APPENDIX

E
Writing Essay Examinations
WHY DO INSTRUCTORS GIVE EXAMINATIONS?
Perhaps an understanding of the nature of essay examinations will help you to write better essays. Examinations not only measure learning and thinking, but also stimulate them. Even so humble an examination as a short-answer quiz !hiefly a devi!e to oblige students to do the assigned reading is a

sort of push designed to move students forward. "f !ourse, internal motivation is far superior to external, but even su!h !rude external motivation as a quiz !an have a benefi!ial effe!t. #tudents know this$ indeed, they often will say that they have !hosen to take a parti!ular !ourse %be!ause & want to know something about . . . and & know that & won't do the reading on my own.( )*ea!hers often tea!h a new !ourse for the same reason$ we want to be!ome knowledgeable about, say, +sian-+meri!an literature, and we know that despite our lofty intentions we may not seriously !onfront the sub,e!t unless we are under the pressure of fa!ing a !lass.&n short, examinations help students to a!quire learning and then to !onvert learning into thinking. #ometimes it is not until preparing for the final examination that students !lassroom notes rereading the !hief texts and

per!eive what the !ourse was really about$ until this late stage, the trees obs!ure the

forest, but now, in the pro!ess of the reviewing and sorting things out, a pattern emerges. *he experien!e of reviewing and then of writing an examination, though fretful, !an be highly ex!iting as !onne!tions are made and ideas take on life.

GETTING READY
*he night before the examination you will almost !ertainly feel that you don't know this, that, and the other thing, and you may feel that nothing short of reading all of the assignments an impossibility, of

!ourse !an get you through the test. &f indeed you have not done the reading, this feeling is warranted.

*he best preparation for an examination is not a pani!ky turning of hundreds of pages the night before the test$ rather, the best preparation is to . keep up with the reading throughout the term, and to annotate the text while reading, . make !onne!tions among the works you study from one week to the next, . parti!ipate in !lass dis!ussion, and . annotate the text during the !lass dis!ussions. &f you engage in these pra!ti!es, you will not only be preparing for the examination, but you will also be getting more out of the !ourse more knowledge and more pleas u r et h a n if you come to class
unpr e p a r e d .

/evertheless, however well prepared you are, you will want to do some intensive preparation shortly before the final examination. We suggest that you may want to reread 0hapters 1, 2, 3 )all on fi!tion-, 42, 14 )both on poetry-, 15 and 22 )both on drama-, be!ause these !hapters dis!uss not only the genres but also the ,ob of writing essays about them.

WRITING ESSAY ANSWERS

6et's assume that before the examination you have read the assigned material, marked the margins of your books, made summaries of the longer readings and of the !lassroom !omments, reviewed everything !arefully, and had a de!ent night's sleep. /ow you are fa!ing the examination sheet. 7ere are some suggestions8 4. 9efore you write anything on the examination booklet beyond your name, read the entire examination. #omething in the last question maybe even a passage that is quoted may give you an idea that will

help you when you write your answer to the first question. 1. 9udget your time. &f the first question is worth 1:;, give it about one-fourth of your time, not half the allotted time. "n the other hand, do not provide perfun!tory answers8 &f the question is worth 1:;, your instru!tor expe!ts a fairly detailed response. 2. <ank for yourself the degree of diffi!ulty of the questions, from easiest to hardest. #tart with the questions that you immediately know you !an handle effe!tively, and save harder questions for later. "ften those harder questions will be!ome easier on!e you have gotten into the a!tivity of writing the examination. =. +fter you have thought a little about the question, before writing furiously, take a moment to ,ot down

few ideas that strike you, as a sort of outline or sour!e of further inspiration. >ou may at the outset realize that, say, you want to make three points, and unless you ,ot these down you may spend all the allotted time on one point. :. +nswer the question. &f you are asked to !ompare two !hara!ters, !ompare them$ don't ,ust write two !hara!ter sket!hes. *ake seriously su!h words as !ompare, define, summarize, and, espe!ially, evaluate. ?. >ou often !an get a good start merely by turning the question into an affirmation for example, by three key words will do

turning %&n what ways does the poetry of 6ouise Erdri!h resemble her fi!tion( into %6ouise Erdri!h's poetry resembles her fi!tion in at least . . . ways.( 3. @on't waste time summarizing at length what you have read unless asked to do so but, of !ourse, you may have to give a brief summary in order to support a point. *he instru!tor wants to see that you !an use your reading, not merely that you have done the reading. A. 9e !on!rete. &llustrate your arguments with fa!ts details of plot, and quotations if possible. 5. 6eave spa!e for last-minute additions. &f you are writing in an examination booklet, either skip a page between essays or write only on the right-hand pages so that on rereading you !an add material at the appropriate pla!e on the left-hand pages. 4B. <eread what you have written, and make last-minute revisions. 9y the time you have finished writing the last essay you have probably thought of some things have !ome to mind for instan!e, some quotations may the names of authors, titles, dates, !hara!ters,

that might well add strength to some of the earlier essays.

