An Attempt. Bold Peak, Alaska.
Photo source: Paxton Woelber.
Gratefully adapted with a CC license from Flickr.
In 1571 a 38-year-old French lawyer quit his day-job and retired to his country estate. He wanted to think. Inspired by classical authors Seneca and Plutarch, Michel de Montaigne explored the world, human nature, and himself, focusing on such topics as experience, books, vanity, and education. He called these writings "essais." Writer Paul Graham comments that Montaigne thought and explored as he wrote: his conclusions took shape, not before thinking and writing, but in the act of doing them:1
[Montaigne's work was] something quite different from what lawyers do, and the difference is embodied in the name. Essayer is the French verb meaning "to try" and an essai is an attempt. An essay is something you write to try to figure something out.2
An essay, in short, is a foray--a reasoned attempt to persuade, yes, but also an honest effort to discover.
Humanities professors love essays, and not just because they write them. The in-depth thinking and reasoning involved in considering complex points of view and articulating one of your own persuasively is at the heart of education.
Most of us, at some point, face complex problems. Without learning to research, think, and express what we think, we're less likely to solve them. So it's no exaggeration to say your country needs you, your future workplace needs you, and your Life needs you . . . to explore, to think about, and to write research essays.
This video summarizes the relevance of university research to world problems and its value in working to solve them. With audio.
A research essay persuades with an argument based on evidence. To develop an argument and track down evidence, you've first got to investigate your topic. Then you can scrutinize not just the accuracy of what you find but also its interpretion by others.
1. Paul Graham, “The Age of the Essay,” paulgraham.com, (September 2004): par. 21. Web.
2. Ibid.
Photo source: Jonas Nockert.
Gratefully adapted with a CC license from Flickr.
Before you start with your assignment, it’s a good idea to plan out all the steps that you’ll have to take and how much time you have for each step. The UTSC Assignment Calculator is a great tool that can help you breakdown the assignment into individual components and draw up a schedule for the entire project.
For example, your schedule to finish a research essay might look like this:
The UTSC Assignment Calculator will help you develop a rough schedule for completing your paper. The Calculator will open in a new tab.
February 2 – Understand the assignment
February 3 – Choose topic
February 4 – Write your working thesis
February 6 – Design research strategy
February 9 – Find and evaluate books
February 11 – Find and evaluate scholarly articles
February 12 – Find and evaluate websites
February 14 – Write outline of your paper
February 16 - Write first draft
February 18 – Revise and rewrite
February 19 – Hand in
Photo source: Michael R. Perry.
Gratefully adapted with a CC license from Flickr.
Understanding what your professor wants is as crucial for your learning as a destination for a traveler. You may not have a map, you may not have a car, you may not have clean water, and you may not have any money, but if you know where you're going you at least have a chance of getting there. It's the same with assignments.
Here are 6 tips for getting a good grasp of your assignment.
1. Go to your lectures and tutorials. Just attending and paying attention will give you a good idea what professors expect you to do.
2. Read the assignment instructions and syllabus carefully. Most professors post these in Quercus.
3. If you don't understand the written instructions in Quercus or the verbal instructions in class, speak to a professor or TA face-to-face. Don't rely on your classmates: they might not understand either. Visit your professors during office hours and ask them to clarify their expectations.
4. If your professor's explanation still confuses you, try showing her or him a rough plan of your assignment and ask if you're on the right track.
5. Try one of the UofT libraries' online encyclopedias. Say you're writing a paper on the civil rights' movement in 1960s America. The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences has an article on the movement. Reading it will give you a reliable but accessible overview; key terms, themes, events and names; and--in most encyclopedias--a bibliography of sources you could use to follow up.
6. Ask librarians and writing instructors for help. We may not understand an assignment as well as the professor who wrote it, but we're familiar with academic assignments enough that we can offer sound advice.
Essays topics prompt you to think. Once you start thinking, and researching, and thinking some more, you can slowly hone in on what interests you: you can narrow your topic, fine-tune a research question, and work toward a thesis statement.
The concept of the rider, subject, and prompt is gratefully borrowed from Brock MacDonald, Director of the Woodsworth College Writing Centre, University of Toronto
Still, while professors want you to think, they also want you to write what they ask for. Essay topics may offer an open landscape--but they also come with a map. To read an essay topic's map, pay close attention to the wording.
Essay topics often have 3 parts: the subject, the prompt, and the rider. Use the slideshow to see an example.