| An analytic paper is a very particular genre of writing. Consequently, please pay attention to the following: many people who have a good grip on a topic still don't do well in written exercises because of a lack of attention to writing style and structure. 1. Work hard on a strong, well-written introduction in which you lay out, briefly, the main issues and your thesis. Your introduction sets the tone for the rest of your paper, and a well-written introduction usually means that the paper will be well-structured. Your introduction should not be a general meditation about culture, the way you see the world etc., but a finely crafted paragraph where you immediately take on the issues raised by the question. It should be characterized by a statement of the problem, a brief engagement with the issues at hand, and your thesis. 2. ALWAYS USE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES TO BACK UP YOUR POINTS! Remember that anthropologists make arguments about society and culture not through meditation and generalization, but by reference to ethnographic data. If you are making an argument, you must back it up with evidence. This is true of any analytic paper you write in the social sciences. This is perhaps the single most important thing (along with a strong introduction) in writing a good analytic paper. 3. Concomitantly, be VERY careful of generalization -- always back up your points with strong examples drawn from the text.; This is one of the major problems people have in writing analytic papers: 4. Avoid repetition -- once you have made a point, move on. If you find you are repeating, it probably means you have resorted to generalization and are trying to make your point through repetition. Go back and find the weak argument and make it stronger with a good example or a specific statement. 5. Always avoid rhetorical or flowery language and irony -- these have no place in an analytic paper. Above all, avoid rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions require your reader to do that analytic work that you should be doing as a writer. 6. Structure: make each paragraph a writing unit, not an arbitrary division.; Each paragraph should begin with a strong topic sentence. 7. Quotations and bibliographies: see citation style document. 8. Edit your papers carefully for punctuation, spelling, grammar, and sense. 9. Finally: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ANSWERED THE QUESTION, AND THAT YOU HAVE RESPONDED TO ALL THE ISSUES RAISED BY THE QUESTION!!!! If you haven't, no matter how well-written or well-structured your paper is, your paper will not be successful |
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