Tips for Success on Essays

The ability to write an organized, fluent, and compelling essay ought to distinguish the recipient of a good liberal arts education from everyone else. If you cannot write such an essay by the time you graduate, both you and the University of Puget Sound have failed.

A mere command of words does not produce good writing; no one can write well without thinking well. Poor writing and sloppy thinking usually go hand-in-hand. Indeed, sloppy thinking often leads to poor writing, which in turn promotes even sloppier thinking, creating a vicious circle whereby thinking and writing both degenerate. George Orwell claimed that written English in his time had deteriorated for this very reason: "It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts."

Writing comes naturally to no one. The habits of mind that make a good writer develop only after years of practice. I cannot pretend the essay assignments in this class will make you as proficient a writer as George Orwell. Nevertheless, four years of essay assignments in college will provide you with the experience, judgment, and knowledge to improve yourself. Try not to think of the essay assignments as a series of punishments or unpleasant chores. Instead, look at them as an opportunity to make progress in mastering a difficult but worthwhile skill.

The page that follows includes detailed information on how to write a successful essay. I've provided a table of contents for this page to help you navigate to specific information more quickly, but please take the time to read the entire page at least once before handing in any essay assignments for my class.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Preliminary Preparations

Read the Essay Assignment Carefully

Thinking

Break the Question and Answer into Parts

Making Outlines

Assembling Your Paragraphs

As You Write

The Parts of an Essay

Introduction

Body of the Essay

Conclusion

Title

General Points to Keep in Mind Throughout the Essay

Errors of Thought

Errors of Style

Errors of Syntax and Grammar

After You Have Finished: Quality Control

Proofreading

The Dangers of Spell Check

Neatness Counts

PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS

Read the Essay Assignment Carefully: If you want to know what the professor expects of you, read the essay assignment as carefully as you can. Write down all the issues the assignment expects you to address. Think. Sometimes there is more than meets the eye. If you feel confused or fear you have not fully understood the assignment, ask the professor to make the necessary clarifications.

Thinking: In IBM's glory days, "THINK" was its motto. IBM used to print this mantra on all of its paraphernalia. One day, the motto disappeared, IBM stopped thinking, and the whole company went to hell in a handbasket. The moral of the story is that thinking is the key to success. If you wish to produce something valuable, you cannot avoid thinking. Writing notes, producing outlines, and highlighting books are all rituals associated with thought, but they do not constitute thought themselves. Thought takes place inside the mind. So think!

I cannot give you a recipe that will show you how to go about thinking, but I do have some advice you ought to keep in mind. Remember that thinking is a difficult thing to do. Calm down and relax. Turn the radio and the TV off.

• Regurgitating: Hoping to avoid thought, students often regurgitate instead. They take the information provided to them by the professor and fling it back at him with little modification. No professor worth his salt should reward students for merely repeating what he said. Lecture notes should not serve as a substitute but as a foundation for students' own thoughts. Left to your own devices, you may say something wrong, but I'll respect you for trying to think for yourself.
• Probing Beneath the Surface: Part of thinking consists of looking beneath the surface. Asking yourself "why?" repeatedly will help you get to the bottom of matters, preventing you from resting content on superficial appearances. People often write sentences that sound like, "X drinks because she's an alcoholic." This statement explains little. Why is X an alcoholic? How did she become an alcoholic?
• Leave Your Prejudices Behind: Asking "why?" forces us to question the prejudices and other cherished beliefs that we rarely examine. For instance, many students seem convinced that the single-minded pursuit of money and power constitutes the sole aim of all men and women. Take a look at yourself. Are you in it only for the money and the power? Do all of you want to become billionaires and senators? Aren't you—and just about everyone else—a bit more complex and sophisticated than that?
• Using Intellectual Crutches: Obviously, you will have to refer to various sources and facts to prove your point. Do not, however, merely tack quotes together and let the paper write itself. Do some of the thinking yourself. And don't ever start a paper with a reference to a dictionary definition ("Webster's Ninth New College Dictionary defines war as 'a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations'.")—that is soooo junior high! Come up with your own definitions or employ the definitions that have emerged in class discussion.
• Making Sweeping Assertions: In a paper I received once, a student wrote the Catholic Church was "one of the most corrupt and violent institutions ever to have existed." The Roman Catholic Church may have committed some shameful actions over the course of its 1900-year history, but is it one of "the most corrupt and violent institutions ever to have existed"? If a writer insists on dropping this kind of an atom bomb in a paper, he needs to justify it with arguments.
• Using the Present to Judge the Past: If you seek to judge the past, you must exercise caution, lest you make an ahistorical assertion. Try to see the past from the perspective of the people who lived it, and you may understand them better.

