Sample Essay 1 Formal Academic Essay Style. Why Language Students Should Study Literature

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Sample Essay 1 Formal Academic Essay Style. Why Language Students Should Study Literature"

Neal Johnson
5 years ago
Views:

1 Sample Essay 1 Formal Academic Essay Style Why Language Students Should Study Literature When I sighed, the student in my office immediately looked down and probably thought his question had upset or disappointed me. It hadn t, but it was a question that I ve heard for years from Keimyung students, and I ve always felt that I never could answer it properly. He and I discussed it for a few minutes, and maybe he was satisfied with my comments, but I know that at some point in the future, another English Language and Literature student will ask me: Why do they make us study literature when I only want to learn English? I teach language, but my major was English Literature, and I know there are three good reasons why students should study literature. The first reason is a simple one: because it s a rule. No one likes to be forced to do something because they have to do it, but at the same time, every person must do some things simply because they must be done. From governments to games, from the office to the home, there are rules that must be followed. To explain why the English Language and Literature Department has this rule would require an entire essay by itself, but all organizations require a system to guide its members. That doesn t mean authority should always be followed, but becoming an adult means knowing that authority should be questioned and sometimes obeyed. The second reason is that students need the university experience. The word itself comes from universe, meaning everything, and universities were created to provide a wide range of educational experiences for students. All students should take some classes completely different from their major engineering, art, business or science course. It is important to focus on one area a major but students who want to focus on one skill only should realize that specialized training is available (the Korean word is hagwon). The benefit of a university experience, however, is that adults who have had a wide range of experiences will have a wide range of understanding. The final reason is that studying literature has its own specific benefit: studying literature helps us learn about our world and our self. Shakespeare died hundreds of years ago, but his evil Iago, his foolish Lear, his doubtful Hamlet and even his poems about love and beauty still speak to us, because those kinds of people and feelings still exist. Reading literature from different times and different countries help the reader understand history and culture. Furthermore, whether reading about drama, action, or romance, the reader will search his or her soul, for comparison and, hopefully, improvement. In conclusion, students should study literature not only because they are told to, but because of the benefits of a wider education and self- improvement. Even the student who asked the question told me later in our discussion that he wanted to read more poetry during the winter vacation period, because it made him feel something that he couldn t really describe. He said he wants to read poetry, not study it, but I think his inspiration probably came from a literature class that he was forced into. by Daniel T. Parker

2 2 Sample Essay 1 Informal Essay Style Why Study Literature? He was sitting in the same chair as most of my other students and asking the same question I get asked at least once a semester: Why do we have to take literature classes? Why study literature? I don t think it is ironic that students who major in English Language & Literature ask that question, for there are several motivations behind the question, and it is a question American students have also asked. I even asked myself the same question back in the early 1980s, when I decided to change my major from psychology to literature. So even though I have experience with the question, I m not sure if I have ever provided a satisfactory answer. Maybe that has to do with the motivations. Here, in Korea, most students are interested in the English Language part of the major, not the & Literature, and they are frustrated because most of the literature classes are taught in Korean, using translated texts. These students feel that studying literature, especially in Korean, is not practical for their future, and they re at least partly right: it would be more practical if the courses were taught in English. I remember a conversation with Hwang TongGyu, one of Korea s greatest living poets, earlier this year. We were discussing his career, which included teaching literature in several different countries as well as his tenure at Seoul National University. I asked him if he taught in English to his SNU students, and he seemed a little upset by the question. Of course! he said. Why do you ask you think my English is not good enough? I quickly responded by noting the situation at my university, and he was shocked and maybe even a little angry. So we changed the subject. Language skills are one thing, but as stated, even American students question the value of studying literature. How is it going to help me find a job? is one concern, but there s also the more general Why study literature at all? question. My first answer to these students isn t very satisfying to them, but I still defend it. It s a rule. Nobody likes to do something they are forced to do, and several of our students didn t really choose their major it was chosen for them by their parents or their circumstances (their test scores weren t high enough). But even so, I tell them, this is your major, so you have to take some of the literature classes. Then I tell them that everyone must do some things, some times, simply because they must be done. From games to governments, from the home to the workplace, there are rules that must be followed. All organizations have a system to guide its members. That doesn t mean blind obedience, I tell them. Authority should often be questioned, and sometimes should be defied. But learning how to operate within the framework of organization is a practical skill to develop. I also encourage the students to take advantage of the universe part of university. The university system was created to provide a wide range of educational experiences for the students, and I firmly believe that students should take some classes which are completely different from their focus. It is important to have a focus that is why majors exist but I tell students who only

