Notes written for an international PhD group on essay planning and stylistics

1. How
To
Write
(academically)
Sean
Cubitt,
2012
1.
Essay
planning:
Here
is
your
standard
chapter
list.
Every
essay
and
thesis
has
its
own
idiosyncrasies,
but
this
will
do
to
learn
how
to
plan
Intro
(always
write
this
last)
Lit
Review
Methodology
Data
Analysis
Interpretation
Conclusions
Under
each
heading,
break
up
into
shorter
sections:
eg
for
a
thesis
with
the
title
"Wikipedia,
knowledge,
open
source
and
democracy"
the
lit
review
must
have
sections
on
each
key
word,
so
the
Lit
Review
now
has
subsections
Lit
review
Wikipedia
Knowledge
Open
source
Democracy
Some
of
these
sections
also
need
to
be
split
between
different
key
concepts.
By
the
time
you
get
to
sub-­‐sections,
it
is
worth
adding
numbers
to
help
navigate
(also
so
you
can
refer
back
without
being
certain
what
page
the
final
text
will
be
on
–
'see
Section
1.2.3')
For
example
2.
Lit
review
2.1
Wikipedia
2.2
Knowledge
2.2.1
History
of
Encyclopedias
2.2.2
The
concept
of
unbiased
knowledge
2.2.3
Michel
Foucailt
and
Power/Knowledge
You
can
extend
the
numbering
down
to
at
most
four
numbers.
If
you
need
further
subsections,
try
to
use
a
letter
instead
2.2.2
The
concept
of
unbiased
knowledge
2.2.2.a
Diderot
on
bias
2.2.2.b
Popper
and
falsifiability
2.2.2.c
Kuhn
and
normal
science
2.
The
context
of
writing
*
You
do
not
need
a
day
or
an
afternoon
to
write
and
study.
You
can
do
both
anywhere
at
any
time.
Always
carry
a
notebook,
pen
and
a
book
to
read.
Then
you
can
study
waiting
for
the
bus.
And
that
wonderful
idea
you
have
walking
to
work
isn't
lost
because
you
can't
find
a
pen.

2. *
Write
a
100
word
abstract
of
the
piece
you
are
working
on
and
stick
it
on
the
wall
where
you
most
often
do
your
writing
(or
have
it
on
the
desktop
of
your
computer).
Refer
to
it
whenever
you
are
writing
to
make
sure
you
are
sticking
to
the
main
project.
If
you
find
you
need
to
write
a
specific
section
that
doesn't
fit,
then
consider
how
to
adapt
the
abstract
to
accommodate
the
new
idea.
*
Changing
your
mind
is
what
writing
is
for:
that
is
why
we
call
it
research:
as
you
go
over
your
materials,
you
should
find
new
things
neither
you
nor
anyone
else
knew
before.
*
If
your
housemates
are
noisy
and
the
library
is
distracting,
there
are
many
public
places
where
you
can
work
quietly:
public
libraries
for
example.
Many
people
write
and
read
in
pubs
or
friendly
cafes
(preferably
away
form
the
city
centre!)
*
Aim
to
write
a
minimum
of
100
words
every
day.
Some
days
you
will
strike
gold.
Some
days
you
will
write
off
the
subject,
but
it's
all
good
practice.
Some
days
you
will
have
nothing
to
say,
so
go
back
to
earlier
useful
notes
and
rewrite
them
–
you
will
probably
be
writing
a
kind
of
intellectual
shorthand
you
can
understand
but
a
reader
unfamiliar
with
your
ideas
may
not.
So
rewrite
explaining
key
words
(names,
theories,
artifacts)
in
a
way
that
makes
clear
the
connections
between
them.
Writing
is
an
art
which
can
only
be
acquired
by
long
practice
–
rather
like
playing
the
piano.
At
first
you
may
make
slow
and
unharmonious
progress,
but
in
the
end
you
may
well
play
like
a
virtuoso,
or
at
least
be
able
to
hold
a
tune.
3.
The
paragraph
One
step
below
the
scale
of
the
sub-­‐sub-­‐section
is
the
paragraph,
a
fundamental
unit
of
writing.
One
definition
of
a
paragraph
is
that
it
is
a
group
of
sentences
sharing
a
single
topic.
Here
is
a
paragraph
from
John
Berger's
Ways
of
Seeing:
It
is
important
here
not
to
confuse
publicity
with
the
pleasure
or
benefits
to
be
enjoyed
from
the
things
it
advertises.
