essay

Writing Essays: It’s Not as Difficult as it Looks

Writing essays can be daunting, but such fears are often unwarranted. All you are

being asked to do is make a specific argument about a topic and outline your position in a manner that is clear, concise, effective, and supported with evidence. A general topic, such as symbols, is made more particular by being discussed in relation to a short story, such as “The Metamorphosis,” which is made all the more particular by being turned into a specific argument, such as “Kafka uses the beetle as a symbol of his own feelings of alienation: Gregor reacts to the negative feelings surrounding him by directing these feelings towards himself.” This argument could then be explored by looking at the symbol of the beetle from a variety of positions, positions or topics that would then be used to organize your paragraphs. These positions or topics should all reinforce your thesis, for essays are most effective when they explore and support some kind of specific, central thesis.

When writing your essays, always keep your reader in mind. In a high school paper you might be asked to provide more information regarding the plot, but in the case of a university essay you can assume that your reader has read the material that you are discussing. Since this is the case, your reader is not interested in a retelling of the story or poem but in your particular argument about that story or poem. Your reader should also be kept in mind when structuring your essay, for essentially you are trying to craft an argument that will convince someone else that your position is sound. How are your ideas organized? Do you save your strongest points for the end, or do they get lost somewhere in the middle? Do you make use of transitional phrases—like the ones we have discussed in class—to connect your ideas, sentences, and paragraphs and make these connections clear to your reader? Make sure to truly stress the points you consider to be important, and do not assume that they will speak for themselves. In this regard, topic sentences are important, as they tell the reader that the paragraph has a central point and that it has not been begun simply because the previous paragraph was running a little too long. How do you explore your topic? Do you rely on vague generalizations, or do you make specific points with specific references? Have you tied your point directly to your thesis? How have you used the text to back up your points? Have you simply included a quotation from the text, or do you link it explicitly to your topic and outline why it is important? Finally, how does your closing sentence tie this topic up? Does it prepare the reader for what is to come? These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself when writing your essay and the topic-driven paragraphs that comprise it. It is not enough to simply get down a bunch of information until you meet the requested word count; instead, you must find the best form to convey the content of your argument in a powerful way.

The essay should also be organized into paragraphs. These paragraphs should each begin with a topic sentence that will give the paragraph focus and end with a closing or transitional sentence that will either relate the topic back to your main thesis or prepare the reader for the topic to come. It is very important to structure your paper around ideas rather than merely follow the plot or discuss one work and then the next, for such a structure will allow you to fully explore your topic and pursue your argument logically and coherently. It is often best to find out what these positions are beforehand and chart them out before beginning to write the essay, for this will give your essay a much stronger and more confident structure. The best way to chart them out is brainstorm your ideas and then shape them into an effective argument. If you start to write in the hopes that your argument will simply emerge, the essay will showcase this lack of focus. An essay without argumentative focus is generally ineffective. Finally, your paper should close by restating your central thesis while preparing the ground for a much broader discussion. For example, you discussed Gregor’s feelings of self-loathing, but what are the implications of this attitude? What can be done about it? Perhaps you might argue that Gregor’s tendency to turn the negative feelings of others inwards towards himself reflects the behaviour of many people who are persecuted and bullied by others, and that his story might help others when dealing with that hurt and pain. In any case, keeping your thesis at the forefront while utilizing a strong structure throughout that builds towards an effective conclusion will make your paper successful.

