(Shameless rant)
(In the interest of feigning organization, I've provided subtitles for this entry.)
Outlines
First, thank you all for your encouragement and suggestions concerning teaching outlines. I get the impression that many people see the value in what I'm teaching my students (several of my colleagues have also joined me on the outline bandwagon), which makes me wonder why finding a book explaining outline purposes, dos and don'ts, and good grouping examples is so difficult. (In all fairness, I haven't gone to the library yet. When I find time, I imagine I'll find the "vintage" textbook I need.)
The OWL (Online Writing Center) at Purdue is one of my favorite online writing resources, and they have a couple of good pages on outlines. However, even they suggest students will "get bogged down in the formal, 'roman-numeral' structure," thus suggesting the format of the outline is the problem--not the students' inability to organize their own ideas.
Organizational problems
The biggest trend I fight is stream-of-consciousness writing. Most of my literature students start by thinking on paper about the poem they want to explicate--good! they're supposed to!--then turn in those randomly regurgitated thoughts when they reach the page length requirement--bad! Paper failure! All too often, even with five pages of searching for ideas, they still haven't found anything to say about the poem. (Oddly, these oversights don't stop them from turning in this...diahrrea of the keyboard and expecting a good grade. :-/)
A similar organizational problem at least pretends to be organized. Here's how to do it: write down several unrelated observations about a poem or story, but have no thesis. Ramble on for a while about the poet's biography, then discuss his use of imagery, then maybe point out some instances of irony. For your "thesis," place several unrelated observations in the first paragraph and hope the teacher thinks one is the thesis, since you aren't sure (the "shotgun thesis" technique). (If you'd really like to dig a hole for yourself, compound your error by coming to my office and arguing that I should change your grade because you "didn't think it was that bad of a paper.")
Thesis statements
We call the main point of your paper a "thesis STATEMENT" for a reason. Two or more sentences do not a thesis STATEMENT make. You'd think a school of engineering students could do simple math.
Furthermore, a thesis takes a stand a reasonable person may argue with. Don't waste my time with a paper about how the earth is round. No reasonable person will disagree with you. By the same token, if you write a paper about how Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" is about how we're stuck with the consequences of our choices, you have failed this initial requirement. You've offered nothing a reasonable person may disagree with, because you have only paraphrased the poem.
Lastly, a thesis must take a specific stand. He who writes "Rhythm, rhyme and subject matter make 'The Road Not Taken' great" deserves whatever he gets.
Explications v. Paraphrases
Explication of poetry is an unfolding, an examination and analysis of the poet's use of poetic device. Explication builds a case for what one extrapolates from the poem. Here's an example to show the difference:
PARAPHRASE: The speaker in Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" reveals to a marriage envoy that he had his former wife murdered.
EXPLICATION: Browning's use of rhythm, enjambment and diction in "My Last Duchess," contrasted with the speaker's words, suggest the speaker is a sociopath.
The difference: The Duke rather pointedly reveals what happened to his last wife (although you could probably argue that he had her thrown in a convent, but that doesn't jive with his "Looking as if she were alive" remarks). However, the poem only suggests the speaker's mental illness. Part of the creep factor of the poem is that we slowly become aware that we are listening to a very polished, proud madman. How does Browning manage to creep us out? That's the stuff of explications.
Topic sentences and general vagueness
I frequently read "topic sentences" like this: "Weldon Kees uses symbolism to great effect."
*sigh* What effect? Vagueness is the greatest writing demon of them all. Here's another: "Frost's use of rhyme impacts the deeper meaning of the poem." What deeper meaning? Impacts how?
I sometimes feel like channeling Bobcat Goldthwaite's character in the '80s movie "Back to School" when he gets in the student's face and screams, "SAY IT! SAY IT!"
I'll often write "vague" on a section of a sentence, and the student will point out that he explained the comment in the next four sentences. My response: then remove the vague meaningless comment altogether; you don't need it.
***
Yes, I have high standards. Are they too high? Am I expecting my students to write like graduate students? That depends on what standards people expect of grad students, I suppose. I think writing standards in American schools, generally speaking, are pathetically low. These kids don't write poorly because they can't, but because no one has raised the bar.
Many of my students reach the bar, no matter where I set it. Those who don't reach it still improve their writing skills a great deal because they try.
I've been told (passive voice by design ;)) that not all students can do explication of poetry. Some of them just don't "get" it.
Hogwash. Even the most frustrated "I don't get poetry!" students have shown me that (1) they do understand poetry, and (2) they have interesting, thought-provoking insights I don't. More often than not, they just need someone to listen to their ideas and say, "Yes. That's great!" The students' lack of self-confidence in poetry interpretation and explication is often my greatest hurdle; at the same time, seeing their growing understanding and resulting self-confidence is my greatest reward.
d