Publicity
is
effective
precisely
because
it
feeds
upon
the
real.
Clothes,
food,
cars,
cosmetics,
baths,
sunshine
are
real
things
to
be
enjoyed
in
themselves.
Publicity
begins
by
working
on
a
natural
appetite
for
pleasure.
But
it
cannot
offer
the
real
object
of
pleasure
and
there
is
no
convincing
substitute
for
a
pleasure
in
that
pleasure's
own
terms.
The
more
convincingly
publicity
conveys
the
pleasure
of
bathing
in
a
warm,
distant
sea,
the
more
the
spectator-­‐buyer
will
become
aware
that
he
is
hundreds
of
miles
away
from
that
sea
and
the
more
remote
the
chance
of
bathing
in
it
will
seem
to
him.
This
is
why
publicity
can
never
really
afford
to
be
about
the
product
or
opportunity
it
is
proposing
to
the
buyer
who
is
not
yet
enjoying
it.
Publicity
is
never
a
celebration
of
a
pleasure-­‐in-­‐itself.
Publicity
is
always
about
the
future
buyer.
It
offers
him
an
image
of
himself
made
glamorous
by
the
product
or
opportunity
it
is
trying
to
sell.
The
image
then
makes
him
envious
of
himself
as
he
might
be.
Yet
what
makes
this
self-­‐which-­‐he-­‐might-­‐be
enviable?
The
envy
of
others.
Publicity
is
about
social
relations,
not
objects.

3. Its
promise
is
not
of
pleasure,
but
of
happiness:
happiness
as
judged
from
the
outside
by
others.
The
happiness
of
being
envied
is
glamour.
The
topic
of
the
paragraph
is
announced
in
the
first
sentence.
It
is
explained
by
analysing
how
publicity
works
in
the
following
twelve,
mostly
short
sentences,
each
of
which
adds
a
slight
new
turn
to
the
fundamental
statement.
These
small
explanations
and
expansions
add
up
to
an
argument.
The
argument
is
then
summed
up
as
an
axiom:
Publicity
is
about
social
relations,
not
objects.
The
last
two
sentences
clarify
the
subtle,
elegant
argument
that
publicity
creates
glamour
by
making
us
envy
the
possible
selves
we
might
become
if
we
bought
the
product.
They
make
the
additional
argument
that
this
'happiness'
is
not
our
own
happiness
(which
would
be
pleasure)
but
happiness
as
seen
from
the
outside,
by
others.
In
effect,
the
last
sentence
says,
this
is
the
definition
of
the
word
'glamour'
used
a
few
lines
earlier.
Berger
is
now
in
a
position
to
go
on
to
say
that
when
we
judge
our
own
happiness
'from
the
outside'
we
are
split,
alienated
from
ourselves.
Thus
this
paragraph
also
acts
as
a
building
block
in
a
larger
argument.
Each
paragraph
should
have
a
'topic
sentence',
one
sentence
that
tells
the
reader
the
main
issue
being
described
or
argued.
Here
there
are
two:
the
first
and
the
sentence
near
the
end
just
quoted:
'
Publicity
is
about
social
relations,
not
objects'.
The
topic
sentence
can
come
at
the
beginning
('I
want
to
talk
about
publicity')
or
the
end
('This
process
is
what
we
call
publicity')
but
should
always
appear.
Berger
uses
two
(a)
because
he
has
arrived
at
a
more
advanced
statement
of
the
topic,
one
that
he
can
then
use
to
move
to
the
next
paragraph;
and
(b)
for
dramatic
effect.
Note
too
that
though
they
say
almost
the
same
things,
the
style
of
language
is
different.
The
first
sentence
is
a
meticulously
reasonable
statement
that
we
should
distinguish
advertisements
from
products.
The
second
is
written
in
the
form
of
an
aphorism,
a
short
sentence,
often
playing
on
an
apparent
paradox:
here,
that
advertising
is
not
about
products
but
about
relations
between
people.
Look
through
your
own
writing
to
identify
the
topic
sentences
in
your
paragraphs.
You
may
find
there
is
more
than
one
topic
addressed.
This
is
a
sure
sign
that
your
paragraph
is
too
long
and
should
be
split
in
two.
If
one
of
the
parts
now
seems
too
short,
make
sure
it
is
really
necessary,
is
absolutely
clear
as
it
stands,
and
is
in
the
right
place
in
the
argument,
that
is,
leads
from
the
previous
paragraph
to
the
following
one.
