How to Write an Analytical Essay About Short Fiction (Return to the Unit 1 Schedule) 1) Read the story carefully.

You should be able to recreate the narrative line, identify the essential conflict, and distinguish between major elements of plot which influence the movement of the story. 2) Select an element in the story to explore (examples: theme, point of view, time, foreshadowing, image/symbol patterns). Perhaps you may want to examine the story from a particular critical perspective or approach. 3) Read the story again, identifying and marking passages that relate to that element. 4) Write a "working thesis," making a claim about the element you have chosen to analyze. The purpose of your essay will be to support, explore, demonstrate, or illustrate the validity of the claim you have made about that element. 5) Compose topic sentences (four or five, perhaps) that support, explore, demonstrate, or illustrate your thesis. Always begin with the topic sentence (a claim); never begin a paragraph in the body of your paper with a quotation or summary sentence. 6) Select specific passages in the text of the story that help you to develop each topic sentence. These passages offer the reader evidence of your claim. Avoid quoting passages longer than a single paragraph, but rather, try to incorporate the most important phrases or brief sets of sentences into each paragraph. 7) Build your paper to a climax; save your most engaging or important topic sentence for discussion last. 8) Begin your paper with an introduction that identifies the purpose of the paper and the text you are addressing. Open the paragraph with an interest device like a quotation, startling statement, or rhetorical question that will engage the reader's reflection and interest. The title (which you may want to develop at the end of the writing process) should be provocative without being juvenile, should reflect the perspective of the paper and perhaps your point of view or attitude toward the topic. 9) Conclude your paper with a paragraph that does more than summarize your thesis and major points. You may wish to echo your opening interest device, evaluate the author's development of the motif, or identify points for further reflection. 10) Print out your paper for careful editing. Reread it for smooth transition in and out of quotations and check for adequate support of each claim or topic sentence. 11) After revising the paper, print out your essay again, proofreading it this time for elements of style and correctness. Revise it once more and print out your final copy for submission

CRITICAL READING: A GUIDE A Guide Designed for His Year 1 Students, by Professor John Lye (Copyright John Lye 1996, 1997) This is a guide to what you might look for in analyzing literature, particularly poetry and fiction. An analysis explains what a work of literature means, and how it means it; it is essentially an articulation of and a defense of an interpretation which shows how the resources of literature are used to create the meaningfulness of the text. There are people who resist analysis, believing that it 'tears apart' a work of art; however a work of art is an artifice, that is, it is made by someone with an end in view: as a made thing, it can be and should be analyzed as well as appreciated. There are several main reasons for analyzing literature:

1.

The ultimate end of analysis is, first and foremost, a deeper understanding and a fuller appreciation of the literature -- you learn to see more, to uncover or create richer, denser, more interesting meanings. I have a brief page on the ideas of depth, complexity and quality as they relate to literature. 2. Secondly, as literature uses language, images, the essential processes of meaningmaking, analysis can lead to a more astute and powerful use of the tools of meaning on the reader's part. 3. Thirdly, analysis should also teach us to be aware of the cultural delineations of a work, its ideological aspects. Art is not eternal and timeless but is situated historically, socially, intellectually, written and read at particular times, with particular intents, under particular historical conditions, with particular cultural, personal, gender, racial, class and other perspectives. Through art we can see ideology in operation. This can be of particular use in understanding our own culture and time, but has historical applications as well. See my brief page on ideology for an expansion of this. 4. A fourth function of analysis is to help us, through close reading and through reflection, understand the way ideas and feelings are talked about in our culture or in other times and cultures -- to have a sense both of communities of meaning, and of the different kinds of understanding there can be about matters of importance to human life. Art can give us access to the symbolic worlds of communities: not only to the kinds of ideas they have about life, but also to the way they feel about them, to the ways they imagine them, to the ways they relate them to other aspects of their lives. You might also look at my page On the Uses of Studying Literature This Guide contains the following major sections: analysis of poetry , analysis of fiction , analysis of prose in fiction , writing an analytical essay . I: Critical Analysis of Poetry The process of analyzing a poem The elements of analysis discussed below are designed to help you identify the ways in which poetry makes its meaning, especially its 'parts'; they do not give a sense of how one goes about analyzing a poem. It is difficult to give a prescription, as different poems call on different aspects of poetry, different ways of reading, different relationships between feeling, i mages and meanings, and so forth. My general advice, however, is this: 1. look at the title 2. read the poem for the major indicators of its meaning -- what aspects of setting, of topic, of voice (the person who is speaking) seem to dominate, to direct your reading? 3. read the ending of the poem -- decide where it 'gets to' 4. divide the poem into parts: try to understand what the organization is, how the poem proceeds, and what elements or principles guide this organization (is there a reversal, a climax, a sequence of some kind, sets of oppositions?)

5. pay attention to the tone of the poem -- in brief, its attitude to its subject, as that is revealed in intonation, nuance, the kind of words used, and so forth. 6. now that you've looked at the title, the major indicators of 'topic', the ending, the organization, the tone, read the poem out loud, trying to project its meaning in your reading. As you gradually get a sense of how this poem is going, what its point and drift is, start noticing more about how the various elements of the poetry work to create its meaning. This may be as different as the kind of imagery used, or the way it uses oppositions, or the level of realism or symbolism of its use of the natural world. Reading poetry well is a balance among and conjunction of qualities: experience, attention, engagement with the qualities which make the poem resonant or compelling, close reading of structure and relationships. It's an acquired talent, you have to learn it. When you do, however, more and more meaning, power and beauty start leaping out at you. Elements of analysis: Here then are some questions to apply to your analysis in order to see how the poem is making its meaning: they cover genre, the speaker, the subject, the structure, setting, imagery, key statements, the sound of the poetry, language use, intertextuality, the way the reader is formed by the poem, the poem's historical placement, and ideology or 'world-view' 1. What is the genre, or form, of the poem? Is it a sonnet, an elegy, a lyric, a narrative, a dramatic monologue, an epistle, an epic (there are many more). Different forms or genres have different subjects, aims, conventions and attributes. A love sonnet, for instance, is going to talk about different aspects of human experience in different ways with different emphases than is a political satire, and our recognition of these attributes of form or genre is part of the meaning of the poem. 2. Who is speaking in the poem? Please remember that if the voice of the poem says "I", that doesn't mean it is the author who is speaking: it is a voice in the poem which speaks. The voice can be undramatized (it's just a voice, it doesn't identify itself), or dramatized (the voice says "I", or the voice is clearly that of a particular persona, a dramatized character). Identify the voice. What does the voice have to do with what is happening in the poem, what is its attitude, what is the tone of the voice (tone can be viewed as an expression of attitude). How involved in the action or reflection of the poem is the voice? What is the perspective or 'point of view' of the speaker? The perspective can be social, intellectual, political, even physical -- there are many different perspectives, but they all contribute to the voice's point of view, which point of view affects how the world of the poem is seen, and how we respond. 3. What is the argument, thesis, or subject of the poem What, that is to say, is it apparently 'about'? Start with the basic situation, and move to consider any key statements; any obvious or less obvious conflicts, tensions, ambiguities; key relationships, especially conflicts, parallels, contrasts; any climaxes or problems posed or solved (or not solved); the poem's tone; the historical, social, and emotional setting. 4. What is the structure of the poem? There are two basic kinds of structure, formal and thematic. Formal structure is the way the poem goes together in terms of its component parts: if there are parts -stanza's, paragraphs or such -- then there will be a relation between the parts (for instance the first stanza may give the past, the second the present, the third the future).

Thematic structure, known in respect to fiction as 'plot', is the way the argument or presentation of the material of the poem is developed. For instance a poem might state a problem in eight lines, an answer to the problem in the next six; of the eight lines stating the problem, four might provide a concrete example, four a reflection on what the example implies. There may well be very close relations between formal and thematic structure. When looking at thematic structure, you might look for conflicts, ambiguities and uncertainties, the tensions in the poem, as these give clear guides to the direction of meanings in the poem, the poem's 'in-tensions'. 5. How does the poem make use of setting? There is the setting in terms of time and place, and there is the setting in terms of the physical world described in the poem. In terms of the physical world of the poem, setting can be used for a variety of purposes. A tree might be described in specific detail, a concrete, specific, tree; or it might be used in a more tonal way, to create mood or associations, with say the wind blowing mournfully through the willows; or it might be used as a motif, the tree that reminds me of Kathryn, or of my youthful dreams; or it might be used symbolically, as for instance an image of organic life; or it might be used allegorically, as a representation of the cross of Christ (allegory ties an image or event to a specific interpretation, a doctrine or idea; symbols refer to broader, more generalized meanings). Consider this a spectrum, from specific, concrete, to abstract, allegorical: concrete --- tonal -- connotative -symbolic --- allegorical 6. How does the poem use imagery? "Imagery" refers to any sort of image, and there are two basic kinds. One is the images of the physical setting, described above. The other kind is images as figures of speech, such as metaphors. These figures of speech extend the imaginative range, the complexity and comprehensibility of the subject. They can be very brief, a word or two, a glistening fragment of insight, a chance connection sparked into a blaze (warming or destroying) of understanding; or they can be extended analogies, such as Donne's 'conceits'or Milton's epic similes. 7. Are there key statements or conflicts in the poem that appear to be central to its meaning? Is the poem direct or indirect in making its meanings? If there are no key statements, are there key or central symbol, repetitions, actions, motifs (recurring images), or the like? 8. How does the sound of the poetry contribute to its meaning? Pope remarked that "the sound must seem an echo to the sense": both the rhythm and the sound of the words themselves (individually and as they fit together) contribute to the meaning. 9. Examine the use of language. What kinds of words are used? How much and to what ends does the poet rely on connotation, or the associations that words have (as "stallion" connotes a certain kind of horse with certain sorts of uses)? Does the poem use puns, double meanings, ambiguities of meaning? 10. Can you see any ways in which the poem refers to, uses or relies on previous writing? This is known as allusion or intertextuality. When U-2's Bono writes "I was thirsty and you kissed my lips" in "Trip Through Your Wires," the meaning of the line is vastly extended if you know that this is a reference to Matthew 25:35 in the Bible, where Jesus says to the saved in explanation of what they did right, "I was thirsty and you wet my lips."

