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How to fail your dissertation

September 15, 2009 by Roy Johnson

clear guidelines for guaranteed disaster

Failing your dissertation is admittedly not an easy task, but if you try really hard you can fail by ignoring all the good advice you have been given. If in doubt, you should adopt the suggestions which follow. They can be summarised as three main principles:

  • obscure the idea
  • mangle the sentences
  • ‘slovenize’ the diction
Obscure the idea

Make sure your topic is wide and vague. Then wander around the main idea without ever stating it precisely. If by mistake you do manage to choose a well-defined, suitably limited topic, do not despair. You can always take detours and amble away from the topic for a while.

Do not develop your ideas. Simply re-state them in safe, spongy generalisations. Don’t bother finding evidence to support what you say. Always point out this kind of repetition with the phrase ‘As previously …’. Better still, repeat word for word at least two of your statements.

Disorganise your discussion. For example, if you are using chronological order to present your material, keep your reader alert by making repeated jumps from the past into the present and back again.

Begin a new paragraph every sentence or two.

By generous use of white space make the reader aware he is looking at a page devoid of sustained thought.

Like this.

Mangle the sentences

Fill all the areas of your sentences with dead wood. Incidentally, ‘the area of’ will deaden almost any sentence, particularly when displayed prominently at the beginning.

Use sentence fragments and run-on or comma-spliced sentences. Do not use a main subject and a main verb, because the reader will get the complete thought too easily. Just toss in part of the idea at a time, as in this ‘sentence’.

To create variety, throw in an occasional run-on sentence, thus the reader will have to read slowly and carefully to get the idea, if there is one.

Your sentence order invert for statement of the least important subject matter. That will force the reader to be attentive to understand even the simplest points you make.

You, in the introduction, body and conclusion of your dissertation, to show that you can contrive ornate, graceful sentences, should use convoluted sentence structure.

Frequent separation of subjects from verbs by insertion of involved phrases and clauses, frequently giving rise to errors of concord, show that you know what can be done to a sentence.

‘Slovenize’ the language

Add the popular ‘-wise’ and ‘-ize’ endings to words. Say ‘Timewise, this procedure is faster’, rather than simply, ‘This procedure is faster’. Choose ‘circularize’ and ‘utilize’ in preference to ‘circulate’ and ‘use’. Practice will smartenize your style.

Use vague words instead of precise ones. From the start, establish vagueness of tone by saying ‘The thing is …’. Keep the reader guessing throughout a reading of your work.

Employ lengthy Latinate locutions wherever possible. Shun the simplicity of style that comes from apt use of short, old, familiar words, especially those of Anglo-Saxon origin. Show that you can get the maximum (L) not merely the most (A-S) from every word choice you make.

Inject some humour into your writing by using the wrong word occasionally. Write ‘then’ when you mean ‘than’ or ‘to’ when you mean ‘too’. Every reader likes a laugh.

Find a ‘tried and true’ phrase to clinch a point. It will have a comfortingly folksy sound for your reader. Best of all, since you want to end in a conversational, friendly way, sprinkle your conclusion with clichés. ‘Put a little icing on the cake’ as the saying goes.

Last word

Well, too ensconce this whole business in a nutshell you, above all, an erudite discourse on nothing in the field of your topic should write. Thereby gaining the reader’s credence in what you say.

Suggestion-wise, one last thing: file-ize this list for handy reference for the next time you have to write anything.

(Adapted from Emerson Society Quarterly, 1963)

© Roy Johnson 2004


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How to get an academic teaching job

August 8, 2011 by Roy Johnson

advice, tips, and templates for humanities PhDs

An academic teaching job is a golden objective, but not an easy goal to achieve. If you’ve made it through your first degree, then a masters or a PhD, the chances are that you would really like a university teaching post. After all, this would mean a light work load; long holidays; free sabbatical terms; conference trips abroad; you’re paid to read and write; and the job carries a little bit of social prestige. It’s an attractive proposition. But everyone knows that the number of available posts is shrinking fast, and the competition to secure them is enormous.

