This guide is not intended to replace the traditional style manual or writer's handbook. It is, rather, meant to supplement such guides by advising students of the writing practices, policies, and standards currently adhered to in English courses at Oberlin College. In addition to setting forth basic guidelines to which we, the members of the department, subscribe, we will discuss the nature and purpose of the more typical writing assignments made in English courses. In other words, we will briefly attempt to answer in advance the familiar question, "What do you really want in this paper?" Without a doubt, planning and executing a critical essay or research paper is easier as well as more meaningful when writers understand what the exercise is intended to demonstrate about their ability to deal with the literature. Yet for one reason or another there is often a "failure to communicate" between teacher and student in this area.
In the same vein, we hope that the appearance of this guide will encourage greater communication between student and teacher regarding all aspects of paper writing. Many of the items dealt with here will by design be discussed as briefly as possible, so that the guide will remain streamlined and accessible. It is thus very likely that clarification of finer points will be needed. In such cases the instructor for the course is the most reliable guide and should be freely consulted.
Though most English papers bear some similarity to each other, they are, of course, not all alike. Members of the department will assign a variety of writing tasks and we make no attempt to anticipate them all here. One useful distinction which both professors and students recognize is that of length-shorter versus longer papers. Before discussing short and long papers, however, we should examine the first step in writing the paper: deciphering the assignment.
Often students will receive writing assignments which puzzle them or which appear very vague. If you receive an assignment that doesn't seem to make sense, the only solution is to consult with the instructor for clarification. But many students hesitate to do this for fear they may appear to be "worming something out of" the instructor. If you simply state the fact of your puzzlement and attempt to get at its source with the help of the instructor, however, your chances of writing a good paper will be far greater than if you attempt to write something without a clear sense of direction.
In the case of a vaguely worded assignment, you may, in fact, be worming something out of the teacher if you press him/her. On the other hand, you may be helping the teacher by making him/her aware of an unintentional gap in the assignment. Again, the first course is to consult the teacher. If this yields no clarification, there is one basic strategy to bear in mind.
When the assignment is vague to the point of simply requesting "a paper," students are often at a loss and may decide that, in order to demonstrate their competence, the resultant essay should be a series of observations intended to prove their assimilation of all, or as much as possible of, the readings, lectures and discussions which have figures in the class to date. To the contrary, such "a paper" in a course should be no less focused, no less specifically directed at establishing a central, controllable point (see "Characteristics"), than should a paper produced in response to an assignment whose details take up a whole page of type. The instructor, whether or not the assignment is vaguely described, is not hoping to check your competence by verifying that your paper comprehends everything which has come up in class. He or she is, rather, looking for a well developed, narrowly focused, detailed discussion relating usually to only one aspect of the course (e.g., the explication of one sonnet from a broad survey course). (Again, see "Characteristics.")
Shorter papers (approx. 3-6 pages) are generally assigned for submission during the first part of a course and are intended to orient the student to the type of work which will be expected as well as to gauge roughly the caliber of the student's thought (analytic power, ability to handle material) and expository expertise. Such papers are generally limited by the wording of the assignment (e.g., discuss the significance of the opening lines of a poem) but if they are not, the advice given in Sections I. A. and II. A. applies; in fact, the shortness of the paper generally makes the need for sharp focusing even greater.
There is generally little place for research, or the use of professional criticism, in the short paper, although the use of such criticism is not necessarily forbidden. One might, for example, profitably devote a short paper to refuting or elaborating upon a quotation from a critical article. Still, the shorter paper is most often meant to be a limited exercise in training one's own critical vision on a text or part of a text, or, if on a larger topic (the achievement of an author in a group of poems) upon one striking aspect of the whole.