11. What qualities does the poem evoke in the reader? What sorts of learning, experience, taste and interest would the 'ideal' or 'good' reader of this poem have? What can this tell you about what the poem 'means' or is about? The idea is that any work of art calls forth certain qualities of response, taste, experience, value, from the reader, and in a sense 'forms' the reader of that particular work. This happens through the subject matter, the style, the way the story is told or the scene set, the language, the images, the allusions, all the ways in which we are called by the text to construct meaning. The theorist Wayne Booth calls the reader as evoked or formed by the text the "implied reader." 12. What is your historical and cultural distance from the poem? What can you say about the difference between your culture's (and sub-culture's) views of the world, your own experiences, on the one hand, and those of the voice, characters, and world of the poem on the other? What is it that you might have to understand better in order to experience the poem the way someone of the same time, class, gender and race might have understood it? Is it possible that your reading might be different from theirs because of your particular social (race, gender, class, etc.) and historical context? What about your world governs the way you see the world of the text? What might this work tell us about the world of its making? 13. What is the world-view and the ideology of the poem? What are the basic ideas about the world that are expressed? What areas of human experience are seen as important, and what is valuable about them? What areas of human experience or classes of person are ignored or denigrated? A poem about love, for instance, might implicitly or explicitly suggest that individual happiness is the most important thing in the world, and that it can be gained principally through one intimate sexually-based relationship -- to the exclusion, say, of problems of social or political injustice, human brokenness and pain, or other demands on us as humans. It might also suggest that the world is a dangerous, uncertain place in which the only sure ground of meaningfulness is to be found in human relationships, or it might suggest on the other hand that human love is grounded in divine love, and in the orderliness and the value of the natural world with all its beauties. What aspects of the human condition are foregrounded, what are suppressed, in the claims that the poem makes by virtue of its inclusions and exclusions, certainties and uncertainties, and depictions of the way the natural and the human world is and works? For a brief elaboration of the concept of ideology, see my page on the subject. Return to Top II: Analyzing fiction The analysis of fiction has many similarities to the analysis of poetry. As a rule a work of fiction is a narrative, with characters, with a setting, told by a narrator, with some claim to represent 'the world' in some fashion. The topics in this section are plot, character, setting, the narrator, figurative language, the way reality is represented, the world-view. 1. Plot. As a narrative a work of fiction has a certain arrangement of events which are taken to have a relation to one another. This arrangement of events to some end -- for instance to create significance, raise the level of generality, extend or complicate the meaning -- is known as 'plot'. Narrative is integral to human experience; we use it constantly to make sense out of our experience, to remember and relate events and significance, and to establish the basic patterns of behaviour of our lives. If there is no apparent relation of events in a story our options are either to declare it to be poorly written or to assume that the lack of relation is thematic, mean to represent the chaotic nature of human experience, a failure in a character's experience or personality, or the lack of meaningful order in the universe.

In order to establish significance in narrative there will often be coincidence, parallel or contrasting episodes, repetitions of various sorts, including the repetition of challenges, crises, conciliations, episodes, symbols, motifs. The relationship of events in order to create significance is known as the plot. 2. Character. Characters in a work of fiction are generally designed to open up or explore certain aspects of human experience. Characters often depict particular traits of human nature; they may represent only one or two traits -- a greedy old man who has forgotten how to care about others, for instance, or they may represent very complex conflicts, values and emotions. Usually there will be contrasting or parallel characters, and usually there will be a significance to the selection of kinds of characters and to their relation to each other. As in the use of setting, in fact in almost any representation in art, the significance of a character can vary from the particular, the dramatization of a unique individual, to the most general and symbolic, for instance the representation of a'Christ figure'. 3. Setting. Narrative requires a setting; this as in poetry may vary from the concrete to the general. Often setting will have particular culturally coded significance -- a sea-shore has a significance for us different from that of a dirty street corner, for instance, and different situations and significances can be constructed through its use. Settings, like characters, can be used in contrasting and comparative ways to add significance, can be repeated, repeated with variations, and so forth. 4. The Narrator. A narration requires a narrator, someone (or more than one) who tells the story. This person or persons will see things from a certain perspective, or point of view, in terms of their relation to the events and in terms of their attitude(s) towards the events and characters. A narrator may be external, outside the story, telling it with an ostensibly objective and omniscient voice; or a narrator may be a character (or characters) within the story, telling the story in the first person (either central characters or observer characters, bit players looking in on the scene). First-person characters may be reliable, telling the truth, seeing things right, or they may be unreliable, lacking in perspective or self-knowledge. If a narration by an omniscient external narrator carries us into the thoughts of a character in the story, that character is known as a reflector character: such a character does not know he or she is a character, is unaware of the narration or the narrator. An omniscient, external narrator may achieve the narrative by telling or by showing, and she may keep the reader in a relation of suspense to the story (we know no more than the characters) or in a relation of irony (we know things the characters are unaware of). In any case, who it is who tells the story, from what perspective, with what sense of distance or closeness, with what possibilities of knowledge, and with what interest, are key issues in the making of meaning in narrative. For a fuller discussion, see my page Narrative point of view: some considerations. 5. Figurative language. As in poetry, there will be figurative language; as in drama, this language tends to be used to characterize the sensibility and understanding of characters as well as to establish thematic and tonal continuities and significance. 6. Representation of reality. Fiction generally claims to represent 'reality' (this is known as representation or mimesis) in some way; however, because any narrative is presented through the symbols and codes of human meaning and communication systems, fiction cannot represent reality directly, and different narratives and forms of narrative represent different aspects of reality, and represent reality in different ways. A narrative might be very concrete and adhere closely to time and place, representing every-day events; on the other hand it may for instance represent psychological or moral or spiritual aspects through symbols, characters used

representatively or symbolically, improbable events, and other devices. In addition you should remember that all narrative requires selection, and therefore it requires exclusion as well, and it requires devices to put the selected elements of experience in meaningful relation to each other (and here we are back to key elements such as coincidence, parallels and opposites, repetitions). 6. World-view. As narrative represents experience in some way and as it uses cultural codes and language to do so, it inevitably must be read, as poetry, for its structure of values, for its understanding of the world, or worldview, and for its ideological assumptions, what is assumed to be natural and proper. Every narrative communication makes claims, often implicitly, about the nature of the world as the narrator and his or her cultural traditions understand it to be. The kind of writing we call "literature" tends to use cultural codes and to use the structuring devices of narrative with a high degree of intentionality in order to offer a complex understanding of the world. The astute reader of fiction will be aware of the shape of the world that the fiction projects, the structure of values that underlie the fiction (what the fiction explicitly claims and what it implicitly claims through its codes and its ideological understandings); will be aware of the distances and similarities between the world of the fiction and the world that the reader inhabits; and will be aware of the significances of the selections and exclusions of the narrative in representing human experience. return to the top III: Analysis of Prose in Fictio Someone is always speaking in a novel -- whether it is a narrator who is not a character within the fiction, or a character within the narrative. Consequently both the particular ideas, attitudes, feelings, perspectives of that speaker, and the concerns and attitudes of the novel as a whole, will be presented through the prose The analytical reader needs to understand what information is conveyed and how it is conveyed. The following is a guide to some things to look for, and contains: A. prose: the language; sentence structure; imagery and setting; discourse features. B. characterization C. genre and tradition A. The Passage as Prose.

1.

The language: a. What kind of language is used? Here are some possibilities: Is the language i. abstract or concrete language ii. language of emotions or of reason iii. language of control or language of openness b. What are the connotations of the language? How much language is connotative? What areas of experience, feeling, and meaning are evoked? When Conrad writes that a gate was "a neglected gap," we have to take notice, as a gate is not ordinarily a gap, nor is the issue of neglect or care usually applied to gaps. Conrad intends to imply, to connote, certain qualities through his language use. c. How forceful is the language (see also imagery and sentence structure)? d. what aspects of feeling are supported or created by the sound of the language? i. by the vowel and consonant sounds -- soft or hard long or short ii. by how the words go together -- e.g. smoothly, eliding, so that one slides into the other, or separated by your need to move your mouth position.

2.

