ENG328Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Whatever Works
Essay Tips
Research
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Careful, accurate notes
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Overall point of an article important to lift out first
Understand an evaluate
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Source needs to be integrated into your argument
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Problem with block quotations
Readers skip them
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You have to explain ahead of time if you're going to use them
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Always have a context sentence
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Just don't use them, he doesn’t like them
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Secondary sources
Primary source is the novel
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Norton critical edition
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Shouldn’t be a pastiche of other peoples' ideas
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Premise, points, prosecution, evidence, conclusion
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Start writing now and write what you can
Final introduction should be what you write last
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But you can write a preliminary introduction
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Sharing first drafts is like sharing bodily fluids
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You're not a credible writer without a thesis
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Dispose of counter arguments if you can
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The first draft should be messy and ugly
You're writing to know what you're trying to say
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Writer-based document
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Second draft is the reader based document
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Figure out what you wanna say in the first draft and then fast-forward the
point to the first page and start from there
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Whatever works for you is good
Never feel guilty
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No such thing as writer's block
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It's never going to be perfect
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Make sure there's no gaps in your reason, no contradictions, no irrelevant
points
Back up all your statements
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Don't make assumptions
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Double-spaced, wide margins (1.5)•
Don't squander the title
Say something witty
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Easy reading is hard writing•
Don't write about your essay, write about the subject
Don't tell me what you're gonna do, just do it
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Meta-discourse is unnecessary - "I will be discussing…"
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He doesn't think there's a right way of doing this, just art it up•
You don't need to bold or underline or italicise
Your writing should be doing that for you
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Assume your writer has a memory
He likes an ending that opens outwards
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Read it out loud
Or into a tape recorder
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Check paragraphing for lengths
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Check word usage (remove pretentious words)
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Write complete sentences
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Say 'I'
Always in the present tense
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Don’t use 'one'
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Just be consistent
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Lecture 14
Monday, October 31, 2016
2:10 PM