A
paragraph
can
be
a
single
sentence.
4.
Words
English
is
blessed
with
a
history
of
hybridity.
We
have
words
from
Latin,
French,
various
Germanic
languages,
and
rather
fewer
but
still
important
words
deriving
from
the
ancient
Celtic
languages,
and
from
the
languages
encountered
and
cultures
assimilated
through
centuries
of
empire
and
trade.
As
a
result
there
is
a
wealth
of
words
with
very
nearly
the
same
meanings,
distinguished
by
nuances
or
by
connotations
–
castle
and
chateau,
fort
and
fortress,
keep
and
stronghold
all
refer
to
very
nearly
the
same
things,
but
have
subtly
different
flavours.

4. Many
of
our
common
terms
in
essays
and
theses
have
a
similar
range
of
possibilities.
For
example,
when
introducing
a
quote,
don't
feel
that
you
have
to
say
"Berger
says"
or
"Berger
states"
(the
first
is
neutral,
the
second
suggests
that
the
quote
is
definitive,
even
unarguable).
Think
of
the
other
possibilities:
Argues
Suggests
Thinks
Supposes
Surmises
Presupposes
Presumes
Adumbrates
Considers
Muses
And
so
forth
–
each
with
a
different
sense
both
of
how
you
hear
the
author
of
the
quote,
and
in
many
cases
the
judgement
you
make
about
them.
Adding
adverbs
(mostly
ending
in
'ly)
such
as
'angrily',
dreamily',
'elegantly',
'famously',
'unambiguously'
etcetera
give
even
stronger
impressions.
Using
a
short
phrase
in
place
of
the
adverb
helps
too:
'Berger
argues,
with
the
passion
of
the
convert,
that
'Publicity
is
about
social
relations'.
English
spelling
is
a
notoriously
poor
guide
to
pronunciation.
It
is
however
an
excellent
guide
to
the
history
and
sometimes
the
hidden
meanings
of
words.
This
can
be
tricky.
Etymology
is
the
study
of
the
history
of
words:
'false
etymology'
is
mistaking
the
parts
of
a
word
–
as
in
the
question
"Who
put
the
'rant'
in
'Grantham'"
(Margaret
Thatcher's
home
town).
Take
a
term
like
'fabrication'.
This
word
can
be
used
in
two
senses:
as
the
process
of
making
something,
and
as
telling
lies.
The
root
of
the
word
is
'fabric',
textiles.
To
fabricate
is
to
weave.
But
we
also
say
that
we
'weave
stories',
and
even
use
another
textile-­‐related
word
when
we
speak
of
'a
tissue
of
lies'
or
'a
web
of
deciet'.
It
is
important
to
avoid
ambiguity
by
making
sure
your
reader
knows
which
sense
of
the
word
you
are
using.
But
it
is
also
important
to
understand
the
potential
of
just
that
ambiguity.
Silicon
chips
are
rarely
described
as
'manufactured':
instead
we
say
they
are
'fabricated'.
For
poetic
purposes,
suggestions
that
the
World
Wide
Web
is
a
fabric
fabricated
like
a
tissue
of
lies
may
be
a
good
way
of
working
through
your
concepts.
Or
consider
the
ancient
Greek
word
'aesthetic'.
Now
remember
that
Greek
produces
negatives
by
adding
the
prefix
'a-­‐'
or
'an-­‐',
as
in
'apolitical'.
So
the
opposite
of
'aesthetic
is
'anaesthetic'.
This
is
interesting
because
we
normally
think
of
aesthetics
as
beauty,
and
that
the
opposite
is
ugliness.
But
now
we
have
the
idea
that
the
opposite
of
beauty
is
no
sensation
at
all.
This
use
of
language
is
poetic,
where
poetry
can
be
understood
as
a
highly
compressed
form
of
language.
There
is
absolutely
no
reason
why
academic
prose
should
be
ugly.
Words
and
language
are
our
tools:
we
should
use
them
to
the
best
of
our
abilities.

5.
5.
The
Sentence
The
sentence
is
the
smallest
unit
of
composition
in
written
form.
It
is
comprised
of
words.
There
are
two
practices
involved
in
putting
words
together,
once
you
have
selected
them:
grammar
and
sound.
Every
sentence
has
to
have
a
verb
(a
'doing'
word
like
'eats'
or
'demonstrates')
and
a
subject
(usually
a
noun,
the
person
or
thing
that
does
the
action
of
the
verb,
such
as
'John
Berger',
'Wikipedia'
or
'cats').