3 3 want to focus on one skill that specialized training is widely available (the Korean word is hagwon). I m very grateful for my astronomy and geology classes, for my art appreciation class, even for the few weeks I stayed in the physics class. I m not an expert in those areas, but when I hear the experts talk, I m glad that I have at least some background knowledge. But for me, the most overwhelming reason to study literature not just to read it, but to study it is that literature helps us to learn about our world and our self. Shakespeare died hundreds of years ago, but his evil Iago, his foolish Lear, his indecisive Hamlet and even his poems about love and beauty still speak to us. Those types of people still exist. Those feelings still exist. Reading literature from different times and different countries help us understand something of history and culture. But most of all, the benefit of literature is that the reader will naturally question his or her own personality, will search the soul, for comparison and, hopefully, improvement. Could I be that heroic? What would make a person do something so cruel? Am I capable of being that kind of person? So, yes, study literature because you must (if you are an English Language & Literature major), but also study literature to expand your education and deepen your self- awareness and improvement. Even the last student who asked me that question later told me that he wanted to read more poetry during the winter break, because he said poetry makes him feel something that he couldn t really describe, but he wanted to explore that feeling. Then he laughed and said, I just want to read poetry, not study it, but I think his inspiration may be at least partly due to a class that he was forced to take. by Daniel T. Parker Sample Essay 2 Informal Essay Style The Transaction Five or six years ago a school in Connecticut held a day devoted to the arts, and I was asked if I would come and talk about writing as a vocation. When I arrived I found that a second speaker had been invited Dr. Brock (as I ll call him), a surgeon who had recently begun to write and had sold some stories to national magazines. He was going to talk about writing as an avocation. That made us a panel, and we sat down to face a crowd of student newspaper editors and reporters, English teachers and parents, all eager to learn the secrets of our glamorous work. Dr. Brock was dressed in a bright red jacket, looking vaguely Bohemian, as authors are supposed to look, and the first question went to him. What was it like to be a writer? He said it was tremendous fun. Coming home from an arduous day at the hospital, he would go straight to his yellow pad and write his tensions away. The words just flowed. It was easy. I then said that writing wasn t easy and it wasn t fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just flowed. Next Dr. Brock was asked if it was important to rewrite. Absolutely not, he said. Let it all hang out, and whatever form the sentences take will reflect the writer at his most natural.

4 I then said that rewriting is the essence of writing. I pointed out that professional writers rewrite their sentences repeatedly and then rewrite what they have rewritten. I mentioned hat E.B. White and James Thurber were known to rewrite their pieces eight or nine times. What do you do on days when it isn t going well? Dr. Brock was asked. He said he just stopped writing and put the work aside for a day when it would go better. I then said that the professional writer must establish a daily schedule and stick to it. I said that writing is a craft, not an art, and that the man who runs away from his craft because he lacks inspiration is fooling himself. He is also going broke. What if you re feeling depressed or unhappy? a student asked. Won t that affect your writing? Probably it will, Dr. Brock replied. Go fishing. Take a walk. Probably it won t, I said. If your job is to write every day, you learn to do it like any other job. A student asked if we found it useful to circulate in the literary world. Br. Brock said that he was greatly enjoying his new life as a man of letters, and he told several lavish stories of being taken to lunch by his publisher and his agent at Manhattan restaurants where writers and editors gather. I said that professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers. Do you put symbolism in your writing? a student asked me. Not if I can help it, I replied. I have an unbroken record of missing the deeper meaning in any story, play or movie, and as for dance and mime, I have never had even a remote notion of what is being conveyed. I love symbols! Dr. Brock exclaimed, and he described with gusto the joys of weaving them through his work. So the morning went, and it was a revelation to all of us. At the end Dr. Brock told me he was enormously interested in my answers it had never occurred to him that writing could be hard. I told him I was just as interested in his answers it had never occurred to me that writing could be easy. (Maybe I should take up surgery on the side.) As for the students, anyone might think that we left them bewildered. But in fact we probably gave them a broader glimpse of the writing process than if only one of us had talked. For of course there isn t any right way to do such intensely personal work. There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps somebody to say what he wants to say is the right method for him. Some people write by day, others by night. Some people need silence, others turn on the radio. Some write by hand, some by typewriter, some by talking into a tape recorder. Some people write their first draft in one long burst and then revise; others can t write the second paragraph until they have fiddled endlessly with the first. But all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don t just write what comes naturally. They sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is a far stiffer person than the one who sat down. The problem is to find the real man or woman behind all the tension. 4

