W

hen you write papers for Literature and Arts A-18,

A STUDENTS GUIDE TO WRITING IN L I T E R AT U R E A N D A R T S A - 1 8

you will need many of the elements of academic essay writing that you have learned (or soon will learn) in Expository Writing. In Expos you learn fundamental principles for writing analytical arguments: how to read texts closely, formulate an arguable thesis, establish an intellectual context (or motive) for your argument, support the thesis with major claims laid out in logical steps and substantiated with carefully analyzed evidence, use source material, and construct and incorporate counterarguments. You also learn in Expos the importance of revising your papers before submitting them. These elements of academic writing, which are shared across disciplines, lay the groundwork for the particular demands of Literature and Arts A-18 assignments. This guide will refer to many of the fundamentals introduced in Expos, and will show you how to apply them to the specific challenges of literary analysis.

Fairy Tales, Childrens Literature, and the Culture of Childhood

his course is designed to introduce or reintroduce you to the canonical texts of childhood reading, to stories that figure importantly in our cultural archive of storytelling and were internalized early on in our lives. Almost without our

knowing it, they continue to keep us under their spell. In daily conversations, in private meditations, in books, on stage and screen, and even at the opera, we find fairy tales and childhood stories recycled and reshaped.
What do we ever get nowadays from reading to equal the excitement and the revelation in those first fourteen years? the British novelist Graham Greene once asked. Many of us can recall moments of breathless excitement as we settled into our favorite chairs and secret corners, eager to find out how Dorothy would escape the witch, whether the Little Mermaid would win an immortal soul, or what would become of Mary and Colin in the secret garden. I hungered for the sharp, frightening, breath-taking, almost painful excitement that the story had given me, Richard Wright observes in recollecting his childhood encounter with the story Bluebeard and His Seven Wives. In that world of imagination, we not only escape the drab realities of everyday life, but also indulge in the cathartic pleasures of defeating those giants, stepmothers, ogres, monsters, and trolls also known as the grown-ups. Yet much as we treasure the stories of childhood, we also outgrow them, cast them off, and dismiss them as childish things, forgetting their power to build not only the childhood world of imagination but also to construct the adult world of reality. Fairy tales, according to the British illustrator Arthur Rackham, have become part of our everyday thought and expression, and help to shape our lives. There is no doubt, he adds, that we should be behaving ourselves very differently if Beauty had never been united to her Beastor if Sister Anne hadnt seen anybody coming; or if Open Sesame! hadnt cleared the way, or Sinbad sailed. In our own culture and in other times and places, fairy tales have modeled behavioral codes and developmental paths, even as they provide us with terms for thinking about what happens in our world. This course will give you a chance to engage with the canonical texts of childhood, with their themes, structures, and effects, along with the cultural fantasies and anxieties expressed in them. It will also address a range of issues focused on our cultural construction of childhood: the discovery of childhood, the cult of childhood innocence, discipline and education, evil children, the cultivation of fantasy and imagination, and the impossibility of childrens literature. Professor Maria Tatar

INSIDE THIS GUIDE 2 Lost in the Woods? A Course Overview 3 Writing the Paper 4 The Process 6 The Elements 12 Primary and Secondary Sources 14 Literary Terms 16 Getting Help

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Lost in the Woods?

The Papers

Finding Your Path

First Paper:
1. Topics provided by Professor Tatar 2. Primary texts and secondary literature from the syllabus 3. 5 pages minimum7 pages maximum

Second Paper:
1. Open topic, subject to approval by section leader 2. Two secondary sources required (see Secondary Sources) 3. 68 pages 4. The second paper may not be a revision of the first Seniors writing theses may elect to write one longer paper (1215 pages). Required format for all papers: 12 pt. font; 1-inch margins, headers and footers. All papers must be handed in as hardcopies. We will not accept e-mail attachments or disks.

Late Paper Policy

Late papers will be penalized at the rate of 1/3 of a letter grade per day. Extensions are granted only with a written medical excuse from a UHS physician or a note from your senior tutor. On Outlines, Drafts, and Revisions Your TF will be happy to discuss your proposed thesis or outline. Some TFs may require an outline or a topic paragraph. They cannot accept rough drafts or revisions, however.

s its title suggests, Fairy Tales, Childrens Literature, and the Culture of Childhood covers a broad spectrum of texts that are concerned with the central theme of childhood. We will be reading and analyzing variant forms of fairy tales, books about children and books for children, as well as poetic, prose and cinematic rescriptings of fairy-tale narratives. To help us interpret the texts and the cultural circumstances that produced them, we will turn to scholars of anthropology, folklore, psychology, history, and literature. The variety of reading material and the multiplicity of perspectives on the culture of childhood and childrens literature can lead a student to ask: What am I supposed to know? To focus on? To discuss or write about? The fact is, Literature and Arts A-18 is less concerned with presenting a stable body of knowledge for you to assimilate, than with asking you to analyze, from various angles, the ways in which childhood, both our understanding and our experience of it, is reflected in and shaped by cultural texts. For example, Professor Tatar calls fairy tales arguably the most powerfully formative tales of childhood, noting that they permeate mass media for both children and adults.1 Think of how the story of Cinderella continues to provide a behavioral blueprint for gender roles, for courtship rituals, and for conceptions of marriage. The storys messages are reiterated in everything from childrens books to adult literature and contemporary film. This course will ask you to think both critically and creatively about childhood and culture, and you will be provided with many windows from which to view the subject matter. The challenge for you lies in navigating between the broad issues that Professor Tatar will outline in lecture and the detailed analysis of specific texts that will be the focus of both your sections and your papers.

