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General Expectations | General Format | Research | Documentation | Plagiarism | Grading Criteria | Writing Center Writing is our supreme means of understanding, of discovering our thoughts, of learning, of grasping things in the mind, of intellectual maturity. Reading a book is following a stream of understanding. Writing one is a whole Mississippi. The simplest page of freshman writing demonstrates this process. Writing is discovery of thought. Writing is learning.[1]
In English 105 and 111, your professor will work to teach you how to write compelling, coherent expository essays, essays in which you explore new ideas, interpret and analyze the ideas of others, or argue from a specific point of view. You will be asked to write frequent short essays (a minimum of 5000 words that includes 1000 words to be written in class). Writing assignments are usually highly specific and vary a great deal depending upon your topic and purpose and the length of your essay. For example, throughout the semester, you may be asked to write a reflective or exploratory essay, a comparison/contrast essay, a report, a process analysis, an argument, a critical analysis, and a literary interpretation; you will also learn how to evaluate the ideas of others and incorporate them into your own work. In writing seminars, it is most important for you to consider your professor’s expectations and listen for specific directions. Instead of thinking about only length and topic, consider the purpose, audience, and the kind of essay you are asked to write. In English 160, 170, 165, and 175, the range of assignments is usually more narrow; generally, you will be asked to write respond to the readings and discussion and write critical analyses or interpretations of works of literature. In English 160 and 170, students are required to submit a minimum of 1200 words; in English 165 and 175 students write frequent short critical essays. In addition to these requirements, you may be asked to keep a journal and/or write more personal or reflective responses to your readings.
More than anything, college professors want you to find something to say by thinking seriously about a topic; they also expect you to consider, just as seriously, how to explore your topic fully, to think critically and creatively, and convey your ideas in clear and precise terms. In Writing Seminars, English 111, professors design their courses around specific topics of investigation that allow students to become familiar with the process of writing as they practice writing different kinds of essays. Assignments vary and different strategies are used to teach students how to write different kinds of essays. Students should always consider the wording of assignments carefully. Does your professor expect you to recount, explain, argue, interpret, or analyze a text, an experience, or an idea? As you plan your essay, reflect upon the purpose of the assignment and ask for clarification when necessary. At times, professors may plan workshop exercises that are designed to provide help for students during specific stages of the writing process. A frequently used format is peer review, which enables students to gain insight into their writing through a classmate’s analysis or reaction. Peer review not only benefits the writer; it allows students reviewers to exercise their authority over a text as they are called upon to respond to the significance and development of a writer’s thoughts and the clarity of expression. The creative and analytic skills practiced during these sessions often make students better writers and readers of texts. In English 160, 170, 165, and 175, you will write critical analyses of works of literature. The purpose of these essays is not to summarize plot or offer a general overview of themes or images, but to demonstrate your ability to read critically, to establish a point of view, to make a claim about the text or texts, and to argue for the validity of your claim. The claim, your thesis, should focus on a particular aspect of the text, and you should use textual evidence, logic, and reasoning to substantiate your claim. (At times, you may use secondary sources; if this is the case, read the sections on documentation and plagiarism.) Once again, assignments vary; most often, you will be given a specific topic or list of topics to choose from, but you also may be asked to construct your own topic based upon your readings. If you are given a broad or an open assignment, focus your topic so that you will be able to write a detailed and intensive analysis. Students who ask a specific question about the text and construct an in-depth and detailed response to that question prove not only their command of a particular text, but their ability to approach texts critically; they demonstrate their intellectual ability to pose significant questions, to describe, to interpret, and to analyze language. If the paper is successful, they also prove their ability to argue rationally and compellingly. This is what college professors expect when they assign a critical analysis. For example, if you are asked to write a 5-8 page paper about Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, and you choose as your topic Cather’s use of natural imagery or the five-part structure of the book, you have positioned yourself to write a very broad summary, not a critical analysis. You have a great many pages of text to consider and a very limited number of pages for your analysis. If you ask yourself more specific questions, such as how Cather uses the imagery of the sun in two very different scenes, one toward the end of Book Two, the other at the end of Book Four, or why the last, very short book is titled “Cuzak’s Boys,” you have narrowed your focus and can begin to ask the kinds of critical questions that will lend themselves to a strong thesis and a detailed analysis.
