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Kevin Brooks |
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Spring 2000 Courses
English
111
Reading
and Writing II
English
358
Intermediate Composition
Other Links
Red River Conference on World Literature
Essay One: Defining an Abstract Concept
The situation:
Humanities courses often ask you to think about "big questions" or abstract concepts like "What constitutes ‘The Good Life’?" or "What is art?" Those courses ask you to analyze and evaluate the logical, ethical, and emotional arguments put forth in answer to these big questions. For this assignment, you get to define an abstract concept of interest to you. In defining this concept, however, you will need to analyze and evaluate at least three other definitions of your concept.
Writing in the humanities:
Audiences: Teachers and general readers in the humanities are often among the most attentive readers of academic writing. They not only expect to learn something when they read, but they expect writing to be engaging, interesting, even entertaining. They expect insight on the material (a fresh way of looking at something familiar), and they appreciate a well-turned phrase or a good joke.
Style: They expect formal, academic prose, but are open to personal stories and lessons from experience, particularly those stories that relate directly to your sources. Readers in the humanities will often be more willing to read interesting elaborations or digressions than audiences in other academic areas.
Sources: Most people in the humanities value tradition: they consider Plato or Aristotle to be as important to answering the question "What is ‘The Good Life’?" as any contemporary philosopher. But they also value contemporary re-evaluations of traditions. In looking for what others have said about your question, you should try to find a balance between traditional and contemporary views. You should also draw on academic sources rather than sources from popular magazines or newspapers. People in the humanities value in-depth and scholarly arguments more so than "sound bites."
Pre-writing tasks:
- Tentatively formulate a concept or question you would like to explore.
- Find traditional and contemporary perspectives on that concept.
- Be sure to find background material on your sources; use sources which advanced students and teachers in the humanities will recognize as valid and appropriate.
- Also be prepared to revise your focus somewhat as your source material moves you in new or slightly different directions.
- Talk to your group members about your topic and your sources; possibly share sources, but do not write the same essays.
- Talk to me about your topics; ask me about your sources.
Writing tasks:
- In your introduction, identify your concept, explain why you think it is an important concept, and why others have considered it an important concept to define. You may want to present your definition (your thesis) and show how you arrived at it (a deductive argument), or you may want to lead your readers through your paper and conclude with your definition (an inductive argument). You may also want to experiment with some form of dramatic or narrative opening.
- Possibly forecast the direction of your paper. Provide a framework or a metaphor which will prepare readers for the topics you cover and/or the sources you draw upon.
- Be sure your paper follows the organizational pattern you have forecasted. You might want to write the forecasting statement late in the drafting process.
- Identify your sources before using them; accurately and thoroughly cite the material you draw from them; provide a clear and comprehensive bibliography.
- Compare, contrast, and analyze your source materials. This can be done at various points in the paper.
- Propose your own definition, either drawn from your source material, or in opposition to some or all of your source materials.
