Literary and Cultural Studies:Writing academic texts

Choosing a topic: Your paper has to be a contribution to the ongoing scientific debate

Do follow your interest and your curiosity. Think of something that startled you when first looking at the thing. Think, secondly, of readings you came across and that convinced you or did not convince you. Think of clarity you could try to offer.

Your paper is supposed to be a contribution to the ongoing scientific debate. Whatever you did, you will have to sell it to an anonymous audience of experts (e.g. at a conference or in a scientific journal). The story of how you dealt with the problem, what you learned in the seminar, what you felt when you first read the book... etc. is not part of your work.

Can you have personal views? Yes. But to win the audience you must sell these your results as results others can accept as simply advantageous in the ongoing debate. The absolute no go is the statement you define as personal with the assertion that others can have their own views and hence should not challenge yours. Some students feel they received a bad mark, because their professor did not like their view. You misunderstand the role of your professor and your work if you come to this conclusion. Your professor should discuss your work to find out: what is merely personal opinion and what has the power to make points in the ongoing debate (as for instance an interesting refutation of views, or a viable substantiation of positions you dealt with).

Cover page

See the style sheet for detailed information

Table of contents: Make statements, be transparent

The interesting piece of work is problem oriented. The headlines offer solutions to problems. See “Your Chapters: Make points” for further information.

Be aware of the following general problems:

• Some students feel compelled to offer a new introduction into “The Elizabethan Period” or “Shakespeare’s Life and his Work”. Do not offer any such chapter. Do not compete with handbooks.
• Avoid what is self evident where you should rather lead to results. You are writing about the minor characters of Anthony and Cleopatra. It is self evident that you will have to take a look at them. Do not let this be the reason why you will write a chapter on each of them, and finally a conclusion. Your paper is the result of your work not its beginning. Hence, write with the conclusion in mind. If you can show that these characters have basically three functions in the play, then do write chapters on these three functions and discuss them. If it is your conclusion that research has misunderstood this play as one of love, whilst it is actually a work of social criticism as soon as one looks at the minor characters - then defend your analysis with the appropriate headlines.
• Be careful if you offer too many chapters. A 12- to 15-page assignment might have an introduction of three pages, three or four chapters of three to four pages each and a conclusion of another page. If your chapters are of one page each you will not have risked the scientific exploration and a debate of possible views together with a reflection of this your work.

Introduction: Justify your work

The introduction is almost the most important part: It is designed to sell your topic in front of an scholarly audience. Reflect and address

• The problem horizon: The field you enter

What is your question? Why is it or why should it be a question of scientific interest. Can we hope to get beyond personal views, that is towards positions a further debate will have to take into account?

• The aim of your work

You want to prove a certain position, to substantiate an observation, to balance a position with a look at a another work, to question an argument recently brought forth, to point at material that require a new interpretation...

• The debate: Summarise research, discussions in the media

Give a summary of the ongoing debate. Differentiate between a public and the scientific debate (your audience is located in the latter, even if address a topic of wider public debate). Summarize the debate as an exchange: What positions have been prominent following whose interventions. Can one discern movements? Did feminist research change our perspective? Did a certain event create a watershed? See our Literary Studies:Research guide to find research.

• Your own work and its position in the debate

Give an outlook of what you are doing in the field you have just opened.

• Methodological assertions

Be aware of your own methodological decisions. If you feel that a certain interpretation failed to take an certain observation into account which you want to stress with your own work - then ask yourself: Was the interpretation you want to attack merely a personal point of view or rather made under assumptions we should not share. Be self critical at the same moment. You have a feeling like you know what character Jane Austen really was, and you want to re-interpret her work on the basis of this your view of her. Be aware that your reading will attract certain questions on your assumptions. (How have you created your picture of Jane Austen? Can you be sure that the work is like the author?) Reflect the validity of your own approach in about one paragraph of a 12-15 page assignment.

• A brief outline of the following

The paragraph to write here should reflect what you have said under the last two headings.

The introduction is to some degree the most important part of your work. You sell yourself in front of an audience - as an isolated voice who wants others to accept her view without raising a further discussion? Or: As an observer of the debate who takes a modest step to reconsider some of its points? Aim at the second role if you are a beginner. Be able to summarise the debate and to make your own statement with a certain amount of self awareness: You want to make a point, you know of other positions, you know what approach you took in order to deal with this question, and you structured your work accordingly.

Your chapters: Make points

Good work has a certain rhythm. It raises questions and answers them. You lose your readers if they wonder: Why are we reading all this? An effective chapter has a certain length. If it is too short (e.g. a page or two) it is likely that it does not contain any observation plus an analysis of the results. Think of 3-5 page chapters and the points you want to make with them. To what result do you need this chapter. Some tips:

• A good headline does already make a point.
• Open your chapter with an outline of what you are trying to say with the following. What is your statement, how will you prove it.
• Your statement has to be based on observations.
• Observations remain - on the other hand - worthless if they do not substantiate your statement.
• Make sure that you are aware of alternative readings. Read research in order to be aware the debate.
• End every chapter with a conclusion - if possible with a conclusion in which you show what you have done up to here and what remains to be done in your present paper.