Some Breadcrumbs
Which brings us to the basic structure and focus of Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. In the first half, we will look chiefly at fairy tales: how they are generated and structured, their evolution from oral narrative to literary text, and the ways in which they are instrumental in constructing identity and enforcing social norms. In this first half of the course, we will also read texts (Number the Stars and Jane Eyre) that incorporate and rework fairy-tale themes. The second half of the course investigates adult literature about children, both fictional (Lolita and Lord of the Flies) and didactic (Rousseaus Emile), as well as texts for children (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Here we ask: What assumptions are made about childhood? How do adults remember, describe, and define childhood? The subject of childhood has powerful personal relevance for all of us. We are all former children, as Maurice Sendak once noted. And
1 Maria

| Fairy Tales, Childrens Literature, and the Culture of Childhood

Tatar, The Classic Fairy Tales (New York: Norton, 1999) xi.

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so you will find you have much to say and think about as we work our way through the syllabus. In section meetings, even in lecture, you will be encouraged to ask questions, to marshal your thoughts, and discuss your ideas and opinions with other students, your TF, and the professor. In your papers, you will have the chance to select an idea or question of particular interest to you, to engage with it, and to articulate your understanding of it in a persuasively written argument. Almost half of your course grade will be based on your papers. While the midterm and final exams provide you with the opportunity to show that you have familiarized yourself with the course material, your papers will demonstrate your ability to read carefully, think creatively, and present your own ideas coherently to others. To practice and refine the skills required to write a strong and convincing paper on a literary topic, you will be doing a series of focused, and, yes, fun exercises for section. This brochure will provide you with a guide to writing a good paper. It aims to answer some of your questions about what you can expect from Literature and Arts A-18 and what it expects from you. And they lived happily ever after.

Writing the Paper

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Writing papers for this course poses a double challenge. Many of us have a strong emotional investment in these childhood stories, and it can be tempting to respond on a deeply personal level to the reading. In addition, some of our texts give us melodrama, plot-driven narratives that focus on surface appearances rather than on the complexities of the human psyche, and they may, at first sight, seem resistant to interpretive work. If you begin with a question, a puzzle, an enigma, a problem that has engaged your attention, you already have a wedge for opening up the text that you plan to analyze. Look for textual moments that produce discomfort, mystification, or confusion and try to identify how that crisis of understanding is produced. Think about the authors rhetorical strategies, about the way in which the passage is symptomatic of the culture in which it is written, and about the aesthetic and ethical issues at stake in the text. How does the author bring new insight and imagination to an enduring problem? Maria Tatar

Writing Exercises

ou can expect to be given a series of writing assignmentsdue in section. The exercises will help you

prepare for section and for your papers by focusing on the basic steps of writing about a literary text. They will allow you to explore questions and ideas, analyze secondary literature, undertake a close reading of a literary text, and practice identifying a topic and articulating an argumentall without the pressure of evaluation! They will not require a lot of time, so while you should take them seriously you can also relax and learn at the same time. All exercises should be double-spaced. Exercise 1: Working with Secondary Sources (one page maximum) Asking Questions about the Literary Text (three sentences) Focused Free Writing I: Exploring Your Own Ideas (timed exercise: 510 minutes) Focused Free Writing II: Adopting an Approach (timed exercise: 10 minutes)

Exercise 2:

Exercise 3:

Exercise 4:

Exercise 5:

Making a Claim and Supporting It

(timed exercise: 1015 minutes)

he first step to writing a paper is to define an issue, idea, or problem. Then think about your audience. Who is your reader and what are the conventions for this particular exercise? It is true, for example, that the papers you write for Fairy Tales will follow the basic format of papers and essays required in other courses and other fields. But while there are similarities between a hypothesis in the sciences and a thesis in literature, and between empirical data and evidence from a literary text, it is important to be aware of the differences. Each field requires that you put on a different thinking capin other words, it is important for you to be able to recognize the type of intellectual work in which you are engaged. One way to ascertain what is expected of you is to listen carefully to the language and approaches used in lecture and in section. What are you being asked to pay attention to? What analytical tools are being applied to open up or unpack the literary text? How are fairy tales, childrens literature, and literature about children being investigated?
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The Process of Writing a Paper

MAKING A TENTATIVE CLAIM

nce you have defined a key issue, an interesting problem or an intriguing question in a particular text or set of texts, work on reformulating your observations into a tentative claimsomething that you wish to assert or demonstrate about the text. This will be the kernel of your thesis statement (see Elements, p. 6). As you begin to gather evidence and write your paper, you can modify your claim.

