No subject requests yet, so I guess I'll just pick something for the heck of it... even if this workshop is probably too late for most of the students on the site...
The SomeGuy Essay Method(TM):
I've done a lot of formal/academic writing in my lifetime. Some essays were better than others, but the later ones definitely shine through for me as works that I always felt very confident about (and yes, that was a preposition at the end of a sentence, but we'll get to that another day). For me, I finally figured out a useful essay method that worked well for me and worked as a means to keep me from "getting stuck" staring at a blinking text cursor.
Keep in mind I'm not going to talk about grammar, writing mechanics or writing styles here; obviously the better you know that stuff the better your essay will turn out. This is strictly going to be about how to attack said-essay and get it done.
It probably goes without saying that some of the methods I employ came out of different teachers and personal whatevers. As such, some of what I like and what works for me may differ vastly for another. For example, I'm a big fan of outlining my essay points in my introductions for the structure and organization aspect of it, but another person I know dislikes the "shopping list" nature of that style. Still, this same person has found a lot of use out of the following ideas. So y'know, pick and choose for what works for ya, but at least give it a thought to see if it might help.
So here we go: The SomeGuy Essay Method(TM)...
Question Everything:
My entire writing method pretty much breaks down to 2 questions that you need to keep asking yourself throughout the course of your writing. The first question, arguably the most important one, is actually barely a question at all:
"Oh, really?"
I could almost call my entire method the "O RLY?" method of essay-writing if I was so net-inclined. The whole point of this question is to put any and every statement you make in your essay under scrutiny. Mentally following up every fact or point with a quick "really?" or a "how so?" maintains steady, unrepeated information as well as gives that information a natural flow that is also likely to mirror a reader's reading/thinking process.
To illustrate this point, I'll add notes to an excerpt of that "Anime Dubs" essay I wrote some while back:
If most people had to pick out the aspect of dubbed anime people dislike the most, voice acting would probably top the list. (Really?) They say that the voice doesn’t match the character, that it’s too whiney or too old, or that they just can’t do a convincing job. (Why's that?) There are many, many factors towards what makes a good or bad dub job: (What are they?) among them are the voices (obviously), the written script, and the time and money needed to complete the job. It’s easy to blame the voice actor for not doing a good enough job, but it just isn’t that simple. (How is it not?) At previous conventions I’ve gone to, I’ve spoken with a lot of Vancouver voice actors with a lot of experience in the field. (Oh yeah?) They really gave us some insight into the whole process of recording a dub track...
Every statement leads to a "prove it!" desire; every time you prove yourself, the more and more people pay attention. Just make sure you don't narrate too often (where you describe what happened in a work instead of why that work's important) and you'll be good to go! Boom, now the paragraphs are moving along... now you just need to cap them off...
Conclusions:
Everyone starts off hating conclusions, both the ones at the ends of paragraphs and the big paragraph at the end of the essay itself. A lot of people, when thinking of conclusions, think about how it kind of summarizes your points and wraps them up. But that's redundant and it never feels comfortable, and is the main reason why conclusions are such a pain to write! So here's the trick... rather than ask yourself, "how do I summarize all of this up all over again?", ask yourself this:
"Why do we care?"
Now you have an interesting question worth answering! When you're wrapping up your body paragraphs that explain one main point to your argument, think about why we should care about this one point. Alright, so the Treaty of Versailles was a leading factor to the Second World War, cool... so why do we care that it was? If your overall essay is about factors leading to the Second World War, we don't need to hear a "so yes, the Treaty of Versailles was a factor to the Second World War" in your conclusion; most readers should have figured out that connection by that point. If you instead maybe wanted to say something about how it led to a country of insulted, bankrupt individuals willing to do anything to get their country back on track, well... now we're listening...
As for the final, ultimate essay conclusion... again, the "why do we care?" question leads the way. Going back to my "English dubs don't get enough credit" essay, I spent the entire essay talking about how hard it really is to produce an English dub of an anime. Everyone knows that was my point, so I don't need to bring it up again in my conclusion. So instead, let's think, "why do we care that English dubs are hard to make?" Once we do that, we open it up all kinds of possibilities that will leave readers with something to think about.
Wrapping Up:
So remember, two questions:
- Oh really?
- Why do we care?
You might be amazed at how far those two questions'll get you through the writing process. And of course, they both weave in and out of each other constantly throughout your writing. When you get to your conclusion paragraph and make your first "why do we care?" statement, that's pretty much guaranteed to lead to a fresh new "oh really?", isn't it? I do promise, though, they do balance out in the end and once you've answered all the questions you can answer (or are willing to answer), then you'll be set and ready for your first line of edits!
Or so we always tell ourselves, anyway... but yes, one final point before I finish up...
I detest those "I leave that choice to you" endings. A lot of times you have those essays (especially like in the early years of theO's writing) where you'd have someone comparing two different subjects. Because yes, there were a lot of people passionate about whether Inuyasha should choose Kikyo or Kagome. Anyway, some were more neutral observers, listing pros and cons for both sides while others were definitely for or against a specific side. But when it came time to wrap up their analyses, after spending all that time to explain their feelings one way or the other, they would go with the rhetorical ending of "Should Inuyasha really stay with Kagome? I leave that choice to you."
With one sentence at the end, you shoot your argument in the foot. Why the heck would you spend so much time explaining why we should believe your side of an argument only to have you at the end go "so yeah, I'll let you choose which side you should go with." Even if the suggestion is that you now have the choice to believe them or not, it's just a stupid, pointless way to mince words. Don't do it.
Well... that was a hell of a way to end this session, wasn't it? Not especially pretty, but hey, this wasn't exactly an essay...