5 5 For ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not his subject, but who he is. I often find myself reading with interest a topic that I never thought would interest me some unusual scientific quest, for instance. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field. How was he drawn into it? What emotional baggage did he bring along? How did it change his life? It is not necessary to want to spend a year alone at Walden Pond to become deeply involved with a man who did. This is the personal transaction that is at the heart of good nonfiction writing. Out of it come two of the most important qualities that this book will go in search of: humanity and warmth. Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it s not a question of gimmicks to personalize the author. It s a question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest strength and the least clutter. Can such principles be taught? Maybe not. But most of them can be learned. by William Zinsser Sample Essay 2 Formal Academic Essay Style The Transaction Is it necessary for a reader to want to spend a year alone in the woods in order to enjoy reading On Walden Pond by Henry David Thoreau? Do only scientists enjoy reading about scientific topics? I can become interested in almost any topic, if I feel the writer s enthusiasm for his or her topic as I am reading. This is what I consider good writing: writers may use different writing methods, there are some common effects, and the personal transaction between writer and reader is the most important part of good writing. There isn t any right way to write well. Different writers have always used different methods; some write by day, others by night. Some people need silence, but others turn on the radio. Some write by hand, and others use computers. Some older writers still prefer their old- fashioned typewriters. Some writers write their entire draft in one long burst and then revise after they have finished, but other writers fiddle constantly with their writing and cannot move on to the second paragraph until they feel the first paragraph is perfect. The writing method is often a reflection of the writer s personality, although sometimes the writer s real job may affect the writing process. Since highly successful writers employ vastly different processes, it is obvious that how writers write does not control how well they write. While the process may vary, all writers share something in common. All of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don t just write what comes naturally. They sit down to perform an act of writing, and the self who emerges on paper is a far stiffer person than the one who sat down. This can obviously affect the audience, for no what the topic is, the reader is always aware that there is a human life form behind the printed word and it is natural for a human reader to seek some type of connection with the writer. Sometimes it is difficult for the audience to find the real man or woman behind all the tension.

6 6 Ultimately, however, the product that any writer has to sell is not his or her subject, but who he or she is. This personal transaction the audience discovering the real writer, the enthusiasm, the emotional baggage is the heart of good nonfiction writing. If the personal transaction is accomplished, the audience will share the humanity and warmth of the writer. Good writing is alive, it keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it doesn t need tricks or gimmicks. It only requires using the language in a way that will achieve the greatest strength and the least clutter. In conclusion, good writers make a personal connection to their readers no matter what writing methods they use or how stiff they are while they write. Can such principles be taught? Maybe not, but most of them can be learned. adapted by Daniel T. Parker from William Zinsser s original essay The initial outline of Sample Essay 1 Thesis: three reasons why English language students should also study literature A. to learn about humanity as a whole and the individual self 1. poems and fiction written hundreds of years ago are still relevant today 2. literature from different countries and cultures teach us about the world then and now 3. reading literature invites the reader to search his or her soul for comparison and improvement B. because the department makes them 1. every life has something that simply must be done 2. all organizations need some type of system to follow 3. learn when to question authority and when to follow it C. to gain the full benefit of a university education 1. the purpose of a univers ity is to provide a range of learning experiences 2. focused and specialized training is available go to a hakwon! 3. adults with a wide range of experience have a wider range of understanding Discussion of the outline In the finished essay, the organization of ideas has changed. The B section of my outline became my first body paragraph instead of my second one, and the A ideas were moved to the third body paragraph. There was nothing wrong with following my original outline, but in the rewriting/revision part of the writing process, I decided to change the original order; I thought it might be a more effective arrangement. I m sure Dr. Zinsser made an outline for his essay, but I do not have access to it. (Zinsser was the author of several books about how people can become better writers; his books taught me very much that I now try to teach you.

7 7 The Formal Essay Outline Thesis statement: Topic sentence 1: Support 1: Support 2: Support 3: Topic sentence 2: Support 1: Support 2: Support 3: Topic sentence 1: Support 1: Support 2: Support 3: Summary of main ideas: Note: Some textbooks and some teachers may require you to outline your entire introduction and conclusion paragraph. It s not necessary for my students to do this extra outline work.

What is an essay? Sample Informal Essay #1

What is an essay? Sample Informal Essay #1 What is an essay? The simple answer is that an essay is a group of paragraphs that are connected by an overall main idea. If I write 1000 words about the difference between Korean and Western food, but