Bg Writing English
Harvard
College
Writing Center
WRITING CENTER BRIEF GUIDE SERIES
A Brief Guide to Writing the English Paper
The Challenges of Writing About English
Literature
Writing begins with the act of reading. While this statement is true for most college papers, strong English papers tend to be the product of highly attentive reading (and rereading). When your instructors ask you to do a “close reading,” they are asking you to read not only for content, but also for structures and patterns. When you perform a close reading, then, you observe how form and content interact.
In some cases, form reinforces content: for example, in John
Donne’s Holy Sonnet 14, where the speaker invites God’s
“force” “to break, blow, burn and make [him] new.” Here, the stressed monosyllables of the verbs “break,” “blow” and
“burn” evoke aurally the force that the speaker invites from
God. In other cases, form raises questions about content: for example, a repeated denial of guilt will likely raise questions about the speaker’s professed innocence.
When you close read, take an inductive approach. Start by observing particular details in the text, such as a repeated image or word, an unexpected development, or even a contradiction. Often, a detail–such as a repeated image–can help you to identify a question about the text that warrants further examination. So annotate details that strike you as you read. Some of those details will eventually help you to work towards a thesis. And don’t worry if a detail seems trivial. If you can make a case about how an apparently trivial detail reveals something significant about the text, then your paper will have a thought-provoking thesis to argue.
Harvard College
Writing Program
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Harvard University
Common Types of English Papers
Many assignments will ask you to analyze a single text.
Others, however, will ask you to read two or more texts in relation to each other, or to consider a text in light of claims made by other scholars
College
Writing Center
WRITING CENTER BRIEF GUIDE SERIES
A Brief Guide to Writing the English Paper
The Challenges of Writing About English
Literature
Writing begins with the act of reading. While this statement is true for most college papers, strong English papers tend to be the product of highly attentive reading (and rereading). When your instructors ask you to do a “close reading,” they are asking you to read not only for content, but also for structures and patterns. When you perform a close reading, then, you observe how form and content interact.
In some cases, form reinforces content: for example, in John
Donne’s Holy Sonnet 14, where the speaker invites God’s
“force” “to break, blow, burn and make [him] new.” Here, the stressed monosyllables of the verbs “break,” “blow” and
“burn” evoke aurally the force that the speaker invites from
God. In other cases, form raises questions about content: for example, a repeated denial of guilt will likely raise questions about the speaker’s professed innocence.
When you close read, take an inductive approach. Start by observing particular details in the text, such as a repeated image or word, an unexpected development, or even a contradiction. Often, a detail–such as a repeated image–can help you to identify a question about the text that warrants further examination. So annotate details that strike you as you read. Some of those details will eventually help you to work towards a thesis. And don’t worry if a detail seems trivial. If you can make a case about how an apparently trivial detail reveals something significant about the text, then your paper will have a thought-provoking thesis to argue.
Harvard College
Writing Program
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Harvard University
Common Types of English Papers
Many assignments will ask you to analyze a single text.
Others, however, will ask you to read two or more texts in relation to each other, or to consider a text in light of claims made by other scholars