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READING THE LITERARY TEXT CRITICALLY
any of the books you read in this course will remind you of your own childhood. Perhaps the folktales, or some version of them, were read to you at bedtime, or in school. Or maybe you have read some of the childrens books, and find that rereading them brings back happy memories. Professor Tatar herself notes about her research in the field that it returned me to my own childhood dreams about what I wanted the world to be like.2 Emotional engagement and personal investment in the texts we read certainly makes the process of reading more enjoyable. But it is important to remember to be self-conscious in our reading and discussion of the text. Separate how you feel about the text (I hated that character, I loved the part where they go into the chocolate room) from a more distanced and discerning analysis. Both modes can function simultaneously, but it always helps to read a text twice, especially if you plan to write about it: once for a basic understanding, and once, through a close reading, for analysis.

Two student examples of a claim:

Before researching, you might start with a more general statement such as #1.
1. Number the Stars may initially seem unrelated to fairy tales but after close examination, many fairy-tale elements surface. Comment: This statement may well be true, and can serve as a point of departure for identifying an issue worth exploring, but it is too broad and self-evident to function as the thesis for your paper. As the writer finds evidence to back his/her claim, a more interesting and arguable thesis should emerge.

Think of your first rough draft as a chunk of marble that you want to carve into a statue. You begin with a rough image; then you stand back at some distance before going back and polishing, working on details.

But you will eventually need to narrow it down to something that is more arguable, as in #2.
2. Childrens books, simplistic, amusing, and entertaining though they may seem, are not culturally innocent. This paper discusses one cultural issue, the issue of colonialism in several childrens texts. I argue that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory can be read as reflecting a colonialist ideology. Comment: This is a more focused, creative, and arguable claim. The more specific your thesis, the easier it will be to write a convincing argument and avoid writing a paper that rambles. Discussing your idea with others, like your TF and classmates, will help you find the most concise way to articulate it.

Here are some strategies for reading literature 3: As you read...

1. Annotate the text (make notes in the margins, underline symbolic language, repeated phrases, motifs) 2. Note questions the text raises (e.g., Why do I find myself empathizing with Humbert and annoyed with Lolita?) 3. Think about the audience the text may have been intended for (the implied reader) 4. Distinguish between content (the story) and form (i.e., patterns, repetition, how the story is told) 5. Look for the texts overall theme, key words, symbolism 6. Compare the text with others on the same subject 7. Write freely (see Writing Exercises, p.3) for 5-10 minutes about the text. Explore your questions and ideas 8. Discuss the text with others (your instructor, classmates, etc.)
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| Fairy Tales, Childrens Literature, and the Culture of Childhood

Maria Tatar, Bedtime Story/The Enchanted Professor, The Boston Globe 10 Nov. 2002, third ed.: E2. John Schilb and John Clifford, Making Literature Matter (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2002) 44-48.

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GATHERING EVIDENCE
nce you have made your claim, make sure you have evidence to support it. In a literary text, look for images, symbols, characterization, structural elements in the novel, poem, or story that prove your point. Choose relevant details that you can quote directly. Mark them as you read and keep track of them. Later you can choose the most useful quotations and references to support your argument. Dont ignore moments in the text that contradict your claim. Instead, evaluate them. Are they numerous and important enough to undermine your argument, or can they can be addressed and explained within the context of your claim about the text?

ORGANIZING YOUR THOUGHTS

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Write an outline, keeping in mind how long your

paper needs to be. Can you confine your argument to 7 pages? Or sustain it for 10? In what order will you make your key points? What evidence will you use and how will you fold it into your overall discussion (i.e., explain its relevance)? Choose your quotations and integrate them into your argument.
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Write a rough draft, making sure that you state your

main idea in the first paragraph, and that your thesis is on the first page. As you write, keep your reader (i.e., your TF and Professor) in mind and ask yourself, Am I making my point(s) clear? Think of your first rough draft as a chunk of marble that you want to carve into a statue. You begin with a rough image; then you stand back at some distance before going back and polishing, working on details.
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Revise. Once you have finished your draft, you may

Three tips for revision:

1. Reevaluate your introduction after your rough draft is finished. Does it fit with what you actually wrote? If need be, rewrite it. 2. Go through the paper and make whatever adjustments you need to solidify your argument. Make an outline of your paragraphs (i.e., sum up the basic gist of each paragraph in one sentence) and then ask yourself: What is the main point of each one? Is there a logical sequence? Does each paragraph support my thesis and develop the argument, or have I digressed? 3. Look for and eliminate repetition (of words or ideas).

Arthur Rackham, Bluebeard

find that in the process of writing, your argument has shifted somewhat. You may have made a discovery along the way, had some insights, or come up with a slightly different, more nuanced, understanding of the text. Thats why some people say, the best introduction is the conclusion to your first draft. Your new discoveries and insights will determine how you revise the paper.

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The Elements of a Paper

Interpret the literary text, do not evaluate it.

