ENGL 251: Introduction to Literature

Tips on how to generate enough of the right sort of "stuff."

[These hints are relevant for in-class essays as well as for out-of-class writing assignments.]

A fruitful analysis will not "spin wheels" saying the same thing over and over again in different words.  Instead it "goes somewhere."  What do you do if you find yourself stuck?  Say you're way short of the length you are urged to produce, and -- rightly -- you don't want to string things out by mere repetition.

A good idea is to go back over what you've already produced and see if it is possible to carry out one or more of the following moves:

• Can you give an additional reason -- piece of evidence, line of argument -- for one of the interpretive inferences you've already made?

• Can you imagine a plausible objection to something you've said, and explain how that objection is mistaken? Can you show how it is based on a misunderstanding either of what you have said or of something important about the story you're discussing? (Does it, for example, overlook some particular fact or detail about the story? Does it rely on an inappropriate assumption? [What do you infer that assumption to be, and what would you point to that makes it mistaken or otherwise inappropriate?)

• Can you trace out some interesting consequences of something you have already pointed out?  Try isolating one of your interpretive claims and then asking "So what? What difference does this make?"

• One way to appreciate the force of any given feature of a story's being as it is, is to think of some apparently close alternative, and then to think out what the implications would have been for the sense/implications/meaning/theme of the story if the author had incorporated that alternative instead of what s/he actually chose in constructing the hypothetical situation (the story) that s/he did in fact put forward for our contemplation.  This is the way to get effective leverage on the prime question we can ask about any fact about the story:  so what?  Imagine a difference, and ask what difference that difference makes.

• If you're comparing or contrasting two works, look to see if something you've noticed about one of them helps you to ask a pertinent question about the other.  Make sure that for every relevant point you develop concerning one is matched by a relevant point about the other. 

Remember:  the point of length requirements in academic assignments is not length for its own sake.  Rather they are guidelines for encouraging you to strive for more depth of analysis.  Part of the art of inquiry is developing a feel for when an issue invites further exploration along this or that line.  Like any art, it's something we have to pick up by experience.  In this case, we have to learn to be impatient with our first impressions that we've reached a dead end.

  Suggestions, comments and questions are welcome.  Please send them to lyman@ksu.edu .

      Contents copyright © 2000 by Lyman A. Baker. 

Permission is granted for non-commercial educational use; all other rights reserved.

      This page last updated 18 February 2000.