Putting Ideas on Paper: As you think about the essay for the first time, write all your thoughts on a piece of paper. You do not have to write them down in any particular order. Experiment with various ideas. Listen to your imagination.

Break the Question and the Answer into Parts: In all likelihood, although the assignment will ask you one question, you will have to consider a number of associated issues, say, three or four. Addressing each of these issues will probably require you to analyze two or three problems. Break down and isolate these problems until you can go no further. A good way to do so consists of asking yourself as many relevant questions as you can about each issue. Create a chart of some sort that allows you to survey these issues and problems in an organized manner. In the end, you ought to devote a paragraph to each problem.

Making Outlines: Your teachers in high school probably advised you to make an outline of your essay before committing a single word to paper (or in our day, to the screen). They're right. An outline is a plan. It functions as a sort of road map that will help you find your way from point A to point B in the most efficient manner possible. If you had to drive to Oroville, you'd look at a map and plan your trip before you left, right? (All you smart alecs who live in Oroville ought to hold your tongue!) You wouldn't just get in the car and start driving, would you? The outline is your plan. To start writing without a plan is like driving without having any idea where you're going. Instead of Oroville, you could end up in Chewelah, Pasco, Toppenish, or Goldendale—and those would be the wrong places, trust me.

Assembling Your Paragraphs: Each problem ought to receive its own paragraph. Using whatever method you find convenient, assemble your paragraphs in some sort of order. Write down this order on a sheet of paper. Make notes to yourself elaborating upon what you want each paragraph to accomplish.

As You Write: While you write, keep the following suggestions in mind.

• Take Your Time: No one can produce anything of value in a short amount of time. Take the time to think before you write. Write with deliberation and care. Mull over what you have written and make modifications. Do not start the paper the night before it is due. Do not sit down before a keyboard until you have some ideas and know what you want to write. Do not finish the paper five minutes before class.
• Use the Dictionary and the Thesaurus: Both books will help you immensely as you write an essay. The dictionary will provide you with correct spellings and usage, while the thesaurus will expand your vocabulary.

THE PARTS OF AN ESSAY

The Introduction: Many students do not write the introduction until they have finished the rest of the essay. In other words, having finally realized what the paper is about, they understand what they have to introduce. This approach works particularly well for clever and lucky people who have a knack for landing on their feet. Less clever and less lucky people need to write an introduction first. The introduction not only serves to guide the reader, but in many cases, it helps remind the writer of his task and prevents him from wandering too far from the topic.

• Thesis and Thesis Statement: Every essay needs a thesis. A thesis provides the idea or argument that ties the paper together. It serves as the main point, theme, or keynote. Inverting the question to form a statement does not necessarily make a thesis. Generally, a thesis should appear in one key sentence, often described as a thesis statement. Placed somewhere in the introductory paragraph, this sentence distills the meaning of the paper and informs the reader of your stance. A thesis is nothing more than an argument. You should make this thesis statement as concise, specific, and direct as possible. Such a sentence serves as a cornerstone for the paper. Throughout the rest of the essay, you must defend your thesis with examples and arguments.
• Grab the Reader's Attention: Do something to grab the reader's attention in the introduction so he wants to read your paper. Remember, I have to read many papers on the same topic, so try to make yours stand out.
  • Develop an unconventional or creative approach.
  • Make a provocative statement.
  • Emphasize the importance of the topic you have undertaken to analyze. Don't start the paper with a bland, stupid, obvious, or pompous statement. For instance, don't lead off with, "People have always turned to religion for moral guidance" (duh!). Avoid such clauses as, "Since the dawn of history, mankind has. . . " or "In all recorded history . . . " because they reek of B.S.
• Context: Provide some context for the discussion to come. Give the background. Introduce important characters. Define significant terms.

