How I Plan and Write Literature Papers
I got a couple of requests for a post covering my process for writing literature papers, and I’m happy to share. I’m an English major, but I have always struggled with writing literature papers, which have comprised the majority of my graded work in college. I’m good at writing and I always do well, but it used to take me so long to get from blank Word document to finished paper! It was frustrating and discouraging. Finally, though, in my senior year, I’ve figured out a process that works for me and cuts down on the time I spend staring at a blank screen. Here it is!
First, I open a blank project in Scrivener and go to the notecard view. You don’t have to use Scrivener (though it is excellent for all kinds of writing). There are other programs that let you set up notecards like this. You can also use non-digital notecards! But I like Scrivener. So I open a blank project and set up a bunch of notecards with the questions I’m going to need to answer in my paper. Sometimes, these are provided by the professor. Sometimes, they aren’t. In that case, try to come up with some on your own, or just skip to step 3 if you already have an idea of what your argument is going to be.
Next, I just go through and answer all the questions. I answer in complete sentences (most of the time) and with as much detail as possible. Ideally, I’ll be able to just copy and paste at least some of this into my outline in step 4.
Once all the questions are answered, I create a separate set of notecards for my outline. The basic parts of this are: Introduction, Thesis, Topic Sentences, and Conclusion. As I’m creating these cards, I usually jot down notes for what each point of my argument (i.e. what each topic sentence) will be, just so I don’t lose track.
Then I work on filling in the outline cards. I usually start with the Thesis card and then fill in all the Topic Sentence cards. I refer back to my question cards. Everything I write in this step is in complete sentences, etc, so it can go directly into my paper later.
I add a card for each piece of evidence I’m going to use, as well, after its corresponding Topic Sentence card. In a literature paper, evidence means quotes from the work I’m writing about, so I find the quotes I need and type them onto a card, formatted properly (page numbers included), so I can just copy/paste them into the paper later. Sometimes I’ll jot down a bit of my close reading of the quote on the card if I feel the need, but not always.
After I have all the topic sentences written and all the quotes copied out, I fill in the Introduction and Conclusion cards. Intros and conclusions are tough for me, but they are easier if I remember to set up the big picture in the intro and “zoom in” to my argument with my thesis, and then pull back out to the big picture in the conclusion and answer why the argument is important.
When all the outline cards are filled out, I open a Word document and copy/paste in everything that I’ve written already. Most of the time, everything on the outline cards is ready to go directly into the paper. I just write on the cards first because it keeps things more organized, allows me to move points of the argument around easily, and lets me avoid that “staring at a blank document for an hour” stage of writing.
Then I go through the paper one paragraph at a time and revise to fix transitions and better integrate my bare-bones quotes, and I add close reading (i.e. explain how the quotes I chose are evidence of the arguments I make in my topic sentences).
Once I have all of the close reading done, I take a break and come back to give the paper a once-over with fresh eyes and do further revising. If my professor is giving me the opportunity to turn in a rough draft for revision comments, then I turn in the paper at this point. If I don’t have a chance to ask the professor for feedback, I’ll ask a friend to read it and give me feedback, and then I use that feedback to help me improve the paper another time (or two) before I submit it for a grade.
Tips for Using This Method
Each paragraph should start with a topic sentence that argues something, followed by a piece of evidence that supports that argument, followed by close reading of the evidence that explains why it supports the argument.
When outlining, consider any length requirements and try to come up with enough points to make in your paper to hit any minimum page or word counts you’ve been given.
Copy/pasting from notecards into a paper can mean that the paper doesn’t flow as smoothly as if you’d written it all at once, so make sure you read over the paper and fix parts where it seems disjointed.
I hope this was clear! It was harder to articulate than I expected. Feel free to message me if you want anything clarified or if you have any questions (about this or any other aspect of being an English major)! My ask box is always open and I would love to hear from you.
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