Sentence structure: Meaning is created by how the sentences sound, by how they are balanced, by the force created by punctuation as well as by language: a. by the stresses on words, and the rhythm of the sentence b. by the length of the sentence c. by whether the sentence has repetitions, parallels, balances and so forth d. by the punctuation, and how it makes the sentence sound and flow. 3. Imagery and setting: Images and use of setting can tell you a great deal about a character, a narrator, a fictional work: a. Imagery as figurative language: what sort of metaphors, similes and analogies does the speaker use, and what does that tell you about their outlook and sensibility? b. Images as motifs: are their recurring images? What ideas or feelings are aroused by them, what people or events are brought to mind by them? c. Imagery as setting: How is the setting used? To create a sense of realism? To create mood? To represent or create a sense of states of mind or feelings? To stand for other things (i.e. symbolic or allegorical -- as for instance Wuthering Heights and Thrushcroft Grange in Wuthering Heights might be said to stand for two ways of viewing the world or two different sociological perspectives, and jungle in Heart of Darkness might be said to stand for the primeval past or for the heart of humankind)? 4. Discourse features a. how long does the person speak? b. are the sentences logically joined or disjointed, rational or otherwise ordered, or disorderly? c. what tone or attitude does the talk seem to have? d. does the speaker avoid saying things, deliberately or unconsciously withhold information, communicate by indirection? e. to what extent and to what end does the speaker use rhetorical devices such as irony? B. Characterization The idea here is that the various features of the prose, above, will support features of characterization which we can discuss in somewhat different terms. 1. What ideas are expressed in the passage, and what do they tell you about the speaker? 2. What feelings does the speaker express? What does that tell you about them? Are their feelings consistent? 3. Does the character belong to a particular character type or represent a certain idea, value, quality or attitude? 4. What is the social status of the character, and how can you tell from how they speak and what they speak about? 5. What is the sensibility of the speaker? Is the person ironic, witty, alert to the good or attuned to evil in others, optimistic or pessimistic, romantic or not romantic (cynical, or realistic?). 6. What is the orientation of the person -- how aware are they of their own and others' needs, and of their environments? 7. How much control over and awareness of her emotions, her thoughts, her language does the speaker have? 8. How does the narrator characterize the character through comment or through description? C. Genre & Tradition Different traditions and genres tend to use language and characters and setting and plot differently, and this may show in individual passages. Is it a satire, a comedy, a tragedy, a romance? Is it a novel of social comment, an exploration of an idea? (There are more kinds.) Is it in a certain sub-genre like a detective novel, science fiction, etc.? Is it an allegory or a satire, is it realistic or more symbolic? How does this genre, subgenre or tradition tend to use setting, characters, language, mood or tone? Does this one fit in?

IV: Writing an Analytical Essay Your purpose in writing an analytical essay is to convey your sense of what the text is saying, and how the text creates its meaning -- the use of the various aspects and devices mentioned in the previous sections. The simplest way to open your essay is with a statement of what you have decided the meaning of the text, the most sufficient interpretation, is. The body of your essay is then a presentation or 'defense' of your interpretation: you demonstrate the ways in which the text makes the meaning you believe it to have. In the conclusion you sum up your findings or recapitulate your argument briefly, and extend the significance of your reading if you wish -- this is where you comment on the more general, cultural or moral or technical significances of the theme and techniques of the text. You may begin you essay in other ways -- by stating what the main barriers are to an interpretation of the poem or what the main difficulties with arriving at an interpretation are, for instance, and how consequently you intend to deal with the text , or by stating what sorts of options you have in terms of emphases and why you have chosen the one(s) you have chosen. It is important to give the reader a sense of how you are proceeding in the essay and why. There is no sure-fire formula for essay writing. The form your essay takes will likely vary with the nature of your evidence (quotations from the text, principally, or from other sources), with your sense of how the text is structured and shaped, with your interpretation, and with your sense of what issues are most relevant. Obviously, you will have to make some organizational decisions. In writing on a poem, for example, do you go through a poem stanza by stanza showing how the meaning is developed? If this is your method, be sure you avoid the pitfalls: mere paraphrase, providing an unselective running commentary, and disorganization of kinds of evidence. An alternative approach might focus on the poem aspect by aspect (the point of view, the voice, the setting, and so forth). The pitfalls here are not being able show how the various aspects tie together to create meaning, and assuming that each aspect deserves equal and exhaustive treatment. Fiction is usually analyzed by considering one or more aspects of the work in the categories of theme (ideas, meanings), and/or of fictional techniques (plot, point of view, etc.). Remember that there are different kinds of literature in each genre, and that different kinds may rely on different devices. A poem may be narrative; it may be a dramatic monologue; it may be a collection of images with no human in sight; it may develop a logical argument; it may work allusively, analogically, symbolically and so forth; it may have a careful stanza-by stanza development, or it may depend on repetitions, images, and so forth. A work of fiction might be allegorical, it might use magical realism, it might concentrate on the effects of the environment, or it might attempt metaphorically to represent the interior lives of characters. Figure out what the main devices and strategies are, and concentrate on them, adding the lesser ones later and not necessarily in full. Try, if you are not sure of your interpretation, starting with the simplest, most obvious situation -- two lovers are meeting, say -- and add other possible points of meaning as they seem to extend or illuminate the dramatic situation -- for instance a storm is threatening, the meeting is seen from only one lover's point of view, each stanza gives a different meaning to what the significance of physical love might be, and so forth. Always deal with the 'form' as well as the 'content', however, with how the way something is said shapes what it means. Before you write your essay read about writing essays in the Norton anthology, pp. 2147 -- 2165 (if you are an ENGL 1F95 student). Look, too at the "Student Writing" essays in the anthology, for instance on pages 212, 323, 477, 755, 861, 909, 1176, 1461, 1942. Read, too, the section on writing and on documentation in The Little, Brown Compact Handbook, Section VI, "Research and Documentation" and Section VII, "Special Types of Writing." Write what you have to say as clearly and precisely as you can. Have someone proof-read your paper for you for spelling and grammatical errors and for intelligibility.

Literature

What this handout is about... This handout describes some steps for planning and writing papers about literature. Demystifying the process Writing an analysis of a piece of fiction can be a mystifying process. First, literary analyses (or papers that offer an interpretation of a story) rely on the assumption that stories must mean something. How does a story mean something? Isnt a story just an arrangement of characters and events? And if the author wanted to convey a meaning, wouldnt he or she be much better off writing an essay just telling us what he or she meant? Its pretty easy to see how at least some stories convey clear meanings or morals. Just think about a parable like the prodigal son or a nursery tale about crying "wolf." Stories like these are reduced down to the bare elements, giving us just enough detail to lead us to their main points, and because they are relatively easy to understand and tend to stick in our memories, theyre often used in some kinds of education. But if the meanings were always as clear as they are in parables, who would really need to write a paper about them? Interpretations of fiction, after all, would not be interesting if the meaning of the story were clear to everyone who reads it. The paper would become superfluous. Thankfully (or perhaps regrettably, depending on your perspective) the stories were asked to interpret in our classes are a good bit more complicated than most parables. These stories cant be easily reduced to one specific meaning that every reader can agree upon, but instead they use characters, settings, and actions to illustrate issues that have no easy resolution. They show different sides of a problem, and they can raise new questions about a problem. Nothing against the parable, but if stories all led to clear lessons or meanings, there wouldnt be much reason to read them more than once, study them closely, or talk to others about the impressions they get from a story. In short, the stories we read in class have meanings that are arguable and complicated, and its our job to sort them out. It might seem that the stories do have specific meanings, and the instructor has already decided what that meaning is. Not true. Instructors can be pretty dazzling (or mystifying) with their interpretations, but thats because they have a lot of practice with stories and have developed a sense of the kinds of things to look for. Even so, the most well-informed professor rarely arrives at conclusions that someone else wouldnt disagree with--and often for good reasons. In fact, most professors are aware that their interpretations are debatable and actually love a good argument. But lets not go to the other extreme. To say that there is no one answer is not to say that anything we decide to say about a novel or short story is valid, interesting, or valuable. Interpretations of fiction are often opinions, but not all opinions are equal. So what makes a valid and interesting opinion? A good interpretation of fiction will:

avoid the obvious (in other words, it wont argue a conclusion that most readers could reach on their own from a general knowledge of the story) support its main points with strong evidence from the story use careful reasoning to explain how that evidence relates to the main points of the interpretation.

The following steps are intended as a guide through the difficult process of writing an interpretive paper that

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meets these criterion. Writing, however, tends to be a highly individual task, so adapt these suggestions to fit your own habits and inclinations.