Most professors at Wake Forest University see student writing not only as a product, through which students exhibit a mastery of the material and their communication skills, but also as a process for discovery and exploration. Therefore, professors stress the importance of revision. In English 105 and 111, you will probably be asked to revise essays that have been evaluated by your professor or your peers. In literature courses, such as English 160, 170, 165, or 175, revision is just as important, but it must occur before you submit your essay. By finishing a draft early, by returning to your work and posing questions about your own assumptions, by, perhaps, taking your questions to your professor or your draft to the Writing Center, you begin the process of revision. The following checklist, taken from Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing about Literature, [2] should help you to revise and edit your manuscript before submission:
II. General FormatØ Unless you are instructed to submit your essays electronically, essays should be typed or written on a word processor. They should be submitted on white paper, 8½ by 11 inches. Use only one side of the paper, number pages consecutively in the upper right-corner, and secure your pages with a paper clip. Always keep a copy of your paper until you receive the graded original. Ø Leave margins of approximately 1½ inches on the top, bottom, and sides of the paper. This allows your professor room to respond to your text. Ø Make sure you have an appropriate and informative title and capitalize the first, last, and all major words in your title. Unless your professor requests a title page, the title should appear on the first page. Also include your name and course number in the upper-left corner of the first page. Ø If you write in corrections or insertions, do so neatly and clearly in ink above the typed line. Ø Double-space your text. Long quotations that are indented and separated from your text, and notes may be single-spaced. Ø Double check for accuracy and consistency when quoting the words of others.
As you join the academic community, you are joining a community of scholars who rely upon, build upon, and often critique the ideas of others. When you write about a topic, you will need to learn how to locate ideas appropriate to your field of study that are published in books, journals, pamphlets, and on-line sources, how to evaluate their reliability, and how to incorporate these ideas into your own work. Wake Forest’s library, the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, is a research library; generally, the texts you will find on the shelves are extensive; they have been published by reputable presses, amassed and evaluated by scholars in the field, and carefully catalogued by research librarians who will help you locate and evaluate the appropriateness of these materials. You will also want to research your topic on the Internet where you may find very up-to-date information that is not found in traditional sources. As you use the Internet and become aware of its vast possibilities, consider the ways it differs from traditional research sources. 1. Because information is published, often quite quickly, by individuals (rather than publishing companies that rely on expert readers to evaluate texts), the information may be biased, superficial, even incorrect. You must always question the reliability of your source by considering the point of view of the author, the depth of his/her knowledge of the topic, his/her reputation and purpose in writing. Also check to see when the source was last updated; do you have the most recent information? Check the links (if available) to original sources. 2. While various search engines help you navigate through the World Wide Web, it can be difficult, even frustrating, to locate good sources of information. Thus far, we do not have the kind of cataloguing system on-line that we do in our research libraries.