The longer paper (more than 6 pages) includes two general types, the critical essay and the research paper. The longer paper is usually assigned for submission during the first half of the semester, and may, whether it is a critical essay or a research paper, be referred to as a "term paper." As the name suggests, the "term paper" should be a work of greater depth and scope than the short paper but in most cases such a paper may be almost as narrowly focused as the short paper, the difference being that the term paper treats a topic slightly less narrow and treats it in greater depth (e.g., if the paper is to deal with the two opening lines of a poem, these lines should have a wider significance for the poet and his work than would necessarily be the case for the two opening lines of a poem examined in a shorter paper).
The critical essay usually represents an attempt to come to terms with a topic through your own insights. As in the case of the shorter paper, however, there is some room for the use of critical sources. Having read several articles on Hamlet, for example, you might very well proceed to write your own critical essay with occasional use of or reference to the work of one or more critics (an occasional footnote and a selected bibliography are necessary in this case--see "Sources and Documentation"). Exactly how much use of critical sources is too much for this type of essay is difficult to say. If the instructor asks for a long paper, it is probably safe to assume that you needn't use any critical sources if you don't want to or that you may read a number of critical pieces as long as you don't base your work too heavily upon them.
In English courses, papers that rely in one way or another on a number of critical sources are called research papers (or, again, term papers). Good research papers are tricky to write because there may be a temptation to let the critical sources dominate rather than support your essay. Though a research paper is to some extent based on the ideas of others, the paper should not be a cut-and-paste collage of other people's words and ideas. It should instead be a synthesis of materials (varied sources, your own insights) that supports an idea (your thesis statement) which is perhaps not immediately apparent from a casual reading of the sources themselves. Your skill and achievement lie primarily in your unique interpretation and organization of what you learn from viewing your subject in the light of the critical sources you have read. After reflecting on some of Keats's poetry and reading criticism about his worldview, for example, you might arrive at the following thesis statement, even though no single source you read made such an observation: "In the 'Ode to a Nightingale' Keats realizes most fully his contradictory vision of experience."
In the case of the research paper, as with the more personal critical essay, recourse to professional criticism serves to provoke and sharpen one's own responses to the topic, but unlike the critical essay, the research paper is also intended to acquaint the student more fully with the range and nature of professional scholarship and its applications in the study of literature. Thus strict adherence to scholarly conventions of format and documentation is essential in this type of exercise (see "Sources and Documentation").
English papers have much in common with papers written for other academic areas. As you would be in a paper for any course, you are generally expected to conduct a sustained discussion that focuses sharply on one point or aspect of the course or a particular work or body of works, explaining, exploring, and analyzing in depth the intricacies of your topic, ever concerned that all you say is self-evidently aimed at advancing the central point you are making.
Your purpose in writing an academic paper is always to make a particular point or assertion (even if that assertion is that no definite assertions about the problem are possible). This assertion is often referred to as the thesis of the paper. Your paper is most often a detailed elaboration of some Observation, idea, or truth you have hit upon in your studies and takes the form of a forward moving demonstration, clarification, or argument--an advancement of the thesis. Not only should you be aware of how the various statements you make relate to your central purpose, so should your readers. Be sure to supply, at every point, guidance to the readers so that they know what is coming and can keep track of where you've been.
Careful selection of your topic is essential if the proper depth and focus are to be achieved. All other things being equal, instructors in general, and English instructors in particular, tend to consider the paper that goes into great depth on a restricted topic a greater achievement than the paper that covers a wide range of points, but doesn't elaborate very much on any of them. Analysis and observation in depth reveal more complex and sophisticated mental properties than do superficial analysis and observation of broader categories related to more general topics. And the physics of the situation is immutable: given equal space, say a 200 word paragraph, it is likely to be more demanding and more rewarding to analyze, for example, the workings of one metaphor in a sonnet than it is to observe that the sonnet has five metaphors, cite them, and say a word or two about each. With the latter paragraph, it is simply impossible to attend to complexities because such attention takes space--space that is here devoted to enumerating elements at the same level. (Of course such a paragraph would serve well as a prelude to a series of paragraphs which analyzed the metaphors in depth.)