Writing a Paper on Fiction in 9 Steps 1. BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THE TEXT. Theres just no substitute for a good general knowledge of your story. A good paper inevitably begins with the writer having a solid understanding of the work that he or she interprets. Being able to have the whole book, short story, or play in your head--at least in a general way--when you begin thinking through ideas will be a great help and will actually allow you to write the paper more quickly in the long run. It's even a good idea to spend some time just thinking about the story. Flip back through the book and consider what interests you about this piece of writing--what seemed strange, new, important, or otherwise curious about what you read? 2. MAKE A LIST OF POTENTIAL TOPICS. After reading your story, a topic may just jump out at you, or you may have recognized a pattern or identified a problem that youd like to think about in more detail. What is a pattern or a problem? A pattern can be the recurrence of certain kinds of imagery or events. Usually, repetitions of particular aspects of a story (similar events in the plot, similar description, even repetitions in particular words) tend to render those elements more conspicuous. Lets say Im writing a paper on Mary Shelleys novel Frankenstein. In the course of reading that book, I keep noticing the authors use of biblical imagery: Victor Frankenstein anticipates that "a new species would bless me as its creator and source" (52) while the monster is not sure whether to consider himself as an Adam or a Satan. These details might help me interpret the way characters think about themselves and about each other, as well as allow me to infer what the author might have wanted her reader to think by using the Bible as a frame of reference. On another subject, I also notice that the book repeatedly makes reference to types of education. The book routinely makes reference to books that its characters read and the different contexts in which learning takes place. A problem, on the other hand, is something in the story that, to put it plainly, bugs you or that doesnt seem to add up. A character might act in some way thats unaccountable, a narrator may leave out what we think is important information (or may focus on something that seems trivial), or a narrator or character offer an explanation for something that doesnt seem to make sense to us. Not all problems that we have with a story lead in interesting directions, but some definitely do and even seem to be important parts of the story. In Frankenstein, Victor works day and night to achieve his goal of bringing life to the dead, but once he realizes his goal, he is immediately repulsed by his creation and runs away. Why? Is there something wrong with his creation, something wrong with his goal in the first place, or something wrong with Victor himself? The book doesnt give us a clear answer, but seems to invite us to interpret this problem. If nothing immediately strikes you as interesting or no patterns or problems jump out at you, dont worry. Just start making a list of whatever you remember from your reading regardless of how insignificant it may seem to you now. Consider a characters peculiar behavior or comments, the unusual way the narrator describes an event, or the authors placement of an action in an odd context. (Step 5 will cover some further elements of fiction that you might find useful at this stage as well.) Theres a good chance that some of these intriguing moments and oddities will relate to other points in the story, eventually revealing some kind of pattern and giving you potential topics for your paper. Also keep in mind that if you found something peculiar in the story youre writing about, chances are good that other

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people will have been perplexed by these moments in the story as well and will be interested to see how you make sense of it all. It's even a good idea to test your ideas out on a friend, a classmate, or an instructor since talking about your ideas will help you develop them and push them beyond obvious interpretations of the story. And it's only by pushing those ideas that we can write a paper that raises interesting issues or problems and that offers creative interpretations related to those issues. As your ideas become more sophisticated, your analysis will likely make the story more meaningful and more rewarding for the rest of us. 3. SELECT A TOPIC WITH A LOT OF EVIDENCE. If youre selecting from a number of possible topics, narrow down your list by identifying how much evidence or how many specific details you could use to investigate each potential issue. Do this step just off the top of your head. Keep in mind that persuasive papers rely on ample evidence and that having a lot of details to choose from can also make your paper easier to write. It might be helpful at this point to jot down all the events or elements of the story that have some bearing on the two or three topics that seem most promising. This can give you a more visual sense of how much evidence you will have to work with on each potential topic. Its on this activity that having a good knowledge of your story will come in handy and save you a lot of time. Dont launch into a topic without considering all the options first because you may end up with a topic that seemed promising initially but that only leads to a dead end. 4. WRITE OUT A WORKING THESIS. Based on the evidence that relates to your topic--and what you anticipate you might say about those pieces of evidence--come up with a working thesis. Dont spend a lot of time composing this statement at this stage since it will probably change (and a changing thesis statement is a good sign that youre starting to say more interesting and complex things on your subject). At this point in my Frankenstein project, Ive become interested in ideas on education that seem to appear pretty regularly, and I have a general sense that aspects of Victors education lead to tragedy. Without considering things too deeply, Ill just write something like "Victor Frankensteins tragic ambition was fueled by a faulty education." 5. MAKE AN EXPANDED LIST OF EVIDENCE. Once you have a working topic in mind, skim back over the story and make a more comprehensive list of the details that relate to your point. For my paper about education in Frankenstein, Ill want to take notes on what Victor Frankenstein reads at home, where he goes to school and why, what he studies at school, what others think about those studies, etc. And even though Im primarily interested in Victors education, at this stage in the writing, Im also interested in moments of education in the novel that dont directly involve this character. These other examples might provide a context or some useful contrasts that could illuminate my evidence relating to Victor. With this goal in mind, Ill also take notes on how the monster educates himself, what he reads, and what he learns from those he watches. As you make your notes keep track of page numbers so you can quickly find the passages in your book again and so you can easily document quoted passages when you write without having to fish back through the book. At this point, you want to include anything, anything, that might be useful, and you also want to avoid the temptation to arrive at definite conclusions about your topic. Remember that one of the qualities that makes for a good interpretation is that it avoids the obvious. You want to develop complex ideas, and the best way to do that is to keep your ideas flexible until youve considered the evidence carefully. Above all, you dont want to write a simplistic paper, and to avoid that, you need to be willing to challenge or expand your own thoughts. A good gauge of complexity is whether you feel you understand more about your topic than you did when you began (and even just reaching a higher state of confusion is a good indicator that youre

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treating your topic in a complex way). When you jot down ideas, you can focus on the observations from the narrator or things that certain characters say or do. These elements are certainly important. It might help you come up with more evidence if you also take into account some of the broader components that go into making fiction, things like plot, point of view, character, setting, and symbols.

Plot is the string of events that go into the narrative. Think of this as the "who did what to whom" part of the story. Plots can be significant in themselves since chances are pretty good that some action in the story will relate to your main idea regardless of what that topic is. For my paper on education in Frankenstein, Im interested in Victors going to the University of Ingolstadt to realize his fathers wish that Victor attend school where he could learn about a another culture. Plots can also allow you to make connections between the story youre interpreting and some other stories, and those connections might be useful in your interpretation. For example, the plot of Frankenstein, which involves a man who desires to bring life to the dead and creates a monster in the process, bears some similarity to the ancient Greek story of Icarus who flew too close to the sun on his wax wings. Both tell the story of a character who reaches too ambitiously after knowledge and suffers dire consequences. Your plot could also have similarities to whole groups of other stories, all having conventional or easily recognizable plots. These types of stories are often called genres. Some popular genres include the gothic (like Frankenstein), the romance (like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre), the detective story (any Sherlock Holmes story), the bildungsroman (this is just a German term for a novel that is centered around the development of its main characters, as in Great Expectations or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man), and the novel of manners (a novel that focuses on the behavior and foibles of a particular class or social group as do all of Jane Austens novels). These categories are often helpful in characterizing a piece of writing, but as with any attempt to categorize, this approach has its limitations. Many novels dont fit nicely into one genre and others seem to borrow a bit from a variety of different categories. For example, a reader could actually read Frankenstein as a bildungsroman, and given my own working thesis on education, Im more interested in Victors development than in relating Frankenstein to the gothic genre. And just to complicate matters that much more, genre can sometimes take into account not only the type of plot but the form the novelist uses to convey that plot. A story might be told in a series of letters (this is called an epistolary form or genre), in a sequence of journal entries, or in a combination of forms (Frankenstein is actually told as a journal included within a letter in a device called a framed narrative).

These matters of form also introduce questions of point of view, that is, who is telling the story and what do they or dont they know. Is the tale told by an omniscient or all-knowing narrator who doesnt interact in the events, or is it presented by one of the characters within the story? Can the reader trust that person to give an objective account, or does that narrator color the story with his or her own biases and interests? Character refers to the qualities assigned to the individual figures in the plot. Consider why the author assigns certain qualities to a character or characters and how any such qualities might relate to your topic. For example, a discussion of Victor Frankensteins education might take into account aspects of his character that appear to be developed (or underdeveloped) by the particular kind of education he undertakes. Victor tends to be ambitious, even compulsive about his studies, and I might be able to argue that his tendency to be extravagant leads him to devote his own education to

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writers who asserted grand, if questionable, conclusions.

Setting is the context in which all of the actions take place. What is the time period, the location, the time of day, the season, the weather, the type of room or building? What is the general mood, and who is present? All of these elements can reflect on the storys events, and though the setting of a story tends to be less conspicuous than plot and character, setting still colors everything thats said and done within its context. If Victor Frankenstein does all of his experiments in "a solitary chamber, or rather a cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a staircase" (53) we might conclude that there is something anti-social, isolated, and stale, maybe even unnatural about his project and his way of learning.