The following guidelines are drawn from The MLA Style Manual; you may also consult your composition handbook, our library’s on-line text on research and documentation, or such guides as Kate Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. These guides expand on the basic information given below. Quotations should appear in your paper exactly as they appear in the original, with the exceptions that you may alter an initial capital or lower-case letter when incorporating the quotation into your own prose and you may omit some words if you indicate the omission with an ellipsis (the omission, however, should not change the sense of the quotation). An ellipsis is three periods with a space between each period. Indented quotations should begin 10 spaces in from the left-hand margin. Here is how you could tailor literary critic Robert Colby’s statement about Charles Dickens to fit your own prose. Writing about Oliver Twist in Fiction with a Purpose, Robert Colby notes that “[a] true story that [Dickens’s] first readers did not know . . . was his own progress from Baynham Street to Camden Town to Regent’s Park.” Note that the first set of brackets indicates the substitution of a lower-case “a” for Colby’s original upper-case “A”; the second set of brackets shows that the writer has inserted a word to clarify the sense of the quotation; and the ellipsis shows that the writer has left some words out of the quotation. This quotation, like any use of material from another source, must be documented, either parenthetically within the text or with a footnote or endnote. The rule of thumb about whether to indent a quotation is that you indent for more than four lines of quoted material, though you may indent fewer than four lines if you feel the quotation needs special emphasis. If you indent the quotation, do not use quotation marks (except to distinguish between spoken and unspoken material); the indentation indicates that it is a quotation. For example: In Thomas Wolfe’s short story “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn,” the traveler asks, “How d’yuh get t’Eighteent’ Avenoo an’ Sixty-Sevent’ Street?” One person suggests he take duh Fourt’ Avenoo express, get off at Fifty-nint’, change to a Sea Beach local deh, get off at Eighteent’ Avenoo and Sixty-toid an’ den walk down foeh blocks. Note that the writer was careful to preserve all of Wolfe’s odd punctuation, which he used to try to convey the effect of a Brooklyn accent. The rules for quoting poetry are much the same as those for quoting prose. The important difference is that you must preserve the form of the verse: that is, you must preserve any indentations and line breaks the poet uses, since those distinctions contribute to the meaning of the poem. When quoting fewer than four lines of verse, indicate where each line ends with a slash, leaving a space before and after. For example: Timon realizes the problem when he tells Alcibiades that he became a misanthrope “As the moon does, by wanting light to give / But then renew I could not like the moon; / There were no suns to borrow of” (IV.ii.67-69). Note that the final quotation marks precede the parenthetical reference. If you quote more than three lines, indent the quotation: In Ariel’s song in The Tempest, dislocations which on the surface seem disastrous may turn out to be beneficial. Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes;Nothing of him doth fade, But doth suffer a sea change Into something rich and strange. (I.ii.396-401) When you quote from a play, indicate the act and scene as well as the line numbers. You may use either Roman numerals, as above, or Arabic numerals, but always indicate the act first, then the scene. These lines from W.C. Williams’ poem “Asphodel, That Greeny Flower” demonstrate the importance of retaining exactly the poet’s line breaks and arrangements: I have learned much in my life from books and out of them about love. Death is not the end of it. (142-147) When quoting poetry or dramatic verse, insert line numbers in parentheses after the quotation, even if line numbers are not given in the text.
IV. DOCUMENTATIONWhen you use the words and ideas of others, you are taking part in an ongoing scholarly conversation. It is always necessary to identify the other speakers in the conversation. Therefore you must cite the source of any material, quoted or paraphrased, you have used. The absence of such documentation constitutes plagiarism, perhaps the most serious academic offense. See below for a statement clarifying Wake Forest’s policy on plagiarism. Proper documentation requires a bibliography of any outside texts you have consulted (both traditional sources and on-line sources) as well as individual notes that demonstrate your debts to outside sources.
