What do you think?
Rate this book
The Clear Path: A Guide to Writing English Essays
- GenresNonfiction
116 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 21, 2016
Creating a Thesis
p.2 – The thesis is the argument; it is your opinion about some aspect of the text. But this opinion cannot be plucked out of the air, or adapted from your own repertoire of opinions and then imposed on the text. A good thesis – that is to say, a sustainable argument – must be consistent with the details of the text, which you will go on to analyze in the body of the essay.
Remember that a good thesis is not self-evident; it is debatable, inspiring you to rise to its defence. If your essay just states the obvious, it will not be interesting; your reader will wonder why you bothered to write it in the first place.
Being a Teacher / Lawyer
p.4 – Think of yourself as a teacher: your job is to teach the teacher. In this context, you can surprise and instruct the reader (your instructor) by convincing her (or him) of the merits of ideas she hasn’t had herself, or by providing new support for familiar ideas.
Think of yourself as a defence lawyer arguing a case to a jury. Just as the lawyer doesn’t have to prove absolutely the innocence of the client, so you are not obliged to prove the undeniable truth of your thesis.
p.5 – I make more notes, getting down fast whatever occurs to me, without censoring myself too much. (I call this stage brainstorming.) Then I get critical.
I usually write down a preliminary thesis statement (what it is I’m trying to prove). My next step is to ask myself whether I’ve gathered enough evidence. If not, it’s back to the text.
In pushing harder for ideas, I rely heavily on the question why to prod me. I ask myself why the writer put this scene next to that one, why I respond a certain way, why this language is so formal or so flat, why this or that detail has been included, and so on. Whenever I come up with an idea, I try to resist breathing a sigh of relief or patting myself on the back. Instead, I try to push the idea, to keep on thinking about it.
There is a fine but crucial line between not pushing far enough and pushing too far, or imposing your own ideas on the text and ignoring urgent, contradictory signals.
Organizing the Ideas
p.6 – Think of prospective paragraphs as files; the task at this point is to sort the ideas and the evidence into the appropriate files, and to be sure that nothing is misfiled or left out in the cold.
What is a manageable size? How long should a paragraph be? Half of a typed page is an average length for a paragraph. You will want to vary the length of paragraphs, but avoid too many short paragraphs and try not to have a page on which there is no paragraph break at all.
p.7 – Remember that your paragraphs are stages in an argument or a lesson. You need to figure out what things the reader needs to be shown prior to being shown something else; an essay is a developmental learning curve that you control. You need to think about logical progression. Remember that you are trying to keep the reader with you on a clearly marked trail; the reader must trust that you know where you are going, and that your moves make sense.
p.8 – Even when you are working from a very detailed outline, you will find as you write that new (and sometimes better) ideas occur to you. Sentences will appear on your page that suggest new possibilities for development and new connections. This is a major part of the pleasure of writing.
The Body of the Essay
p.14 – Avoid plot summary. The essay should make some sense even to someone who doesn’t know the text you are discussing, but don’t waste time retelling the plot. The trick here is to orient your reader to the action while at the same time proceeding with your argument. This is one of the hardest things for students to learn. And excessive plot summary is one of the most common – and fatal – shortcomings of student essays.
p.15 – Analyze evidence. Don’t fill your essay up with quotations on which you offer no comment. Before or after the quotation, analyze it – or at least be sure that the point of the quotation (how you are using it) is clear to the reader. Remember that the reader cannot read your mind.
Avoid using too many examples that make exactly the same point.
Control the flow. Check for paragraph unity. Each paragraph should have a general topic, and everything in the paragraph should relate to that topic. Be sure that your reader remains aware of what the topic is, but don’t beat him over the head with it. Each sentence should lead into the next in an easy and logical manner. Place signposts along the trail so that the reader can keep track of your argument (and can be confident that you are on track).
p.16 – be sure that the last paragraph reminds the reader of the thesis and that it provides the sense of an ending.
Remarks on Style
p.16 – There are two principal (and often overlapping) types of wordiness. In one kind, the words just take up space, trying to sound impressive and failing to say anything – perhaps even for a full paragraph, or a full essay.
p.17 – Getting rid of wordiness can mean choosing exact nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (not “She ran as quickly as she could down the street” but “She sprinted down the street”); replacing inexact adverbs (such as “really happy” but “ecstatic”)’ eliminating redundancies (not “cooperating together” but “cooperating”; not “the two twins” but “the twins”); and condensing phrases to single words (not “in the event that” but “if”).
p.20 – Be concrete. Be precise. In choosing your words, prefer the particular to the general wherever possible. Consider this sentence: “Here one sees his lack of emotion.” What exactly is meant by “lack of emotion”? This could mean any number of things, such as indifference, iciness, or impartiality.
p.2 – The thesis is the argument; it is your opinion about some aspect of the text. But this opinion cannot be plucked out of the air, or adapted from your own repertoire of opinions and then imposed on the text. A good thesis – that is to say, a sustainable argument – must be consistent with the details of the text, which you will go on to analyze in the body of the essay.