The audience of your paper has an academic background. Read academic research to find the appropriate tone. Take it for granted that your audience has read the text and the research involved (only if you do that you will be prepared to answer the more interesting questions); on the other hand write as if this audience suffers a short term fits of amnesia. If you quote a passage of a novel tell very briefly where we are. If you refer to a statement of research - give half a sentence to remind us of the situation in which this statement was made.

Take a look at the Literary and Cultural Studies:Style sheet for further information about how you quote other texts.

Conclusion: What have you done?

The general question is here: What is the use of your work? What did you try to do? What do you think you could achieve? How would you continue research on this question?

Introduction and conclusion should correspond with each other. Both should be designed to anticipate the evaluation your professor will give your work. Your professor will ideally offer his/her evaluation in a statement with brief remarks on

• the field of debate (is it a question under discussion, should it be more discussed, or is it outdated or uninteresting?)
• what you wanted to demonstrate
• what you actually managed to show
• the extent to which you have managed to write a scientifically interesting work in this process (you might not have gone beyond stating personal likings, you might have worked with unreflected methodological assumptions, you might have ignored research and stated what has been said already, you might have swelled your work with a presentation of circulating information instead of discussing your question or even finding it, you might have addressed an audience that does not exist: readers who have no knowledge about the subject matter and who are not even interested to read such papers.)

Show that you are aware of your decisions and of problems you encountered. You have reached the aim of your studies if you can speak and gain the respect of colleagues in the field.

Bibliography

Structure you bibliography

• General resources (you will not always have such a heading, yet sometimes you'll need it for example to mention biographies of primary texts you used)
• Primary sources (the materials you analysed)
• Secondary sources (research dealing with your materials)

The usual structure is alphabetical. It is often more interesting to bring the items into a chronological sequence. Take a look at the Literary Studies:Research guide to quote your materials consistently.

A general question is what editions you should use. You might have read the cheapest edition of a novel, your reader might, however, be unable to get hold of that old and outdated 1963 edition. Use good editions with a reliable text source. Read critical editions if you are dealing with books that developed a complex publishing history, i.e. editions that tell you something about the different versions that existed. If you have access to editions published in the period you are dealing with (e.g. through EEBO and ECCO) use them. Should you use the first edition or the last the author modified before his/her death? There is no general answer on that question. If the editions differ immensely you will rather use the edition that helps you to make your point and speak about the choice in the methodological assertion in the introduction.

Different formats: seminar paper, BA-thesis, dissertation, essay, academic article

12-15 page seminar papers are a format the German academic system is traditionally fond of. The usual length varies between 12-15 pages (Aufbaumodul 6KP, old Proseminararbeit) and 25-30 pages (old Hauptseminarbeit). The format is - if you compare it to the essay you will be required to write at a British or North-American University - less creative, more defined to lead to a discussion of research. That is also why the paper is usually handed in several weeks after the course. You are supposed to spend a couple of weeks on research and your paper. To understand the cultural differences one has to bear in mind that the German University system was designed for students who had already written more personal essays back in their school days. The essay written in British and North American Universities are supposed to gradually lead to a constructive reflection of research. The focus is more on the personal opinion. The step towards a summary of research rather done in final work. The German seminar paper is an interesting format with the step from the personal to the more public statement it requires. The successful piece of work shows a certain maturity, it invites the critical exchange. It is leading towards the article one could publish in an academic journal.

BA-thesis and dissertation do not structurally differ from the Aufbaumodul seminar paper. They are just longer and growingly aware of the contribution one has to make. A seminar paper can support a present view with new observations. The final BA-paper has to be based on several weeks of research. You should be aware of the shift of perspective research brings about. the Dissertation must have the potential to influence further research. That is why the dissertation is only acknowledged if it actually finds a publisher and if it actually risks the critical evaluation of readers elsewhere.

The British and North-American essay is usually about 3-5 pages. Students can be supposed to write three such essays whilst the course is going on. They have a weekend to write the paper and spend a day or two reading research for the particular paper. The structure of the essay is less formal. It is advisable to include

• Observations (reading and anaylsing materials)
• A thesis
• A discussion of the thesis
• An outlook (giving the work its potential relevance)

Structures can differ. One might begin with an observation, create a problem, go into research, discuss this research with a look on the object, come to conclusions. One could also begin with a scholarly statement, discuss it, re-evaluate it with a look at other research, balance the view with a look at the material in question. Or one might begin with a public perception, add the more scientific reflection, go to materials and discuss them, come to a conclusion. The good essay might not have a paragraph on the method chosen. Yet it will be written with an awareness of the methodological decision. The essay will get its reader with its succession of thoughts. The longer German term paper allows to work with different arguments that can be brought to ends. New chapters allow fresh beginnings, new projects - that is the special freedom the longer paper offers.

The academic article is usually a mixture of the German 12-15 page seminar paper and the British and North-American essay. The sequence of steps can be chosen as the object and the thesis require. The German notion is that you step through a solid argument to develop the skills with which you will not fail in a situation of greater academic freedom. The British and North-American notion is that you move from the personal statement to one you can make in a public confrontation. The aim is the same: a statement others can refer to as one that brought the ongoing academic debate a step further. --Olaf Simons 13:51, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Links

• Jack Lynch's advice to his students at Rutgers
• Richard Aczel, How to Write an Essay (1998) Excerpt