Page 60 - Aldi Lukman Nurhakim_How to Write Critical Esays: A Guide for Students of Literature

Planning an argument 59
3) Will it explain clearly that I have thought about the precise
implications of what I have read and their effect upon my
judgement of the major set text(s)?
If you doubt its ability to perform all these tasks, at least
consider cutting the paragraph on the grounds that it might
dilute your answer.
You may think that these three questions conspire to enforce
a limiting emphasis on close reading of particular texts. What
of the larger issues about literature, and indeed society, which
many essay topics raise, if only implicitly? An essay for a
Critical Theory course, for instance, may need to risk a
paragraph which does not even name a single work of literature
or criticism, let alone demonstrate any close knowledge of its
localized effects. Specific examples may indeed overempha-size
the exceptional, and evade important and interesting questions
about what all texts in a particular genre or written at a
particular time have in common. Close reading may allow too
little space for curiosity about the processes at work when any
text is being read. Even on these larger issues, my own prejudice
would be to hope for clarifying examples. Nevertheless you—or
your teacher—may think that trio of questions is too
constricting. If so, you could usefully try to compose one or
more extra questions to represent other demands which you
think an acceptable paragraph might fulfil.
The essential is to be clear as to what each paragraph is
meant to discuss and to make sure, by clear labelling in your
plan, that all the relevant material will be assembled within it. It
is no use vaguely noting ‘paragraphs 3–5: Defoe’s style’. That
will just lead to an amorphous mass of observation and ideas.
You will begin each new paragraph only because the preceding
one looks rather long. So specify. Identify three distinct features
which justify your three separate paragraphs:
Paragraph 3: unpretentious, familiar diction
Paragraph 4: straightforward syntax/short sentences
Paragraph 5: frequent listing of objects & calculations of
amount—accounting-book prose.

Your essay plan should go into sufficient detail to save you
from false strategies in good time. For instance, you may decide
that you have, after all, so few interesting points to make about