Here’s a strange piece of advice that my Literature teacher taught me that has stuck with me and helped me get through all the essays I’ve written in high school and university. When you have to write an essay, chances are you’re not allowed to bring any notes or guides that would help you with your essay, but my teacher taught me to use my hand as my guide.
If you are right handed, hold your left hand palm up. If you are left-handed, look at the back of your right hand. Or imagine a hand drawn with the thumb on the left and the pinky to the right.
I’ll go through this all in more detail in a minute, but in order to use your hand as a guide for structuring each paragraph, the way to look at it is: the knuckles are the topic sentences and arguments, the joints are the context of your argument, the length of your finger is the ‘meaty bit’ where you explain everything and “flesh it out”, the first knuckle up your finger is the quote or evidence, the second is the interpretation and the tip of your finger is how it ties back to the argument of your essay, and finally the pinky is the summary of your paragraph and how it links back to the argument of your overall essay and to the next paragraph.
I know this all sounds a little confusing but I’ll break it down step by step…
Writing and Introduction? Give Yourself a Thumbs Up:
THUMB:
KNUCKLE: Introduction – This is where you introduce the overall argument of the essay and if you’re writing on a text then introduce the text, the author and the year it was published.
JOINT: Argument – This is where you break up the overall argument of your essay into the three or four arguments you’ll be putting forward in your paragraphs. If you’re responding to a prompt, try and build these paragraphs off the key words in your prompt or in your argument and keep in mind that you don’t always have to agree with scholars or the prompt, you can disagree with it, just make your argument clear.
Writing a Paragraph? Let Me Give You A Hand:
THUMB:
KNUCKLE: Introduction and Argument – This is where you introduce the argument of the paragraph and elaborate a little on what evidence you’ll bring forward.
For instance:
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby (1926), explores the interruption of society by depicting the haunting reality of the war and the overhanging mistrust and conspiracies that are often seen through gossip and rumours about who the mysterious Jay Gats actually is. The discussion of German spies and the constant reminder of the morality of man through the vehicular accidents and murders show how the trauma of war has become part of society.
TIP: Link – This is where you lead your introduction into the discussion of the evidence and quotes you’ve compiles that prove this argument.
FINGERS:
KNUCKLE: Context – Before you introduce your evidence, you have to let the reader know where it’s from: Is the quote from chapter three? Is if from the scene where the protagonist sat down with his family for dinner or where he faces off against his archenemy in the pinnacle scene of the novel? The context of the evidence changes the meaning of your argument and of the quote or evidence. If you’re writing a comparative essay or are referencing multiple texts in one paragraph, this is a point at which you also introduce the author and the text or the critical reading.
FIRST JOINT: Quote or evidence – This is pretty self-explanatory, but remember when you’re putting evidence in to use the proper punctuation, formatting and referencing.
LENGTH: Explanation – Never, and I repeat NEVER just drop a quote or a piece of evidence into your essay without explaining more about it. I understand that you might be in a rush to fit as much evidence as you can into the word count of your essay but there’s no point in putting the evidence in there if you’re not going to explain how it backs up your argument.
For example:
Keesey (1998) argues that the ‘landscape is figured as an erotic alternative to the repressed civilisation’ (p. 338), exploring the cultural tensions between Australia and the colonialization of the land and of England. This ‘erotic alternative’ (Keesey 1998, p. 338) is seen in the formation of the rocks and its relation to vaginal imagery, a depiction that is further emphasised by the homosocial relationship between the characters in the film. This liberation from the ‘repressed civilisation’ (Keesey 1998, p. 338) is also seen in the removal of the girls’ corsets, freeing them from their restrictions and the oppression of the British way of living as they blend into the Australian environment.
REFERENCES:
Keesey, D 1998, ‘Weir(d) Aurstalia: Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Last Wave’, Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory, vol. 8, issue 3-4, pp. 331-346.
Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975, Australian Film Commission, British Empire Films, Australia.
When discussing evidence it’s not only about quotes, you can also discuss imagery or word use and how that emphasis leads to your interpretation.
TIP: Link – This is where you link your discussion back to the argument of your paragraph and the overall argument of the essay and then lead into your next piece of evidence.
Repeat this for each of your three fingers so that you have three different pieces of evidence that link together and fortify your argument.
PINKY:
Your pinky is the overall link of your paragraph where you summarise the evidence you’ve put forward, link it back to the argument of your paragraph and then write the concluding link that either links back to the overarching argument or onto the argument of the next paragraph.
Repeat this for each of the paragraphs you write; usually three or four paragraphs for an essay. Then write your conclusion.
Conclusion? Thumbs Up, You’re Almost Done!
A little tip about writing a conclusion: just repeat your introduction with a few edits so that instead of introducing the paragraphs and the argument, you’re summarising them and drawing your essay to an end. Otherwise, just use the same structuring method with your thumb that you used when writing your introduction.
I know this seems like a lot to take in and it seems impossible to fit it all into one essay, but it’s not as long as it seems. Some of these steps are only a few words long and the examples I’ve given come from university-level essays, so don’t freak out.
With practice, this all comes a lot easier, and it’s a structure guide that’s lot more thought out and in depth than the examples that most high school teachers give, such as TEEL (Topic, Explanation, Evidence, Link) or SEXY (Subject, Evidence, eXplination, whY it’s important). But, it’s also a guide you can take into your exams and one where you don’t have to spend twenty minutes trying to remember what the words behind each letter of the anagrams were.
With all essays, things come with practice and you need to find a method that you are comfortable with