Obviously, if you consider all of these elements, youll probably have too much evidence to fit effectively into one paper. Your goal is merely to consider each of these aspects of fiction and include only those that are most relevant to your topic and most interesting to your reader. A good interpretive paper does not need to cover all elements of the story--plot, genre, narrative form, character, and setting. In fact, a paper that did try to say something about all of these elements would be unfocused. You might find that most of your topic could be supported by a consideration of character alone. Thats fine. For my Frankenstein paper, Im finding that my evidence largely has to do with the setting, evidence that could lead to some interesting conclusions that my reader probably hasnt recognized on his or her own. 6. SELECT YOUR EVIDENCE. Once youve made your expanded list of evidence, decide which supporting details are the strongest. When you make these decisions, keep two points in mind:. First, select the facts which bear the closest relation to your thesis statement. Second, choose the pieces of evidence youll be able to say the most about. Readers tend to be more dazzled with your interpretations of evidence than with a lot of quotes from the book. It would be useful to refer to Victor Frankensteins youthful reading in alchemy, but my reader will be more impressed by some analysis of how these writers--who pursued magical principles of chemistry and physics--reflect the ambition of his own goals. Select the details that will allow you to show off your own reasoning skills and allow you to help the reader see the story in a way he or she may not have seen it before. 7. REFINE YOUR THESIS. Now that you have a more select list of evidence, you probably have a sharper idea about your main idea than you did before you considered all of your evidence closely. At this stage, then, go back to your working thesis and refine it so that it reflects your new understanding of your topic. This step and the previous step (selecting evidence) are actually best done at the same time since selecting your evidence and defining the focus of your paper depend upon each other. As you consider refinements to your topic, also consider the scope of your project: how long is the paper supposed to be and what can you reasonably cover in a paper of that length? In rethinking the issue of education in Frankenstein, I realize that I can restrict the topics in a number of ways: education and culture (Victors education abroad), education in the sciences as opposed to the humanities (the monster reads Milton, Geothe, and Plutarch), or differences in learning environments (e.g. independent study, university study, family reading). Since I think I found some interesting evidence in the settings that I can interpret in a way that will get my readers attention, Ill take this last option and refine my working thesis about Victors faulty education to something like this: "Victor Frankensteins education in unnaturally isolated environments fosters his tragic ambition." 8. ORGANIZE YOUR EVIDENCE. Once you have a clear thesis you can go back to your list of selected evidence and group all the similar details together. The ideas that tie these clusters of evidence together can then become the claims that youll make in your paper. As you begin thinking about what claims you can make (i.e. what kinds of conclusion

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you can come to) keep in mind that they should not only relate to all the evidence but should clearly support your thesis as well. Once youre satisfied with the way youve grouped your evidence and with the way that your claims relate to your thesis, you can begin to consider the most logical way to organize each of those claims. At this stage, some writers find detailed outlines helpful while others simply group their evidence in a less rigid way and let the finer points of organization take shape as they write. To support my thesis about Frankenstein, Ive decided to group my evidence chronologically. Ill start with Victors education at home, then discuss his learning at the University, and finally address his own experiments. This arrangement will let me show that Victor was always prone to isolation in his education and that this tendency gets stronger as he becomes more ambitious. There are certainly other organizational options that might work better depending on the type of points I want to stress. I could organize a discussion of education by the various forms of education found in the novel (for example, education through reading, through classrooms, and through observation), by specific characters (education for Victor, the monster, and Victor's bride, Elizabeth), or by the effects of various types of education (those with pernicious, benevolent, or neutral effects). 9. INTERPRET YOUR EVIDENCE. Avoid the temptation to load your paper with evidence from your story. Each time you use a specific reference to your story, be sure to explain the significance of that evidence in your own words. To get your readers interest, you need to bring elements of the story to their attention that they wouldnt necessarily recognize on their own. So if youre quoting passages without interpreting them, youre not taking full advantage of your evidence or demonstrating your reasoning skills. In most cases, interpreting your evidence merely involves putting into your paper what is already in your head. Remember that we, as readers, are lazy--all of us. We dont want to have to figure out a writers reasoning for ourselves; we want all the thinking to be done for us in the paper.

General Hints The previous nine steps are intended to give you a sense of the tasks usually involved in writing a good interpretive paper. What follows are just some additional hints that might help you find an interesting topic and maybe even make the process a little less painful. 1. MAKE YOUR THESIS RELEVANT TO YOUR READER. Youll be able to keep your readers attention more easily if you pick a topic that relates to daily experience. Avoid writing a paper that only identifies a pattern in a story, but doesnt quite explain why that pattern leads to an interesting interpretation. Identifying the biblical references in Frankenstein might provide a good start to a paper--Mary Shelley does use a lot of biblical allusions--but a good paper will also tell the reader why those references are meaningful. Identifying a pattern alone simply wont reward your reader, or yourself for that matter. So what makes an interesting paper topic? Simply put, it has to address issues that we can use in our own lives. Your thesis should be able to answer the brutal question "So what?" Does your paper tell your reader something relevant about the context of the story youre interpreting or about the human condition? Some categories, like race, gender, and social class, are dependable sources of interest. This is not to say that all good papers necessarily deal with one of these issues. My thesis on education in Frankenstein does not. But a lot of readers would probably be less interested in reading a paper that traces the instances of water imagery than in reading a paper that compares male or female stereotypes used in a story or that takes a close look at the way an African-American or an Indian character is perceived by the other characters.

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Again, dont feel compelled to write on race, gender, or class. These are just some hot-button topics that concern a lot of readers. The main idea is that you ask yourself whether the topic youve selected connects with a major human concern, and there are a lot of options here (for example, issues that relate to economics, family dynamics, education, religion, law, politics, sexuality, history, and psychology among others). Also, dont assume that as long as you address one of these issues, your paper will be interesting. As mentioned in step 2, you need to address these big topics in a complex way. Doing this requires that you dont go into a topic with a preconceived notion of what youll find. Be prepared to challenge your own ideas about what gender, race, or class mean in a particular text. 2. SELECT A TOPIC OF INTEREST TO YOU. Though you may feel like you have to select a topic that sounds like something your instructor would be interested in, dont overlook the fact that youll be more invested in your paper and probably get more out of it if you make the topic something pertinent to yourself. Pick a topic that might allow you to learn about yourself and what you find important. Of course, your topic cant entirely be of your choosing. Were always at the mercy of the evidence thats available to us. For example, your interest may really be in political issues, but if youre reading Frankenstein, you might face some difficulties in finding enough evidence to make a good paper on that kind of topic. If, on the other hand, youre interested in ethics, philosophy, science, psychology, religion, or even geography youll probably have more than enough to write about and find yourself in the good position of having to select only the best pieces of evidence. 3. MAKE YOUR THESIS SPECIFIC. The effort to be more specific almost always leads to a thesis that will get your readers attention, and it also separates you from the crowd as someone who challenges ideas more and looks into a topic more deeply. Im banking that a paper about education in Frankenstein will probably not get my readers attention as much as a more specific topic about the impact of the learning environment on the main character. My readers may have already thought to some extent about ideas of education in the novel, if they have read it, but the chance that they have thought through something more specific like the educational environment is slimmer.

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How to Write Term Papers* Getting Started Choosing a Topic Doing the Research Research Resources Organizing the Paper Writing the Paper Citations and References Presenting the Paper

Writing a term paper is one of the most common requirements for an upper-division course such as the one for which this book was probably assigned. Such term papers usually count for a significant part of your final grade. Yet many, perhaps most, students have never received formal instruction about how to write a good research report. The following pages are meant to help you write an "A" paper by giving you some guidelines about how to go about your research and writing. Why do instructors assign papers? Answering this question is a good place to start thinking about term papers because if you know why papers are such a common assignment, then perhaps you can approach the task with added enthusiasm and dedication. Two goals usually motivate this assignment. One goal relates to the specific subject of the course; the other goal is based on your professional development. The first coursespecific goal is to increase your expertise in some particular substantive area. The amount that you learn from this or almost any other course will be expanded significantly by doing research and by writing a paper. The effort will allow you to delve into the intricacies of a specific topic far beyond what is possible in the no doubt broad lectures that your instructor must deliver in class. Your research will go beyond the necessarily general commentary found in this text. The second and probably more important goal behind a paper-writing assignment extends beyond the specific content of the course. The object is to sharpen your analytic and writing skills in preparation for the professional career that you may wish to pursue after graduation. Do not underestimate the importance of such thinking and communications skills. Most professional positions that college graduates seek will eventually require that you find information, analyze it, and convey your conclusions and recommendations to others, including your boss. You will be judged by your product. A survey of ranking business executives a few years ago asked them what accounted for the rise of their most successful young subordinates compared to the failure or slow progress of other junior executives. Communications skills was one of the factors most mentioned by the top executives. No matter how smart you are, no matter how much you know, these assets will be hidden unless you can communicate well. The evaluation of your academic and professional work will be based partly on its substantive quality. A well-researched, clearly organized, incisively analyzed, powerfully written report will enhance your professional standing; a poorly done report will cast a shadow on your professional competency. It is also important to realize that your report will be judged in part by such standards as neatness, grammar, and spelling, and other such technical criteria. It is not uncommon for university instructors to get papers that represent a good research and analytical effort but that are sloppy, contain numerous grammatical errors, are full of misspellings, or are burdened by other such technical deficiencies. Such shortcomings make you look bad. It is very difficult for an instructor (or, later on, your boss) to be dazzled by your intellectual acumen while being simultaneously appalled by your English usage. Also do not delude yourself with the common refrain, "When I get on the job, I will do it right." It takes practice to do things well. That is true for rollerblading, shooting baskets, and playing the guitar. It is also true for doing a research paper. Now, in college, is the time to practice and learn. Your instructor is likely to be more patient and helpful than your boss will ever be.