In other words, the thesis should show that your paper will analyze aspects of the work and introduce an original idea, as opposed to offering an overall judgement or observation about plain facts. The fact that it is your own interpretation means that the thesis articulates a proposition that is arguable or debatable. Too evaluative:
Successful childrens literature is aware that its audience consists of both parent and child. Truly evocative childrens literature then simultaneously addresses the anxieties of both parent and child. As a test of this hypothesis, I consider three effective and successful works of childrens literature: Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Georges Marvelous Medicine, and Peter Pan. These stories address an anxiety intrinsic to both parenting and childhoodthe very real problem of growing up. Comment: In this thesis statement, the writer makes an evaluation: that successful and truly evocative childrens literature addresses the anxieties of both parent and child. This comes across as the writers personal opinion. Rather than deciding whether texts are good or bad (successful, evocative), the writer should focus on how these texts articulate the anxiety of growing up and how they address their two audiences simultaneously. The statement that all three texts deal with the issue of growing up is a general observation that most would agree with, and is therefore not a point that can be argued.

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THE THESIS
claim is a statement that is spoken or written in the hope that it will be considered true.4 The thesis is your papers main claim. It is a succinct assertion about the text that is based on your interpretation and which you intend to demonstrate as valid.

Some ways to think about a thesis:

1. A thesis differs from a topic by making an assertion. It is a hypothesis or claim about the text, and the body of the paper must then show that the hypothesis is valid. 2. It is a provocative idea about something important in the text that is qualified, focused, and can be proven. 3. It encapsulates your argument.
If you think of your paper as a train going somewhere, the thesis announces the destination prior to departure and outlines the route you (the writer)and the readerwill be taking.

4. It often lays out the method of your analysis.

Keep the thesis statement concise.

A generalization about the text, its genre, the author, or the society in which it was written does not explain to the reader what exactly you plan to argue. Too broad:
1. In this paper I will explore the possibility that the fantasy world plays an important symbolic role in childrens literature and helps us understand aspects of childrens lives. 2. The parallels between Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan are interesting and worth analyzing. Comment: The theses samples shown above are simply too broad. They explain the issues that the writers plan to discuss, but they do not yet articulate an arguable assertion: they do not tell us more than the obvious, which means, there is nothing here that is debatable. They assert nothing new or independent, and will most likely lead to a loosely-bound list of observations and examples, as opposed to an argument.

Seymour Joseph Guy, The Story of Golden Locks, 1870

| Fairy Tales, Childrens Literature, and the Culture of Childhood

Schilb, p. 26

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Student examples of more arguable, concise, and detailed thesis statements.

(we have included the full first paragraph for clarity)
1. Angela Carters Snow Child, Anne Sextons Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Robert Coovers The Dead Queen all question Snow Whites essential purity and add disturbing elements to her characterization. These authors compel modern readers to problematize the helplessness and vulnerability of the Grimms Snow White. This paper argues that Snow Whites powerless state springs from her portrayal as the eternal virgin a girl who can never mature into womanhood, but is perpetually trapped in the pure, flat world of passivity, ignorance, and superficial appearances. Comment: Here the thesis is arguable. Someone else might argue that Snow White is active and resourceful, rather than passive; that she refuses to accept the role of victim and exhibits admirable survival skills (she pleads with the hunter for her life, escapes from the queen, and finds refuge with the dwarves). The writer will have to show otherwise. The statement is also direct and concise, relying on a single sentence to express the papers main claim. He or she also uses key terms, (e.g. eternal virgin, passivity, and ignorance) which add complexity to the thesis (as opposed to, say, Snow White is powerless). These key terms will have to be explained, explored, and grounded in the text.

Alice as Beggar Child, photographed by Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

2. More than just light-hearted tales showing the triumph of the underdog, Hansel and Gretel and its many adaptations are stories about powerful family dynamics. In the bond between siblingsa bond of love, commitment, and solidaritythere is a strong contrast to the marriage of husband and wife, who are allied by their willingness to dupe and deceive. The siblings may engage in subversive (trickster) actions, but ultimately it is their idealized relationship that is more powerful as a behavioral model.

A compelling thesis functions within the parameters of the field and is relevant and recognizable as a topic (i.e., its not too out there), but also has a subtle element of surprise to it. That is, the reader responds by thinking (Hmmm, this sounds interesting. I hadnt thought about the book/story that way, or, I wonder how he or she plans to demonstrate that?). No one expects you to revolutionize the way we look at Little Red Riding Hood or Jane Eyre, but both texts are open to new and interesting interpretations and your insights are valuable as long as they are well thought out and supported.

No one expects you to revolutionize the way we look at Little Red Riding Hood or Jane Eyre, but both texts are open to new and interesting interpretations and your insights are valuable as long as they are well thought out and supported.

Where should the thesis be?

In a short paper, you should state your thesis on the first page, either in the first or second paragraph.

Comment: Here again, the statement is neither obvious nor evaluative. It is an arguable claim. The writer acknowledges earlier that critics often treat the tale as a story chiefly about trickster figureschildren who triumph over adult evil. She or he will argue that this is not the storys main goal.There are no broad generalizationsthe writer focuses on the text and on his or her claim about the text.

