Structuring the Essay

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Inovace filologických studijních oborů v souladu s potřebami na trhu práce

Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Mgr. Markéta Gregorová

Opora předmětu JC01/AJC1

TOPIC 8 STRUCTURING THE ESSAY

STUDENT’S HANDOUT

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Contents

The Three Main Parts ......................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1

Effective vs. Ineffective Introductions .......................................................................................... 1

Exercise 1: Evaluating Introductions ................................................................................................ 1

Main Body ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Effective vs. Ineffective Conclusions ............................................................................................. 3

Exercise 2: Evaluating Conclusions ................................................................................................... 4

Paragraphs ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Paragraph Characteristics ................................................................................................................ 5

Paragraph Development.................................................................................................................. 6

Sample Steps to Paragraph Development .................................................................................... 6

Exercise 3: Forming Coherent Paragraphs ........................................................................................ 7

Unity and Coherence .......................................................................................................................... 8

Unity in Essay Writing ..................................................................................................................... 8

Exercise 4: Editing for Unity ............................................................................................................. 8

Coherence in Essay Writing ............................................................................................................. 9

Cohesive Devices ....................................................................................................................... 10

Exercise 5: Using Cohesive Devices ................................................................................................ 11

Exercise 6: Understanding Text Organisation ................................................................................. 12

Topic Revision .................................................................................................................................. 12

Exercise 7: Distributing Information in an Essay ............................................................................. 12

Exercise 8: Developing Coherence ................................................................................................. 13

Exercise 9: Summing Up ................................................................................................................ 13

Freshman Composition JC01/AJC1 Structuring the Essay

Markéta Gregorová [email protected] 1

The Three Main Parts

Your manuscript is both good and original,

but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

— Samuel Johnson —

Introduction1

The introduction is the first paragraph which states the topic, background details and thesis.

the introductory paragraph proceeds from general to specific points: it states the subject of the

essay early on, provides necessary background information and culminates in the thesis statement a well-conceived introduction serves as a road map for the essay in that it clarifies its organisation and

prepares the ground, helping the readers to change focus from their own world to that of the essay a well-written introduction creates a favourable initial impression of the argument to be developed be clear, concise and specific: do not withhold anything, let the readers know what to expect next take a special care that the first sentence already says something worth and does so without errors Effective vs. Ineffective Introductions

an effective introduction engages the reader, such as by a compelling question, quotation or example

Ex.: ‘War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.’ These are the slogans of the ruling party in

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a dystopia dealing with language as a tool of oppression.

an unadventurous but acceptable way to introduce an essay is by one of the following stock phrases

Ex.: This essay deals with / focuses on / is concerned with. . . The aim / purpose of this essay is. . .

avoid creating place holder introductions containing vague sentences of little communicative value

Ex.: George Orwell was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. He often wrote about political issues, such as in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). There are many different themes in this novel.

avoid producing encyclopaedic introductions accumulating trivia and details irrelevant to the thesis

Ex.: George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four between 1947 and 1948. The book was first published in 1949 by Secker and Warburg. It had been translated into as many as sixty-five languages by 1989.

1 Evaluating Introductions

Decide whether the introductions below are effective or ineffective . Explain.

a This essay focuses on the function of the Marvellous in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

(1851) and seeks to demonstrate that the Marvellous is an indispensable constituent in the

1 See also Nigel Fabb and Alan Durant, ‘Editing the Beginning and Ending,’ in How to Write Essays and Dissertations:

A Guide for English Literature Students, 2nd ed. (Harlow: Longman, 2005), 119–27.

See also Richard Marggraf Turley, ‘How to Write Introductions,’ in Writing Essays: A Guide for Students in English

and the Humanities (London: Routledge, 2000), 1–12.



thematic structure of the novel. The Marvellous accompanies all the major turning points of the

story and serves to emphasise them. The Marvellous is also closely connected with the central

motif of the novel, the scarlet letter, as it participates in the shifts of its interpretation.