Everyone agrees that organization is needed. Yet even rhetoricians and experts in discourse analysis have not had a whole lot to say about precisely what makes one organization preferable to another. In the absence of specific definitive guidelines, what is important to note as you plan and write your paper is that you ought to have some organization in mind. You might try an outline in which you list what you think is your main point and follow it with a series of the sub-points you think you need to cover. Then play with arrangement and re-arrangement of these sub-points. Does one order seem preferable to another? Why? Or, instead of outlining, you might view your argument as a flow chart, an ongoing arrow which follows the most natural path through a series of rationally or intuitively determined points to prove your argument.
In any event, remember that you should have some rationale for using an organization and that the organization should be organically related to the purpose of the paper. That is, it should somehow reinforce your central idea by emphasizing its particular nature and making it easier to assimilate. For example, if your point is that a character such as Paul Morel in Sons and Lovers undergoes certain kinds of changes as he grows to manhood, you would probably find a chronological arrangement of points most suitable, for it would underscore the developmental nature of the process you are identifying. But if your point is that a particular device or detail in a novel is symbolic, such as the rain in A Farewell to Arms, you would not necessarily organize your points chronologically, but would arrange them so that they developed and emphasized your own assertion most forcefully; rather than ABCD, you might find that DBCA provided a convincing format for showing the symbolic properties of Hemingway's rain.
English papers, because they are frequently concerned with analysis of a primary text, generally use quotations freely. Quotations serve not only to support or "prove" points made by the student about the text, but also to add stylistic color and unity to the essay. A seemingly casual but actually careful interweaving of "bits" from the text with your own words, for example, will both show familiarity with the work and add to your style as well (e.g., "Ophelia, 'blasted with ecstasy,' emerges as a particularly pathetic victim of Hamlet's revenge."--here the use of the quotation, "blasted with ecstasy," originally uttered by Ophelia in reference to Hamlet, subtly and efficiently indicates your awareness of the irony).
Sometimes students will write essays about works of literature without once citing a passage from the text, making abstract pronouncements, talking about the book or poem as though it weren't there. This is generally not a good approach. Pointing to an excerpt from the text for support is an invaluable aid in fabricating a sound critical essay; even though readers are familiar with the text, they still need (and certainly want) to be shown the passage in question, to be reminded of its existence and to see what you can say specifically about its details. Thus you should make the effort to quote from the text at least once in conjunction with every significant point you make in your paper. Often you will want to cite two or more excerpts that illustrate particularly well a point you are making.
There is an accepted format for dealing with quotations which you are using to support an observation. First use a lead-in sentence or two in which you say precisely what the quotation illustrates or why it is important. Then quote the passage itself. Note, at this point, that although there is often a tendency to assume that the quotations speak for themselves, some further elaboration is usually in order. You might follow up with several sentences in which you show more specifically, by commenting upon the meaning or by pointing to specific details, exactly how the quotation illustrates what you say it does. Or you might follow up by explaining how the meaning of the quotation relates to other themes you have been discussing or mean to discuss.
You should be careful, on the other hand, not to overuse quotations, especially when, because of space limitations, their inclusion means the exclusion of your own observations. When quoted passages are so numerous they start to eclipse your own text, you should prune some of them and add your own commentary. Even when they are accompanied by sufficient commentary, quotations in overabundance may damage the paper by fragmenting the stylistic integrity of your essay, making it seem like a patchwork rather than a tightly woven fabric.
Overuse of quotations is more likely to occur in research papers, where many of your ideas are drawn from or have reference to published sources. Paraphrase and summary of such sources reduce your reliance on direct quotations. Quote directly in a research paper only when the wording of the original is particularly appropriate and effective. Note the similarities and difference in the following techniques:
As W. J. Bate notes, "To attempt a detailed interpretation of Keats's 'Endymion' is to enrich the poem--to fill out its large vacuities and reorder its scattered detail."
