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Literature Guide Essay Writing, Presentations, Research Literature Guide Essay

Literature Guide Essay Writing, Presentations, Research Literature Guide Essay Writing, Presentations, Research Misha Kavka and Bernard Schweizer Revised and enlarged edition prepared by Martin Mühlheim, Barb Breustedt, and Dorota A. Smyk Bhattacharjee (2006) Revised and enlarged edition prepared by Johnny Riquet, Mark Ittensohn, Hannah Schoch, and Rahel Rivera Godoy-Benesch (2015) © 2000, 2006, 2015 English Department, University of Zurich Plattenstr. 47, 8032 Zürich TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I – THE CRITICAL ESSAY .......................................................................... 1 Chapter One: The Basics ......................................................................... 3 The Literature essay vs. the Linguistics paper .............................. 3 First principles................................................................................ 3 Formal layout of the Critical Essay ................................................ 4 The reader ..................................................................................... 6 Using gender-neutral pronouns ..................................................... 6 Chapter Two: Essay Structure ................................................................. 8 Essay cohesion ............................................................................. 8 Introductory paragraph(s) .............................................................. 9 The thesis statement ................................................................... 11 The paragraph ............................................................................. 12 The topic sentence ...................................................................... 14 Paragraph transitions .................................................................. 15 Argument development ............................................................... 15 Concluding paragraph(s) ............................................................. 16 Chapter Three: Sentence Organization ................................................ 18 Sentence endings ........................................................................ 18 Corollary to the principle of sentence endings ............................. 19 Sentence Transitions ................................................................... 19 Chapter Four: Punctuation .................................................................... 22 Basic punctuation ........................................................................ 22 Rules and suggestions for using commas ................................... 23 Chapter Five: Grading Sheet ................................................................. 28 Part II – PRESENTATIONS ................................................................................ 31 Chapter Six: Preparing a Presentation ................................................. 33 Chapter Seven: Structuring Your Presentation ................................... 34 Chapter Eight: Practicing Presentations .............................................. 36 Part III – RESEARCH AND SOURCE ACKNOWLEDGMENT .................................... 39 Chapter Nine: Research ......................................................................... 41 Primary and secondary sources .................................................. 41 Referencing and the dangers of plagiarism ................................. 41 Availability and reliability .............................................................. 42 Some dos and don’ts of research ................................................ 44 Useful websites ........................................................................... 44 Chapter Ten: Plagiarism ......................................................................... 46 Three different kinds of borrowing ............................................... 46 Plagiarism and the Internet .......................................................... 47 Spotting plagiarism ...................................................................... 47 Chapter Eleven: Quotations ................................................................... 48 1. Direct quotation ....................................................................... 48 2. Block quote .............................................................................. 48 3. Quoting verse .......................................................................... 49 4. Quoting drama ......................................................................... 50 5. Embedding quotes ................................................................... 50 6. Punctuation .............................................................................. 51 7. Ellipsis (or “three dots”) ............................................................ 51 8. Fragmentary quotes ................................................................ 52 9. Internal quotation ..................................................................... 52 10. Paraphrase ............................................................................ 52 Chapter Twelve: The Format of Titles ................................................... 54 Chapter Thirteen: Citing References .................................................... 55 Parenthetical documentation (MLA style) .................................... 55 Footnotes ..................................................................................... 57 Chapter Thirteen: Bibliography ............................................................. 58 Three kinds of lists ....................................................................... 58 1. Books ....................................................................................... 58 2. Stories, chapters, articles, and excerpts .................................. 61 3. Editions and translations ......................................................... 62 4. A multivolume work .................................................................. 62 5. Online sources ......................................................................... 63 6. Online dictionaries and encyclopædias ................................... 63 7. Films ........................................................................................ 64 Appendix: SAMPLE PAPER ............................................................................. 59 Index ............................................................................................................. 