Page 51 - Aldi Lukman Nurhakim_How to Write Critical Esays: A Guide for Students of Literature

50 How to write critical essays
twenty-first century, vaguely to take anything written since
1900 as equally ‘modern’.
Try to approach a published essay of criticism not just as a
set of opinions which could equally well be paraphrased, but as
a carefully composed exercise in rhetoric. Observe how its
prose-style claims a given personality for its author and
constructs one for its reader. There are, for instance, critics who
make assumptions about the social class and even the gender of
the people who will read their essays. Notice, too, the relative
weighting of different stages of the argument and the sequence
in which these have been arranged. Observing techniques of
style and structure will save you from mistaking one person’s
effort for the word of God. It should also give you useful tips as
to how you can make your own criticism more persuasive or
amusing.
Sample only a few pages of a critical essay and then make a
decision as to whether it will prove useful. In some cases, just a
few paragraphs may convince you that the author’s topic or
approach is too remote from your own and that you must move
on to try another essay if you are to find enough genuinely
thought-provoking material in the time available.
On those that do prove worth reading in full, you must make
notes or you will soon forget what you have learnt. Do not just
write down a paraphrase of, or quotations from, the critic’s
views. Record, too, as frequently as possible, your own
reactions. Reservations—including reference to any textual
evidence that the critic seems to be forgetting or undervaluing—
may prove particularly useful. Record your observations not
only of what is argued but also of how that argument is
presented.
But what you will value most highly afterwards is your
record of your own new ideas which have just been stimulated
by your reading. Make sure that you identify unmistakably the
precise point at which your summary of the critic gives way to
your own thoughts, and that at which your observations about
the text cease and a summary of the critic’s begins once more.
Use a system of square brackets or separate columns or
different coloured inks: anything provided that it is absolutely
clear. Your notes must remind you of what is, and is not, your
own to avoid any risk of accidental plagiarism in your essay.
There is anyway a more immediate gain: you can see by a