The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I have preparations to make, ingredients to buy, recipes to master (and delegate), table settings to arrange...This holiday time of year can really sneak up on you!

Like the holidays, don't let your essay preparation wait until the last minute. Set a timeline for yourself. There are only two weeks of classes left after the break before finals roll around. That's not a lot of time, but it is better than, say, two days. So, here's what I'd like you to do. Take small steps and try not to procrastinate. You wouldn't want to burn the turkey or break a plate of fine china just as you wouldn't want to present some half-baked literary analysis. Stuffing in filler quotes will also likely lead to an unfulfilling read.

Plan ahead, manage your time, and if you're looking for some help with your writing, make sure you sign up in advance for a session at the Center. We will be open during the beginning of finals week (definite hours tba). One final note, if you would like to reserve your seat at the Writing Center table, sign up outside of room 303 soon. Hope to see you on the guest list!

In the meantime, enjoy your Thanksgiving break.

~Mary
(Image courtesy of Clipart)

Just for Fun

I admit that I hear myself spout nonsense from time to time, though always with the best of intentions. Here's a way to have fun with a bit of that academic jargon you sometimes hear from your professors. Check out this academic sentence generator!

The Power of Metaphor

Which metaphors do you use when you think about writing? Which do your professors use? What are the possibilities of trying out some new metaphors in thinking about your writing?

Metaphors shape the choices we make as we approach writing. For example, if you’re writing an “argument” paper, you might find that you represent positions other than your own with hostility, that you write defensively and perhaps even overstate your true position as a way of overwhelming your reader and/or any potential opposition. You might think of the act of writing as an act of creation or a task or a process or a conversation or an exploration or an act of building. Each of these different ways of imagining writing will inflect your reasoning and your understanding of audience.

I’m always trying on new metaphors – both as I come to terms with my own challenges as a writer and as I work with students new to the university. I feel like this helps me notice my practices and assumptions with a fresh eye and sometimes gives me insight into possibilities I had previously overlooked. What about writing as weaving? Writing as sculpture or architecture or cultivation or cartography? What if we imagine essays and papers as trees…or video games…or forms of transportation?

What are your preferred metaphors and how do they help you better understand the act of writing? I’m always looking for more ideas!
~Wendy

Hanging Out with Quotations

A common tendency for students is to introduce or conclude a paragraph with a quotation. This can be tricky. You cannot trust that your reader (including your professor) will understand the quotation's purpose in your essay, so, you should fully explain your reasoning behind a particular quotation. It really is a judgment call.

Opening a paragraph with a quote does leave you room to explore its significance, while concluding with a quote usually stops analysis in its tracks. A token of advice?

When it comes to quotations...don't leave them hanging!

-James, Mary

(Image courtesy of Clipart)

To Quote or Not to Quote

To quote or not to quote...that is the question. First, a distinction ought to be made between the need for quotations as opposed to the need for citations in an essay. Citations are simply crediting the work parenthetically after an idea is borrowed, without quoting. Quotations should be used more discriminatingly; as scholarly as these excerpts make your writing look, many of the author's ideas can be summed up in your own words and cited.

So, when is it appropriate to quote? One occasion is when the language of the text itself is a factor in your argument. For instance, if you were writing about Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn to showcase the racial barriers between characters, a summary of a line would simply not create the same effect as say quoting "'NOW, old Jim, you're a free man again, and I bet you won't ever be a slave no more.' 'En a mighty good job it wuz, too, Huck. It 'uz planned beautiful, en it 'uz done beautiful; en dey ain't NOBODY kin git up a plan dat's mo' mixed-up en splendid den what dat one was'" (38-39). Here, Jim, the runaway slave, is juxtaposed with the title character. Specifically, Twain's use of phonetic vernacular exemplifies the racial and cultural barriers between the two characters. In this case, you see, a summary of the line would simply not create the same effect.

Other times "to quote:"

• If the text holds historical value
  
• If a particular line or section jumps out at you
• If the line(s) is essential to the storyline, argument, character development, or context as explored in your essay

-James Morganti

Citing & Writing

Okay, so you've finished your three hundred page book and your professor recently assigned a lengthy argument-driven essay. Such is life as a college student, right? At this point, your stress level can either remain constant or rocket sky-high, depending on the steps you take. In an effort to keep your stress level at a minimum, these series of posts will explore the ins-and-outs of drawing from text in a persuasive essay.

Upon receiving an essay prompt, many students move to write a largely argument-driven draft, only returning to the heaving mass of text to grasp blindly for quotations. You should avoid this situation at all costs, as the excerpts chosen in this way are almost always repetitive or irrelevant. Don't reference the text just to make your essay longer, fulfill a prompted quota, generalize or summarize. Quotations and citations have a great deal of potential, serving a vital function in your writing.

How will you unluck their potential?

-James Morganti

Your Paper: A Great Debate

Now that you've introduced readers to your topic and thesis, it's time to delve into your analysis. Body paragraphs are critical to your paper as they support, build, and expand the scope of your thesis. Without quotes, your paper tends to lack authority. Where's the proof? Where's the evidence?

If you were to engage in a debate, you would choose a side and offer facts, legislation, arguments, research, etc. to back it up. The same can be said for writing, substituting quotes from the text as defense for your argument. If you were debating without relying on supporting research, your side could be so easily dismissed. Personal opinion is not a reputable source for an argument or an essay.

You want to sway your audience, make them see your side. Perhaps your topic is edgy, maybe it goes against the mold. Your task, therefore, is to convince readers that your thesis is valid. The best way to do that? As you would for a debate, provide ample confirming evidence.

In the coming weeks, I will be running several posts by former peer tutor James Morganti. He will further discuss strategies to consider when drawing quotations from a text. Hopefully, you will find our perspective beneficial as you construct your own great debate--your paper.

~Mary