Terms and Phrases that come up in a Pearson Class
Analyze/Analysis: Using close reading skills, explore a piece of text and explain how you believe it should be read. Use the text as the evidence to prove your claims about what is happening in the passage. Consider the Big Three Questions for analyzing text*: 1. What is being said? (literally, translate or rephrase the quotation to the reader to make sure he/she understands!) 2. How is it being said? (what poetic choices about language/image/symbol/allusion/sound/etc does the author make to express the ideas of #1?) 3. Why does it matter? (Given the meaning and the mode of expression, what does this passage do to or for the reader? How does it alter the text? What is this passage's function in the larger structure?) [*with humble thanks to Professor Sandy Mack, who taught me these questions]
Close Reading: Typically a short paper that makes a claim about a small piece of literature and then proves that claim using only textual evidence. Using the Analysis questions (see above) would be a big help. An example would be a 2-3 page paper that argues for a particular reading of Lady Macbeth's "unsex me here" speech.
Draft Day: Class day devoted to editing a paper before I get my hands on it. Drafts must be within one full page of the minimum page length requirement. If you do not have a draft, you do not come to class, and I dock a letter grade from your essay.
"Go Forth and Be Wise": My way of ending class, and encouraging you to live thoughtful lives and make good decisions!
Essay: The word essay comes from the French verb essayer, which means "to try." The purpose of an essay in my class is to try out your ideas about how to interpret and understand a piece of writing. You are not trying to write me an answer (because there are frequently no "right" answers, only persuasive readings); you are offering an example of your own original attempts at interpretation.
Ethos: One of the three rhetorical appeals described by Aristotle. Ethos, the root of our word ethics, refers to the author's credibility. We are far more willing to be persuaded of something by an expert, by someone we trust, or by someone who looks and acts appropriately for the situation. In writing, tone and grammar can play a significant role in establishing your ethos. If your argument is riddled with errors, logical fallacies, or language inappropriate to a scholarly paper, the reader will not trust you, will not believe you, and will likely dismiss whatever you are saying.
Exigence: Lloyd Bitzer defines exigence as "an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be." There are many different kinds of exigencies, but a rhetorical one exists when discourse can positively modify it. A good way to think about your exigence in an English class is two fold: First, why are you in this class? What do you hope to achieve? How can your reading and writing help you achieve that goal? Second, write a paper that will change the way I teach that text. Change my thinking about Beowulf, or Hamlet, or Pride & Prejudice.
Nest Your Quotes: When you quote a piece of literature, think of it as a baby bird (or even an egg!) that requires some warm nesting materials. For example, do not just write "Hamlet says, 'To be, or not to be'" (3.1.55). Rather, keep that quote warm with context and argument! Example: "When he wonders "to be or not to be" (3.1.55) early in Act Three, Hamlet begins to contemplate whether death could be the solution to his revenge troubles." In this sentence, the critic has offered the quote as evidence while reminding the reader where the quote occurs and how it relates to her argument. See the difference? Much happier baby bird.
Raise the Discourse: Rather than resorting to easy or banal language to describe your responses or a text (like "sucks," "cool," "weird," "relatable") explain your ideas using precise, concrete language.
Reader-based/Writer-based Writing: When you are writing, you are writing for a reader. This seems intuitive, but you must remain aware that someone else is trying to understand your ideas. So, when you write, do not assume that the reader can read your mind. Nor should you assume that the reader agrees with you already. When you are writing in your journal, you are performing "writer-based writing," because the only person who needs to understand your work is YOU. When you write papers for class, you need to think to yourself, "how can I explain this or teach this idea to my reader so that they can totally understand what I mean and believe that I have the right idea?" This sort of writing is reader-based. You should write this way. Never make your reader take your word for something, or look up a quote for themselves, or work really hard to understand you. Help your reader!