Academic teaching Job It’s increasingly difficult to get your foot even onto the first rung of the ladder. University departments everywhere are packed with young (and not so young) graduate teaching assistants hoping that their few hours of part-time teaching are going to be magically transformed into a full time post.

Kathryn Hume is a professor of English at Penn State University, and she has obviously made a close study of the job application process. This guidance manual is packed with tips to help you succeed or at least survive the many applications you will have to make before you land that appointment.

The American system of application is preliminary (conference) interviews to draw up a shortlist of possible candidates. These are followed by in-depth on-Campus interviews and presentations. UK and European readers can be sure that armed with the suggestions and advice laid out here, they will be well prepared for anything that can be thrown at them.

The first part of the book is concerned with making sure your documentation is in order. You need to present yourself on paper as persuasively as possible – and she explains how maximise your chances of being selected for an interview. There are all sorts of interesting little tips – such as the fact that your curriculum vitae does not need ‘Your Name – Curriculum Vitae’ as a bold heading – because it is obvious that’s what it is, and it will only be looked at along with everybody else’s.

The same goes for the interview. She recommends lots of practice – answering questions out loud to yourself or with friends. You should learn how to describe your own thesis in about ninety seconds without using jargon – because you will be speaking to people from other disciplines. And you should even practise wearing your interview clothes beforehand, so that you don’t feel uncomfortable. But there’s a lot more, thoughtful, and in-depth detail and warnings.

Remove whimsical quotations from the signature in your email. Clean up your online presence. Remove all photos of yourself looking drunk or less than properly clad from Facebook, Flickr, and other such networking sites. Even pictures of you enjoying a beach vacation will suggest that you have not been devoting yourself to serious professional work … committees routinely check out such sites, and deans take seriously any party-animal pictures or blogs that rant (no matter what the subject matter or stance).

Even if you succeed at the interview, it’s not all over. Because there’s the very delicate yet crucial issue of the job offer. You are in a very vulnerable position – because you want the job. The crucial piece of advice here is – don’t accept any offer until it’s in writing. The grounds for this argument are that the head of the interview panel might make you a verbal offer, the conditions and salary of which are changed when the head gets back to ratify matters with the budget-holding dean of the faculty.

Whilst searching for a job, you will also need to be converting your dissertation (or preferably thesis) into a book. This too is immeasurably more difficult than it used to be – because of cutbacks in educational funding and the cost of producing academic publications, which are only likely to sell to a small audience. You need to know quite a lot about how specialist and academic presses work to even secure a chance of being considered, let alone published. And – brace yourself! – you may even need to secure funding to generate a ‘subsidy’ for the publisher.

She even covers the worst case of what do you do if you don’t manage to secure a job. The main options are visiting professorship; postdoc work; an appointment in further education or a community college; a non-teaching post in administration or publishing; and the somewhat dangerous option of teaching abroad. It’s dangerous because you may never get back.

The advice doesn’t stop there. She even continues on the assumption that you manage to secure an untenured appointment, where you will be on probation for quite some time. Here you need to become aware of what she calls ‘academic politics’. Her advice is essentially a very cautious ‘keep your head down and stay out of trouble’ approach – but I enjoyed her accounts of departmental in-fighting and the secret codes and booby-traps of staff meetings.

The book also has a huge set of appendices offering multiple practical examples of CVs, letters of application, thesis descriptions, pedagogic philosophies, teaching portfolios, and evidence of teaching effectiveness. All of these cover a wide range of humanities subjects, including English, Rhetoric, Communication Skills, History, Art History, Comparative Literature, and French.

Buy the book at Amazon UK

Buy the book at Amazon US

© Roy Johnson 2011


Kathryn Hume, Surviving your Academic Job Hunt: Advice for Humanities PhDs, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, pp.227, ISBN: 0230109462


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How to improve your grammar

September 15, 2009 by Roy Johnson

basic guidelines for better writing

The quickest way to improve your grammar is to simplify your writing as much as possible.

Grammar is a combination of a number of different aspects of language

  • sentence construction
  • punctuation
  • spelling and vocabulary
  • agreement and syntax

The best approach is to tackle these issues one at a time.

