Writing the 1002 paper: Some basic protocols for writing about literature

Writing the 1002 paper: Some basic protocols for writing about literature

Checklist for interpreting literature: • Understand all the details of the work. Clarify any confusion about what goes on in the work. • Use your imagination to relate to work your experiences. • Developed hunches or hypothesis about the meaning of the word as you read. • If you own the work, mark it and write comments in the margins to help you generate ideas and to remember key passages and review the work. • Seek out ideas of others – critics, teachers, and other students. Compare your ideas with theirs

Organize evidence according to a coherent plan: There are several ways of presenting facts and literature that make evidence easy-to-follow. Spatial organization presents facts as they appear in the word, from beginning to end. Chronological organization, takes up the facts in the order in which they occur in time. Often, spatial order is the same as chronological order but not always. Many works employed devices such as stream of consciousness and flashbacks that make spatial sequence different from chronological.

3. Organization by ascending order of importance from the least important facts or claims to the most important.

Sample Thesis Statements

Another acceptable Thesis: In the general outlines of its plot, in the characterization of the protagonist, and in the development of the alien creatures, George R.R. Martin's award-winning short story "Sandkings" can be read as an ironic tribute to Theodore Sturgeon's classic short story "Microcosmic God."

Note also some other basic protocols for writing about literature: • Punctuate each story correctly by enclosing the title in quotation marks. Remember, hole works are underlined . Works within a work are in quotation marks. • For both men and women writers, you should typically include the author’s full name in the first sentence of your essay. For all later references. Use only last names.

Always use exact, comprehensive, and forceful language Try to make your sentences meaningful.

Here is an example: VA GUE: It seems as though the Main characters dreams of luxuries caused her to respond the way she does this story. Revised: Matilda’s dreams of luxuries make her dissatisfied with their own possessions, and therefore she goes beyond her financial means to attend the big party.

THE LITERARY PRESENT TENSE The basic rule is: You should use the past tense when discussing historical events, you should use the literary present tense when discussing fictional events. Literary works, paintings, films, and other artistic creations are assumed to exist in an eternal present.

When you are writing about writers or artists as they express themselves in their work, stay in present tense. Here are some examples: Aeschylus' drama is concerned with what happens to Orestes after he has killed his mother. In Michelangelo's painting, Christ judges the world. Johnson's characters journey to Cairo. Plato argues without much conviction. Paul writes about the hardships he has endured.

Sometimes a sentence must employ both present and past tense. For example: The first part of the poem, which she completed in 1804, describes the effects of isolation from society.

Writing the 1002 paper: Some basic protocols for writing about literature