Each entry in a bibliography (also called a “Works Consulted” list) must contain the following information: author’s name, title of work, place of publication, publisher, date of publication. If pertinent, indicate the edition of a text you are using. In books, this information can be found after the title page; in journal articles, it is often printed on the first page of the article. If a work has been published separately, underline the title. If the work is a chapter within an anthology or an article in a scholarly journal, enclose that title in quotation marks and underline the title of the book or journal. Use periods to separate the information. If you need more than one line, indent any additional lines five spaces. To cite portable databases or on-line sources, you will need to include author, title, the title of the data base (underlined), the publication medium (ex. CD-ROM or On-line), the name of the vendor (if relevant) or the repository of the electronic text, the name of the computer network (for on-line citations) and the electronic publication date. Examples will follow. The bibliography should be attached to the end of your paper. Format for an article: Alter, Robert. “History and Imagination in the Nineteenth-Century Novel.” Georgia Review 29 (1975): 42-60. Format for a book: Armstrong, Frances. Dickens and the Concept of Home. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1990. Sometimes, especially with older works, you may not know the publisher or the date of publication. In these cases, insert n.p. (no publisher) or n.d. (no date) where the information would normally appear. In the case of multiple authors, invert only the first author’s name. Aspinwall, A. and E. Anthony Smith. English Historical Documents. New York: Oxford UP, 1959. Format for a portable database or on-line database: Angier, Natalie. “Chemists Learn Why Vegetables Are Good for You.” New York Times13 Apr. 1993, late ed.: C1 New York Times. On disc. CD-ROM. UMI-Proquest. Oct. 1993. Stempel, Carl William. “Towards a Historical Sociology of Sport in the United States, 1825-1875.” DAI 53 (1993): 3374A. U of Oregon, 1992. Dissertation Abstracts Online. Online. OCLC Epic. 3 Dec. 1993.
The three main ways to document material from outside sources are parenthetical page references in the main body of the paper, footnotes, and endnotes.
In a short paper or a paper that uses only primary sources, you generally can note the source in parentheses following a quotation or a passage which refers to the source, as long as you indicate in a “Works Consulted” list (bibliography) the edition from which the references are drawn. The parenthetical reference follows the quotation. If the quotation is not indented, the reference precedes any additional punctuation. If the quotation is indented, the reference comes after the punctuation that ends the quotation. The narrator of James’s story endows the papers with talismanic powers that transform their possessor. Believing that old Miss Tita has the papers, the narrator thinks of marrying her to get to them and begins to believe that she is “younger . . . [and] not a ridiculous old woman” (105). When Tita informs the narrator she has burned Aspern’s papers, the charm fails: “the transfiguration was over and she had changed back to a plain dingy elderly person” (106). If you are citing more than one work by an author, you can add an abbreviation to the parenthetical reference that makes it clear from which work you are quoting. For instance, if you were writing about Jane Austen’s Emma and Persuasion, you could handle your references as follows: (E, 104) and (P, 24). If you’re quoting from more than one author, use the author’s name in the parenthetical reference: (Austen, 66) and (James, 223). When citing poetry, it is better to refer to line numbers than page numbers, as in these lines from the Aeneid. I sing of arms and of a man: his fate had made him fugitive; he was the first to journey from the coasts of Troy as far as Italy and the Lavinian shores. (I.1-4) A works consulted list would indicate which edition of Henry James’s “The Aspern Papers” the writer used and that these lines are from Allen Mandelbaum’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid.
In a short paper or a paper that refers to only a few texts, you should be able to make do with parenthetical references and a bibliography. In longer or more comprehensive papers, you may decide to use footnotes or endnotes. Footnotes and endnotes contain the same information: the only difference is whether they are found on the same page as the documented material or on a separate page (or pages) at the end of the paper. Ask your professor if he or she prefers one format to another. Footnotes and endnotes contain all the information presented in bibliographical entries, but in a slightly different form: the author’s name is not inverted, commas separate elements, the publisher’s information is contained within parentheses, and the page number(s) where the quotation is found is included. 1. Robert B. Heilman, America in English Fiction, 1760-1800: The Influence of the American Revolution (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1937) 126. 2. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” “Leaf Storm” and Other Stories, trans. Gregory Rabassa (New York: Harper, 1972) 105.