(approximately same length and detail, but in your own words): W. J. Bate is correct in observing that a close reading of "Endymion" is needed to bring order and unity to the disparate events of Keats's vast, disorganized poetic romance.
(condensed version in your own words): W. J. Bate points out that explication gives Keats's "Endymion" a unity it otherwise lacks.
Since standard writing handbooks are filled with advice on how to use the library and how to find and judge sources, we will raise only one supplementary point--the use of scholarly citations. Pay close attention to how often scholars cite each other and to what they say about each other. If, for example, five articles on Othello all mention A. C. Bradley's essay, it is probably worth reading. Footnotes at the beginning of scholarly articles may be particularly helpful as they sometimes provide the author's overview of the research which has been done on the topic.
Section II. C. ("Quotations") shows how a sample quotation might look in paraphrase or summary form. It is important to note that, regardless of the method used in transferring a published idea to your own text, all borrowed material must be acknowledged as such, whether directly quoted or not (see Sec. III. C., "Plagiarism"). In a critical essay which uses sources sparingly (not a research paper) some professors may be willing to accept a simple bibliography, passing references in your text, or informal glosses on your text as ways of indicating indebtedness to sources. Some, however, may require the use of formal footnotes and bibliography. If you are uncertain, check with the instructor--or, you can use formal documentation and feel confident that it will be acceptable in any academic paper.
In the research paper, your documentation should always be formal. The following discussion of footnotes and bibliography is primarily oriented towards documentation for formal research papers, but again, most of the forte and suggestions apply to more personal critical essays which make some use of critical sources.
(If you put notes at the end of the paper rather than the foot of the page, you may simply call them notes.) Footnotes serve a number of purposes. Most commonly a footnote takes the form of a direct reference to a published source, the implication being that the material in your paper which immediately precedes the superscript is in some way indebted to the book or article mentioned in the footnote (note the standard footnote forms for referring to a book and a journal article):
2 Mildred Carlson, The Power of the Presidency (New York: Turner and Co., 1956), p. 55.
4 Isaac Norris, "New Criticism: A Reconsideration," Monthly Journal, 54 (May, 1968), 89-106.
However, footnotes may be used for other purposes. It is important to note that you may address the reader in your own words not only in your text, but also in your footnotes. The following are some additional uses for footnotes, with an example of each:
5 The details of Erikson's early experiments are widely known. See Michael Jenkins, Modern Chemistry (Toronto: Eaton Press, 1968), pp. 98-103 and Martin Kirk, Frontiers in Chemistry (New York: Delta, 1971), pp. 52-61.
3 Roger Kearney mentions the emergence of this particular miner's union as a political force, but does not speculate on its probable role in prolonging the uprising of 1922. See The Rise of Labour Unions in South Africa (London: Alfred Press, 1948), p. 143.
1 For a markedly different interpretation of measures taken by the I.R.S., see Ronald Markowitz, "Tax Reform," Journal of Political Economy, 7 (1964), 22-26. Markowitz contends, for example, that Title VI is unconstitutional.
8 Yeats may have made his protagonist a middle-aged man because he himself had just turned fifty.
For a full treatment of footnote and bibliography forms, we recommend the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations or a similar guide. The following sample sequence of footnotes presents some of the most common situations you will face. Remember that standard forms must be adhered to.
1 Pamela Marks, Springtime in Paris (London: Eaton and Cromwell, 1924), p. 73.
Note the bibliography form for the same book:
Marks, Pamela. Springtime in Paris. London: Eaton and Cromwell, 1924.
While the footnote entry is punctuated as one sentence, the bibliography entry is punctuated as three. Also, there are differences in indentation and in the order of the author's name.
2 Richard Dunne, "The Italian Alps," Monthly Digest, 15 (April, 1954), 34-35.
Note: "15" indicates the volume number.
The bibliography form for the same article:
Dunne, Richard. "The Italian Alps." Monthly Digest, 15 (April, 1954) 31-40.
Note that inclusive pages for the entire article are indicated.