When it comes to quoting from the text, there are some key rules to keep in mind. For starters, remember that we are using MLA format for this class. MLA format requires parenthetical citation rather than footnotes or endnotes, so if you use a passage from a text you must include your citation at the end of your sentence. For example: “who this spoil of beauty can forbid? / O, none, unless this miracle have might, / That in black ink my love may still shine bright” (Shakespeare, “Since Brass, nor Stone, nor Earth” 61). To begin with, note that the titles of poems and short stories should be placed between quotation marks, while plays and novels should be in italics. And so, for example, we could write that we have covered “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Kubla Khan” already, but that we will soon be reading Waiting for Godot and Dracula. Also, note that unless the quoted passage ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, you do not need to include the punctuation at the end of the line. The period—which comes after the parenthetical reference—will suffice for punctuation. Also, note that because I did not specify who wrote the text—Shakespeare—or even what text I was referring to—“Since Brass, nor Stone, nor Earth”—I had to include the last name of the author followed by a comma, which is then followed by the title and by the page number. If you check the Works Cited Page below you will see that three works by Shakespeare are included, and so I needed to specify which one I was referring to. However, if you were to quote from Wordsworth, who only has one work on the Works Cited page, you would only need to give the name followed by the page number: “These beauteous forms, / Through a long absence, have not been to me / As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye” (Wordsworth 256). Since there is only one citation for Wordsworth in the bibliography, the last name and the page number should suffice. The point is that your reader should be able to easily find everything that you have cited. Citations can seem arduous and time-consuming, but it allows your reader to quickly and easily find who you are quoting and where you got your information from. Such acknowledgements are necessary as you begin to move towards becoming a more serious and professional scholar. Regardless of your discipline or the particular citation format that discipline may employ, professional scholars all have to acknowledge the work that has gone before while crafting their own contributions.

On a side note, take a look at the bibliography I have included below, for this is how I want you to cite the texts you use. Note that all of the works are arranged alphabetically, so there is no need to number each text. When it comes to two works by the same author, use the title to arrange it alphabetically. Also, in the case of Shakespeare, the first citation contains his name while the second one contains two dashes followed by a period. Sometimes people writing papers cite the work more than once to signify each time that the work was used. This is not necessary, for the single citation will suffice. Also, note that while the novel and the play do not need to include the page numbers, the short stories and the poems do, for they are smaller, self-contained works within a larger text. Finally, if you only quote a single page from “The Devil and Daniel Webster” you do not include that page and that page only in the bibliography; instead, you have to include the page numbers for the story as a whole. Again, the point is that your reader should be able to easily find everything that you have cited.

Proper format is important, as it shows your reader that you are able to make proper use of your source material. For example, you might note that in Jackson’s story “The Lottery” the villagers always made sure that “the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner” (293). You can see that, because it is clear from the sentence that I am discussing Jackson’s short story, the page number is all that I need to cite. If you are writing an essay about a single work, the initial citation of the author’s name and the page number should be used in the first citation followed by only the page number in the citations that precede it. And so, a parenthetical citation—i.e. (Jackson 294)—in an essay that exclusively discusses “The Lottery” can use the number alone in the citation—i.e. (294)—after the author and the work have been established for the reader. However, if your essay discusses more than one work, such as “The Lottery” and Sartre’s “The Wall,” you should include the author’s name and the page number, as the shift from work to work may make things unclear for the reader. If there is any confusion, the basic rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether you are being clear about what text you are referring to. If it is clear, the page number should suffice; if it is not, be sure to include more information for the reader. Again, the point is to make things as clear as possible for your reader, who should always be a central concern when you are writing.

The two citations above are relatively short, so you can cite them within the body of the text. However, if the passage you want to use is longer, be sure to cite it in the following way. Write a sentence that introduces the passage, and follow that sentence with a colon. After the colon you will set your quote aside by starting a new line and indenting twice. For example, you might argue that Arnold ends “Dover Beach” by calling on his readers to love one another and remain true in the face of all the chaos that surrounds them:

Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! for the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, no peace, nor help for pain;

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night. (429)

Note that the new line after the quotation—i.e. “Note that the new . . .”—should not be indented, for you are expected to comment on the passage you have just quoted. You should also note that while the rest of your essay should be double-spaced, a passage that is set aside and indented in this way should be single-spaced. While the period comes after the parenthetical citation in a quotation within the body of the paragraph, the period comes before it in one that is set aside in this way. Also, while you use quotation marks at the beginning and the end of a quotation found within the paragraph, there is no need to do so if it is set aside. The only exception to this is if you are quoting dialogue, for then you should include the quotation marks.

