Difference between revisions of "Literary and Cultural Studies:Writing academic texts"

Revision as of 21:54, 5 March 2008

How do I find a good topic?

A good piece of academic work challenges existing views - by leading the debate a step further. There is more than one way do do this. You can attack general notions, you can offer insight into a subject matter that has been neglected and hint at blind spots in existing research, you can question existing debates by opening new ones, you can just as well support a position with a new argument or observation... these are thoughts for a dissertation rather than a 15 page seminar essay, yet they give you an idea of the direction you are supposed to take during your studies.

For student purposes it is enough to find a topic you will be able to advertise as interesting - your interest can be personal, yet to sell it to others you have to find arguments why others should share your fascination, and these must be independent from all personal views.

It might be sufficient to note a surprising contradictory, startling aspect - Le Morte Darthur (1485) is a Christian Arthurian epic, yet the heroes of this epic fight without even asking for a just cause; how is their extreme violence justified? - that is already all you need to go ahead and to wonder how one would answer such a question.

A topic is often inspired by research - you read someone's statements and you feel you would not arrive at the same conclusions if you had to present the case. Why did your author arrive at his or her view? Why did he or she not reach the conclusions you reached?

If there simply is a thing you'd like to know more about - begin with wondering why one might want to know more and try to find out whether others have already done the research with the very result you would aim at (you should not do work others have done with very same result).

If you get a topic - from your professor or in an exam situation - handle it openly: Why is it interesting? What answers might be expected? What answers would you have given befor you began to study? What answers would you give now? What are the answers others might give?

Before I begin...

First: check research (see the Literary Studies:Research guide for further help). Secondly think of simple and more complex answers on your question. The good essay will take different views into account, it will show that you have anticipated criticism - of your topic, of your work and of your opinion. The good essay stands the test of criticism, because its author is able to answer that criticism right at the beginning (or at least in the conclusion).

How do I structure my work?

Beginners are often tempted to think of a standard solution: One does not understand my topic if I do not give an introduction about the period, the author, the work in question - once I'll have done this introduction, I'll answer the question I am supposed to answer. The result is an essay of 15 pages filled with background information (which can be taken from Wikipedia or the greatest professors in the field without much of a difference) and scattered remarks on the original question.

First advice: drop the standard solution. Deal with the question - directly. Speak of the question and its implications, show why it is interesting to ask this question, think of the best sequence of follow-up-questions needed to answer it.

How do I handle background information on period, author, living conditions, gender relations in that period...?

Speak about these things if you feel that your work has the power to question these general notions. If that is the case offer the general notion, and tell your reader where it has been contradicted already before you go ahead in your attempt to come to a new perspective.

The opening section

...should raise the question, give a first view of possible answers, tell your reader how your essay will proceed.

Secondary literature

Try to give an overview of the general perspective on this question and evaluate this perspective. It is often better to do that at the beginning in a single chapter than in a continuous battle between your view and other views throughout the essay.

Good headlines, good chapters

You might have a question and three texts to look at - and you might feel tempted just to create three chapters on each of your three texts: Chapter one, text one, chapter two text two and chapter three, text three.

Think back: Why did I decide to take a look at these three texts (these three characters of the play, these three episodes of the movie, these three aspects of a particular problem...)? Each chapter should be written with an awareness of what you wanted to prove with your investigation. Good headlines will tell your reader why he should take a look at this text/character/aspect - what he is going to find out when reading your chapter.

Good conclusions of chapters reflect your work: Did you arrive at the result you promised? Do things look more difficult at the end of your research? Or have they become more simple? Both can be interesting results.

The conclusion

A good essay leaves its reader with an awareness that things are much more difficult than considered at first - it inspires more work, shows you, the author, involved in a debate.

You can just as well arrive at the conclusion that the question was asked the wrong way in the beginning - can you present the question that should have been asked at the end?

You can come to the conclusion that the answer did not get you to where you thought to arrive - and that the whole topic is problematic as not leading us any step further. Even professional authors have reached such conclusions; see for example the epilogue to John J. Richetti's Popular Fiction before Richardson. Narrative Patterns 1700-1739 (Oxford, 1969), in which the author considered all the books he had read to be not worthy a second reading - the result was quite on the contrary a wave of research proving him wrong, yet a wave turning an immense interest to his book and his conclusion.

Do not think that you have to give the only and true right answer and that's it. There might not be such an answer. Do rather think of a conversation in which your contribution might be one others will like to return to as a good starting point.

Can I risk to state my own opinion - even if it contradicts my professor's?

by all means! The most interesting work is the one which leads to second thoughts.

The problem is the essay in which you simply state your opinion, offer your arguments for it and think that's all you have to do. If your professor reads your essay with a growing number of remarks he would make - you have lost. The good essay allows you to defend any position you want to defend as it is written with an awareness of other possible views on the problem. It anticipates the criticism and deals with it.

The worst of all essays is the mild compromise - an essay in which you say: both sides are right once they accept the arguments of the others. The worst case is that your reader comes to the conclusion: you are not really interested in the topic, all you wanted is to look like interested. The good step within any confrontation is the one that leads one step further - that leads to a new understanding of the real problem debated here.

How do Professors evaluate our work?

Basically we aim at performances you can offer anywhere else publicly and as professional work - at a conference, if you had to write a Wikipedia article on the subject matter - though we know of course that you are only writing for us. We wonder whether your text would make sense outside the seminar context.

Secondly we try to evaluate your work with a look at what you were aiming at: Do you achieve your goals? It is part of this perspective that we wonder whether you choose a goal you could be expected to achieve - not too simple and not too ambitious.

A very good indicator is whether your reader can possibly summarize your work: What was the topic, what points were you trying to make, how did you defend the individual arguments.

Your professor feels in a safe position if he or she could show your work to a colleague (who will not have read the texts you are dealing with) - the virtual or real colleague should be able to make sense of your work and he or she will ideally come to the same evaluation:

• that's very good work - I did not know much about the subject matter, yet I came to realise that this is an interesting topic and I am beginning to understand why people work in this field...
• that's good work, I understood it, and realise the student took a good step with this piece of work.
• that's a satisfying piece of work - the student understood the topic, the questions he or she asked were reasonable, the answers convincing though not very creative, it serves its purpose
• the topic was handled with less care than it deserved, the considerations were not always conclusive, one can accept this piece of work, however, as the student has managed to avoid gross errors
• ...

Practical hints

• Observe the Literary Studies:Style sheet
• Take a look at the Literary Studies:Research guide
• Remember the advice that helped you in your first assignements