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THE INTRODUCTION
he introduction opens your discussion and provides the context for your thesis statement. It addresses the issue that frames your main idea, providing a wider view through a lens that will narrow or zoom into an upclose perspectiveyour thesis. Writing the introduction can be the greatest challenge you face. If you are having trouble getting started, remember that you can always go back, revise, and bring things into focus once you are finished (or are farther along). In the editing process, be sure to eliminate grandiose statements about human nature, society and historical experience. It is imperative that you get to the point as soon as possible. Your reader should have a basic sense, by the end of the very first paragraph, of what the paper will be about, which texts you will be analyzing and what interests you most about them.

Autobiographical references Given the subject matter of Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood, the temptation to refer to personal experience is understandable. So while you may have chosen to write about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because you adored it as a child, that information does not need to be conveyed in your paper.

How do I start?
It is often helpful to begin your introduction with a comment about the text itself. You can also start by mentioning what a specific scholar or critic may have said (or ignored) about the work (while at the same time resisting the urge to say scholars since time immemorial have studied Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel as a tale about two little children). You are, in essence, defining the parameters of your discussion.
A strong introductory paragraph: While warm images of consummated marriages, safe returns, and the prospect of bright futures frequently serve as parting impressions of fairy tales, it is important to remember that the heroes and heroines of these stories do not reach happily ever after without assistance. A close reading of stories such as Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Bluebeard, and their attendant variations, reveals that the success of a character is often buoyed aloft upon the wings of birds. The physical actions and prescient wisdom of these feathered creatures facilitate satisfying resolutions to the predicaments of the fairy tales protagonists. However, the presence of birds in fairy tales serves more than a functional purpose in terms of plot fulfillmentit deepens the tales messages by adding symbolic meaning. Often associated with female characters, birds ultimately serve as foils of femininity, naturalness, and spirituality, indicating to both characters and readers that it is necessary to retain links to the natural world in order to flourish. Comment: The writer clearly read the primary texts carefully, and noticed a recurring motif: birds. He has complicated the initial reading and interpreted the presence of birds and their symbolic role in the text. The introduction declares its intention to focus on the meaning of birds in three particular texts, and to put the results of that analysis into a broader context.

Given the subject matter of Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood, the temptation to refer to personal experience is understandable. But the paper assignment is an exercise in academic writing, and it will be evaluated in terms of its scholarly presentation.

What to avoid in your introduction:

Generalizations that are self-evident: Violence is ubiquitous in society today. Almost everyone knows the story of Beauty and the Beast. Throughout history, fairy tales have captured the hearts and minds of fans and critics alike. Growing up is a fact of human existence. Unqualified pronouncements: 1. When one thinks of The Little Mermaid, an animated cartoon comes to mind, instead of a tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Revised version: In American culture today, mention of The Little Mermaid is most likely to conjure up images of Disneys Ariel. 2. Disneys tales appeal to todays audiences. We want to see evil villains, action scenes, and suitor rivalry, instead of haughty sisters, deceptive fawning, and unhappy marriages. Comment: This statement simply cannot stand on its own. The writer cannot speak for what everyone wants to see unless he/she can substantiate it with evidence (i.e., reliable statistics, or a quotation from an expert in the field).

| Fairy Tales, Childrens Literature, and the Culture of Childhood

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EVIDENCE
nce you have made your claim, you need evidence O to support it and persuade your reader to accept your idea. In a literature course, the most persuasive evidence comes from the text itself. While your paper may incorporate the findings of other scholars, it is not enough to rely on the secondary literature, or even to state your own general assumptions. Your argument must be substantiated by references to the text (specific moments or details that corroborate or explain your interpretation), and those references need to be explained.
Student examples of how to use textual evidence: 1 In her revealing telling of the Snow White tale, Anne Sexton rewrites the [coffin] scene so that in the glass coffin, Snow White lay as still as a gold piece (Sexton, 8), implying that Snow Whites beauty is almost a commodity to the man who owns her. Comment: the writers overall point is that in both the Snow White fairy tale and the Anne Sexton rescripting, the dead Snow White is the perfection of patriarchal adoration. She chooses the appropriate passage, and explains its importance. Notice that the student has zeroed in on the simile still as a gold piece to explain how Anne Sexton links Snow White to the idea of woman as commodity.
Arthur Rackham, The Emperors New Clothes

THE ARGUMENT
hen an instructor comments, What is the argument? or The paper needs to do a better job of articulating your argument, it means that whatever the writers master plan was, the paper was not able to convey its main idea in a coherent and convincing fashion. Once the introduction has been framed and the thesis stated, the next task is to persuade your reader, in an organized fashion, that your idea (thesis) is viable. The argument, in other words, is the process of 1) identifying the topic of possible debate, 2) taking a position on that issue, 3) finding and analyzing the evidence that supports your claims about the text, and, if necessary, 4) acknowledging and often challenging other opinions on the matter. The argument is the statement and the defense of your thesis.

In a literature course, the most persuasive evidence comes from the text itself.

As you write, ask yourself the following:

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Have I made it clear in my thesis what it is I plan

to prove, and how I will go about it?

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Am I following that plan? Is the information being

conveyed in an organized fashion?

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Does each paragraph lead into the next logically?