Quoting prose differs from quoting verse. Since the passage above is poetry, each new line in the poem constitutes a new line in the essay. There are some important differences to keep in mind when quoting poetry or prose within the body of the paragraph. In the aforementioned passage from Wordsworth you will note that because it is from a poem, each line is separated by a space, followed by a slash mark (“/”), followed by another space. Also, note that each new line of poetry must appear as it does in the poem; if the first letter of the line is in the upper case, be sure to keep it so. If you are quoting prose, there is no need for the slash. However, if you are quoting prose there is no need to do this, for then each new line is simply the line in your essay itself. For example, in Dracula Jonathan Harker offers a short history of Transylvania in his diary:

In the population of Transylvania there are four distinct nationalities: Saxons in the south, and mixed with them the Wallachs, who are the descendants of the Dacians; Magyars in the west, and Szekelys in the east and north. I am going among the latter, who claim to be descended from Attila and the Huns. This may be so, for when the Magyars conquered the country in the eleventh century they found the Huns settled in it. (Stoker 8)

Note that while in the text the new line began after the word “distinct,” the format of the essay allowed for another word. All you need to remember is to keep indenting twice for each new line in the essay. Unlike poetry, prose is not structured metrically, so be sure to make use of this example when quoting longer prose passages.

Shakespearean drama presents its own difficulties. You should bear in mind that the same distinctions between quoting verse and quoting prose also apply to Shakespeare’s plays, which sometimes contains one and sometimes contains the other. Be sure to quote properly depending on the context within the play. For example, you might note that in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Bottom is so enamoured with the events of the night before that “the eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive nor his heart to conceive what my dream was” (4.1.207-10). In stark contrast to this, Duke Theseus is quite willing to write off the whole affair as being “more strange than true,” for he will never “believe / These antique fables, nor these fairy toys. / Lovers and madman have such seething brains, / Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend / More than cool reason apprehends” (5.1.2-6). Bottom speaks in prose, while Theseus speaks in verse, and so their speeches are quoted quite differently. Again, you can see the use of the slash (“/”) to separate each new line of verse. When it comes to longer quotations that must be set aside, the same rules distinguishing prose and verse apply. You will also note that there is a difference when quoting from Shakespeare when it comes to the parenthetical citation. As you can see, I did not include the page numbers—page 227 and pages 230-31 in this edition—in the citations; instead, I included the act, scene, and line numbers. Bottom spoke in the first scene of the fourth act, and so the citation for his speech must start with 4.1 followed by the line numbers, which are always to the side of the speech in the margins of your edition. The more confidently and correctly you can make use of the text for your argument, the better your argument will be, as now you are really starting to delve into and make use of textual evidence to support your case.

As we have noted in class, it is always important to comment on the quotes you use and not allow them to simply speak for themselves; at the same time, you also need to properly introduce your quotes. Thus, you should not include a quote without any kind of build-up to it. For example, you do not simply just write “But all four were there. And only one speaks of a thief being saved. Why believe him rather than the others” (Beckett 5). It is true that your reader can check the bibliography for Beckett’s name and see that you are discussing Waiting for Godot, but you need to contextualize your quote before you begin to discuss it. For example, you might write that Vladimir is concerned about the issue of salvation and damnation, for he wonders why it is that the saved thief at Calvary is only mentioned in one of the four Gospels: “But all four were there. And only one speaks of a thief being saved. Why believe him rather than the others” (Beckett 5). For Vladimir this is a distressing thought, for it seems to suggest that salvation may not be guaranteed. Again, make sure that you include a sentence that prepares your reader for the quote that you are going to use, for if you simply just throw in a quote without any contextualization you run the risk of confusing your reader. It is simple enough, for all you have to do is offer a preparatory sentence followed by a colon, which is then followed by the quote. Your reader is thus prepared for what is to follow.

While that may be the easiest way, there are other ways to quote from the text other than simply following a sentence with a colon and a quote. For example, you can place the quote within your sentence, but if you do so you must make sure that it flows grammatically. There may be a time when you only want to use a small part of a larger passage, and so you might write that Pablo realizes that he has “lost the illusion of being eternal” (Sartre 239). The quote fits with the grammar of the sentence, which is what you must look out for when quoting in this way. Sometimes the quote does not fit grammatically, which means that you will have to change it. For example, you could point out that Pablo “want[s] to die cleanly” (Sartre 240). The passage I just quoted includes the word “want,” but this word would not be grammatically correct in this sentence. By placing an “s” in brackets I have preserved the grammatical structure of the sentence. Sometimes you need to change more than this. For example, take the following passage from “Tintern Abbey”: “And so I dare to hope, / Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first / I came among these hills” (Wordsworth 257). If you were writing a sentence that included the speaker, you would need to change the sentence accordingly. For example, you might write that the speaker “dare[s] to hope, / Though changed, no doubt, from what [he] was when first / [he] came among these hills” (Wordsworth 257). The sentence would not be grammatically correct if I simply allowed it to switch from “he” to “I,” and so I changed the passage in order to make it grammatically correct. Thus, you can either place the quotation at the end of sentence preceded by a colon, or you can work the quotation into the sentence itself. Both ways are equally effective if they are done well.

Since your essay also involves research, you need to make use of more than just the text and your own argument. In other words, for your essay you will also be bringing in some critical texts in order to aid your overall argument. By critical texts I mean articles or books that have been written by academics and which have been published by university presses. In the same way that students write essays about texts, so too do scholars. Their essays or books may be more heavily researched or may have taken months or even years to write, but in essence they, like you, are engaging in a dialogue about the text in question. When it comes to agreeing or disagreeing with them, you may find that their argument is congenial to your own, or you may find a scholar who views Shakespeare very differently than you do. It is great if it is the former, but if it is the latter you are very much encouraged to disagree and show why you do so. An example would probably be helpful in this instance, so let us say that you have chosen the mix of comic and tragic elements in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Let us also say that you aim to discuss the starkness of Theseus' ultimatum in the first act as a sign that the play—even though it will all turn out well in the end—at times does tend to lean towards tragedy. You will have the text and your own argument for support, but you may also make use of what another scholar has to say. And so, you might choose an article such as, for example, Michael Taylor's “The Darker Purpose of A Midsummer Night's Dream.” In this article Taylor focuses on the ways that Shakespeare’s comedies, despite ultimately “restor[ing] or establish[ing] harmony” at the end, do sometimes “reveal a dour kind of scepticism, not completely subsumed in the harmony of the close” (259). Taylor’s focus on what he calls “a harsh, unfestive reality” in Shakespeare’s more seemingly festive comedies would be a good source of support for your argument, as he also focuses on the play’s more tragic elements (259). Another critic, such as Thelma Greenfield in “A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Praise of Folly,” may be more inclined to focus on the play's evocation of “youthful revels, May games, Midsummer watches, and dreams” (236). Here you can see how you can take two scholars with two different points of view and thus use them to argue with or against. Another critic, such as Marjorie Garber, might note that the play is far more ambiguous and that it “strikes a careful, though also a playful, balance” between such extremes (229). Yet another critic might complicate matters even further by noting that A Midsummer Night’s Dream not only contains elements of comedy and tragedy, but of the history play genre as well (Dillon 57). On a side note: in the case of the article by Dillon, you will note that it is an article within another scholar’s edited book, and so—as with a poem or a short story—you cite the article and then the book as in the bibliography below. When looking through the bibliography you will also note that articles from journals such as Taylor’s and Greenfield’s are cited differently than books. Be sure to look at the MLA for reference on proper citation format.

In any case, you can see how easy it is to find contesting scholarly voices and by extension how potentially fruitful it can be to place these voices together within the context of your argument. The big thing is to use these critics and not to let them use you, as students sometimes allow the critics too much leeway and let their arguments override theirs. Ultimately, I am interested in seeing how you make use of these other scholars, but my main interest is in your argument and how you manage to explore and support it. It is thus perfectly fine to use critics who disagree with your argument; in fact, it can often be an advantage. Argumentative debate always allows—to one degree or another—dissenting voices, and so it is often good to include a voice that is the opposite of yours. It is good precisely because any argument should acknowledge that others might have a different view; for example, an argument concerning Much Ado About Nothing may note that “while some may feel that Claudius is a relatively harmless or even foolish character, in reality his behaviour is far more troubling and problematic, so much so that he could even be described as a villain.” Setting up your argument this way would allow you to open with or even give credence to the opposing view before moving on to your own argument or position. It is not necessary to always include a disagreeing voice, but sometimes an argument is enhanced by this kind of tension. For example, when it comes to using a disagreeing voice for advantage, your response to that voice forces you to find evidence for why you disagree, which in turn gives you evidence for your own position or thesis, and thus your critique of the disagreeing voice allows you to stress your own argument in a more concentrated, specific, and effective way. It also allows you to anticipate a reader’s possible objections to your own line of reasoning; if you have been able to deal with these possible objections in an effective way in your own essay, your overall argument will be all the more forceful.

Your essay should thus be a fusion of content and form. What you argue is important, but how you argue is equally important. You need to have a topic, but you also need to have a thesis—or a specific argument or angle—about that topic. Furthermore, you need to have a structured response that builds on your position and uses evidence in order to support it better. This structure allows you to build your points in an effective way. You also need make proper use of the evidence, for the evidence allows you to speak with authority on the subject and it helps you to back up your position. Cited evidence thus needs to be discussed and should not simply just speak for itself, as its inclusion tells your reader that it is important, and so your reader will naturally expect you to discuss it. This evidence needs to be cited correctly so that your reader can understand why you are using it and also find out where you got it from. Finally, your conclusion should tie up all of your main points while reiterating your thesis and looking outwards to the broader ramifications of your argument.

In keeping with this, I would like to stress that while this exercise teaches you how to write an English literature essay, the basic tools outlined here will provide you with the ability to express yourself clearly, concisely, and effectively in arguments relating to a variety of subjects and not just poetry and drama. This ability to argue well and make use of evidence will be helpful to you throughout your academic career, for every discipline requires you to know how to convey your ideas to others in a coherent and logical way. You may never write an essay about John Donne, John Milton, or John Keats ever again, and you may even wonder the purpose of having to learn how to do so. The purpose is quite simple, for you are learning how to eloquently express your ideas to others, and this is a skill that you need to have regardless of whether or not you ever look at another poem or play after this course. At the end of the day, there is not a single course, discipline, or profession that does not require that you know how to articulate yourself in a lucid, logical, and intelligent way. Learning how to achieve such eloquence and clarity at the outset of your academic career will thus enable you to become a successful student.

Works Cited

Arnold, Matthew. “Dover Beach.” Immortal Poems of the English Language. Ed. Oscar

Williams. New York: Pocket, 1952. 428-29. Print.

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. 1954. New York: Grove, 2011. Print.

Dillon, Jannette. “Elizabethan Comedy.” The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean

Comedy. Ed. Alexander Leggatt. Cambridge: CUP, 2006. 47-63. Print.

Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare After All. New York: Pantheon, 2004. Print.

Greenfield, Thelma N. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Praise of Folly.”

Comparative Literature 20.3 (Summer 1968): 236-244. Print.

Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” The Best Short Stories of the Modern Age. Ed.

Douglas Angus. 1962. New York: Random House, 1993. 293-302. Print.

Kafka, Franz. “The Metamorphosis.” The Best Short Stories of the Modern Age. Ed.

Douglas Angus. 1962. New York: Random House, 1993. 212-26. Print.

Sartre, Jean-Paul. “The Wall.” The Best Short Stories of the Modern Age. Ed. Douglas

Angus. 1962. New York: Random House, 1993. 227-44. Print.

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Ed. Peter Holland. Oxford:

OUP, 1998. Print.

--. “Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments.” Immortal Poems of the English Language.

Ed. Oscar Williams. New York: Pocket, 1952. 59. Print.

--. “Since Brass, nor Stone, nor Earth.” Immortal Poems of the English Language. Ed.

Oscar Williams. New York: Pocket, 1952. 61. Print.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Ed. Maurice Hindle. 1897. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.

Taylor, Michael. “The Darker Purposes of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Studies in

English Literature, 1500-1900. Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama 9.2 (Spring 1969): 259-73. Print.

Wordsworth, William. “Tintern Abbey.” Immortal Poems of the English Language. Ed.

Oscar Williams. New York: Pocket, 1952. 255-59. Print.