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Getting Started Most successful efforts require some planning. Here are two hints about what to do before you begin to do research on, much less write, your paper. Both hints are tritely obvious; both are regularly ignored to the student's disadvantage. 1. Follow instructions. Your instructor will (or at least should) let you know what is expected. Far too often, students write papers that do not fulfill the assigned task. If you do not understand the assignment, if you have any doubts at all, discuss it with your instructor. It is not uncommon in class or on the job for a person to get instructions, to not understand them, but to be reluctant to ask for clarification for fear of seeming "dumb." This is a significant error. In the first place, your boss will probably not think less of you for asking for clarification. In the second place, asking for supplementary instructions is far, far better than doing a report that does not meet the needs of your boss and is not what he or she wanted. That really makes you look dumb. 2. Do not wait until the last minute. Last-minute efforts usually read like last-minute efforts! Plan backward from the date the paper is due to allow plenty of time to get it done. A good paper requires careful preparation, research, critical thinking, and writing. These steps take time. Also, allow time for the unexpected. Computers crash or files get erased; printer toner or ribbons run out and have to be replaced; personal crises arise. You need to be able to cope with these and still get the paper done on time. "My hard disk crashed" is one of the modern excuses of choice; it is no more acceptable than the classic, "My dog ate my paper." Being late with reports in class or on the job is a very, very bad idea. Choosing a Topic The next step in your progress toward an award-winning research paper is to choose your topic carefully. If you are responsible for choosing your own topic, put some thought into this decision. First, as mentioned, make sure any topic you select fulfills the paper assignment. Second, if possible pick a topic that interests you. The more interested you are in a topic, the easier it will be for you to devote time and energy to studying it and to writing about it. Third, ensure that you select a topic that fits the length of the paper that you intend to write, the research resources that are available to you, and your analytical tools. Length: If you attempt to write a 10-page paper entitled "The President and Congress Struggle for Power: Two Centuries of Constitutional Conflict," then your paper is destined to be "a mile wide and an inch deep," as they say. It is better to do something more narrowly focused and to do it well than to give a superficial treatment of a large subject. Research Resources: Trying to write a paper on "Secret Military Operations in the Persian Gulf War" would also be a mistake because the government has not released the relevant information. You should take the holdings of your library into account. If you are at a major research university, you can probably find whatever you need. Even at large libraries, however, you may have trouble finding good sources to support a research paper on U.S.-Sri Lankan relations or U.S. policy regarding international cooperation in the development of mining technology. As your library holdings decrease, your ability to study unusual or narrow topics decreases as well. So be careful not to choose a topic that destines you to fail. Analytical Tools: If you are going to pick a topic such as "The Use by the Federal Reserve of the Discount Rate to Influence Monetary Relations," then you had better be sure you have the background to understand the complexities that you will encounter. Similarly, ensure that you have the proper statistical skills if you are going to analyze votes in Congress to see whether length of service, party affiliation, constituency interest, or the margin of victory is most closely associated with a senator's support of presidential proposals. For all of these issues, rule number 1 here and throughout this writing guide is check with the instructor if there is any doubt in your mind. Indeed, it is a very good idea to write a paragraph on what you intend to analyze, show it to the professor, and get his or her reaction.

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Doing the Research Now the project begins in earnest. Good research is the foundation of your paper. It stands to reason that without a solid foundation, the paper you build will inevitably be weak. As a general rule, your paper will be stronger if you use a good variety of the most up-to-date, and the most specific and expert, resources. The Library: The place to do research is the library. Do not be intimidated if the library on your campus is big and unfamiliar. Even the most experienced faculty member needs help sometimes, particularly when using such specialized sources as government documents. The good news is that assistance is readily available. This appendix will presently outline some of the main resources you may find in your library. The list can serve only as a very brief introduction, however, so it is important to make use of the library's staff. When you get lost, as we all do, ask the nearest librarian for help. Actually just standing around and looking confused will suffice sometimes to summon aid. Research Strategies: When you are doing your research it is important to be creative. Here are a few tips: 1. Start out by reading a general study or two on your subject. This will give you a broad grasp of your topic and will help you identify what is important and on what you need to focus your research. Simply jumping in and beginning to do research in specialized studies can often waste a considerable amount of your time. Textbooks can also be helpful. For many topics, one starting point might be a U.S. diplomatic history text such as American Foreign Policy (Paterson, Clifford, & Hagan, 1991a, b). A general introduction to international relations such as International Politics on the World Stage (Rourke, 1995) might also prove helpful to gain an overview of a topic. 2. Treat research like a detective story. Search under a variety of subject headings when looking for sources in the physical or computerized card catalog, in an index, or any other finding aid. If, for example, you are doing a paper on Vietnam, do not limit yourself to looking under "V" for Vietnam. Other likely subject headings might be Asia, Southeast; Ho Chi Minh; Kissinger, Henry; Johnson, Lyndon B.; Nixon, Richard M.; U.S.-Foreign Relations; or U.S.-History. 3. Look at the most recent books and journal articles first. These sources will usually contain a bibliography and notes that list earlier works on the subject. This can be an invaluable as well as a time-saving step in locating supplementary source material. 4. Photocopy important material. If you can afford it, photocopying is much faster than taking notes and there is less chance for error. If you take written notes, use index cards. Larger cards are better than smaller ones. Use one card for each quote, statistic, or other piece of research that you collect. Cards work well because they can be arranged easily. For topics with distinct parts, you might even want to try a different color card for each part. Some people use portable computers to take notes. If you do, be sure to make a backup copy on a floppy disk. 5. Make a careful and complete notation of the source of your material. Later on we will cover why and how to cite material, but there is nothing more frustrating than having to go back to the library to look up a citation that you should have noted clearly and completely in the first place. Research Resources Your library contains many types of resources that you can utilize to do your research. The following list is a mere beginning. Use it, but also go to your library, wander about a bit looking at its various sections and the resources that each contains, and ask librarians about what is available. You may be surprised at how many resources you discover. Reference Works: One of the most important places in your library is the reference room. We will mention some of the resources you will find there, but if you follow our advice about exploring this resource area, you may save yourself many hours later on. The materials in the reference room are valuable resources for beginning to structure the basic outline of your topic. Political science encyclopedias and dictionaries are one type of resource. There are many. For an

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American foreign policy course you might wish to look at sources such as the Dictionary of American Diplomatic History (Findling, 1989) or, at the most general level of political science, you might wish to consult The Encyclopedic Dictionary of American Government (Dushkin, 1991). There are similar works, such as The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World (Krieger, 1993), that are global in scope. Then there are resources such as Editorial Research Reports, the Political Handbook of the World, or the Index to International Public Opinion that deal with particular topics, give summaries of various governments, or take other specialized approaches. Such works are normally acceptable sources; general-purpose encyclopedias (such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the World Book, etc.) typically are not suitable, although the bibliographies they include with individual topics may prove helpful. In a U.S. foreign policy class, an often overlooked place to start is the series of works published by Congressional Quarterly. Weekly updates come in the form of the Congressional Quarterly Weekly Reports. Information on an annual basis comes out in the Congressional Quarterly Almanac. Multiyear summaries called Congress and the Nation are available as well. These contain the basics of most U.S. foreign policy actions. Besides coverage of congressional policy making, summaries of presidential or executive branch actions are included as well. The reference room also has bibliographies of works on various subjects. These are classified under "Z." Check with the reference librarians. They may save you time. Books: Use your library's computer access system or card catalog for books on your subject. A good place to start is with the Library of Congress Subject Headings for ways to cross-reference your search for books. In the Library of Congress system, most U.S. history is under the letter E. For economics, look at H; for world history, consult books under D. Under H, the subsets of HC, HG, and HJ are particularly good for economics. The letter J encompasses most works on political science. As subsets, the letters JK focus on U.S. politics; JL, JN, and JQ cover other parts of the world; and JX covers international politics. Military affairs are under U. It is valuable to know these letters because sometimes it is worthwhile to simply go to the stacks where those letters are shelved and browse a bit to uncover resources that you may have missed in your computer or card catalog search. The shelves in the reference room are partly arranged using the Library of Congress system. Older books are also sometimes catalogued under the Dewey decimal system with the 300s and 900s of especial relevance to political science and history. Scholarly Journal Articles: Some topics, like U.S. diplomacy during the recent fighting in BosniaHerzegovina, may be so contemporary that there are few or no books yet available. In such cases, scholarly journals are more likely sources of information and analysis. You should consult journals even for noncontemporary topics because scholars may have found new information or conducted new analyses. The places to find journal articles are the Public Affairs Information Service, the Social Sciences Index, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the ABC Pol Sci. You should be able to find most, if not all of these, in your library's reference room. Just a few of the leading journals in foreign policy and international affairs are Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Affairs, International Organization, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of International Affairs, Orbis, and World Politics. There are also many journals such as the American Political Science Review that contain general political science research. Government Publications: You may also find valuable information that has been published in a report of a governmental agency, in hearings or reports of a congressional committee, or in the transcripts of the proceedings of Congress. The United Nations and a number of other international organizations also publish proceedings and reports. There are several indexes available. The Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications provides a comprehensive list of sources. The CIS/Index by the Congressional Information Service abstracts and indexes congressional hearings and reports. Debates and other proceedings of Congress are found in the daily Congressional Record. At some schools, accessing government documents can be a challenge. See your reference librarians for help with government publications. Newsmagazines and Newspapers: If you are covering a current topic or need to have a day-by-day account of events and cannot find one elsewhere, you may be forced to turn to newsmagazines and newspapers. Be sure, however, to check with your instructor to ensure that these are considered acceptable sources for your assignment. Mostly they are useful for facts or for contemporary quotes and are usually not good sources of analysis. Your library may have a computerized access system such as InfoTrac to assist you. The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature also helps access this material. Additionally, major newspapers like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times are indexed. Some are now available on