The introduction provides all the necessary information, including a clear identification

of the subject of the essay and a follow-up strong thesis statement.

b Both these two stories share the same theme: a woman’s desire for love. Both women seem to

be happily married to respectable husbands and enjoy the comforts of their upper-class

backgrounds. However, there is passion lacking in their marriages. By embarking on an

extramarital love affair, each of the two women breaks the moral code imposed on them by the

society, but it is their experience of genuine passion that first makes them fully human beings.

The introduction is abrupt and confusing: it fails to state the subject and background

details, it omits the thesis. It does not even name the stories in question and their authors.

c Jack London’s short story ‘To Build a Fire’ was first published in 1902, but six years later the

author produced a mature rewritten version of the original story. The earlier text appeared in

the magazine Youth’s Companion; the more famous later version was printed in The Century

Magazine. The story was included in London’s fifth short story collection Lost Face (1910). This

essay examines the relationship of nature and human beings as it is portrayed in the story.

The introduction contains trivia irrelevant to the argument: it is enough to state the

year of the first publication of the work, not its publication history. A thesis is missing.

d This essay will focus on Muriel Spark’s novelette The Driver’s Seat (1970), in particular on its

idiosyncratic female protagonist. The protagonist, Lise, will be analysed by using the methods of

psychological criticism. The following paragraphs seek to show that a disharmony in the

constituting elements of Lise’s psyche stimulates the release of a large amount of ill-focused

libidinal energy which finds its target in Lise herself and leads up to her final destruction.

The introduction clearly states the subject and the method by which the subject is to be

approached; it gives a strong thesis statement.

e This paper is concerned with Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic tale called ‘The Fall of the House of the

Usher’ (1839). Poe was born in in 1809 to a couple of wandering actors. His mother died when

he was two, his drunkard father disappeared. He was adopted by the childless merchant John

Allen. He earned his living by editorial work for various magazines and by writing stories and

poems for publication. He died in 1849 as a result of his excessive drinking and overwork.

The introduction states the subject but not a thesis. Bio- and bibliographical information

is not included into an essay, unless in the rare cases when it is essential to the thesis.



Main Body

The main body is the middle part of the essay which develops and supports the thesis.

the main body comprises the paragraphs that come between the introduction and the conclusion

and serve to explain, develop and support the thesis statement by providing evidence the body must match to the introduction in that it discusses in full what the introduction sketched: no

question posed in the introduction may remain unanswered, all the presented points must be covered

Conclusion2

The conclusion is the last paragraph which restates the thesis and adds a final comment.

the conclusion serves to round up the argument: it restates the thesis in different words, asserts the

validity of the thesis based on the evidence provided in the main body and delivers a final comment the conclusion demonstrates the importance of the argument, explains the relevance of the issue to

the reader and stresses an action or promotes the view that the writer wants the reader to take it acts as a bridge to transport the readers from the concerns of the essay back to their daily lives the conclusion refers to the introduction in evaluating the achievement of the aims set in the

introduction; the conclusion relates to the main body in summing up the findings presented there

Effective vs. Ineffective Conclusions

an effective conclusion considers broader implications or views the issue in a contemporary context

Ex.: A culmination of Orwell’s lifelong preoccupation with exploitation, Nineteen Eighty-Four presents a strikingly accurate prophetic vision of the oppressive potential of language which was as open to abuse in the post-Second-World-War decade as it is in the early years of the twenty-first century.

avoid rephrasing the thesis statement only without changes and without pushing the ideas forward

Ex.: As has been illustrated above, Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four presents a dystopian vision of a scientifically ordered future in which language is appropriated as a powerful tool of oppression.

avoid including new evidence or listing extra information that was not integrated in the main body

Ex.: In addition to dealing with the distortion of language, Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four exposes the dangers attendant on a stratified society, single official culture and state surveillance of citizens.

avoid making sentimental, emotional appeals or addressing the reader in an informal, colloquial way

Ex.: Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is a work of a genius with incredible prophetic powers and a true hero who did not fear to stand up for his convictions. Remember: You never know who is watching you!

avoid leaving the judgement to the reader or ending with an unanswered question or three dots

Ex.: In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell portrays the abuse of technological feats, which serve here solely to oppress. Does he suggest that we should abandon technology? It is up to each reader to decide. . .

avoid ending with a quotation from a secondary source, instead, use your own words throughout

2 See also Richard Marggraf Turley, ‘How to Write Conclusions,’ in Writing Essays, 37–52.



Ex.: To sum up, Sanders explains that the dystopia in Nineteen Eighty-Four ‘does not suggest a retreat from the real world but a monitory response’ to what Orwell perceived as a ‘profoundly disturbed age’.

