Writing Tips

Try to develop a literary essay or commentary around a thesis statement, which is a short statement that explains what it is that you wish to demonstrate.

A thesis statement is easier to find and write if you have spent some time studying the texts already. In preparation for a commentary you should plan to read the text four or five times. Relax. Give yourself a quiet space in which to think about what you are reading. Look up the words you don't understand. See how the text breaks down into movements.

Consider that your reader needs to be convinced that what you say is true and important. Use proofs from the literary text to support your assertions.

Before handing anything in: REREAD IT! After every paragraph, ask yourself the question, "so what?"

Punctuation varies from country to country and language to language. Make sure that you are consistent in your use of punctuation, and that it is appropriate for English language texts.

Helpful books and articles to consult on writing, and writing about literature:

Gallet, René. Pratique de l'explication de texte en anglais. Paris: Ellipses, 2007.

Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language" (1946).

Strunk, William, and White, E.B. The Elements of Style (4th edition), Longman, 1999.

Dorothy Gallagher's debt to her copy editor Helene Pleasants

Dorothy Gallagher, author of Hannah's Daughers (1976), All the Right Enemies: The Life and Murder of Carlo Tresca (1988), How I Came into My Inheritance (2001), Strangers in the House: Life Stories (Random House, 2006), and co-author of Mural at the Waverly Inn: A Portrait of Greenwich Village Bohemians (Knopf, 2008), reveals her debt to Helene Pleasants in a moving essay "What My Copy Editor Taught Me" in the New York Times (September 26, 2008).

Links for Dorothy Gallagher:

Laura Shaine Cunningham, "Beyond the Pale," review of How I Came Into My Inheritance in New York Times (March 4, 2001).

First chapter, How I Came Into My Inheritance (NYT, March 4, 2001).

Dorothy Gallagher, "Fanny Girls," about Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues in New Statesman (May 28, 2001).

Keith Gessen, "Before the Boom," a review of Strangers in the House in the New York Times (July 23, 2006).

First chapter Strangers in the House (NYT, July 23, 2006).

Patricia Cohen, "Dorothy Gallagher's Clear-Eyed Self-Revelations," New York Times (August 18, 2006).

George Orwell on Writing

In September 2006, All Things Considered invited Lawrence Wright to talk about Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language" (1946).

The essay is available on-line in a number of places.

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit