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Hum 2990 Essay Writing Guideline

Step One

Closely read and analyze the text and develop a thesis:

--Think about what most interests you: imagery, characters, plot, pacing, tone, etc.

--Consider the context. Is this text influenced by history or other texts?

--Reflect on what you know about the author. How might his or her biography influence the text?

--Focus on why certain elements are in the story and how they work. How do characters contribute to the story or theme? Why does the author choose a particular setting, image, or tone?

--Decide what argument you think the text is making or what theme it is exploring. What do you think the main idea is that the author wants you to understand once you finished reading?

II. Decide a topic: Be specific and focused (in other words, not too general, vague, or too wide in range).

--Your topic may be a single literary element of the work, such as character, plot, structure, theme, symbols, style, imagery, tone, etc.

--You may draw parallels between the work and real-life subject matter such as historical events or the author’s life, and even your personal experiences.

III. Gather evidence to support your thesis: Reread the work or selected sections, looking for quotes that you can use to develop your argument. You may search for outside information that is relevant.

Step Two

Organize your ideas in an outline.

Use your outline to help organize and guide your research. You can use your outline to help focus on the specific areas and explore in more detail.

Place evidence and analysis in to your outline.

Step Three

Draft your paper

--Start with an introductory paragraph. Include the title and author of the main works you deal with, as well as your thesis. The goal is to clearly define the issues your essay will deal with.

--Explore and support your thesis in the following paragraphs. Each paragraph will provide evidence to support the claim made in your thesis, as well as analysis of that evidence.

--Conclude by moving a bit beyond your thesis. A good conclusion does not simply restate the thesis; it goes on to discuss why it is important and to suggest possible further research.

2nd, 3rd, 4th…final draft and editing

--Fist focus on the argument.