Essay Organisation Main body develops the thesis

Title indicates the topic provides evidence

Introduction specifies the topic Conclusion restates the thesis

gives background sums up the argument

formulates the thesis adds a final comment

2 Evaluating Conclusions

Decide whether the conclusions below are effective or ineffective . Explain.

a Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Samuel Richardson’s Pamela share a similar starting point,

what differs is the way in which their female protagonists evolve. The eighteenth-century

heroine cannot transcend the strictures of her environment, and her only alternative is to end

up happily married. Very much the same young woman two hundred years later has the chance

to build on the foundations laid by her predecessors who pushed forward the ideals of women’s

liberation. Due to their heritage, Celie and her contemporaries have not a single option but

many choices open to them, possibilities that Pamela could never have dreamed of.

The conclusion apparently refers back to the thesis statement of the introduction, sums up

the findings of the essay and provides a satisfactory final comment on the issue.

b By making the respectable Dr Jekyll and the corrupt Mr Hyde two versions of one and the same

person, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde illustrates that virtue

and vice must be regarded as mutually complementary qualities. The knowledge of the good

cannot exist without the awareness of the evil, and all mechanical attempts to separate the two

will inevitably fail. Besides examining the nature of the virtue and the vice, the novel also

contrasts the private and the public, which is however outside the scope of this essay.

The last sentence of the conclusion brings up a new aspect of the subject only to state

that it has been left out. No new information may appear in the conclusion.

c T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land ends in a sequence of fragmentary quotations. As Sanders comments:

Is his poem therefore to be seen retrospectively as a series of fragments? Or does he

intend that these jerky half-quotations . . . somehow shore up a tottering ruin that was

Western civilization? Or is he suggesting that a poet needs the shield of tradition as a



defence against a hostile and encroaching world? The poem remains fragmentary and

ambiguous to many of its readers.3

The essay must not end with a quotation from a secondary source. Ending with a

quotation suggests a lack of one’s own original thinking.

d My conclusion is that both Jack London’s stories in question, ‘The Law of Life’ and ‘To Build a

Fire’, are very good. The author experienced an adventurous life, which he wished to share with

his readers. He underwent a series of odd jobs, earning his living as an oyster pirate, a cannery

worker or a seaman. Finally, he joined the Klondike Gold Rush, which provided him with ample

material for his writing, including the stories dealt with above.

The simple conclusion that a work of literature is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ does not meet academic

standards. Also, biographical details should not be included anywhere in the essay.

e As the examples above seek to illustrate, George Orwell’s Animal Farm uses the form of an

animal fable in order to demonstrate the bestiality of totalitarian regimes which deprive those

involved in them of human qualities. Although the novel refers specifically to the failure of

Soviet socialism, it issues a message of universal resonance, warning against the pitfalls of

unquestioning obedience and the corruption attendant on the exercise of unlimited power.

The conclusion apparently rounds up the previous discussion, considering broader

implications of the subject and its significance for the reader today.

Paragraphs4

Paragraph Characteristics

The paragraph is a group of sentences which form a single logical unit.

a paragraph in academic writing is characterised by its unity and coherence rather than by length the suitable length of a paragraph is about five to ten sentences; paragraphs of only two or three

sentences are usually underdeveloped and paragraphs exceeding half a page are inconvenient to read all the sentences in a paragraph refer to a single topic, which is in turn clearly related to the thesis the ideas in a coherent paragraph flow logically, one idea connects to the next in a clear relationship the characteristics above apply to the entire essay, including the introduction and the conclusion,

both of which must manifest a logical coherence and meet the limits of the recommended length

3 Andrew Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 533.

4 See also Dorothy E. Zemach and Lisa A. Rumisek, ‘The Structure of a Paragraph’ and ‘The Development of a

Paragraph’, in Academic Writing: From Paragraph to Essay (Oxford: Macmillan, 2005), 11–16 and 17–24.



