Guidelines for Good Essay Writing

Government 2305

 

 

·     Your paper is an argument for or against something.  It is not a simple explanatory paper.  What you believe can and does have important consequences in how you act.  You are trying to persuade me that you know what you are talking about and that you can demonstrate a consistency between your beliefs and your actions.  Be prepared to back up your beliefs with your actions (i.e., in writing your paper, you are acting on your beliefs).  Which means you must have good arguments to justify and substantiate your beliefs.  That, in turn, may mean you have to do some outside research and/or ask good questions in class to gain useful information that will support your opinions. 

·     Before you begin to write, have a clear outline as to what you want to accomplish in your argument.  Papers that meander over several ideas and never clearly address them will not be looked upon with favor.

·     In your first paragraph (ideally no more than two or three sentences), provide a clear thesis statement that contains the gist of your argument; then use the rest of the paper to flesh out this argument.  Use all the space available to you.  3-4 pages does not mean 2 pages or 2 pages with two more sentences on the third page.  It is far better to go a little over the limit than to go under it.  You cannot adequately address these questions in less than the required limit.

·     Do not restate the question verbatim in your answers.  

·     Your argument should revolve around substantive issues.  It is better to address two or three key themes in depth than several themes in a shallow manner.  The purpose is to stimulate you to think deeply about these issues and apply to them the concepts we discuss in class, not to simply regurgitate the information you have acquired in reading or lectures.

·      Do not waste space in your paper with introductory “filler” such as a laundry list of historical information or of the basic “facts” such as we have already discussed in class.  Please assume I know these things already, and do not want to read them in your papers.  Incorporate such information as necessary in the body of the paper, but do not overdo it. 

·      When asked to state your opinion, by all means do so. (See the first bullet point above). But, be sure that you can justify it with verifiable evidence.  Using opinions to support opinions is not good strategy for winning arguments or persuading your audience.  In other words, opinions should have a strong, solid basis in clearly defined facts.

·      Good sources include respectable newspapers and news magazines (e.g., NY Times, Time, Newsweek, Waco Trib, etc.); books/articles written by established scholars (what you would usually find in a college library, not the city public libraries); and the articles and book assignments from the course syllabus.  Good sources will attempt to present an unbiased account of the facts. 

·      Bad sources include e-mail forwards, heavily biased web-sites, tabloids, and other pop. media.  (e.g., MoveOn.org; Swiftboat Veterans for Bush; Michael Moore films; Jerry Falwell newsletters; National Enquirer, etc.) Bad sources will always have a very clear bias or slant toward one position or the other. 

·      Avoid general colloquialisms and slang.  Arguments are meant to be persuasive, and the better your vocabulary and syntax, the more persuasive your arguments will be.  

·      Avoid passionate and/or sarcastic rhetoric.  You can and should have strong feelings about particular issues, but you should be able to defend them calmly and rationally, giving due consideration to the opposite point of view.  Emotional arguments are inherently weak.  Remember what Madison said about passion—it is inconstant and unpredictable and cannot be the basis of a good society; the same holds true for essays.

·      Explain why you chose particular examples and excluded others.  Do not just cite a laundry list of facts.  Be able to defend your argument against a counterargument.  Why is the other side wrong? What are some weaknesses of your own argument?  

·      Avoid attacking the people who hold a particular position you find unworthy.  Attack the position itself, on solid, verifiable grounds, without slandering the holder.  You will make your argument stronger.

·      Use good grammar, including (but not limited to) proper punctuation, paragraph breaks, capitalization when necessary, italicization of book titles and court cases, etc.  Check your spelling as well.  These grammatical rules and proper spelling make your paper much more pleasant to read, and a happy grader is a nicer grader.       

·      Answer the question asked.  Do not pursue some tangent you believe to be more important than the issue at hand.  Part of learning how to think properly is learning how to argue for or against something even if you do not particularly care one way or the other about it.  Avoid making your paper a chasing after the proverbial rabbit on the proverbial rabbit trail.