4 Ibid., p. 82
This note refers to Marks, p. 82. If the reference were to page 75
again, you would simply have written Ibid. with no page
number following it.
5 Ralph Andrews, The Deserted Plain (New York: Appleby, 1964), p. 56. Subsequent references are given parenthetically in the text.
6 Ernest Johnson, After the Uprising (Chicago: Grave Press, 1952), p. 54, quoted in Richard Albert, All the Way Home (New York: Thompson, 1973), p. 72.
Footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout the paper, beginning with 1 and going as high as need be. Do not begin with 1 on each new page. Do not devise your own reference system by assigning each source a number or by using asterisks (*), crosses (+), or double crosses (a) in place of consecutive numbers. Consult with your instructor to determine whether footnotes should be placed at the foot of the appropriate page or at the end of the paper.
The bibliography should at minimum be a list of the sources you have cited directly in your essay. Some instructors prefer that you list all your reading for the paper in the bibliography. This would include sources which you have used directly as well as those which have provided background or more general inspiration. Again, ask the instructor for his/her preference.
Bibliography entries should be arranged alphabetically according to the last name of the author. "Selected Bibliography" is the most versatile heading, but you may also use "List of Work Cited" or "List of Works Consulted," depending on the nature of the bibliography. The bibliography should be the final section of a paper, appearing after all text and notes.
The most recent edition of the MLA Handbook (1984) makes significant changes in documentation format for papers in the humanities. The most noteworthy difference is that notes (whether endnotes or footnotes) are no longer used for simple acknowledgment of indebtedness to a source. Instead, sources are given parenthetically in the text of the paper, similar to the long-accepted practices of documentation in the sciences and social sciences. Thus, the new approach would replace our footnote #1 (above), with this entry in the text of the essay itself: (Marks 73). If Marks's name were already given in the text, then only the page number in parentheses would be required: (73). Bibliographic information on Marks's book would be listed at the end of the essay, along with entries for all sources referred to, under the heading, "Works Cited." The listing would be as follows:
Marks, Pamela. Springtime in Paris. London: Eaton and Cromwell, 1924.
As with traditional bibliographies, the "Works Cited" list is arranged alphabetically by last names of the authors.
Notes are still used under the new system, but only when they are lengthy or discursive, i.e., when they do more than reflect simple indebtedness to a source.
While there is increasing professional interest in adopting the new MLA style of documentation (many journals have made the switch), it is not yet clear whether the new methods of reference have been thoroughly accepted in college courses in the humanities. For the time being, it would be wise to consult with individual instructors about their preferences for new or traditional styles.
Plagiarism is the theft and presentation of another's words or ideas as one's own, the unacknowledged use of material from another source. Of course facts and ideas which are common knowledge are not the property of any writer, even though he or she has written about them, and thus you may present material that is common knowledge (e.g., that the French Revolution began in 1789) without worrying about documentation. But you must give credit (through formal or informal documentation) for any idea not considered common knowledge which you take from a source--even though you have developed the idea on your own such that it is no longer recognizable as the idea of another. Also, you must acknowledge your indebtedness to an author if you have borrowed any wording or phraseology, regardless of the idea being treated (e.g., you would need a footnote if you used all or part of an author's sentence such as the following: "The summer of 1789 precipitated that frightening and cacophonous tumult called the French Revolution.").
Blatant plagiarism is viewed as a serious breach of academic ethics, on a par with cheating on examinations. Sometimes students get into trouble by using ideas from a book or article to bolster their own discussion because they don't have time to do a good job by themselves or because they feel insecure about their ideas. And it is easy to brush aside the seriousness of the infraction because many people do not equate copying some words from a book with stealing. But even a limited, casual borrowing constitutes plagiarism and is likely to raise doubts in the experienced reader's mind as to the student's ability and integrity. More extensive plagiarism could result in a loss of credit for the paper or even the entire course. In fact, serious or blatant cases of plagiarism are reported to the College Honors Committee, which may decide on further punishment (e.g., addition to the number of hours required for graduation).