Paragraph Development

Topic Sentence

the topic sentence is the first and most general sentence of the paragraph that introduces the topic it contains an opinion about the topic, the controlling idea, which controls the rest of the paragraph the topic sentence must not be a simple fact or detail, it should give a specific idea to be developed the topic sentence implies the purpose of the paragraph, which is to develop and support an idea

Supporting Sentences

the supporting sentences follow the topic sentence and supply details explaining the topic sentence these sentences support the main idea of the topic with explanations, reasons and additional details they should use a pattern of organisation, such as proceeding according to the order of importance common strategies for developing a paragraph are providing details, explanations and examples

Concluding Sentence

the concluding sentence of the paragraph restates the main idea of the topic sentence to reinforce it the concluding sentence sums up the main point of the paragraph and does not introduce new ideas the concluding sentence rounds up the topic of the paragraph by giving a final comment on the topic Essay and Paragraph Structure

Essay Paragraph

The introduction states the topic. The topic sentence states the topic.

The thesis statement gives the controlling idea. The topic sentence gives the controlling idea.

The main body supports the main idea of the thesis statement.

The supporting sentences support the main idea of the topic sentence.

The conclusion summarises the main idea of the thesis statement.

The concluding sentence summarises the main idea of the topic sentence.

Sample Steps to Paragraph Development

the sample paragraph explains the implications of the title of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men (1937)

Decide on a controlling idea and create a topic sentence

the controlling idea, usually in the form of a topic sentence, directs the development of the paragraph model controlling idea and topic sentence: Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men refers to Robert Burns’s

poem ‘To a Mouse’ not only in its title, also the story of the novella reflects the concerns of the poem.

Explain the controlling idea

the paragraph continues with an explanation as to how the reader should interpret the presented idea model explanation: The poem turns on the idea that ‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft

agley, / An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, / For promis’d joy!’ The same applies to Steinbeck’s story.

Give an example or multiple examples

the paragraph development progresses with providing support for the idea by the means of examples



model example: The speaker of Burns’s poem meditates on the bleak prospect of a mouse whose nest he happened to overturn when ploughing, while Steinbeck follows the doomed fate of a group of

itinerant labourers whose dreams of owning a house are similarly shattered in a single tragic accident.

Interpret the example or examples

the explanation is necessary in order to illustrate why the particular example was chosen as evidence model interpretation: Whether it is the home of a mouse or the home of men, both examples painfully

illustrate that a major loss might be incurred suddenly, without warning and without evil intentions.

Complete the idea or transition into the next paragraph

the conclusion highlights the relevance of this paragraph and offers a transition to the next paragraph model sentence for completing a paragraph: The condition of men is thus not only comparable to the

condition of beasts, it might be even worse: the men respond emotionally to the loss, the mouse cannot.

The Completed Model Paragraph

Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men refers to Robert Burns’s poem ‘To a Mouse’ not only in its title, also the story of the novella reflects the concerns of the poem. The poem turns on the idea that ‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley, / An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, / For promis’d joy!’ and the same applies to Steinbeck’s story. The speaker of Burns’s poem meditates on the bleak prospect of a mouse whose nest he happened to overturn when ploughing, while Steinbeck follows the doomed fate of a group of itinerant labourers whose dreams of owning a house are similarly shattered in a single tragic accident. Whether it is the home of a mouse or the home of men, both examples painfully illustrate that a major loss might be incurred suddenly, without warning and without evil intentions. The condition of men is thus not only comparable to the condition of beasts, it might be even worse: the men respond emotionally to the loss, the mouse cannot.

3 Forming Coherent Paragraphs

a) Number the sentences below so as they should come one after another to form a coherent paragraph. b) For each sentence, explain what helped you to determine its position in the paragraph.

