NOTES for the Second Paper.
1. Some major Do’s and Don’ts
a. Do not use subjective language – i.e. “I don’t like it when . . . ” or “It’s wrong to
assume . . .” or “I hate people who . . .”
b. Don’t try to be fancy or impressive in your word choices. Think of the articles
you have read – the vocabulary is straight forward and clear. If you use a word
that is unusual, but you feel it works best for what you are trying to do, find a way
to define that word right away in your text so that the reader understands what
you are saying. Remember your audience. Be impressive, not with big words, but
with big ideas that are explained in a clear, simple, logical manner.
c. Quotes:
i. Use quote marks on article titles (“Only Daughter”) & italics on book
titles (Patterns for College Writing).
ii. Small quote marks for a quote within a quote: The author relates how she
could “remember her father saying, ‘que bueno,mi’ja, that’s good.’”
Notice that it looks like three quote marks at the end – it is actually one
quote mark ending the inner quote and a double quote mark ending the
entire quote.
iii. The title for your paper does not get quotes (unless someone else is
referring to it in their paper – which is not going to happen in this class).
d. When using an author’s name in your paper, use the author’s full name in the
beginning, when you are introducing the author to the reader along with the title
of the author’s work. Thereafter, use that author’s last name when referring to him
or her. DO NOT use the author’s first name alone – the author is not your pal, you
are not on a first name basis with the author, and your paper needs to have a tone
of objective analysis which is instantly undermined when you write something
like, “As Maria points out in her N Y Times article . . .”
e. Do not summarize what other people have written. If you find yourself rewording
whole passages from the text you are using as a source for your paper, you are
probably doing something wrong. Your job is to write your argument, to prove
your thesis – your words, your thoughts – and you lift specific (usually very short)
passages from your sources in order to give authority to what you are saying. The
thoughts and ideas that you find in someone else’s work are in your paper as
supportive elements for the individual sections of your argument (meaning for I,
II, and III). Their thoughts and ideas are in your paper only to verify – to back up
– what you are saying in order to prove your thesis.
2. Paper #2 – CONTENT
a. Thesis needs to express an arguable idea that can be proven with evidence, not
merely your personal likes or dislikes.
b. Logical writing. Your ideas need to be presented in a logical manner.
c. Signal phrases – look at textbook for these. Here are some examples:
i. Compare/Contrast – “Unlike the author . . . ,” “Both authors . . . ,”
“Similarly, I find evidence in my own life that bears out the author’s
argument . . .” “In contrast to this, I find the opposite to be true in my
upbringing.”
ii. Narrative – relies on Chronological Order –
“It all started when . . .,”
“Next we went . . .,”
“Over the next few years . . . ,”
“Finally we saw what we were looking for . . .”
iii. Be mindful of saying things in your paper that contradict your own thesis.
Have a point of view and prove it. Don’t “ride the fence” suddenly by
indicating halfway through your paper that the opposite of what you are
saying might also be true. When you do this, it sounds like you are writing
the paper off the top of your head with no planning (which is, actually,
quite often the case when this happens. It happens because you haven’t
thought through the argument before you started writing the paper.
HOWEVER, you can introduce an opposing point of view (usually early
on) in order to prove it invalid, thereby strengthening your thesis as the
better argument.
3. Paper # 2 – Intro and Conclusion
a. Intro needs to guide the reader to your thesis.
i. No need to start too broad or too general: “As human beings on planet
earth, we are all subject to . . .” Work back from the thesis, not from outer
space to the thesis.
ii. But do not get so specific that you are making your argument in the intro:
“The author wants us to see the financial burden to students caused by the
unpaid internship. For example . . .” Once you start getting into phrasing
like “for example” you are possibly getting into argumentation that should
be saved for the body paragraphs.
iii. Write the intro after you finish, or when you are nearly finished, writing
the paper. Usually it is easier to write the intro after you know what you
are introducing. Also, sometimes you will write a body paragraph that you
realize is too vague, or somewhat off topic, BUT it might make for a great
intro with just a few changes.
iv. Use and anecdote related to your topic/thesis that you can come back to
later in the body or the conclusion (but be sure that it can be directly tied
in).