Don’t try to improve your grammar by memorising rules – because there are many exceptions to most of them.


Sentences

In most writing, all normal sentences should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop.

A normal sentence in English usually contains at least three elements: a subject, a verb, and an object.

Subject Verb Object
The cat eats the goldfish
My friend is tall
Some sheep are black

If you are in any doubt at all, follow this pattern. Sentences which go out of grammatical control often lack one of these elements, or they have them placed in a different order.

Short, clear, and simple sentences are usually more effective than those which are long and complex. Avoid piling up clause upon clause.

In the majority of cases, you should aim for clarity and simplicity in your written style. If in doubt, remember this rule: Keep it short. Keep it simple.

You should avoid starting sentences with words such as ‘Again’, ‘Although’, ‘But’, ‘And’, ‘Also’, and ‘With’. These words normally belong in the ‘middle’ of a
sentence, not at its beginning. Sentences which start with a conjunction are often left incomplete.

Punctuate your work firmly, making a clear distinction in your writing between marks such as the comma, the semicolon, and the full stop.


Punctuation

The comma [,] is used to show a slight pause in a sentence.

It is also used to separate words, clauses, or phrases.

He will never do it, whatever he says.
She bought some butter, a pint of milk, and some jam.
Cars should turn left here, whilst vans should turn right.

It separates two items when the first is not closely associated with the second:

She is a famous singer, whilst her husband remains unknown.

A very common use for the comma is to separate the items in a list:

The box contained a book, some pencils, and a knife.

The semicolon [ ; ] marks a long pause in a sentence.

It is half way between a comma and a colon.

Semicolons are used between clauses which could stand alone, but which are closely related.

He ran with his shirt over his head; he had forgotten his umbrella once again.
She couldn’t dance in her favourite ballroom; it was being renovated.

Semicolons are also used to punctuate mixed lists in continuous prose writing:

Four objects lay on the desk: a large book; a spiral-bound notepad; a glass vase containing flowers; and a silver propelling pencil.

If you are in any doubt at all concerning the correct use of the semicolon – then avoid using it entirely.

It is perfectly possible to write clearly and effectively using only the
comma and the full stop.

The full stop [.] (sometimes called the period) is a punctuation mark indicating a strong pause.

It is used most commonly at the end of a complete sentence – like this one.

This is a short sentence. This is another.
It happened suddenly in 1996.
There are two reasons for this (in my opinion).

The only common exception to this rule occurs when the sentence is a question or an exclamation.

Is this question really necessary?
What a mess!

Notice that both of these punctuation marks include a full stop.


Spelling

If you are not sure about the correct spelling of a word, look it up in a good dictionary.

The best ways to improve your spelling are:

  • learn commonly mis-spelled words
  • learn the common rules of spelling
  • learn good spelling strategies

The most commonly mis-spelled words are probably there/their, its/it’s, to/too/two, and are/our.

This problem is caused because these words sound the same as each other. Here’s how to tell them apart.

There refers to a place, whereas their means belonging to them.

The table is over there, in the corner [place]
We are going to their house [belonging]

Its means belonging to, whereas It’s is a shortened form of It is.

The dog is in its basket [belonging]
It’s too late now [It is]

To means ‘towards something’, too means ‘very or in addition’, and two is the number 2.

We are going to the concert [towards]
It was too cold for swimming [very cold]
He ate two chocolate bars [number 2]


Agreement and Syntax

There must be grammatical logic or coherence in the links between parts of a sentence.

This is called case agreement.

If the subject of a sentence is singular, then the verb form must be singular as well.

The shop [singular] opens at nine o’clock.
On Thursdays the shops [plural] open late.

Sometimes confusion occurs because a statement begins in the singular but then drifts into the plural

Wrong
It can be argued that a person has the right to know when they are dying.

The easiest solution to this problem is to make the subject plural and its verb plural as well.

Correct
It can be argued that people have the right to know when they are dying.

Syntax is the grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence.

It concerns both word order and agreement in the relationship between words.

The following statements follow normal English word order:

The cat sat on the mat.
My old brown leather suitcase.