Am I controlling the argument? To return to the train analogy, think of each paragraph as a signpost along the way to the final destination. Readers should always know where they are on the route.
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2. The novel [Lord of the Flies] captures the distance emerging between Jack and Ralphs conceptions of civilization, as their priorities begin to clash when Jack fails to help build the huts: They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate (55). Like isolated land masses without any bridges whatsoever, the two leaders function as autonomous entities.

Do I substantiate my argument with textual evidence? Do I analyze that evidence carefully and

explain its relevance to my paper?

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Is there counter-evidence? Have I acknowledged that there might be another interpretation or reading of the text? A more sophisticated argument will address other critical perspectives or anticipate an objection. Have I kept plot summary to a minimum? Too much summary can overwhelm or obscure the analysis. Focus on specific scenes, and just put them into context.

Comment: The writer, who is trying to show that not one, but two organized civilizations emerged among the boys stranded on the island, chooses a dramatic metaphor from the text to support his assertion. The image of two continents conveys a sense of balance (i.e. two equally powerful social entities) and of immense emotional distance (oceans lie between continents). The metaphor of two continents also draws on the linked motifs of island and isolation.
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THE CONCLUSION
he conclusion is the appropriate place to summarize your argument, but the end of your paper should also point beyond the information covered in the introduction. Remember that the introduction and conclusion are what your reader will remember (and the section your instructors will review when they are evaluating the paper), so allow time to write a good conclusion and to end the paper on a strong note.

The conclusion is an opportunity to:

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Suggest why your findings were important and relevant. Point to the applicability of your analysis to other texts. Identify questions that you were not able to address in your paper. Revisit (but not reiterate) your introductory paragraph: i.e., return to the motivating question or the intellectual context of your introduction. You might even be able to discuss an opening quotation, or key terms and read them now in a different light, based on how you have journeyed through the argument.

repugnant to beautiful. Indeed, through much of literary criticism, and, to be sure, much of literature, runs this trend of identifying women as having a problematic view of men and male sexuality, which must be overcome in order to achieve a healthy adult romantic attachment. This is the fundamental backbone of the beauty and the beast motif. However, in her novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte reinscribes this tale in new ways, as she explores human sexuality and romantic love from a much more complex basis, discovering the ways in which sexuality is appealing or threatening to both genders. Her use of the beauty and the beast motif, and her departures from it, aid her in painting a more complex portrait of sexuality and its place in human relationships.

Conclusion: At the end of Jane Eyre, Rochester does not emerge as a handsome prince, the tale does not cut away abruptly, leaving the reader to infer a happily ever after. Instead, the conditions for Rochester and Janes happiness are specific and extremely proscriptive. He has been physically diminished; she has attained wealth; both are now isolated from the rest of the world in the dark woods of Ferndean. Now, at last, the full physical element of a relationship can emerge: No woman was ever nearer to her mate than I am; ever more absolutely bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh (396-7). And yet, here again, we encounter the ambiguous, self-annihilating aspect of sexuality, as Rochester and Jane seem to become almost one creature, even in a corporeal sense. The ending of the novel only serves to point up more fully the difficulty and the complexity of the journey to fulfillment, as well as the kind of mythic impossibility of fulfillment ever being attained. Rochester and Jane have reached it, to be sure, but at what cost? What kind of danger does desire and the fulfillment of the desire truly pose to both men and women? Instead of giving us the traditional tale of self-discovery and sexual discovery ending in one happy resolution, Bronte presents us with a complex portrait of the dangers and blind alleys of our quest to reconcile our desire for our own self with our sexual desire for the Other.

No matter how captivating your idea, sloppy presentation will undermine your authority.

What to avoid in your conclusion:

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Repetition of the papers thesis statement. Philosophical generalizations and grandiose statements.

Student example of a strong introduction and conclusion:

Introduction: Only after Beauty decides to leave her fathers house to be reunited with the Beastthat is, after she has resolved her oedipal ties to her fatherdoes sex, which before was repugnant, become beautiful (Bettelheim 308). In his analysis of Madame de Beaumonts rendering of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, Bruno Bettelheim applies a Freudian concept of sexuality and oedipal attachment in order to make sense of the transformation of the Beast through Beautys love. This reading is a strong one; much within the tale lends itself to Bettelheims view that the transformation arises out of the females change in perception of sexuality: from

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E L E M E N T S O F T H E PA P E R

Comment: This conclusion provides the reader with some summary, and, in this last paragraph, offers a quotation as concrete textual evidence, thereby anchoring the analysis in the text. The conclusion also revisits the introduction, returning to the original language of the thesis and providing an elaboration of the initial formulations: For example, 1) by referring to fulfillment, the writer returns to her introductory discussion of Bruno Bettelheims interpretation of Beauty and the Beast; 2) she also develops a clear contrast between the fairy-tale ending and the close of Jane Eyre, a romance presented in a complex literary text.The questions posed at the end (another effective strategy) are related to the topic, but show directions in which the argument could develop further. Finally, in the last sentence, the conclusion addresses the papers original intellectual context for the argument (fulfillment of desire in the introduction) and suggests its relevance. The audience is drawn in (our desire for our own self ), and the sentence points outwards towards larger, enduring issues of self and Other.