Ideally, all papers should be flawless in grammar and mechanics. In practice they will seldom be so. but the more polished you an make your papers in this regard, the better. The paper that is handed in with poor proofreading or borderline grammar, while it may not ruin your grade for the course, depending on the reader, will certainly cost something in good will between you and the professor. Some professors may refuse to accept carelessly crafted papers. Others may accept such papers provisionally, demanding revision before assigning a grade. Some may feel that "tidiness" is not of the utmost importance and attempt to muddle through, doing their best to concentrate on the message rather than the medium. With such variety in readers it is hard to make absolute statements, but the following observation probably applies in the English Department at Oberlin: even the moss generous reader will hesitate to give an "A" to a poorly written essay, though the quality of the student mind at work surpasses that of Coleridge's or T. S. Eliot's in their finest criticism.
If you need a basic handbook for grammar and mechanics, the Handbook of Current English, the Harbrace College Handbook and the Prentice-Hall Handbook for Writers are as good as any. If you have generalized problems with grammar and composition, problems which recourse to a handbook will not solve, you should consider caking a course in expository writing. If you don't need a handbook or a course, then take the time you need to compose and proofread properly. Proofread the paper aloud to a friend if you can find one to listen.
Unless you have made other arrangements with the instructor, you should submit all work neatly typewritten, double-spaced, on 8 1/2' x 11" bond paper. Most instructors object to very thin paper and some would prefer that you not use erasable bond because it smears easily--check with the instructor on this. Pages should be fastened together with a paper clip and should be numbered consecutively (dropping a paper with unnumbered pages held together by a paper clip is a traumatic experience). Any notes or bibliography should appear on separate sheets after the last page of text (unless your instructor requires notes to be place at the foot of the appropriate page). A separate title page is optional; if you don't use one, you should indicate conspicuously at the top of the first page your name, the instructor's name, the course title or number and the date. Or you may write this information on the back of the last page and fold the paper lengthwise so that your name is visible. Again, check with the instructor for his/her preferences. Finally, don't forget to provide a title for your essay.
Some of the things we noted in discussing grammar and mechanics apply in considering format as well. It is unlikely (though possible) that a paper with poor or deviant format will be severely marked, solely on that basis. Individual instructors vary in their reactions to carelessly executed papers, but it is likely that in any case a paper with poor format will irritate the instructor considerably as he/she reads through a large stack of essays, most of them presented in more readable and accessible fashion. In the interests of good will, if not convention or professionalism, you should adhere to prescribed format.
Your style should, above all else, be clear, direct, and economical. Though it may not always have been the fashion to write as directly and economically as possible, it is now. Of course "direct" in a scholarly paper is not precisely the same as "direct" in other contexts. Every situation demands its own particular type and style of response, and you should consider well the nature of your audience and its expectations as you decide what style and tone to adopt in your essays.
In general, your style should be intelligent--that is, you should use sophisticated constructions and a well developed vocabulary, up to a point. But your "voice" in the paper should at the same time be as natural as possible without descending quite to the informality of everyday conversation. You are concerned to communicate with an audience that expects fairly formal and intelligent words and phrases logically and rationally arrayed, but imbued or stamped with a strong sense of your own personality.
The proper use of "I" in English papers deserves some attention because many students are confused about the issue. High school teachers often forbid the use of first-person singular point of view, but college professors' reactions to its use vary. Some encourage its use at all times as a way of making written discourse more natural in tone. Others feel it should be used only sparingly, as when it is needed to call attention to your own opinion as it contrasts with that of a critic you have cited (e.g., "While Smith holds that the trilogy lacks coherence, I believe that. . . ."). Still others may feel that you should use "I" whenever needed, as long as it is not inserted indiscriminately and excessively. At any rate, the use of "I" is by no means taboo in scholarly papers, and its growing popularity is representative of a trend towards slightly more familiarity and informality in the academic paper in general.
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