The Jazz Age of Francis Scott Fitzgerald

5 They spent much time in Europe, where they kept the company of other expatriate artists.

1 Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) was one of the most prominent figures of the Jazz Age.

8 In 1931 Fitzgerald declared the end of the Jazz Age, dating back to the Great Crash of 1929.

6 It was here that Fitzgerald met Ernest Hemingway and their competitive friendship started.

3 The success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920), enabled him to marry Zelda Sayre.

7 The fortune of the Fitzgeralds reversed with the impact of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

2 Fitzgerald started writing because he associated literature with celebrity and social success.

4 The couple’s glamorous and extravagant life style came to typify the mood of the Jazz Age.

No. Explanation

1 The most general sentence of the paragraph: the topic sentence. The name of the author

given in its full form and the biographical data suggest that this is where to start.



2 This sentence introduces Fitzgerald’s writing. The use of only the last name of the

author means that this cannot be the first sentence.

3 The relationship of sentences no. 2 and no. 3 is based on chronology: Fitzgerald first

must have started writing and only then his first novel could appear.

4 Similarly as above, the relationship of sentences no. 3 and no. 4 is chronological: the fact

of his marriage must be mentioned prior to discussing ‘the couple’.

5 The use of the first person pronoun in plural, which stands for ‘the couple’,

grammatically links this sentence to the previous one.

6 The word ‘here’ in this sentence requires that an indication of a place precede: the

previous sentence is the only to mention any place.

7 The paragraph comes to its close with the reversal of fortune: the previous sentences

dealt with Fitzgerald’s success, now the focus shifts to his decline.

8 The relationship of sentences no. 7 and no. 8 is that of a cause and effect: Fitzgerald

experienced a reversal of fortune, which led him to declare the end of the Jazz Age.

Unity and Coherence5

Unity in Essay Writing

A text has unity when all its parts relate to a single topic and develop a single main idea.

the purpose of an essay is to present a coherent argument rather than a list of facts about the topic:

the essay focuses on a handful of facts, examines them in depth and arranges them into an argument an essay has unity when all its main parts relate to one topic and work together to support the thesis a paragraph has unity when its supporting sentences develop one controlling idea of the topic sentence an essay must be edited for unity first by reviewing the outline and removing irrelevant ideas in the

draft and later by revising the completed text and deleting passages that stray off the point

4 Editing for Unity

Read the following two paragraphs. Cross out sentences that are irrelevant to the topic. The first one is done for you: find three more.

The Dilemmas of Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’

The bulk of Robert Frost’s poetic work can be characterised by a deceptively simple style, including the

use of traditional verse forms in terms of rhyme and stanza pattern, and by a compulsively sceptical

5 See also Richard Marggraf Turley, ‘More on the Middle Section: Linkage,’ in Writing Essays, 25–36.

See also Dorothy E. Zemach and Lisa A. Rumisek, ‘Unity and Coherence,’ in Academic Writing, 78–87.



tone. Frost’s first collection, A Boy’s Will (1913), displaced Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his status of

the foremost regional poet of New England. The characteristics above apply also to ‘The Road Not

Taken’ (1916), on the surface a straightforward poem describing the speaker’s difficulties attendant on

making a choice and his anxiety as to whether or not the decision made was adequate. The poem may

be read and understood on the literal level, as a personal remembrance of the speaker who recalls a

walk in the woods and his relatively inconsequential choice of one path at a crossroads rather than the

other. We all must make choices, easy and difficult, and sometimes we find ourselves wondering

whether our decisions led us to the right path or to the wrong. The poem could be also seen as a

metaphoric representation of a universal decision-making process and the accompanying mental states

of hesitation, doubt and, perhaps, belated resentment.