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CD-ROM, allowing you to use the computer to search by subject and then print out the relevant stories. For instance, InfoTrac is one CD-ROM-based system that among other things indexes the New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times. The Lexis/Nexis computer database will not only provide you with indexed citations of journalistic articles, but also with the text of the article in most instances. See the reference librarians for help with such resources. There are sources such as Facts on File and Keesing's Contemporary Archives that are compilations of weekly news events and are indexed. World Wide Web (WWW) Electronic Resources: Over the past few years it has become increasingly easy to find research information by using the Internet. Until recently the Gopher system of data archives was the dominant form of Internet information access, but now most governmental and nongovernmental organizations, universities, and even many businesses have developed access to their research resources over the graphic environment on the World Wide Web. The following are a number of Web sites that will get you started in searching for information you may need in writing your research paper. Although some of the Uniform Resource Locators (URL) listed below are for specific information sources, most provide you with "hot-linked" lists that will get you to where you might want to look for information. Government Bureaucracies http://www.xnet.com/~blatura/suits.shtml Networked Government Resources http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/government.html U.S. Government Links http://www.intergate.net/html/us.government.html Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut http://www.lib.uconn.edu/RoperCenter/index.htm International Simulations, University of Michigan http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/intsim.html Yahoo Political Science http://www.yahoo.com/government/politics It is important to note that URLs change frequently. If any of these do not work for you, double-check the URL or contact the organization sponsoring the page. Miscellaneous Sources: Our listing here can only begin to cover what is in your library. There may be a map room. There may also be an audio-visual section. Some libraries contain archives or a rare book collection. Talk to a librarian or your professor for added information. Also realize that no library has everything. Consequently, you may find references to sources that are not found in your library. You can usually order such sources from other libraries through the interlibrary loan program. Check with your reference librarians to learn how to use this service. Be advised, however, that interlibrary loans take some time. So order any needed sources as early as possible. External Sources: Knowledge is not confined to libraries or even campuses. A surprising number of students know someone who knows something about the specifics of some U.S. foreign policy issue. Even if you do not know someone personally, you might find it interesting and possible to conduct an interview with a decision maker or some other relevant person. Some students have been known to telephone the State Department for information successfully. Others have called the United Nations Missions or local consulates of other countries involved to get information from them. For advice on unconventional sources, see your instructor.

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Organizing the Paper The keys to effective papers are good organization and presentation of ideas and error-free technical skills. There are a number of sources that you can access to help you both organize and write your paper. Some are: Writer's Guide: Political Science (Biddle & Holland, 1987); The Chicago Manual of Style (1993); "The Write Stuff" (Cronin, 1986); Writing with Power (Elbow, 1981); The Elements of Style (Strunk & White, 1979); and A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian, 1987). Our comments on writing a paper that follow may prove helpful to you, but they are not substitutes for the fuller discussions you will find in these writing guides. There are three organizational issues to consider. They are the outline, the parts of the paper, and the approach. Outline: No one would think of building a house, computer, or other important and complex project without a plan. Students regularly write papers without a plan. As a result, poor organization is a common weakness of undergraduate term papers. The best way to construct your plan and to organize information for maximum effect is to put together an outline. An outline serves to lay out your paper's structure, to ensure that it is complete and logical, and to prevent you from getting off the track. Determine what you wish to accomplish in the paper; then prepare an outline specifying every step from Introduction to Conclusion. Linear writing is crucial in professional papers and reports. A good outline also serves to help you later: It ensures that you stay on track, write an accurate summary for your conclusions, and cover all of the relevant information and arguments. Parts: All papers should have three basic parts: an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. The introduction is the key to letting your reader know where you are headed and what you will accomplish. Remember always that while the organization of your paper may be clear to you, it is not clear to your reader. Therefore, the introduction is something like a road map that acquaints the reader with the journey ahead. This will make it easier for the reader to understand what follows and will improve the reader's evaluation of your work. Tell the reader in concise terms (1) what the subject of the paper is, (2) what it is that you hope to find out, and (3) how you will go about it. If you are writing an advanced, theoretical paper, your introduction might well also include a review of the existing scholarship on the subject, a section in which you identify how you collected your data and other information, and a discussion of the methodology you will use. Wolfinger (1993) is a guide for such advanced papers. The main body is the largest part of the paper. It should have a logical organization. Especially if the paper is long, it is often a good idea to divide the main body into sections designated by headings and subheadings. Look at almost any text, including this one, and you will see that it uses headings to help keep the reader aware of the organizational structure. Also with regard to your main body, do not assume knowledge on the part of the reader. Include all important information, explain its significance, and detail your logic. Write your paper as though its reader will be a reasonably intelligent and informed person but not an expert on your topic. Your instructor wants to know what you know and will not "read into" the paper information that is not there. The conclusion should sum up what you have found and stress the evidence that supports your analysis. There is something very human about wanting to have things summed up, so do not leave your reader hanging without a conclusion. Approach: There are several ways to approach your paper. A common organizational approach is a chronological one. The advantage of this approach is that it uses the passage of time as its organizing mechanism. The disadvantage of a chronological approach is that it can easily become a "laundry list" of events, both important and unimportant. Students often list everything they find, leaving it to the reader to determine which factors are most important. Chronologies are also no substitute for analysis. There is nothing wrong with a chronological approach if it is done well; just be sure to put more emphasis throughout on why things happened than on what happened. A more analytic approach would be organized around a set of factors, or variables, that are important to the subject of the paper. Theoretical approaches can also be used to organize a paper. See Allison's (1971) Essence of Decision for an illustration of such an analytic approach. Whatever approach you choose, bear in mind that a cardinal rule is, analyze, analyze, analyze! Summarizing your findings in the conclusion does not mean that this is the only place to put "you" in the paper. Your analysis should appear throughout the paper. A big error that many novice writers make is to use

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the main body of the paper to create a heap of facts and to wait until the conclusion to say what they mean. This approach is boring and will not impress your readers with your analytical ability. The best papers by far are those that draw data, events, and other material together and interpret them throughout. Writing the Paper Besides organization, the other hallmark of a good paper is clarity in writing. Remember that if a paper fails to communicate well, then its research-no matter how well done--will have little impact. There is an old piece of advice that says, "write like you speak." This is terrible advice, at least for formal papers. Good written communication is somewhat different from good spoken communication. When you speak to someone, especially face to face, you can convey meaning through voice inflection, gestures, and other methods in addition to your words. These methods are not available in written communications. Therefore, choice of words, punctuation, and other considerations are particularly vital when you write. Good writing can be divided into three parts: effort, style considerations, and technical matters. Effort: Thomas Alva Edison once supposedly commented that "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." That is true whether one is inventing the lightbulb or creating an essay, a report, or a book. Writing and polishing drafts of a paper take time and effort. They cannot be done the night before the paper is due. If you sit down at your word processor the night before your report is due and write it into the wee hours of the morning, you will almost certainly leave your reader as bleary-eyed when he or she reads the paper as you were when you wrote it. Two things to do are to write drafts and to get others to read your paper. 1. Write a draft, preferably more than one. No professional writer would dream of sending a manuscript out for review or to press without writing multiple drafts. Indeed, the more one writes, the more one feels the need to do drafts. Only undergraduates have the hubris to keyboard a paper into the computer, print a copy out, hand it in, and wait confidently for that rave review and an "A" grade from the instructor. A better idea is to write a first draft. Note here that the adjective "rough" does not precede "draft." Your draft should be complete and carefully done. Once your smooth draft is done, put it aside for a few days so that you can gain perspective. Then reread it. You may be surprised at how many ways you find to improve what you have written when you look at it with "fresh eyes." The same is true for your third and subsequent drafts. 2. Get help. There are many people who can help you write a first-rate paper. One person is your instructor. Discuss your topic and your ideas with your professor. He or she may be able to help you refine your topic, avoid pitfalls, identify resources, or plan the paper's organization. Submit drafts to your professor far enough ahead of the deadline to give the instructor time to suggest revisions. It may prove helpful also to ask a classmate, a family member, or someone else to read your paper. Most people are not good judges of their own writing. We tend to read what we meant to say, not what we actually wrote. A fresh reader will be able to point out technical errors and lapses in your argument and organization. Writing centers are another source of help at many colleges and universities. You may have already paid for such assistance with your tuition dollars; you might as well use it. Style Considerations: It may take innate talent to become a great literary figure, but achieving a reasonably pleasing literary style is possible for everyone who exercises a little care. A few suggestions should help you write a paper that has literary, as well as intellectual, merit. 1. Watch your sentence structure. Students and scholars too often seem to assume that long, complex sentences are symbolic of profundity. They are not; they are mostly just cumbersome. Simple, subject-verbobject sentences are best. They are powerful. Still, if you do not vary them occasionally, numerous short sentences do not "read" well. So, after several simple sentences, add a longer one. But do not go too far the other way. Consider "Rourke's Rule of 2s": "Sentences more than two lines long or with more than two commas are probably too long to be understood easily, especially if there have been two in a row." 2. Rely on active tense, action verbs. Avoid the passive tense (No: "Politicians are disliked by many people." Yes: "Many people dislike politicians."). Similarly, action verbs (made, jumped, went) are better than verbs of being (is, are, were). In general, active/action verbs generate more interest.