9eyond these general suggestions we !an best talk about essay examinations by looking at five !ommon types of questions8 4. + passage to expli!ate 1. + histori!al question )for example, %*ra!e the influen!e of Cuy de Daupassant on Eate 0hopin(2. + !riti!al quotation to be evaluated =. + wild question )su!h as %What would Flannery "'0onnor think of Eatherine Din's G0ourting a Donk'H($ %What would "thello do if he were in 7amlet's pla!eH(:. + !omparison )for example, %0ompare Eliot's G*he 6ove #ong of I. +lfred Prufro!k' with 9rowning's GDy 6ast @u!hess' as dramati! monologues(+ few remarks on ea!h of these types may be helpful.

4. "n expli!ation, see pages =1J=? and page A1=. +s a short rule, look !arefully at the tone )speaker's attitude toward self, sub,e!t, and audien!e- and at the impli!ations of the words )their !onnotations and asso!iations-, and see whether a pattern of imagery is evident. For example, religious language )adore, saint- in a se!ular love poem may pre!isely define the nature of the lover and of the beloved. <emember, an expli!ation is not a paraphrase )a putting into other words- but an attempt to show the relations of the parts by !alling attention to impli!ations. "rganization of su!h an essay is rarely a problem, sin!e most expli!ations begin with the first line and go on to the last. &ndeed, if you glan!e at the poem or passage and feel worried that it is too diffi!ult or obs!ure, don't pani!. *ake a breath, and begin with the first line or the first senten!e. Expli!ate that, and then fo!us on how the next line or senten!e is related to what has !ome ,ust before. Pro!eed step by step, pie!e by pie!e, and as you do so you will develop a sense of the whole whi!h is where your expli!ation !an !on!lude. 1. + good essay on a histori!al question will offer a ni!e !ombination of argument and eviden!e$ that is, the thesis will be supported by !on!rete details )names, dates, perhaps, even brief quotations-. + dis!ussion of 0hopin's debt to Daupassant !annot be !onvin!ing if it does not spe!ify !ertain works and !ertain !hara!teristi!s. &f you are asked to relate a writer or a body of work to an earlier writer or period, list the !hief !hara!teristi!s of the earlier writer or period, and then show spe!ifi!ally how the material you are dis!ussing is related to these !hara!teristi!s. &f you remember and !an quote some relevant terms, phrases, or lines from the works, your reader will feel that you really know the works themselves. 2. &f you are asked to evaluate a !riti!al quotation, read it !arefully, and in your answer take a!!ount of all the quotation. &f, for example, the quoted !riti! has said, %6ouise Erdri!h in her fi!tion always . . . but in her poetry rarely . . .( you will have to write about poetry and fi!tion$ it will not be enough to talk only about one form or the other, unless, of !ourse, the instru!tions on the examination ask you to take only as mu!h of the quotation as you wish. Wat!h espe!ially for words like always, for the most part, never$ that is, although the passage may on the whole approa!h the truth, you may feel that some important qualifi!ations are needed. *his is not being pi!ky$ true thinking involves making subtle distin!tions, yielding assent only so far and no further. +nd )again- be sure to give !on!rete details, supporting your argument with eviden!e. =. 0uriously, a wild question, su!h as %What would #hakespeare think of @eath of a #alesmanH( or %What would @esdemona do in +ntigone's pla!eH( usually produ!es rather tame answers8 + !ouple of

standard ideas about #hakespeare )for instan!e, #hakespeare !hiefly wrote poetry, and he usually in!luded some !omedy in his tragedies- are me!hani!ally applied to +rthur Diller, or a simple !hara!terization of @esdemona is applied to the situation set forth in +ntigone, and some gross in!ompatibilities are revealed. 9ut as the previous paragraph suggests, it may be ne!essary to do more than set up bold oppositions. *he interest in su!h a question and in the answer to it may be largely in the degree to whi!h superfi!ially different figures resemble ea!h other in some important ways. <emember that the wildness of the question does not mean that all answers are equally a!!eptable$ as usual, any good answer will be supported by !on!rete detail. &f time permits, you !an often enri!h your answer by refle!ting a bit on the other way of looking at the issue. First, to be sure, explain how @esdemona would have a!ted in +ntigone's pla!e this is what the question asks for. 9ut !onsider too how you !ould strengthen this answer by taking note as well of how +ntigone might have a!ted in @esdemona's pla!e. :. "n !omparisons, see pages =?J=3. 9e!ause !omparisons are espe!ially diffi!ult to write, be sure to take a few moments to ,ot down a sort of outline so that you know where you will be going. &n a !omparison of 9rowning's and Eliot's monologues, you might treat one poem by ea!h, devoting alternate paragraphs to one author, or you might first treat one author's poem and then turn to the other's. 9ut if you adopt this se!ond strategy, your essay may break into two parts. >ou !an guard against this weakness in three ways8 +nnoun!ing at the outset that you will treat one author first, then the other$ reminding your reader during your treatment of the first author that you will pi!k up !ertain points when you get to the se!ond author$ and briefly reminding your reader during the treatment of the se!ond author of !ertain points you already made in your treatment of the first. <emember to make your points as !lear and spe!ifi! as you !an. &f you say that two authors are both %pessimisti! about whether love !an endure,( you'll want to explain the nature of this pessimism, the reasons in ea!h !ase for this view, and the pre!ise similarities and the differen!es. + frequent weakness in %!omparisons( is that they are too general, la!king the details that indi!ate subtle differen!es. When you review your answer, ask yourself if you have been suffi!iently pre!ise. Writing Essay +nswers +ppendix E K Writing Essay Examinations Writing Essay +nswers