Frost takes a reserved stance towards the Modernist formal experiments in vogue at the time,

yet he excels in achieving a surprising complexity in his poetry by using only the simplest, familiar words

and ordering them in regular, predictable structures. Frost wrote in a wide range of modes and poetic

forms, including short rhymed lyrics as well as long blank verse poems, philosophical rhymed sonnets as

well as dramatic monologue poems. In ‘The Road Not Taken’, the division into stanzas reflects the stages

of the speaker’s mental and physical progress portrayed in the poem. The opening stanza supplies the

setting and introduces the dilemma, dwelling on the image of the speaker at loss when confronted with

the ‘two roads diverged in a yellow wood’. The second stanza seeks to explain the speaker’s choice of

the less-frequented road but ends in uncertainty again, for the speaker eventually admits that the two

paths were worn ‘really about the same’. The following stanza further increases the speaker’s doubts as

he recognises that he should never be able to return and explore ‘the road not taken’. The concluding

stanza shows the speaker still on his way, for he wonders whether he will not regret his decision ‘ages

and ages hence’. The poem was published in one of Frost’s early collections, entitled Mountain Interval

(1916), at the time when his reputation as a poet was not yet firmly established.

Coherence in Essay Writing

Coherence is a grammatical and semantic connectedness of the words that create the text.

while unity is a general word, coherence is a linguistic term for the quality that makes a text a text an essay must be both unified and coherent: unified by dealing with a single topic, coherent by

connecting all the discussed aspects of the topic into one argument and indicating their relationships coherent writing arranges ideas in a logical way and makes it clear how one idea relates to the next a smooth flow is achieved by linkage, that is, the use of cohesive devices, which serve to connect

sentences together and include conjunctions, pronouns, repetition of key terms or use of synonyms cohesion is a linguistic term for the surface structure linkage between the various elements of a

text: cohesive devices connect the text grammatically but do not make a text coherent on their own



Example

the following sentences are highly cohesive due to the repetition but incoherent as to the message Ex.: Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury is a masterpiece. Fitzgerald’s masterpiece is Great Gatsby. Great Expectations is a novel by Dickens. Plath’s novel is The Bell Jar. ‘Anecdote of the Jar’ is a poem by Stevens. the following text is both coherent and cohesive, owing to word repetition, pronouns and synonyms Ex.: William Faulkner’s masterpiece, The Sound and the Fury, was published in 1929. The novel comprises four chapters. Each is told by a different narrator. Three of the narrators are brothers mourning their sister.

Cohesive Devices

cohesive devices help to turn a list of vaguely associated points into a logical and coherent argument

? Ex.: Critics observed the influence of Sherwood Anderson in Hemingway’s collection In Our Time (1925). Hemingway was annoyed by this. He parodied Anderson in The Torrents of Spring (1926).

Ex.: Critics observed the influence of Sherwood Anderson in Hemingway’s collection In Our Time (1925), which annoyed Hemingway so that he later parodied Anderson in The Torrents of Spring (1926).

cohesive devices only serve their purpose provided that they are applied in a strictly logical manner

Ex.: Stephen Crane survived the sinking of a ship and *therefore wrote a story based on this experience, ‘The Open Boat’, which is *so prefaced by a note informing about its origins.

Ex.: Stephen Crane survived the sinking of a ship and eventually wrote a story based on this experience, ‘The Open Boat’, which is accordingly prefaced by a note informing about its origins.

Common Cohesive Devices

note that the words and phrases below cannot be used interchangeably: even if they refer to the same logical relationship (indicated in the left column), their usage and distribution in the sentence vary

some cohesive devices are used to connect words and phrases only (e.g. like, unlike, as well as), some others connect only sentences and still others may connect both, depending on their position

Comparison like, likewise, similarly, as. . . as, in the same way, too, also, as well, equally

Contrast but, yet, still, however, nevertheless, although, whereas, while, in contrast, on the contrary, on one hand. . .on the other hand, instead, in spite of, even though

Cause and Effect so, because, therefore, since, consequently, thus (bookish), hence (bookish)

Example for example, for instance, such as, namely, specifically, in particular

Additional Information and, also, again, as well, besides, in addition, furthermore, moreover, another

Sequence first, second. . . , next, then, later, finally, eventually

Emphasis even, in fact, of course, truly, naturally, especially, in particular, indeed (bookish)

Conclusion finally, in conclusion, in the end, to conclude, in summary, to sum up



5 Using Cohesive Devices

Fill in the gaps by choosing from the cohesive devices below. More than one answer may be correct.

a Gertrude Stein counts among the American modernist writers who opted for a voluntary exile in

Europe. Her fellow modernist, Ezra Pound, fillinthegap chose to live abroad.

