HELPFUL HINTS FOR WRITING AN ANALYTICAL PAPER
HELPFUL HINTS FOR WRITING AND ANALYTICAL PAPER
1. Pick a topic that interests you. For the most part, it will be better to offer an in-depth analysis of a small problem than a general discussion of large, over-arching issues. If you can’t think of a topic, go back to a text that interests you, and read it (or parts of it) over several times until you find some point, problem, or issue that is of particular interest to you. It might be helpful here to concentrate on those parts of the text that you find most difficult, those parts that you do not understand immediately. This might turn out to supply you with a very interesting paper topic. If all this doesn’t work, come speak to me and I’ll help you find a topic.
2. Avoid summary!!! Your paper should be structured like an argument, and your argument should be grounded in close reading and analysis of passages from the text you are discussing. Read the text several times very carefully before you begin writing. Pay careful attention to the actual language of the passages you are analyzing. What particular metaphors are being used, and what are their implications? What sort of narrative perspective(s) or narrative strategies do you see in the text, and how are they articulated? Do not shy away from contradictions. What contradictions do you see in the text, and in what ways might they be resolved – or in what ways not?
3. Remember, what you want to talk about is the text! You should neither speculate about the author’s intentions nor write about your own reactions to the text.
4. Give your paper a title. The title of your paper should, of course, be different from the text you are discussing.
5. Cite sources. If you use secondary literature, it should not constitute the vast majority of your argument. This paper is supposed to represent original work and thought. You must cite all primary and secondary literature and all reference works with foot or end notes naming the author, title, publisher, year and place of publication, and page numbers. In text citations may subsequently be short form). For proper reference format, consult the MLA Handbook or The Chicago Manual of Style.
6. Before you begin writing the paper, make sure you can answer the following three questions in writing:
a) What is the thesis you wish to argue?
b) What sections or passages of the text will you focus on in making your argument?
Why are you picking
these particular passages?
c) What is the conclusion you ultimately wish to arrive at? (This may, of course,
not be the actual conclu-
sion that you come to, but it’s helpful to have some idea of where you
are heading before you start to write.)
As your ideas often change during the writing process, you may find it helpful to try to answer these questions again once you are in the middle of writing.
7. ONCE YOU HAVE A THESIS– MAKE SURE THAT IT IS SUCCINCTLY STATED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PAPER AND THEN KEEP THE BODY OF THE PAPER FOCUSED ON THAT THESIS. DO NOT WRITE A PAPER WITHOUT A CLEAR THESIS.
8. Do not feel that you have to do all this completely on your own. Discuss your topic with me before beginning, and during the writing process, come speak to me or email me about your ideas and how you are developing them.
9. Finally, avoid lists! This is one of my pet peeves. I hate reading papers that degenerate into this happened, then this happened, and then this, and then this, and then this... It is not a productive way of presentation of material. I will be happy to work with you to find other means to convey and present your ideas.
ODE TO A SPELL CHECKER
I have a spelling checker
I disk covered four my PC.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot see.
Eye ran this poem threw it.
Your sure real glad two no.
Its very polished in its weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.
A checker is a blessing.
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.
Each frays comes posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
Bee fore wee rote with checkers
Hour spelling was inn deck line,
Butt now when wee dew have a laps,
Wee are not maid too wine.
And now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
There are know faults in awl this peace,
Of nun eye am a wear.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.
That's why eye brake in two averse
Caws Eye dew want too please.
Sow glad eye yam that aye did bye
This soft wear four pea seas.
Anonymous
Midterm Review Sheet
Russian 261
Introduction to Russian Literature 1
You are responsible for the following authors, works, terms:
The Primary Chronicle
Nikon
The Lay of Igor’s Campaign
Brother Isaac
Peter and Fevronia
Ivan/Kurbsky correspondence
Tale of the White Cowl
Hagiography
Frol Skobeev
Peter the Great
Prokopovich
Classicism (Neo-classicism)
Lomonosov
“Evening Meditation on God on the Occasion of the Northern Lights”
Derzhavin (and the poetry we read)
Tretiakovsky
Sumarokov
Karamzin
Poor Liza
Sentimentalism
Griboedov
Woe from Wit
Pushkin (all the poetry we read)
Eugene Onegin
“The Queen of Spades”
Lermontov (all the poetry we read)
Hero of Our Time