Response Paper: Look to your syllabus for specifics, but these are typically 1-2 pp papers where you can address a particular piece of the text we are reading and offer your own opinion about what's happening there. These should be argumentative, not lists or reiterations of what was said in class. They are also ongoing conversations with me. Look under "analysis" for some starting points.
Revise/Revision: This does not mean correcting the comma errors I mark. This means tearing the paper apart and putting it back together. I encourage revision on all papers. This is a real part of the writing process, and it's one we should all practice!
Secondary Criticism (aka, "The Supremes vs. Diana Ross OR Destiny's Child vs. Beyonce"): Secondary criticism should be used to support your claims. You are the diva; the critics are your back-up singers. You are singing the melody; they are singing "doop doop doop." You made the argument; the critics exist to show why you're right, wrong, or novel.
"So What?": I will say this and write this a thousand times. If the claim you are making is correct, what does it change about the way we understand the text? The genre? The author? For example, if you claim in class that Hamlet is crazy, I'll immediately say, "So what?" and ask you to explain what's at stake in such a claim. Does it change our understand of the play's action? Of his character?
Textual Analysis: See "analysis," above.
Thesis: The thesis is the debatable claim that drives your paper. I prefer that thesis statements be declarative statements. For example, "Does Hamlet really want to kill himself?" is not a thesis, it's a contemplation. A thesis statement answers that question and proves that answer to be correct using textual evidence. For example, "Hamlet never truly wishes to die. His contemplations of suicide are best understood as intellectual arguments, more evidence of stalling his revenge." Many people could disagree with this statement. Therefore I must prove it with evidence.
Unpack: To analyze a quotation or a claim in more detail, to explain more thoroughly the detailed thinking that the statement conveys. Also, to show the reader/audience that you are capable of comprehending the texts and can teach the reader/audience how to understand difficult ideas or concepts.
Writing Machine: Every paragraph needs a claim, evidence, and commentary. Learn to build an assembly line for your papers. Find the evidence, figure out what it's doing, and churn out some thoughtful writing.
Editing Marks and Notations
(in addition to the usual diacritics like those found here)
"Active" (vs. passive ): Poor writing: Lady Macbeth’s power being tied to gender is emphasized by her wanting to be unsexed. Better writing: Lady Macbeth's call to be unsexed emphasizes the links between strength and sexuality in the play. Avoid "to be" verbs and avoid "being" whenever you possibly can. You want lean, mean prose.
Agreement: Check that the subject of the sentence matches the verb. A person talks while people talk. (s/v = subject/verb)
Apostrophes: I think the Oatmeal does it best. See here. Honestly, look at Oatmeal for Semicolons, too.
"Banal Claim": the argument being made is not debatable. For example, declaring about the Iliad, "This poem is about war." My response is, "Aaaaaaand? Tell me something I don't know!" Pronounced /bah-NAL/, not /BAY-nil/.
"Boo!" or "frowny face" :( : Your incoherent statement or sloppy argument or atrocious spelling or insane number of typos makes the reader sad.
Highlighting: I will highlight chronic grammatical or typographical errors in an attempt to show you how frequently they occur.
"ital": means that the words/titles should be underlined or italicized (like novels, plays, epic poems)
"Naked This": The word "this" typically requires a noun. When you write a sentence that begins, "This tells us that Romeo is an idiot," for example, you are missing a noun and falling into vague language. Your "this" is naked.
Punctuation goes inside "": In MLA style "almost all punctuation goes inside the quotation marks," although if you're citing, the period goes by the parentheses (Pearson 23).
Tense: Critical prose takes place in the present tense. Lady Macbeth summons the spirits who tend on mortal thoughts. Also, make sure your tenses are consistent.
Underlines: My way of marking main ideas or ideas I think are working well.
"Vague": Language being used is too general. For example, "some people may think that the book is difficult." Who? When? Why? Strive for concrete and precise language.
"WW" or "WC": means wrong word or word choice (interchangeable). Same idea conveyed by a wavy underline: ~~~~~
"wordy": Brevity works. Strive for active verbs and fewer prepositional phrases.