The following statements do not follow normal English word order:

The cat on the mat sat.
My brown leather old suitcase.

© Roy Johnson 2004


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How to improve your spelling

November 17, 2009 by Roy Johnson

tips and guidance notes on basic spelling skills

1. spellingYou can improve your spelling skills by reading and writing as much as possible – and checking your written work.

2. If you are not sure about the correct spelling of a word, look it up in a good dictionary.

3. The best ways to improve your spelling are:

  • learn commonly mis-spelled words
  • learn the common rules of spelling
  • learn good spelling strategies

Commonly mis-spelled words

4. The most commonly mis-spelled words are probably there/their, its/it’s, to/too/two, and are/our.

5. This problem is caused because these words sound the same as each other. Here’s how to tell them apart.

6. There refers to a place, whereas their means belonging to them.

The table is over there, in the corner

there refers to a place

We are going to their house

their means belonging to them

7. Its means belonging to, whereas It’s is a shortened form of It is.

The dog is in its basket

its means belonging to the dog

It’s too late now

It’s means It is too late

8. To means towards, whereas too means very or in addition, and two is the number 2.

We are going to the concert

here to means towards

It was too cold for swimming

means it was very cold

He ate two chocolate bars

means the number 2

9. Are is part of the verb ‘to be’ – as in we are, whereas our means belonging to us.

We are in the same class at school

This is the verb ‘to be’, as in I am/we are

We have flowers in our garden

That is, the garden belongs to us


Common spelling rules

10. Almost all words have only one correct spelling – but there are occasional exceptions. Judgement for instance can also be spelled judgment.

11. One of the easiest rules to remember is I before E, except after C – but you need to be careful, because there are plenty of exceptions.

I before E

believe – chief – friend – thief

C followed by EI

ceiling – receive – deceit – conceive

Exceptions

either – neither – foreign – height – seize – leisure


Doubling of consonants

12. If a word ends in a vowel and a single consonant, double the consonant before adding -ing or -ed.

swim/swimming     ship/shipped

stop/stopping     occur/occurred

13. If the vowel is unstressed, or if there are two vowels, do not double the consonant.

enter/entering     shout/shouted

develop/developing     appeal/appealed

14. If the word ends in -c, change the -c to -ck before adding the ending.

panic/panicked     picnic/picnicking


Commonly mis-spelled words

The following words are often spelt wrongly. There is no short way round this problem. You simply have to learn the correct spelling.

acceptable – double c, not -ible.

accommodation – double c and double m

achieve – i before e except after c

assess – two lots of double s

believe – i before e except after c

communicate – double m

convenient – i before e except after c

definite – -ite, not -ate

disappear – double p [dis+appear]

disappoint – double p [dis+appoint]

necessary – one c, double s

receive – i before e, except after c

recommend – double c [re+commend]

stationary – means not moving – use a

stationery – paper we write on – use e

success – double c, double s

weird – an exception to the rule

NB! One final point. Using a spelling-checker is not cheating. You should use one to check your work – and learn correct spellings at the same time.

© Roy Johnson 2009


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How to Make Money Scriptwriting

June 19, 2009 by Roy Johnson

practical guide to professional screen writing

This is the second edition of a very successful book which covers all aspects of scriptwriting (or script writing) and making a living as a professional author. It’s the work of a leading literary agent who brings insider tips and guidance on what is a tough market in which to make a living. Julian Friedmann takes a practical, no-nonsense approach which encourages would-be authors to become more aware of what he calls the ‘politics’ of writing. This means paying more attention to the market place; being prepared to fit in to the system of television or screen, and being prepared to deliver to audiences what they want.

ScriptwritingHe paints a picture of a very difficult business which makes big demands of the would-be screenwriter. The only way to succeed is be prepared to collaborate; drop your ego; know that viewer-ratings is All; and ‘murder your darlings’ when required.

There are excellent chapters on how to structure and produce a ‘pitch’, a ‘treatment’ and a ‘step outline’ for a proposed script. But even if you’re good at doing all that, there’s still more to learn: how script editing and script reports work; what ratings, audience share, and programme research mean; how to deal with an agent – or without one; how to handle meetings and negotiate with producers; how to understand a basic agreement and protect your own interests as a writer; and how to survive financially whilst you are waiting for that call from Hollywood.