71 Introductory Note Part I of the Literature Guide deals with the content, structure, and layout of critical essays, and Part II focuses on oral presentations. Since the problem of source acknowledgment is relevant to both critical essays and oral presentations (e.g. for handouts, but also on PowerPoint slides or overhead transparencies), this topic is treated alongside with research in Part III. PART I THE CRITICAL ESSAY 2 3 CHAPTER ONE: BASICS THE LITERATURE ESSAY VS. THE LINGUISTICS PAPER The literature essay and the linguistics paper each have a different function and therefore require a different style and format. • The literature essay (referred to in this guide as the critical essay) presents a focused interpretation of a text or texts developed in the form of a specific argument or thesis. In other words, the critical essay develops a central, arguable claim.1 • The linguistics paper usually attempts to support or refute a hypothesis (i.e. a statement that can be proved or disproved) by analyzing and interpreting a particular set of empirical data. This Study Guide applies specifically to the demands of the critical essay. Note, however, that Chapters 3 and 4 of the Study Guide, as well as the material on essay and paragraph organization in Chapter 2, apply to writing in English in general. FIRST PRINCIPLES 1) The critical essay must first and foremost present an argument. A purely descriptive or summarizing essay is therefore inadequate. For instance, it is not sufficient to demonstrate the versification in a poem, nor is it enough to present a catalogue of information from secondary sources. Such elements are the analytical tools that help you to support your overall argument, but they cannot replace the argument. 2) The structure of a critical essay should be internal to the essay, not external. Rather than consisting of short, individually labeled sections, an essay should consist of • a thesis statement • paragraphs which correspond to the steps of the argument • a topic sentence to each paragraph • paragraph transitions Internalized structure in the critical essay makes for a more fluid argument, which will 1 Another important type of essay is the expository essay. Its function is to acquaint readers with a body of knowledge. In such an essay, you would explain the relevant aspects of a problem and thus demonstrate your own knowledge of a given topic, but not try to persuade your readers. Note, however, that any paper you write in the course of your studies at the English Department should be a critical essay that puts forward an argument and tries to convince the reader of your particular point of view. 4 ultimately be more persuasive to your reader. It is also simply the convention of writing in Anglo-American literary criticism. 3) Begin the essay early, so that you have time to revise it before turning it in. The first draft of an essay will require not just correction (fixing mistakes), but also revision (rewriting according to argumentational and structural needs). Give yourself enough time so that you can put the first draft aside for a day or two; when you return to it, you will be better able to see – and rewrite – any flaws or imperfections in its argument and structure. FORMAL LAYOUT OF THE CRITICAL ESSAY If you have been taught the conventions of German-language composition, you may have to “unlearn” certain writing practices. This booklet will help to familiarize you with the textual norms and conventions that apply specifically to the Anglo-American critical essay. In a nutshell, the Anglo-American critical essay is distinguished from both the German-language composition and the linguistics paper by a minimum of scaffolding, i.e. no or limited use of table of contents, enumerated headings, as well as subsections and sub-subsections. 1. Title Papers of all lengths should have a title that is ideally both informative and interest awakening. The title should contain basic information about your primary text(s) (i.e author, title), as well as one or more keywords to describe the focus of your essay. Anglo-American writers often use two-part titles, in which the first part is an interest-awakening phrase – possibly even a quote – and the second part is informative (e.g. Jaime Hovey. “ ‘Kissing a Negress in the Dark’: Englishness as a Masquerade in Woolf's Orlando.” PMLA 112.3 (1997): 393-404). 2. Table of Contents A table of contents becomes necessary only if the work is long enough to be divided into chapters (e.g. the Masterarbeit). In shorter papers, the thematic scope of your argument should become evident in the title and introductory paragraph(s). Do not, therefore, use a table of contents in any of the other literature papers you have to write at the English Department. 3. Chapters A chapter is an organizational unit of a book or a monograph (i.e. a separate treatise on a specific theme). Chapters are conventionally between 15 and 30 pages in length. A Masterarbeit (20,000-30,000 words, i.e. 60-90 pages) should be formatted like a book. It should be divided into chapters, including a separate Introduction and Conclusion, and have a table of contents. Each chapter, like longer critical essays, may itself be divided into sections (see points 4 and 5). 5 4. Sections Separate sections are appropriate only in a paper of 15 or more pages. They are optional (and can be a useful organizational tool). These sections should be 4- or 5-page blocks held together by topic sentences and paragraph transitions in order to keep the argument fluid. Sections may be marked by headings alone, by headings after Roman numerals (i.e. I, II, etc.), or by Roman numerals alone. If you choose to have headings for each section, these headings should be thematic rather than functional (e.g. “The Role of the Unnamed Woman,” not “Introduction,” “Analysis,” or “Conclusion”). 5. Subsections German-language composition favors subsections in papers of all lengths (e.g 1.1, 1.2, 1.2.1, etc.), but this is not the case in the Anglo-American critical essay. In keeping with the conventions for the critical essay, do not use subsections. 6. Introduction and Conclusion headings In papers that are not long enough to have separate chapters, the introduction and conclusion take no separate headings. The essay simply begins with the introductory paragraph, and goes directly into the conclusion from the end of the development. If the introduction and conclusion in a longer paper are separate sections, they will take thematic headings (e.g. “Shakespeare’s Prose” or “Criticism, Fiction, and Ideology”). 7. uploads/Litterature/ literature-guide-2015.pdf