The Body of the Essay: Your outline ought to determine the order in which you will introduce various issues and problems. This outline serves as a skeleton. Now you must flesh out this outline into a paper. Even though you already have an outline or plan, writing does not always turn out as planned. Most of the time, you should stick to a well-considered outline, but sometimes you will have to adapt and show some flexibility.

• Topic Sentences: In the same way your paper requires a thesis statement, each paragraph needs a topic sentence. This topic sentence serves as a mini thesis statement. It explains the paragraph's topic.
• Transitions: The last sentence of each paragraph should prepare the reader for the transition to a new topic in the next paragraph. The sentence that performs this service is a transition sentence. It allows the reader to make the transition from one paragraph (and topic) to the next.
• Evidence: To support your thesis statement and various assertions throughout the essay, you need to introduce evidence. You must, however, walk a fine line here. Use evidence to support your own arguments. Don't allow the evidence to speak for you by stringing endless quotes together and refusing to add any analysis. Don't speak for the evidence by telling me what it says without presenting it. When you quote, keep the following in mind as well:
  • Please don't cite a book to support thoroughly obvious facts. ("In 1776, George III was the King of England.")
  • Don't use a quote without providing its context. Who wrote it? Under what circumstances?

Conclusion: When I was in fourth grade, as soon as I got tired of working on a paper, I'd just write "THE END." My teachers were so thankful that I didn't sniff glue or carry a gun in my backpack that they never deducted points for my idiosyncratic approach to ending essays. I will not be so lenient with you. You must include a conclusion, a real conclusion. Remember, the conclusion is your last opportunity to leave the reader with a good impression.

• Summary: A conclusion ought to function as a summary of the argument presented in the paper. Generally, it is shorter than the introduction. You should not merely cut your thesis statement and paste it at the end of the essay. A conclusion calls for a memorable restatement of your argument, one that will leave the reader thinking, "Man, that writer is sharp! I'm giving her an A!"
• Larger Relevance: Relating your topic and your argument to larger issues will help you impress the reader. Show how your discussion fits into the very big picture.

Title: Your essay must have a title. Don't name it "Essay #4." Give it a title that describes the topic and provides some indication of the stance you have assumed on that topic.

GENERAL POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND THROUGHOUT THE ESSAY

Many things can go wrong in the course of an essay. I cannot discuss all of them, but I can offer some suggestions that might prevent you from committing egregious errors.

Errors of Thought:

• Elaborate: Never introduce a topic or an issue without discussing it at some length. Many students often fail to do so, leaving the reader feeling cheated and confused.
• Details: Pay attention to detail. On the one hand, no one will notice if you get the details right. On the other, if you get them wrong, everyone will notice. While discussing a novel, for instance, make sure you get the title right. Don't misspell the characters' names.
• Vagueness: Every sentence must have a purpose. A sentence that does not convey anything of importance wastes the writer's and the reader's time. Cut out vague assertions or replace them with more specific statements. For instance, a student of mine once used the following as a topic sentence at the head of a paragraph:

  "We are able to infer things about their society through this document."

  Such a sentence brings the writer twelve words closer to the word limit, but accomplishes nothing else. Another student in one of my classes wrote:

  "The lords held much of the power and wanted it to keep it that way."

  What kind of power? One can exercise social, legal, economic, political, spiritual, military, and other types of power. Which is it?

