How Do I Write my Paper?
Brainstorm. The most difficult aspect of writing a paper is often the initial formulation of a question
or idea. I can offer you specific paper ideas in person, but here are five generalized questions that
may be useful as you brainstorm:
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How is word X used in text Y? Does the usage of word X change from the beginning to the
end of text Y? What does the usage of word X reveal about the genre, style, thematics,
moral, character development, historical context, and/or meter of text Y?
How is concept X used in text Y? Is it explicitly invoked (by the narrator, a character, etc.) or
is it a category that text Y implicitly invokes or belongs to (genre, thematics, moral, historical
context, etc.)?
How is character X portrayed in text Y? What does X’s characterization reveal about the
genre, style, thematics, moral, character development, historical context, and/or meter of
text Y?
How does text X compare to text Y in terms of diction, genre, style, thematics, moral,
character development, historical context, and/or meter? How do these differences and/or
similarities shed light on the functions and meanings of text X and/or text Y, and/or on the
diction, genre, style, thematics, moral, character development, historical context, and/or
meter in a literary and/or historical context shared by texts X and Y?
Where does a small or large word, phrase, thing, idea, character, plotline, or style in text X
come from? Does it come from an earlier text, a historical context, and/or the author’s own
invention? How can the borrowing, expression, and/or invention of the word, phrase, thing,
idea, character, plotline, or style answer larger problems of interpretation in the earlier text,
text X, and/or the historical context?
Compose your essay. Once you have your question, idea, or topic, you can now plan and write your
paper. Successful essays take many different forms. Papers may concern a single text studied so far
in the course, or two or more texts from the course (three is usually too many), or a text from the
course and one outside primary text. Whatever the topic, a successful paper will generally do all of
the following, in order:
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introduce a problem, dynamic, or theme you have found within your text(s) (answer the
question, ‘What is the topic of this paper?’);
outline your thesis or argument, providing a summary of the remainder of the paper (answer
the question, ‘What is your argument about your topic?’);
read passages in your text(s) relevant to the problem, dynamic, or theme, using the closereading skills you have learned from previous papers and from class discussion (answer the
question, ‘What is the textual evidence for your argument, and how should it be
interpreted?’);
synthesize your readings, restating and expanding upon your thesis or argument (answer the
question, ‘What has the reader learned so far from this paper?’); and
conclude by briefly relating your thesis to a similar problem, dynamic, or theme in the same
text(s) or in a related text (answer the question, ‘What other problems/dynamics/themes
could this argument illuminate?’).
Sentence-by-sentence guidelines. You have the flexibility to present and connect your ideas in many
different ways within the general rubric outlined in the previous section. However, if you are unsure
how to organize your paragraphs or make transitions between them, here are some sentence-bysentence guidelines to keep in mind. I use key sentences from a made-up essay on Beowulf as
examples.
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introductory paragraph
introduce a problem, dynamic, or theme (=topic)
Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf portrays Grendel’s initial descent to Heorot
in visceral, animalistic terms.
outline your thesis or argument about your topic
During the actual confrontation between Beowulf and Grendel, however, the
narration focuses less on the violence inflicted on these two figures than on the way
the fight reverberates through the hall of Heorot.
summarize the remainder of the paper
This essay will discuss three stages in the description of the confrontation. First, in
lines 766-789, the poet describes the collective destruction of Heorot; then the poet
emphasizes the significance of the hall itself; finally the narration returns to
Grendel’s defeat in order to illustrate that the battle has shaken the core of Danish
society to such an extent that it has been immortalized in oral tradition.
[*Note: in longer papers, these three elements might be spread over two paragraphs.
In that case, outline might follow introduce in the first paragraph, or it might
precede summarize in the second paragraph.]
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body paragraphs
transition by stating the main idea of the paragraph in terms of your argument
The emphasis on the fight’s impact on Heorot begins almost immediately with
Grendel’s arrival. The poet amplifies the tension of the struggle between Beowulf
and Grendel by portraying Heorot as a structure that not only receives, but also
participates in, the havoc taking place within it.
identify and cite a specific passage relevant to your thesis
(1)
As the two creatures “stumble in fury” (Beowulf, line 768), the “timbers tremble and
sing” (766).
(2)
Heorot, this victim of collateral damage, “clatters and hammers, but somehow
survives… and keeps standing” (770-771).
(3)
Interestingly enough, the narrator refers to the “onslaught” (771) as an innocuous
“hall-session” (767).
read the passage and explain how it supports your thesis, using specific details
(1)
The synecdoche, whereby the word “timbers” metaphorically stands for all of
Heorot, reveals the intensity of the conflict, which rattles Heorot to its fundamental
“timbers.”
(2)
The repetition of the sharp “a” sounds in “clatters” and “hammers” evokes the
reverberations of the blows given and received by Beowulf.
(3)
The understatement in the term “hall-session” draws the audience’s attention from
the vicious confrontation back to the hall itself, thus serving as a reminder that
Heorot is more than a simple backdrop to this long-awaited struggle—it once served
as an important meeting ground for King Hrothgar’s men.
[*Note: Repeat these elements as needed. A body paragraph can and should contain
readings of many more than three passages, and an essay should have at least three
body paragraphs.]
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concluding paragraph
synthesize your readings by summarizing what you have discovered
In this essay, I have identified a surprising emphasis on the space of the hall Heorot
in three successive stages of the description of the fight between Beowulf and
Grendel.
restate your thesis in different words
Even as the poet describes the progress of the fight between a man and a monster,
persistent references to the built space of Heorot characterize the hall as a living
force directly affected by the outcome of the fight.
conclude by relating your thesis to a similar problem, dynamic, or theme
Recognizing the emphasis and even agency given to Heorot in the fight scene helps
explain the continued significance of the story of the fight throughout Beowulf. The
poet underlines the importance of this battle by stepping out of the tale itself
through the clause “the story goes” (774) in order to acknowledge that this
watershed moment echoes quite literally to the modern day.
[*Note: In longer papers, these three elements might be spread over two paragraphs.
In that case, restate might follow synthesize in the second-to-last paragraph, or it
might precede conclude in the last paragraph.]