V. PLAGIARISMTo put your name on a piece of work is to say that it is yours, that the praise or criticism due to it is due to you. To put your name on a piece of work any part of which is not yours is plagiarism, unless that piece is clearly marked and the work from which you have borrowed is fully identified. Plagiarism is a form of theft. Taking words, phrasing, sentence structure, or any other element of the expression of another person’s ideas, and using them as if they were yours, is like taking from that person a material possession, something he or she has worked for and earned. Even worse is the appropriation of someone else’s ideas. By "ideas" is meant everything from the definition or interpretation of a single word, to the overall approach or argument. If you paraphrase, you merely translate from his or her language to yours; another person’s ideas in your language are still not your ideas. Paraphrase, therefore, without proper documentation, is theft, perhaps of the worst kind. Here, a person loses not a material possession, but something of what characterized him or her as an individual. If students wish to do one project for two courses, or to draw on work previously done in order to complete an assignment for a current course, they must get the expressed permission of all affected faculty in advance of turning in the assignment. The faculty suggests that approved combined projects should represent significantly more effort than the individual projects they supplanted. Plagiarism is a serious violation of another person’s rights, whether the material stolen is great or small; it is not a matter of degree or intent. You know how much you would have had to say without someone else’s help; and you know how much you have added on your own. Your responsibility, when you put your name on a piece of work, is simply to distinguish between what is yours and what is not, and to credit those who have in any way contributed.
VI. Grading Criteria for Effective WritingThe following criteria for grading are used in many colleges
and universities. They are included here to help
The “A” Paper: The first and most noticeable quality of the “A” paper is the depth of specific information and observations—facts; textual evidence; concrete reasoning; quotations; stories; images—all the substantial details that make the reader feel significantly taught by the writer. This information consistently contributes to explaining a clear focus, an idea—not a topic but a complete statement about a topic that requires an explanation—that answers the questions, So what? Why is all this important? This idea reveals a degree of insight that goes far beyond the first or most obvious things one could say about the topic. Not all ideas are equal; some are demonstrably more sophisticated and more compelling to a community of readers, and ultimately it is this level of sophisticated intellect that distinguishes the excellent writer from the superior or average writer. These sophisticated ideas often result from the writer drawing complex conceptual connections among related details and themes, instead of simply listing them in an arbitrary manner. Each sentence and paragraph builds on the previous one, using old information to prepare for new information so that the reader never has to ask, Why is this here? What does this have to do with what I just read or with the big picture? The language and style of the “A” paper gracefully moves readers forward with varied and rhythmical sentences, contributing to their understanding of the idea, not impeding it. Word choice is precise and appropriate in tone to the purpose of the paper. The writer uses language with energy and flair, creating a distinct voice. Grammatical errors are unacceptable in the “A” paper. They distract readers from following the writer’s ideas and undermine the writer’s credibility as someone whose ideas matter. The “A” paper demonstrates excellent ability in all of these criteria: information/observations; focus; connections; language and style; and grammar. The “B” Paper: The “B” paper demonstrates superior ability in all of the previously mentioned criteria. Two main areas usually separate the “B” paper from the “A.” Although the writer establishes a clear and intellectually sophisticated focus, he or she does not support it with the same level of substantial information. The writer tends to summarize key sections of the paper quickly instead of developing them in authoritative detail, leaving the reader generally well informed, but not with the same confident degree of expertise as in the “A” paper. In other cases, the “B” paper tends to fall short in creating a sophisticated focus because while the writer raised insightful connections or insightful observations, he or she did not pursue and develop them with the intellectual depth of the “A” paper. In sum, the So what? How? Why? questions have not been fully or explicitly answered. The writer does not always draw explicit conceptual connections. Therefore, the connections within and between paragraphs, though adequate in moving the reader forward smoothly, do not create the same level of intellectual progression. The language and style of the “B” paper is clear, even fluent and imaginative at times, but not with the same level of polish as the “A” paper. The occasional grammatical error is present, but not enough to distract the reader beyond a momentary annoyance. “C” Paper: The “C” paper demonstrates average ability. The writer displays some understanding of the text and how it works or of the topic