Everything
else
is
additional.
The
simplest
sentence
has
two
words:
for
example
He
eats
In
order
to
add
things
to
the
sentence,
we
have
three
options:
to
the
left
(before
'He'),
to
the
right
(after
'eats'),
and
in
the
middle
(between
'He'
and
'eats').
For
example
On
Fridays
he
eats
Or
He
eats
fish
Or
He
,
feeling
hungry,
eats
Notice
here
that
the
part
of
the
sentence
embedded
in
the
middle
is
marked
off
with
commas:
this
is
a
good
way
of
recalling
when
you
need
to
use
commas.
Adding
things
in
all
three
spaces
gives
us
examples
like
On
Fridays
he,
being
catholic,
eats
fish
You
can
obviously
add
more
elements
at
the
left,
right
and
middle:
here
the
elements
are
marked
off
by
slash
marks
On
Fridays,
/especially
when
the
rain
came
in
from
the
North/,
he,
/being
the
kind
of
Catholic
who
only
remembered
his
faith
when
he
was
unhappy,/
eat/
fish,
/usually
herring
rolled
in
oatmeal
and
fried.
Sentences
beginning
with
the
subject
and
verb
followed
by
additional
material
are
called
right-­‐branching.
They
have
a
certain
sense
of
urgency,
but
also
place
extra
emphasis
on
the
subject,
as
in
this
sentence
from
James
Joyce's
Ulysses
introducing
a
new
character
at
the
start
of
a
new
chapter:
Mr
Leopold
Bloom
ate
with
relish
the
inner
organs
of
beasts
and
fowls.
This
style
is
very
useful
for
definitions
and
statements
of
fact:
Wikipedia
is
an
online
encyclopedia
written
by
its
users.
Left-­‐branching
sentences
push
the
subject
and
verb
to
the
end
of
the
sentence,
as
in
Bob
Dylan's
song

6. Whenever
I
get
up
and
can't
find
what
I
need,
I
go
on
down
to
Rosemarie's
and
get
something
quick
to
eat.
(Technically
there
is
also
a
right-­‐branch
here,
but
we
could
say
the
whole
verb
is
"go
.
.
.eat")
These
are
useful
when
you
need
to
qualify
a
statement
It
is
only
after
thoroughly
analysis
and
interpretation
that
we
will
be
able
to
stop
The
most
important
aspect
of
these
different
sentence
structures
is
their
variety.
Sometimes
it
is
valuable
to
repeat
the
same
sentence
structure.
Sometimes
repetition
makes
a
point
for
you.
Sometimes
it
makes
the
point
too
obvious,
and
you
have
to
start
varying
the
structure
to
make
up
for
that
failing.
Variety
is
the
spice
of
life.
In
that
respect,
writing
prose
is
rather
like
life.
Here
is
one
of
my
favourite
sentences.
Not
originally
in
English,
it
is
the
opening
sentence
of
Gabriel
Garcia
Marquez's
novel
One
Hundred
Years
of
Solitude
Years
later,
as
he
faced
the
firing
squad,
Colonel
Aureliano
Buendia
would
remember
the
day
his
father
took
him
to
discover
ice
Here
the
balance
of
left
and
right
branches
makes
the
imbalance
of
past
and
future,
and
the
coincidence
of
different
times
in
a
single
moment,
an
integral
part
of
the
grammar.
Again,
there
is
no
reason
why
you
should
not
aspire
to
write
this
well.
A
handful
of
great
scholars
–
among
them
John
Berger,
George
Steiner,
Roland
Barthes,
Hans
Magnus
Enzensberger
and
Claude
Lévi-­‐Strauss
–
are
among
the
greatest
prose
stylists
of
the
last
fifty
years.
The
musical
aspects
of
English
prose
are
far
more
difficult
to
access,
especially
if
you
are
not
a
native
speaker.
The
golden
rule
is
to
read
your
work
aloud,
or
ask
a
friend
to
read
aloud
for
you.
Even
silent
reading
creates
rhythms
and
patterns
in
the
reader's
mind:
you
can
hear
these
if
you
listen
to
your
writing
aloud.
There
is
one
easy
rule
to
remember,
however,
an
ancient
rhetorical
trick
called
the
Rule
of
Three.
Probably
the
most
famous
example
is
'Veni,
vidi,
vici',
I
came,
I
saw,
I
conquered,
written
by
Julius
Caesar.
The
US
constitution
promises
'life,
liberty
and
the
pursuit
of
happiness'.
