Writing Tip: Analysis vs. Summary

One of the pitfalls a lot of students encounter in their writing, especially with literary analysis, boils down to the phrase ‘too much summary.’ When I write this in the marginal comments of student papers, I mean the student has provided too much plot summary without enough analysis. 

The best papers provide new insights into their topics. In these papers, (the “A” papers) the students make a claim or an argument, and they prove their argument. They do this through their analysis of the texts. They use portions of the texts that best support their claims, quote or paraphrase them, and then they analyze them. In other words, they make a claim, provide evidence for the claim, and then explain how the evidence works in their favor. This is analysis at its best, and it simply can’t be done if the student is caught up in the plot summary.

When I speak to students about their excessive summarizations, they usually say they thought everything was important. Often, it seems, students get caught up in the plot of the story, and they use the story’s structure as the structure of the paper. They begin their paper with the first actions of the story, and their conclusion describes the end of the story. Now, it’s perfectly fine to work in chronological order, but there must be more to the paper than summary. This is what I often tell my students: “If all I want is to know what happens in the story, I’d read the story. I want to know what you’re going to prove about the story. I want to read something I’ve never read before. I want to be wowed.”

If you’re not sure if you’re falling into the summary trap, here are a few things you can do. First of all, make sure you’re only using the pieces of the story (or movie, poem, song, etc) that best pertain to your claim. Then, you need to provide several sentences that explain those pieces. 

Another trick could be to purposely work out of chronological order because it’s much harder to summarize something that is out of order. 

Finally, I’m not saying don’t summarize. Analysis needs summary. You must provide context from the story before you can provide the evidence and the analysis. The problem arises when nothing follows the context. 

As always, if you’re worried you might be falling into this trap, (or any trap) you’re more than welcome to send your paper to me, and I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction. 

Writing Discussion: Good Writing Habits

Today, I was asked what my best writing habit is. I had to think about it for a moment before answering. Eventually, I decided my best writing habit is that I keep doing it. I write something every day. I may write part of a paper for my class, a report for my job, a work of fiction, a post for this blog, etc, but the point is I write at least something every day. 

Now, not everything I write is wonderful. Some of the words I write one day, don’t make the cut in the next draft. There are a few reasons for this. Sometimes I write things that just don’t make any sense. Obviously, they need to go. More often, though, there’s nothing actually wrong with what I’ve written, I’ve just thought of a better, more effective way to say it. But that’s the beauty of writing every day. It keeps me sharp and focused, and it provides me with drafts to continuously improve before I turn in the final product. 

Most of my writing life revolves around deadlines. I had due dates for papers when I was a student (I still do; although I’m primarily taking my course for fun). Now, I have deadlines for articles when I take freelance assignments. I also have personal goals to keep me from getting stagnant in my progress with various projects. 

My total word count per day varies. On average, I probably write around 1,000 words a day. Most days, those words are spread between multiple projects and genres. 

Now it’s your turn. What are your writing habits? What habits would you like to build? 

Writing Tip: The "So What?" Problem

Have you ever received a graded paper with the question “so what?” as a comment? This is a common problem when writing papers. I’ve run into the “so what?” problem a few times myself.

Here’s what instructors (and I) mean when we ask “so what?”: Basically, we mean the paper points out information (possibly very interesting and well written information) but it doesn’t “do” anything beyond that. It doesn’t prove or argue anything, and it doesn’t tell us why we should care. In other words, the paper really isn’t a paper: It’s an information dump or a summary.

To combat this, you need to make sure you address the questions how and why. These are questions of analysis. If you address these and have a clear,
debatable thesis, which you argue throughout your paper, you’ll never run into the “So what?” problem.

Analysis Tip: The Magic Triangle

Do you have to analyze a literary work for a paper? Or maybe you’re going to the art museum and want to impress your date. Perhaps you want to say something more about the movie you watched last night than simply saying you enjoyed it. The magic triangle works in all of these instances.

The triangle is equiangular, and each angle is assigned a letter:  A, R, T, which forms ART.  The “A” stands for “Author” or artist.  “R” stands for “Reader” but can also mean audience, and “T” stands for “Text.”  These are the three aspects of textual analysis: the work, artist, and audience. The triangle demonstrates the relationship between these aspects. 

Let’s say your assignment is to analyze a poem. Your first step is to read the poem. What do you notice about it? Remember: You know more than you think you do. Write down everything you see. 

Tip: In poetry, every single word is important. Each word represents is the poet’s choice. This applies to the structure, rhyme scheme, rhythm, and every other element present in the poem. 

So, when I say write everything down that you see in the poem, I really mean it. Write the rhyme scheme (if there is one; if there isn’t one, write that). Describe the structure. Are there particular images that strike you? Write them down. What do you think is going on in the poem? Describe the “story” of the poem in your own words. 

Are there words you’re unfamiliar with? Look them up:  Like I said, every word is important in a poem, so when there’s a word you don’t know, it’s blocking you’re entry into the poem. I promise you, I’ve had entire poems become clear to me after spending a few moments with a good dictionary. (I recommend the Oxford English Dictionary, OED, but any reliable dictionary is fine). 

Are there references to history, other works of art, etc? You can usually tell these when the poet uses italics or quotation marks. When these aren’t clear, don’t despair. Part of writing everything you notice is including the aspects of the poem you don’t understand. Knowing what you don’t know is a very important part of learning. My professor once said to treat each word like a hyperlink. Don’t be afraid to do a google search.

Once you’ve written everything down, think about what interests you the most. Your analysis is as much about you as it is about the poem itself. This is when the “magic triangle” comes in. Pick an element and think about how that element functions in the work: “What does X do?” “What if it were Y instead of X?” In that second question, substitute another element for the one you’ve chosen and think about how that would change the overall work. 

Now, that you’ve analyzed the work and its impact on you as the audience, think about the author. I talked about how the author specifically chooses every element in a work. The next step is to consider why. Thinking about how different the work would be if different choices were made can help with this. 

You can use the same steps I discussed above for any work of art: music, visual arts, films, literature, etc.