OHS Modes of Writing and Argumentation Course Tips

Salutations! The following is some helpful advice directly from a couple generous OE011 peer tutors regarding the essay writing process, from gathering evidence to revision :)

Regarding Essay Evidence and Layout:

“I would say two pieces of advice that I consider to be very important are to always ask "So what?" and to make sure your body paragraphs are building off each other. For the question of "So what?", try to figure out why the evidence you chose matters. Why and how is this helping your argument? If you cannot come up with a reason, maybe remove that piece of evidence. This can help avoid summarizing. 

In addition, your essay will be stronger if your body paragraphs build off each other. If you can take your body paragraphs and rearrange them in any order without drastically changing the argument/sense of the essay, try to develop your argument even further. You want your body paragraphs to act like stairs, building off one another to carry you to your final conclusion, rather than a list or "three-legged stool," where the content of each body paragraph is practically the same at its core.”

General Tips for Succeeding in MWA:

"1. If your schedule allows, I would highly recommend heading to your instructor’s office hours!! It is definitely good practice to incorporate some of your instructor’s ideas and suggestions from your class sessions into your essays, but office hours are a great place to attain more specific, personal feedback on any intermediate work and drafts you have before the final essay is due. It can never hurt to just stop by to ask any small questions and concerns you may have as well.

2. It can help when tackling the longer novels we discuss in the course (such as Their Eyes Were Watching God and Alice from the year I was taking MWA) to take notes as you read the individual chapters, so that you aren’t as overwhelmed when it comes time to write the essay. (I would even recommend this in addition to writing the weekly homeworks.)

3. This concept also applies to tackling the essays as well. Get started early and approach the essay in small chunks if necessary to ensure you have a solid argument. I personally love utilizing outlines, but you can do this in any way that works for you. One of Dr. Nunnery’s (my instructor) recommendations was to essentially write a list of questions you would pose toward the text. Then, from this list, select three (or more depending on the length of your essay) of these questions that are in some way related to each other and have each body paragraph answer one of these questions. This ensures that each of the body paragraphs is related to each other and the overall claim of the essay.

4. This one might seem counterintuitive, but I wouldn’t necessarily use textual quotes as a foundation for the essay when you are beginning. This can often lead to an argument that is only a summary of the plot of the text, and hence does not make an argumentative claim. To ensure that your essay has an intrinsic, debatable argument that is not immediately apparent when reading the text, I would start as Dr. Nunnery suggests, with any unanswered questions you have about the text or anything you find confusing/intriguing. Then, you can use any specific quotes you find relating to this question and any insight your instructor might have to answer it, and this can be the foundation for your argument.

5. Best of luck in MWA!!! I hope this was helpful."