
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Hard-to-handle Homonyms: When you write the word “affect,” but you mean “effect,” you’ve confused two homonyms (words that look or sound very similar). Affect is usually a verb and effect is usually a noun, but, confusingly, both can be the other thing. When affect is a noun it takes a stress on the first syllable (like the duck who sells insurance), but effect as a verb both sounds like affect and has a close enough meaning ("effect" = "bring about"; "affect" = "change, alter, produce an effect") to be inadvertently correct every once in a while – but not usually. Other commonly misused homonyms include feel and fill, sense, cents, and since, accept and except, to, too, and two, than and then, led and lead, there, their, and they’re, and it’s and its. (If you say “Ute” when you mean “youth,” you’re not wrong, you’re from the South Side of Chicago.)
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Pronoun Pitfalls: When you use pronouns, including he, she, it, they, this, that, these, those, and which, always make sure your reader or listener knows what you’re referring to (what you’re referring to is called the pronoun’s antecedent or referent). If you’ve mentioned a couple of things in your sentence or just previous to it, merely pointing to “this” or “it” can leave your reader guessing which of the things you mean.

Also make sure the pronoun and its antecedent agree in number and case:

Number: singular nouns take singular pronouns – duh. In conversation, a lot of people use "they" or "their" to refer to a singular person, but this is usually because being grammatically correct and saying “he or she” or “him or her” is awkward and troublesome and time consuming. In formal and academic writing, however, you have to take the trouble and the time to show you know the correct grammar. The real problems arise when there are multiple things referred to, and indefinite pronouns like "either" or "neither" are used. The general rule is the closest pronoun to the verb determines the number: “Either my cat or my dogs are going to travel with me. “ “Neither my dogs nor my cat is going to come.”

Case: If the pronoun is referring to somebody or something that is doing something, the pronoun needs to be in subjective case. Example: “We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts …”. In conversation you might think it’s fine to say “us three are bearing …”. You’d be wrong. Another pronoun commonly used in the wrong case is whom. “Whom” is the objective form of “who” (he : him = who : whom), and so “whom” is never doing something, but like the high-falutin’ person it sounds like, it’s having things done for it, like having bells toll for it etc.)
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Atrocious Apostrophes: Apostrophes mean two words have been contracted into one (“they are” becomes “they’re”) or something belongs to somebody or something (“life’s mysteries”). Plural nouns only get them when they are also possessive. So don’t just go randomly throwing them in, especially if you’re the person writing the messages on signs or billboards.
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Parallelism Peccadilloes: When you use words (such as modifiers of a noun) in a pair or series or list, they should be phrased in the same way grammatically. This also applies to words that follow correlative conjunctions (“either … or,” “both … and,” etc). For example, it would be wrong to say “College students have three objectives: making good grades, meet new people, and learn new things.” Correct this by using “College students have three objectives: making good grades, meeting new people, and getting high learning new things.” Also, for example, instead of “The road was long, narrow, and turning this way and that,” (using two adjectives and a participle phrase) using three adjectives is grammatically parallel: “The road was long, narrow, and winding.” In academic writing, correct usage and grammar is always required.
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