under consideration, but the argument or point of view is too broad or vague to establish a compelling focus. It does not go much beyond the most obvious or general thing one could say about the topic. The writer tends to identify themes and topics instead of explaining their significance. The information, although fairly specific in places, is more often presented in the form of vague generalities that prompt the confused reader to ask questions such as How? Why? Why is this important? The writer does not pursue the kind of insightful conceptual connections prevalent in the “A” and “B” papers. Therefore, connections within and between paragraphs are unclear. The writer simply lists points as they come to mind, leaving the reader to wonder, Ok, why is this here? What exactly does this have to do with the main idea? There is no compelling or apparent progression of ideas. The reader is forced to fill in gaps for the writer, to read between the lines, because the writer assumes the reader is already familiar with the material. The writer may have something to say, but it is not very interesting or intellectually compelling. In some cases, the writer may be attempting to present a potentially insightful idea, but he or she has not yet clarified that idea completely in his or her own mind. Therefore, though the paper may offer evidence of an interested and well-intentioned intellect at work, it requires the reader to infer what the writer might or seems to be saying. The language and style is readable, for the most part, but without the insightful connections the superior or excellent writer creates. The “C” writer often uses choppy, simple, and predictable sentences, imprecise words and/or inappropriate diction. The re may be a number of grammatical errors, rather than the occasional slip found on the “B” paper, which indicates either the writer’s questionable mastery of Standard English or his/her carelessness in proofreading. “D” Paper: This paper resembles a rough draft. It may reveal a germ of a focus with some relevant or potentially relevant information, but the idea is unclear, and the connections are haphazard or, at best, loosely arranged in an arbitrary list. No clear argument or point of view is offered. The paper may be a mere summary of the text or a general overview of the topic under consideration. Whatever ideas the writer intended appear to have moved directly from the writer’s brain to the page; the writer does not seem to have thought about how to develop ideas effectively. The language and style is awkward, ambiguous, and marred by pervasive grammatical errors. The reader has to fight his or her way through the sentences just to figure out what the writer is trying to say. The “F” Paper: It fails to meet the assignment in a variety of ways. Its treatment of the subject is superficial or inappropriate. The language and style is garbled or stylistically primitive. “F” papers are filled with grammatical errors. In short, the information, focus, and connections are far below the level of acceptable college level writing.
VII. The Writing Center
The primary purpose of the Writing Center at Wake Forest is to offer students a place where they can discuss their writing and writing processes with trained tutors. Because everyone writes differently, the Writing Center tailors its help to each student’s needs. The Center is staffed by advanced Wake Forest students who act as an audience for students’ writing; they work by asking questions to help students discover what they want to say and if they have effectively communicated what they intended to say. Tutors do not evaluate, correct, or edit student assignments; their main goal is to help students become critical readers of their own writing. Students are encouraged to go to the Center as soon as possible after receiving a writing assignment. Help is provided during every stage of the writing process, including: generating ideas and settling on a topic; organizing ideas in a paper; developing support for arguments; composing more effectively; learning to revise drafts; learning to identify and correct errors in grammar and punctuation. Students may either drop in or make an appointment. Your professor has information regarding the hours and location of the Writing Center.
Any faculty member may assign a “cc” to students who, despite their understanding of course content, exhibit writing problems that interfere with their ability to communicate that understanding effectively. Examples of such problems include: inability to form a coherent and manageable thesis; problems in organization and development; errors in syntax, grammar, or punctuation; and inappropriate or nonstandard diction. (A “cc” may be assigned during the semester; this allows students time to correct writing problems while enrolled in a course.) A student who has been assigned a “cc” at the end of the term will also receive an “NR” (grade not recorded) for the course. The student will have one semester in which to work in the Writing Center, revising the course work to the instructor’s satisfaction. If the student fails to work in the Writing Center, or fails to revise the work to the instructor’s satisfaction, the grade will become an “F” automatically, unless some action is taken by the instructor. (If extenuating circumstances make it impossible for the student to make significant progress in a semester, the student may appeal to the Dean’s office for an additional semester to work on removing the “NR.”) Endnotes:
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