Remember that a good thesis is not self-evident; it is debatable, inspiring you to rise to its defence. If your essay just states the obvious, it will not be interesting; your reader will wonder why you bothered to write it in the first place.
Being a Teacher / Lawyer
p.4 – Think of yourself as a teacher: your job is to teach the teacher. In this context, you can surprise and instruct the reader (your instructor) by convincing her (or him) of the merits of ideas she hasn’t had herself, or by providing new support for familiar ideas.
Think of yourself as a defence lawyer arguing a case to a jury. Just as the lawyer doesn’t have to prove absolutely the innocence of the client, so you are not obliged to prove the undeniable truth of your thesis.
p.5 – I make more notes, getting down fast whatever occurs to me, without censoring myself too much. (I call this stage brainstorming.) Then I get critical.
I usually write down a preliminary thesis statement (what it is I’m trying to prove). My next step is to ask myself whether I’ve gathered enough evidence. If not, it’s back to the text.
In pushing harder for ideas, I rely heavily on the question why to prod me. I ask myself why the writer put this scene next to that one, why I respond a certain way, why this language is so formal or so flat, why this or that detail has been included, and so on. Whenever I come up with an idea, I try to resist breathing a sigh of relief or patting myself on the back. Instead, I try to push the idea, to keep on thinking about it.
There is a fine but crucial line between not pushing far enough and pushing too far, or imposing your own ideas on the text and ignoring urgent, contradictory signals.
Organizing the Ideas
p.6 – Think of prospective paragraphs as files; the task at this point is to sort the ideas and the evidence into the appropriate files, and to be sure that nothing is misfiled or left out in the cold.
What is a manageable size? How long should a paragraph be? Half of a typed page is an average length for a paragraph. You will want to vary the length of paragraphs, but avoid too many short paragraphs and try not to have a page on which there is no paragraph break at all.
p.7 – Remember that your paragraphs are stages in an argument or a lesson. You need to figure out what things the reader needs to be shown prior to being shown something else; an essay is a developmental learning curve that you control. You need to think about logical progression. Remember that you are trying to keep the reader with you on a clearly marked trail; the reader must trust that you know where you are going, and that your moves make sense.
p.8 – Even when you are working from a very detailed outline, you will find as you write that new (and sometimes better) ideas occur to you. Sentences will appear on your page that suggest new possibilities for development and new connections. This is a major part of the pleasure of writing.
The Body of the Essay
p.14 – Avoid plot summary. The essay should make some sense even to someone who doesn’t know the text you are discussing, but don’t waste time retelling the plot. The trick here is to orient your reader to the action while at the same time proceeding with your argument. This is one of the hardest things for students to learn. And excessive plot summary is one of the most common – and fatal – shortcomings of student essays.
p.15 – Analyze evidence. Don’t fill your essay up with quotations on which you offer no comment. Before or after the quotation, analyze it – or at least be sure that the point of the quotation (how you are using it) is clear to the reader. Remember that the reader cannot read your mind.
Avoid using too many examples that make exactly the same point.
Control the flow. Check for paragraph unity. Each paragraph should have a general topic, and everything in the paragraph should relate to that topic. Be sure that your reader remains aware of what the topic is, but don’t beat him over the head with it. Each sentence should lead into the next in an easy and logical manner. Place signposts along the trail so that the reader can keep track of your argument (and can be confident that you are on track).
p.16 – be sure that the last paragraph reminds the reader of the thesis and that it provides the sense of an ending.
Remarks on Style
p.16 – There are two principal (and often overlapping) types of wordiness. In one kind, the words just take up space, trying to sound impressive and failing to say anything – perhaps even for a full paragraph, or a full essay.
p.17 – Getting rid of wordiness can mean choosing exact nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (not “She ran as quickly as she could down the street” but “She sprinted down the street”); replacing inexact adverbs (such as “really happy” but “ecstatic”)’ eliminating redundancies (not “cooperating together” but “cooperating”; not “the two twins” but “the twins”); and condensing phrases to single words (not “in the event that” but “if”).
p.20 – Be concrete. Be precise. In choosing your words, prefer the particular to the general wherever possible. Consider this sentence: “Here one sees his lack of emotion.” What exactly is meant by “lack of emotion”? This could mean any number of things, such as indifference, iciness, or impartiality.
Displaying 1 of 1 review