3. Faulty connections:
By comparing these tales, it will become evident that there has been a cultural shift of perception. Comment: Here we have an example of an introductory participle (comparing) that does not describe the subject of the sentence. I.e., it doesnt do the comparing. Revised versions: A comparison of these tales will reveal... If we compare these tales, we will find that...

4. Pronouns that do not correspond to their antecedent nouns:

The queen willingly goes to the wedding feast of Snow White and her prince, realizing that she has been defeated. Comment: To whom does she refer? Snow White or the Queen? Of course we can figure this out eventually, but the questionable syntax distracts readers, causing them to backtrack and reread to ascertain which she has been defeated.

STYLE AND GRAMMAR

o matter how captivating your idea, sloppy presentaN tion will undermine your authority and the coherence of your argument. It will also test your readers patience. 5. Colloquialisms: informal speech can detract from the tone of a scholarly paper:
Critics have a field day with this one. Revised version: His text has been the focus of lively critical debate.

Most common TF criticisms:

In an examination of Fairy Tales papers from the last four years, we found these to be the most commonly criticized mechanical and stylistic errors:
1. Long, awkward sentences 2. Overuse of the passive voice: In Deerskin independence and integrity are gained [passive voice]. Comment: With the passive voice, the statement often loses authority and momentum. Revised version: In Deerskin the protagonists success is the result of her newfound independence and integrity.

6. Past vs. present tense: use the present tense when discussing events in the story:
The temptation was too great to great for Bluebeards wife to resist, and she decided to see what was behind the forbidden door.

Revised version: The temptation is too great for Bluebeards wife to resist, and she decides to see what is behind the forbidden door.

7. Typographical and spelling errors

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Primary and Secondary Sources

SECONDARY LITERATURE
our second paper is a research paper and requires that you incorporate secondary sources into your argument. You are now engaging in a dialogue with other scholars and critics whose studies or findings are relevant in some way to your topic.

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In your papers, you will analyze primary sources, that is, the literary texts themselves, as well as secondary sources, the writings of scholars and critics who interpret and write about those primary texts.

Secondary sources can help to:

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Support your findings, Establish a theoretical framework for your own argument, Serve as a counter-argument, or Provide a context within which to position your investigation. You can employ another theoretical approach to help you interpret a text with more depth and clarity, expand on another critics interpretation, or, finally, you might question another authority.

PRIMARY LITERATURE
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nalyzing primary texts requires that you do a close reading of the text.

A close reading involves examining the text carefully and thoughtfully. It is the first step in the writing process.
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Analyze the structure of the text as a whole:

for example,
It is imperative that you document all sources. If you quote, summarize, or paraphrase another author, you must credit the source.
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How does a feminist version diverge from the Grimms version of Cinderella? How is the story of Little Red Riding Hood integrated into Number the Stars?
Look for patterns and motifs:

Outside sources should not overwhelm or replace your own ideas and analysis. Sometimes students spend so much time explaining what other critics have said that they do not get to their own argument until the end of the paper.

for example, How are the themes of freedom and transformation articulated in Beauty and the Beast?
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Pay attention to the details. As you read, underline or highlight key words or phrases that seem significant to you or that raise questions. This will help you to focus on the text while you read and to remember important sections to interpret when you go back through the text. Some questions you might ask while reading are:

What kind of language is being used? Is it symbolic? Metaphorical? How are characters and their interactions described? Are there important cultural or intertextual references? Are there passages, phrases, or descriptions that seem to contradict the texts overall intent? A close reading will lead you to questions and insights that will inform your participation in section and help you to find an interesting topic and write a strong paper.

Beauty and the Beast, Walter Crane

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P R I M A RY A N D S E C O N D A RY S O U R C E S

How does one search for secondary literature?

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DOCUMENTING SOURCES
t is imperative that you document all sources. If you quote, summarize, or paraphrase another author, you must give credit to the source. This will allow your reader to do their own research on an interesting topic and protect you from any suspicion of plagiarism.

The first step is to keep track in lecture of Professor Tatars own references. If she mentions important scholars or critics in the field, write them down. They may be useful later, when you are beginning to research your paper. You are welcome to use source material from the syllabus. The next step would be to look at footnotes in relevant sections of Classic Fairy Tales, as well as in the bibliography. Look for titles that might relate to or shed light on your own topic. Go to the library! Using Hollis, find the books and articles you need, then read the table of contents, and skim the introduction to see if you can find anything that addresses your topic. In those books and articles, also look at their bibliographies and Works Cited. A good way to find recently-published articles on your topic is to do an Electronic Resources search. Professor Tatar recommends Proquest and the MLA Bibliography, both listed in the Hollis catalog under Electronic Resources. For information on how to use Hollis, go to the following website:
http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/resources/tipsandtools/

The standard for this course is the MLA (Modern Language Association) format, which you will find in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

Sample Citations for Works Cited

A book by a single author: Hearne, Betsy. Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1989. Dahl, Roald. Georges Marvelous Medicine. New York: Penguin, 1991. A book by more than one author: Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale UP, 1979. An anthology: Tatar, Maria. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Norton, 1999. A work in an anthology, that is, in a collection of works by several authors: Haase, Donald. Yours, Mine, or Ours? Perrault, the Brothers Grimm and the Ownership of Fairy Tales. Once Upon a Folktale: Capturing the Folklore Process with Children. Ed. Gloria T. Blatt. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1993. 63-75. An article in a journal:

Look at the list of books on reserve for Literature and Arts A-18 in Lamont Library. For more information on using secondary sources, see Lamont Librarys web links for student writers:
http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/resources/guides/ [information on evaluating web sources and journals] http://hcl.harvard.edu/lamont/resources/links/citation.html [links about academic citation, including Harvards Writing with Sources]

Using the web for research:

The Literature and Arts A-18 website provides links to liter-

Barchilon, Jacques. Beauty and the Beast: From Myth to Fairy Tale. Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Review 46 (1959): 19-29.

ature and folklore websites, and you are encouraged to explore them. But you should not use them as academic sources for your paper, since the information they provide is often unreliable for research purposes.

For more examples, see Writing with Sources, Harvards official student handbook on how to use academic sources (you received a copy at the freshman writing test). You can also go to this website: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~expos/sources/

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Literary Terms

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Simile: Items from different classes are explicitly compared by a connective such as like, as, or than, or by a verb such as appears or seems. (If the objects compared are from the same class, for example, Berlin is like New York, then there is no simile.) Examples: float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. [Muhammad Ali] The moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles were glittering like silver coins. [Hansel and Gretel] Image: Images are the sensory content of a poem, or of a piece of prose (including sensations of heat as well as taste, sight, sound, touch). Examples: The thick, rich, wild scent with which Milord had soaked himself the previous evening hangs all about us, ascends in cursive blue from the smoke of a precious Chinese pot. [The Tigers Bride] My rose (if the speaker is actually referring to a rose) Symbol: An image so loaded with significance that it is

not simply literal, and it does not simply stand for something else, it is both itself and something else that it richly suggests, a kind of manifestation of something too complex or too elusive to be otherwise revealed.
Examples: the cross = Christianity (a conventional symbol) the island = nature, Eden, isolation, the autonomous self the rose = transience of beauty, love Metaphor: Figurative language that equates one thing with another without a connective such as like or verbs such as appears. Examples: This novel is garbage A book is equated with trash or refuse. A piercing cry A cry is equated with a sharp instrument. Arms and legs made of Limoges [Anne Sexton] A womans body is compared to fragile porcelain.

Fernande Biegler, The Frog King

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Definitions taken in part from Sylvan Barnet, A Short Guide to Writing about Literature (New York: HarperCollins, 1996).

L I T E R A RY T E R M S

A Checklist
Once you have finished your paper, why not go over the following simple checklist?
Is the title of my essay at least moderately informative and interesting? Do I identify the subject of my paper (author and title) early? What is my thesis? Do I state it soon enough and keep it in view? Is the organization reasonable? Does each point lead into the next without irrelevancies and without anticlimaxes? Is each paragraph unified by a topic sentence or a topic idea? Are there adequate transitions from one paragraph to the next? Are generalizations supported by appropriate concrete details, especially by brief quotations from the text? Is the opening paragraph interesting and, by its end, focused on the topic? Is the final paragraph conclusive without being repetitive? If there is plot summary, is it as brief as possible? Are the quotations adequately introduced (full name first time) and are they accurate? Do they provide evidence, or are they filler? Is the present tense used to describe the authors work and the action of the work (and of its characters)?: i.e., Carroll depicts, and Peter Pan flies. Have I kept my audience in mind? Do I define unfamiliar terms, briefly summarize works or opinions with which readers may be unfamiliar? Is documentation provided where necessary? Are spelling, grammar and punctuation correct?
Maxfield Parrish, Cinderella

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Getting Help

u
eel free to discuss your topic and your ideas in general with your TF. If you need help with the actual process of writing, or if you find that after reading your instructors comments on the first paper, you would like some concrete advice on how to improve your writing, there are places you can go for help:

The Writing Center

www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr Barker Center 019 617-495-1655 The Writing Center is located on the ground floor (below the main lobby) of the Barker Center, off Quincy Street. Students can work one-on-one with trained undergraduate tutors on the structure, focus and clarity of essays, research papers, and senior theses. Students should make their appointment via the Writing Center website or call for more information.
Bureau of Study Counsel

www.fas.harvard.edu/~bsc 5 Linden Street 617-495-2581 The Bureau of Study Counsel offers the Harvard Course on Reading Strategies, as well as group workshops and peer tutoring. The Bureau also offers students academic and psychological support through counseling, consulting and other services.
House Tutors

Some Harvard houses have a non-resident or resident writing tutor available for consultation.
Writing with Sources

www.fas.harvard.edu/~expos/sources This book (by Gordon Harvey, Associate Director of Expository Writing) provides information on how to integrate sources into a paper, decide when to cite, choose a citation style, and avoid plagiarism. An online version is available on the website.

Arthur Rackham, Hansel and Gretel

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This guide was written by Debra Prager of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, with guidance from Tom Jehn of the Harvard Writing Project and Professor Maria Tatar of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures. It was made possible by a Gordon Gray Faculty Grant for Writing Pedagogy.