1 as well 3 similarly

2 too 4 also

b Stein found her new home in Paris, fillinthegap Pound settled in London, which he called ‘the

place for poetry’.

1 whereas 3 on the other hand,

2 while 4 on the contrary,

c Stein’s writing style breaks most rules governing syntax, punctuation and diction, fillinthegap

her portraits of people and objects are often whimsical in the extreme.

1 since 3 because

2 so 4 therefore

d fillinthegap Stein wrote several full-length novels, her idiosyncratic style tends to be most

successful in short fiction and poetry.

1 even if 3 although

d

2 even though 4 in spite of

e Stein’s style can be conveniently described as literary cubism, fillinthegap, it emphasises the

method rather than the theme.

1 accordingly 3 appropriately

2 consequently 4 as a result

f Pound devoted himself both to producing his own original poetry and to promoting art and

aiding the artists, fillinthegap T. S. Eliot.

1 namely 3 specifically

2 such as 4 for instance



g In his poetry, Pound drew on earlier literary traditions, he fillinthegap famously insisted on

modernising the old forms, on ‘making them new’.

1 nevertheless 3 still

2 yet 4 however

h fillinthegap his literary activities, Pound adopted the role of a social critic and embarked on a

mission against materialism and capitalism.

1 besides 3 in addition to

2 except 4 moreover

6 Understanding Text Organisation

Return to the text in the previous exercise and work on the following tasks:

a) Divide the text into several coherent paragraphs. b) Suggest a title for the whole text. c) Devise titles for each of your paragraphs.

Revision

7 Distributing Information in an Essay JQuiz

Fill in the table. Put a tick for pieces of information that typically appear in the particular position in

an essay and a cross for those that do not.

Introduction Main Body Conclusion

a statement of the topic of the essay

b background information on the topic

c formulation of the thesis statement

d new pieces of supporting evidence

e quotations from secondary sources

f summary of the thesis statement

g summary of the argument of the essay

h final comment on the topic of the essay



8 Developing Coherence JCloze

Fill in the gaps by choosing from the list of cohesive devices below. Some of the words do not fit anywhere.

for instance unlike on the contrary summarising

such is the case similarly in contrast however

Elizabeth Bishop’s Art of Poetry

The speakers of Elizabeth Bishop’s poems characteristically incline to a coolly dispassionate tone,

dddhowever , it would be a mistake to presume that the detached manner of presentation

deprives her poetry of emotional appeal. On the contrary , it seems that the often emotionally

strained experience which Bishop seeks to describe can only be grasped through a matter-of-fact

analysis to eliminate the risk of slipping into hysteria. Such is the case of ‘One Art’, a poem which

approaches the fact of loss with an irony almost verging on cynicism.

Bishop’s speakers typically find themselves in seemingly ordinary situations over which they have

disconcertingly little control, for instance the little girl in the poem ‘In the Waiting Room’ who

suddenly becomes estranged from her own body and plunges into meditations on identity from an adult

woman’s perspective. Similarly , a transfiguration of the commonplace occurs in ‘The Fish’,

where the bemused speaker experiences a nearly transcendental moment on discovering five old hooks

stuck in the jaw of a just-caught fish. Summarising , the motifs of estrangement from and wonder

at the familiar underlie all of the three poems mentioned above and serve as a major constituting

element in their composition.

9 Summing Up JCross

Fill in the gaps. The first letter of each word is supplied to help you.

An essay introduction starts by identifying the topic of the essay. It proceeds to provide

background information and culminates in the thesis statement.

The main body develops the thesis by providing supporting evidence . The evidence must be

explained and interpreted in the context of the argument.

The conclusion restates the thesis and summarises the argument of the essay. It provides

a final comment on the topic but must not add any new information.

An essay must be unified by sticking to a single subject. It must be also coherent in

relating all the points to a single argument. Coherence is achieved through cohesive devices,

typically conjunctions.

Structuring the Essay

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