Ten Rules of Writing
1) Plan your Essay! Set aside 5-10 minutes to organize your thoughts. Note: For an hour-long in-class essay, allocate: Planning for 8 minutes; Writing for 45 minutes and 7 minutes for Revision.
2) Write a Well-structured Essay! Write a five-paragraph essay that includes all four components of an essay (Introduction, Body Paragraphs, Conclusion and Citations).
3) Use Good Sentence Structure! Avoid using simple sentences (one clause, with a single subject and predicate). Too many simple sentences can make an essay sound informal and comes across as patronizing.
4) Use Complex Language! Take risks with word choice - saying something is “good”, “bad”, “sad”, etc., can affect your mark. Do NOT use slang, abbreviations (TV, App), acronyms (without introducing them first) or contractions (can’t, isn’t, shouldn’t, they’re).
5) Make a Clear Argument! Make a statement that is logically debatable, showing intelligence and insight, rather than simply providing facts.
6) Make Connections! You must make connections between your thesis statement/argument and the literature you have read.
7) Consider your Audience! Remember: Use more nouns, fewer pronouns. Avoid using first person pronouns (I, me, my, we, us) and second person pronouns (you, your). Avoid saying “In my opinion” or “I think” because if it was not your opinion/thought, you would use a citation. Consider your audience ignorant of what you are saying - BE SPECIFIC!
8) Provide Evidence! Provide specific examples from the text(s) and use citations (even if it is an in-class essay!). Remember: poem/short story titles are placed in “quotation marks” and book titles are Italicized.
9) Avoid Plot Summaries! Remember to always tie your evidence into your argument by providing analysis and explaining why the evidence used is important.
10) Proofread! Give yourself at least an hour - ideally 24 hours - before proofreading an assignment. Print out your assignment and read it out loud. Consider printing the essay in a different typeface than the one you used on screen - that will make it seem less familiar, so you can proofread more effectively.
Understanding Writing Prompts
It is common for students to feel anxiety when they have to write an in-class essay. One key for students to improve their essays is to remember that the writing prompt always gives explicit directions on how to answer the question(s). The reason for this is because all forms of writing have an underlying template. It is the information that is inserted into the template that counts. Additionally, the teacher has a limited amount of time to mark dozens of papers. The clearer the structure, the easier it is for the teacher to see whether the writer has addressed the writing prompt correctly and logically.
When addressing an essay prompt, the writer should:
• Use repetition of key words from your professor's instructions in the thesis: A good strategy for the thesis statement is to rephrase the prompt as a declarative sentence, being sure to repeat the prompt’s key words.
• In the body of the essay, look for an opportunity to list: Figure out if the prompt is asking you to list reasons, causes, influences, factors, ways, theories, similarities, differences, etc.
Decoding the Question
One way to ensure students have successfully answered the prompt is to look for the key word that tells the student how to answer the question. The most common key words used in prompts are:
Analyze: to divide something into its parts in order to understand it better, then to see how the parts work together to produce the overall pattern. Analyzing a problem may require you to identify several smaller problems that are related to the overall problem.
Compare: Identify the similarities between things.
Contrast: Identify the differences between things.
Describe: to give a general written sketch or account of something, in narrative (or other) form.
Discuss: to examine or analyze something in a broad and detailed way. Discussion often includes identifying the important questions related to an issue and attempting to answer these questions. Where there are several sides to an issue, a discussion involves presenting this variety of viewpoints.
Evaluate: Stresses the idea of making some ultimate judgment about how well something meets a certain standard or fulfills some specific purpose. Evaluation involves discussing strengths and weaknesses.
Explain: to clarify or interpret something. Explanations generally focus on why or how something has come about. Explanations often require you to discuss evidence that may seem contradictory and to explain how these apparent differences in evidence can be reconciled.
Here is an example of how a student can map out their answer in an in-class essay:
Prompt: Why did Nasserism emerge in Egypt in the 1950s? Offer three reasons and analyze.
Potential Outline:
Intro with Thesis: Nasserism emerged in the 1950s for three key reasons.
Note how this thesis rephrases the prompt and its key words (highlighted above in yellow).
Body Paragraphs (BP): 1st reason Nasserism Emerged in the 1950s
-Provide an example supporting reason 1, explain the importance of the example, link to thesis and transition to next BP.
2nd reason Nasserism Emerged in the 1950s
- Provide an example supporting reason 2, explain the importance of the example, link to thesis and transition to next BP.
3rd reason Nasserism Emerged in the 1950s
- Provide an example supporting reason 3, explain the importance of the example, link to thesis and transition to conclusion.
Note: These body paragraphs are based on the PEEL model = Point, Example, Explain and Link.
Conclusion: Summarize the main points and arguments and link them to the thesis statement that you gave in the introduction. Answer the question: “so what?” by explaining why your arguments are relevant and important.
Identifying the Themes
Everything you read has at least one theme. A theme is a central idea (or ideas) or meaning of a work. Typically, a theme is an abstract concept, such as love, war, revenge, etc., and is brought to life through the characters, setting, action, tone, language style, and so on. One of the first keys to understanding a work of literature is to identify its theme(s). Tips to uncover the theme of a literary work include:
• Summarizing the entire story in one sentence.
• Identifying the subject: The subject is a topic that acts as the foundation for a work of literature, such as marriage in Nasser’s Egypt. The theme is the author’s opinion expressed about the subject. For example, the author could be highlighting their dissatisfaction with the narrow confines of Egyptian bourgeois marriage during that period.
• Identify the insight that was learned about the subject: Mainly, how does the protagonist change and what does the protagonist learn from the conflict(s) in the story?
• Identify how the theme is developed: Is it blatant or subtle?
• What actions, events or symbols are used to make the theme evident to the reader?
• What is the author trying to say about the theme or themes you have noted?
• Write one final, declarative sentence that states what was learned and how it was learned.
Key Vocabulary Terms for Discussing Texts and Arguments
Many students find it difficult to think of the correct academic English vocabulary terms needed to summarize and discuss a text. Here is an extensive list of verbs that a student can use when referring to texts and ideas:
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account for analyze argue assess assert assume claim clarify compare conclude criticize |
defend define demonstrate depict describe determine distinguish emphasize evaluate examine exemplify |
exhibit explain frame identify illustrate imply indicate investigate judge justify |
narrate persuade propose question recognize reflect refer to report review suggest |
Verbs for Referring to Sources
The writer can indicate their attitude about the sources they cite by choosing specific verbs. It is important to avoid writing “Author X says” repeatedly in your essay because the reader wants to see a variety of vocabulary in the sentences. Not only is having “Author X says” mentioned multiple times repetitive, but it is also boring and demonstrates to the reader that you lack key academic English reporting verbs. Here is a comprehensive list of verbs that can be used for introducing quotes or paraphrased material:
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acknowledge admit agree allege argue argue against assert assume believe claim conclude |
consider criticize decide demonstrate deny determine discover doubt empathize explain |
find hypothesize imply indicate infer maintain note object observe point out |
posit prove recommend refute reveal say show state suggest think |