• Common Sense: Stop, Look, and Listen!: In kindergarten, my teacher taught us the "Stop, look, and listen!" song so we would not run across the street and get hit by a car. When you write, stop, look, and listen to make sure your sentence does not convey a silly idea.

Errors of Style: Not everyone should write in exactly the same manner. Indeed, variety is the spice of life. Nevertheless, your task consists of informing your reader in as efficient and pleasant a manner as possible. In other words, avoid annoying him by writing a long, tangled, and confusing essay. These suggestions should help you pursue that course.

• Simplicity: When you write, aim for simplicity of language. Employ as few words as possible to convey your thoughts, and the reader will thank you. For instance, one student wrote:

  "The addition of this clause made the bull more likely to be supported by the secular authorities because it provided them with some incentive."

  Instead, write:

  "The addition of this clause gave the secular authorities an incentive to support the bull."

  Instead of using 24 words, this sentence conveys the same meaning by employing 15. Another example:

  "Greed was shown by the aristocracy."

  Instead:

  "The aristocracy was greedy."

  That sentence boils down to four words instead of six.

• Run-On Sentences: Like kittens playing with a ball of yarn, some writers find themselves entangled in clauses and phrases tacked together by a series of commas and conjunctions. Not only will the likelihood of making a grammatical mistake increase when you write in this manner, but you will confuse and annoy your reader.
• Use of the Verb "To Be": Try to employ the verb "to be" as infrequently as possible. A boring verb that merely signifies existence, it does not provide as much information as other verbs can.
• Avoid the Passive Voice: A sentence in the passive voice does not convey as much information as one in the active voice. Moreover, it contributes to mental laziness and sloppy thinking. For instance:

  "The speech of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont of 1095 has been long regarded as a pivotal speech that launched the crusades."

  Such a statement immediately raises the question of who regarded the speech in that light. Another example of passive voice consists of the following:

  "The Truces of God were usually regarded with indifference."

  Who regarded the truces in this manner? The clergy? The feudal lords? The kings? The peasants? Robin Hood and his merry men?

• This and That: Always place a noun after "this" and "that." Failing to do so leaves the reader wondering just what "this" and "that" refers to.

Errors of Syntax and Grammar: Syntax and grammar are important. Commonly accepted rules regulating expression, they ensure that we can communicate with others. Readers will misunderstand (or not understand at all) writers with a poor command of these rules. Learning the iron laws that govern the employment of words is not fun, but it is absolutely indispensable to writing well.

When I grade your papers, I will mark every one of your mistakes, but for several reasons, I cannot spend class time discussing syntax and grammar. First, I teach history, not English. Second, I do not have the time to cover such a large topic. Third, thirteen years (K-12) of education ought to have taught you how to write complete, well-formed sentences. If you have trouble understanding syntax and grammar, I suggest you seek help and work hard to overcome this deficiency in your knowledge. The following does not constitute a complete guide to syntax and grammar. Instead, it seeks to remind you of some of the common errors I encounter in my students' work.