The
BBC
Charter
requires
it
'to
inform,
educate
and
entertain'.
Shakespeare's
Macbeth
asks
'
What
rhubarb,
senna,
or
what
purgative
drug/
Would
scour
these
English
hence?'.
Using
the
rule
of
three,
your
essays
will
please
the
ear,
delight
the
mind,
and
persuade
the
soul.
6.
How
to
have
an
idea
A
useful
way
of
getting
at
ideas
is
the
'semiotic
square'
devised
by
the
linguist
AJ
Greimas.
He
starts
with
the
idea
of
opposites:
let's
say
beauty
and
ugliness.
But
we
have
already
seen
that
beauty
can
also
be
seen
as
the
opposite
of
anaesthesia.
A
little
reading
will
tell
us
that
the
18th
century
German
philosopher
Kant
argued
that
the
opposite
of
beauty
(which
he
believed
was
a
matter
of
shared
and
agreed
taste)
is
the
sublime:
awe-­‐inspiring
scenes,
such
as
mountain
storms,
about
which
it
is
impossible
to
say
anything
at
all.

7.
Greimas
draws
a
diagram
to
look
at
the
connections:
Beautiful
Ugly
Anaesthetic
Sublime
The
beauty
of
this
tool
is
that
it
now
leaves
us
to
make
the
connections
between
the
ugly
and
the
anaesthetic,
anaesthetic
and
sublime,
sublime
and
ugly.
Moreover,
the
diagram
can
be
used
to
generate
new
ideas.
For
example,
is
the
opposite
of
sublime
also
the
disgusting
–
something
so
vile
it
takes
your
breath
(and
your
words)
away?
Or
we
can
add
new
elements:
what
about
minimalist
art
that
sits
between
the
beautiful
and
the
anaesthetic?
Or
between
beautiful
and
ugly?
What
connects
the
terms?
Here
is
a
suggestion:
LIFE
Beautiful
Ugly
CLASSICISM
ROMANTICISM
Anaesthetic
Sublime
DEATH
Here
the
diagram
suggests
that
feeling
awe
and
feeling
nothing
are
connected
by
the
idea
of
non-­‐existence
(death)
while
beauty
and
ugliness
are
connected
with
sensation
and
emotion
(life).
The
two
great
currents
of
cultural
life,
the
rational
and
the
sensational,
Classicism
and
Romanticism,
could
then
be
derived
from
the
diagram
as
above:
classicism
is
beautiful
but
without
sensation
and
emotion;
Romanticism
balances
ugliness
and
the
sublime.
Both
in
their
different
ways
negotiate
the
challenge
we
all
face
as
mortals:
to
seize
life
or
to
contemplate
death.
Of
course
there
is
the
much
simpler
method:
given
any
particular
thing
or
action,
ask
yourself
Who?
What?
Why?
Where?
When?
How?
In
addition,
there
is
always
the
unholy
trinity
of
cultural
studies:
race,
class
and
gender,
to
which
we
could
add,
in
the
right
circumstances,
environmental
issues.

8.
7.
General
notes
The
soul
of
a
good
essay
or
thesis
is
clarity.
Try
to
avoid
long
sentences,
even
though
they
are
sometimes
necessary
when
a
thought
is
genuinely
complex
and
cannot
be
expressed
in
any
other
way.
Clarity
however
is
a
matter
of
vocabulary
and
grammar.
The
right
word,
at
the
right
time,
in
the
right
order.
The
art
of
the
essay
(and
to
a
degree
of
the
thesis)
is
also,
however,
to
persuade.
To
do
that,
you
need
to
vary
your
lexicon
and
your
syntax.
The
best
way
to
learn
how
to
do
that
is
to
read
the
best
authors.
Some
have
been
mentioned
already.
There
are
many
great
modern
prose
stylists:
Christopher
Hitchens,
George
Orwell,
and
many
novelists.
Personally,
I
read
a
lot
of
poetry,
partly
to
remind
myself,
after
a
day
reading
turgid
technical
translations,
that
it
is
possible
to
write
with
beauty
and
profundity.
When
you
are
reading,
always
have
a
good
dictionary
to
hand:
look
up
words,
and
when
you
learn
a
new
word,
practice
using
it
in
sentences
of
your
own.
Most
of
all,
writing
is
an
art
advanced
by
practicing
it
every
day,
while
thinking
constantly
of
how
your
reader
will
read,
and
hear
in
their
mind's
ear,
the
words
you
set
down.