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3. Use standard English. Colloquial English typically does not make a good impression unless you are writing fiction. Obscenities and other forms of gutter English are almost never acceptable. 4. Avoid starting too many sentences with adverbial or adjectival clauses or phrases. These are the short phrases (such as "In the morning, we went...") that are often followed by a comma. Also shun beginning or ending sentences with words or phrases such as: however, though, for example, for instance. 5. Watch your paragraph length. Paragraphs over one page in length are usually too long. They may contain redundant statements or more than one major idea. Rework such paragraphs to delete unnecessary text or to separate ideas into additional paragraphs. At the other extreme, one-sentence paragraphs are not acceptable. Remember that each paragraph should have a topic sentence and several others that explain or develop that topic. 6. Rely on transitions between paragraphs. Conventions like "On the other hand," "Still," "Also," "Nevertheless," "Thus," "However," or "As a result" help the reader get from one thought to another. They smooth the reading process.

7. Avoid clichs. "They fought like cats and dogs over which policy to adopt." Ugh!
8. Get to the point. Do not beat around the bush; save a tree; avoid word pollution. Technical Matters: Your paper must be free of common writing mistakes. Cautions about some of these are: 1. Avoid sentence fragments. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb. 2. Check your spelling. Misspelled words make you appear uneducated, careless, or both. Keep in mind that misspelled words and typographical errors cannot be distinguished from each other by a reader. Both are unacceptable. Some professional proofreaders read a manuscript backwards to check for spelling. Try it. Do not rely on just your own sense of how words are spelled. Use a dictionary, a "spell check" program if you have a computer, and a second reader to proofread your drafts. Beware of spell checkers, though! Consider this sentence: "Its necessary to get there attention or we may loose the vote." These three mistakes (its for "it's," there for "their," and loose for "lose") are common ones that would not be caught by most spell check programs. Thus it is crucial to have a human scan your words. 3. Make sure subjects and verbs agree. Subject-verb disagreement is most likely to occur when the two are separated in the sentences by several other words. 4. Be careful of verb tense. Many poor writers use only present tense. Use past tense, future, and other tenses as appropriate. Also be careful to keep verb tense consistent within paragraphs. 5. Make pronouns mean what they say. Misuse of pronouns is very common. A pronoun refers to the last noun of the same person and gender. Consider the sentences, "John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was subsequently also shot and killed. Many Americans wept at his death." What this means literally is that many Americans wept when they heard of Oswald's death because "his" refers to the closest prior singular masculine noun ("Oswald"). Also, do not normally use pronouns more than twice in a row to refer to the same noun. Use the noun or a variation thereof again for clarity. While we are on the subject of pronouns, it is seldom correct to use a gender-specific pronoun (he, she, him, her) to refer to an inanimate object. The United States, for example, is an "it," not a "she." 6. Do not split infinitives. Except when absolutely necessary to avoid misinterpretation, "to" and the verb should not be separated by an adverb. 7. Avoid the use of contractions. Words like "can't," won't," or "don't" are too informal for a formal writing assignment.

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8. Be careful of abbreviations. Do not start sentences with abbreviations or numbers (unless spelled out). For countries, avoid using the abbreviation as a noun (No: The U.S. did...); but the abbreviation is acceptable as an adjective (Yes: Current U.S. foreign policy...). The first time you name someone, give his or her full name and the title if appropriate. Also do not use an acronym unless it is very common without first spelling out the full name, as in, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). 9. Do not end sentences with prepositions. This rule is being relaxed, but repetitive use of prepositions at the end of sentences is indicative of poor sentence structure. 10. Know when and how to use specific punctuation. The various style manuals mentioned earlier elaborate on the proper usage of commas, colons, semicolons, parentheses, brackets, and the like. Citations and References All good research papers rely on information compiled by and analysis done by others. If you write a research paper without consulting other works, then you have written an essay, not a report. If you do rely in part on the work of other people and you do not cite them, you have failed in your responsibilities. A research paper must cite the work of others. There are two reasons that citations are mandatory. The first is to allow the reader to explore the subject further by consulting the works that you have utilized. Without regular and complete citations, such further exploration by your reader is difficult or impossible. Second, intellectual honesty requires citations. Failure to use them is plagiarism, which is unacceptable in any form. Plagiarism is the theft of the thoughts, facts, or knowledge of others by not giving them proper credit. When to Cite: Follow these guidelines to protect yourself: 1. Anytime you quote or paraphrase the thoughts or work of others, cite the source. It is incorrect to believe that only quotations require citations. You should also insert a note whenever you are relying on someone else's thoughts or research, even if you are only paraphrasing (putting it in your own words). 2. Simple, commonly known facts need not be footnoted. A rule of thumb is that if you did not know the information before you started the paper, then you should use a citation to show where you found the information. Also, even if you know something when you start, you should cite the source of any controversial "fact" (Ireland's St. Brenden and the Vikings came to the New World before Columbus). 3. When in doubt, cite the source. Plagiarism is unethical. Instructors and other readers take it very seriously. Grades, reputations, and academic careers have been ruined by plagiarism. Err on the side of safety. One citation too many is far better than one citation too few. How to Cite: The use of a correct format for citations used in endnotes or footnotes and in a bibliography often seem a bit complex and cumbersome, but doing so has two good points. Those advantages are completeness and consistency. Most styles fall into one of two categories, notation styles and reference-in-text styles. Notation style involves the use of numbers to indicate each citation. Each number's corresponding note may be at the bottom of the page as a footnote or at the end of the paper as an endnote. In either case, you should provide comprehensive information on each source the first time it appears as a footnote or an endnote, with shortened versions appearing in later footnotes or endnotes. At the end of the paper, a bibliography repeats the full documentation of these sources, listing them alphabetically by author. Bibliographies have their own formatting styles. A number of works demonstrate both citation and bibliography format styles, including A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian, 1980) and The Chicago Manual of Style (1993). A reference-in-text style uses the author's name and the year of publication of the work, which are placed in parentheses and inserted at the appropriate place in the text. A page number is also included for direct quotes and in some other cases. Then at the end of the paper or book there is a "References" or "Works Cited" section that contains the full documentation for all the sources cited throughout the body of the work. These sources are listed alphabetically by author. Reference-in-text styles are increasingly the norm in social science,

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and most are some variant of the style developed by the American Psychological Association (APA). For details of how to use such styles, see the APA's Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (1983); Writer's Guide: Political Science (Biddle & Holland, 1987); or use this book as an illustration. Whatever citation style you choose, use it correctly and be consistent. Presenting the Paper Your job is not quite finished. After writing the paper, you must prepare its physical presentation. Unless told otherwise, you should type your paper double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all four sides of each page. Your paper should feature a title page, the body of the paper, and then the bibliography, "Works Cited," or "References" page(s). If your instructor prefers some variation of this model, that will usually be specified in advance. Once again, it is important to stress that a paper is a whole product. A paper that contains impeccable research, cogent analysis, and brilliant writing will still evoke a negative reaction from the reader if it is wrinkled, printed sloppily, or barely readable because the ink on the ribbon is exhausted. Some general guidelines include: 1. Printed material is preferable. Most instructors will not accept handwritten reports. Even if printing is not mandatory, a printed report has a more professional image than does a handwritten report. 2. Make sure the print is easily legible. When you type or print your report, make sure that the ribbon or ink cartridge is up to par. 3. Do not play the margin, spacing, and font game. Professors are not naive and have read veritable mountains of papers. Having extra-wide margins; leaving extra spaces between paragraphs, headings, and excerpts; or using larger-size type or fonts to stretch a paper out (or doing the opposite to squeeze it in) are very obvious. You will not fool the instructor or anyone else. So, why bother? 4. Number your pages. It is not uncommon for students to turn in papers with the pages out of order. Numbering the pages cuts down on this mistake. Also, unbound papers sometimes fall apart and must be reassembled. Numbered pages will facilitate this. 5. Securely fasten the paper together. Paper clips are a bad idea. Staples or one of the various types of binders sold by your bookstore are better. 6. Read your paper one last time. Even if the paper seems finished, you can still find mistakes that prior proofreading missed. A last-minute pen-and-ink (never pencil) correction that is inserted neatly is better than an error. 7. Go home and relax. Get a pizza, watch some television, catch a movie! You deserve it after working hard and writing a great paper. Congratulations! *From John T. Rourke, Ralph G. Carter, Mark A. Boyer, Making American Foreign Policy (McGraw-Hill, 1996). Copyright 1996 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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