USLA02: Love and Marriage in 19th Century Literature

Guidelines for Writing Longer Papers in USLA02

The short response papers should help prepare you for writing the longer assignments in this module. Although you will have more time to set up your argument, you should still strive to state your thesis clearly in the introduction, choose only the most convincing textual evidence for close reading and analysis, and be prepared to rewrite until your paper is a smoothly flowing, coherent argument.

Whereas the short responses are also "thought starters" about the texts, the longer papers ask you to do the following:

• Display independent thought. You will be responsible for formulating an interesting and arguable thesis. You don't have to invent your own topic, but do need to read carefully, take notes, and participate in discussion and short writing before you can formulate your own ideas about the material.
• Present an argument worth reading. Keep your readers in mind - why should they spend the time reading your paper or listening to your thesis? According to Gordon Harvey (some of you may be familiar with this work after completing Writing and Critical Thinking) a worthwhile argument addresses "a problem, difficulty, over-simplification, misapprehension, dilemma, or violate expectation to which your thesis is a correction, explanation, clarification, solution or contribution" (Elements of the Academic Essay).
• Fully develop your ideas. Many people find outlining useful, so you have a map of how your argument will proceed. Others find it more helpful to outline once they have written a first draft, and then use this outline to rearrange paragraphs so the ideas flow more logically. Remember to state the main point of each paragraph in the first or second sentence (topic sentence) of that paragraph. Proceed to support this idea with specific evidence from the text. When you do present evidence, analyze it as thoroughly as possible. This means commenting on the evidence and relating it to your overall argument.

As noted in the discussion of short response papers, your most interesting ideas and best insights often appear only at the end of the paper. After all, only at the end of the thought/writing process have you thought through all the implications of the text you are studying. Rewrite your introduction, adjust your thesis. Rewrite sections in the body so your argument flows more logically. And proof-read for grammar and spelling errors. Don't rely solely on a spell-checker to do this. If you have doubts about your own spelling or grammar abilities, ask a classmate or friend to look over your paper and mark errors. Another helpful proofing technique is reading the paper aloud. Often you can hear the grammar error or awkward sentence -- it doesn't sound right, or is awkward to read aloud -- even if your eyes have missed it from reading the same words over and over.