• Syntax: Syntax is the part of grammar dealing with the way in which words form sentences, phrases, and clauses. Remember that words are not blunt instruments-they have specific meanings suited for specific circumstances. You wouldn't use a chain saw to trim a toenail, would you? So why use a word that fits neither your meaning nor the words around it? If you want to improve your instinctive grasp of syntax, read well-written literature. The more you read, the more you will understand the tempo of the English language. In other words, to write well, you have to read well, too. For example, a student of mine once wrote, "Despite the success of the Inquisitions in reducing the amount of heretics, the church soon realized that it could not annihilate all questioning thoughts." One measures heretics in numbers, not by volume.
  • Awkward Phrases: On the same assignment, another student of mine wrote: "Pope Nicholas also went on to say that they [heretics] were completely invalid in all aspects of their life." A credit card or a ticket to a movie can become invalid, but can a person become "invalid"? For example, another student wrote, "The first guise in which the church huddled appealed to the conquerors." How does anyone or anything "huddle in a guise"?
  • Coupling Adjectives to Nouns: Make sure the adjective makes sense when attached to the noun. Some students use such phrases as "massive torture" and "extreme power." What exactly do these phrases mean? Torture can be painful, unendurable, trying, and diabolical, but how can it be massive? An institution can exercise great, much, or enormous power, but how can it exercise extreme power?
  • General Clarity: Strive for clarity. After you finish each sentence, ask yourself, "Does it make sense?" One of my students wrote: "As the chaos of the fallen Western Roman Empire sought order, a select few battled for control of the populous [sic-the word should be populace]." How does chaos seek order? Someone else asserted: "A first representation of a false intensity can be distinguished between the aspects of the Peace of God and the Truce of God." What is a "false intensity," and how does it relate to the rest of the sentence?
  • Important Grammatical Rules: There are hundreds of such rules, but I would like to direct your attention to the ones students disregard most frequently:
  • Split Infinitives: Do not split infinitives. Instead of writing, "to eventually re-emerge," write "to re-emerge eventually."
  • Subject-Pronoun Agreement: Many people break this simple rule repeatedly. For instance:

    "He urges the clergy to first renew themselves, because if they did not correct themselves, they could never pass on salvation."

    Clergy is singular. You can rewrite this sentence in the following manner:

    "He urges clergymen to first renew themselves, because if they did not correct themselves, they could never pass on salvation."

    Or:

    "He urges the clergy to first renew itself, because if it did not correct itself, it could never pass on salvation."

    Words like "anyone," "everyone," and "someone" are all singular (they all contain the word "one"). Consequently, the proper pronoun corresponding to these words is either "he" or "she," not "they."

• Its and It's: Everyone needs to learn the difference.
  • "Its" is the possessive form of "it."
  • "It's" is the contraction of "it is." This word should never appear in a formal essay because you should not employ contractions.
• Capitalization: Only capitalize proper names. Words like feudalism are not proper names. Do not capitalize them. If you are describing members of a specific organization or a specific place (e.g. Franciscans or Lombardy), then you can capitalize such names.
• Contractions: Contractions such as "didn't," "doesn't," "can't," "wouldn't," should not appear in a formal essay. Instead, use "did not," "does not," "cannot," and "would not."

AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED: QUALITY CONTROL

In one sense, you can never finish an essay. No matter how much work you put into it, no matter how good you think it is, it always remains a work in progress and can benefit from improvement. Of course (sadly), there will come a time (sniff) when you will have to turn your essay in, no matter what its state. Before you do so, make sure you have performed the following checks.

Proofreading: Proofreading is an arduous task. Everyone has a difficult time detecting mistakes in his own work. Only three methods prove effective. First, if you read your essay aloud to yourself, you will find many errors that you would not otherwise catch. Second, ask a friend of yours (preferably a smart friend) to read your essay. Third, visit the professor and ask him to look over your draft. These people will prove far more adept than you are at noticing your mistakes. Then, after you've input all corrections and are convinced the paper is perfect, read it again yourself. You'll be surprised how often you'll find just a few more mistakes.

The Dangers of Spell Check: Spell check alone will not prove sufficient to remove all mistakes. Spell check will not tell you if you have used "their" or "there" correctly. You must read the paper yourself after using spell check.

Neatness Counts: Make sure your paper looks good before you turn it in.

• Font and Font Size: Are the font and font size uniform throughout the paper?
• Paragraph Indentations: Are the paragraph indentations uniform throughout?
• Smudges: In your eagerness to rip the sheets out of the printer (as they emerge with glacial slowness five minutes before class), did you smudge the ink on the paper?
• Stains and Wrinkles: Is your essay free of stains and wrinkles? Or does it look like something that's been sitting in a doghouse all winter? In Oroville?

Back to Essays

Copyrighted by Hugh Dubrulle, 2001
For questions, comments, or problems with this web site, please contact the webmaster.