The emphasis is almost entirely on cinema and television. There’s no mention of the theatre, and radio only gets a very brief mention, although there is one chapter on writing for interactive multi-media.

There’s also no advice on the details of writing techniques: he assumes you know how to write, or can find out elsewhere. His guidance is on how to make a success of scriptwriting from a business point of view. There are full explanations of all the people you need to contact; how to make your work look professional; and how to take rejection without losing heart.

He ends with a very useful series of appendices with includes examples of negotiations with producers; sample memos commissioning a deal; legal contracts; Writers’ Guild minimum Terms of Payment; plus all the contact details for writer’s groups, training courses, and professional associations.

Anyone entering this ferociously competitive field of creative writing needs all the help they can get. Friedmann explains why it is such a tough business, and in doing so he reveals the strategies you need to succeed. You will find advice on writing skills elsewhere. This is insider guidance on how the business works.

© Roy Johnson 2003

How to Make Money Scriptwriting   Buy the book at Amazon UK

How to Make Money Scriptwriting   Buy the book at Amazon US


Julian Friedmann, How to Make Money Scriptwriting, Bristol: Intellect, 2nd edn, 2003, pp.219, ISBN: 184150002X


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How to present documents

February 16, 2013 by Roy Johnson

document structure and presentation skills

How to present documents effectively

When you have finished writing and editing an important document, you need to present it in the best possible way. You should create what are called the front and back materials.

The front and back materials comprise any or all of the following parts.

Front materials How to present documents

  • Title page
  • Preface
  • Contents page
  • Executive summary
  • Introduction

Back materials

  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Glossary
  • Appendices

Front material

The title page

The title page should contain:

  • The title of the document
  • The date
  • The writer’s name
  • The recipient’s name

Example

Proposal

Installing new records system

for

Bindweed Mowers Ltd

 

Written by John Atherton

10 September 2010

For the attention of Jane Brown

Preface

A preface is a short preliminary text which puts the main document into a specific context. Its purpose is to prepare the reader for the main content of the report or proposal that follows.It is a form of ‘introduction’ to the main document. A preface may not always be necessary – but here’s an example:

Preface

This report is based on the research carried out by Myers and Carrston in 1991. Their findings were so revolutionary in the field of preventative medicine that we could not ignore the need to consider genetic modification as a way forward.

We trust that the reader will understand that since the start of the research project, there have been significant shifts resulting from both political and scientific pressures in this field of scientific development.

Contents page

The function of the contents page is to provide an easy way of locating the sections, chapters and any other parts of the document.

The titles of the various sections and chapters should be listed accurately and consistently along with the relevant page numbers.

The titles should appear on the left of the page and the numbers on the right.

Contents

Introduction

Section I

Ledwards and Smith
Recent decline of the industry
The recovery period

Section 2

Questions for the Ministry
Death of sixteen patients

Executive summary

An executive summary is sometimes included at the beginning of a long report or proposal. It gives an overview of the main points contained in the longer document.

For instance in a report, the findings might be summarised along with some recommendations for further action.

In a proposal, the idea, along with items such as the costings or the main problems might be summarised.

The audience for an executive summary is people who needs to be aware in outline of what is going on. These people do not need to know the detail, and so can assimilate the main points or issues without needing to read the whole of a long document.

Introduction

An introduction should provide a context for rest of the document. It should set the scene for what is to follow.

It might provide an explanation of why the document has been written; the topics which will be under consideration, and its overall purpose.


Back material

Glossary

A glossary is needed in a document which uses a lot of technical issues. Words which are specialist or technical jargon are listed, usually in alphabetical order, each with a brief definition.

The glossary can also be used to explain acronyms used in the place of companies or organisations – such a NWBF = National Wholesale Bakers Federation.

Appendix

An appendix contains material which supports or expands on material in the body of a report.

  • survey materials such as questionnaires
  • raw data gathered in the study
  • regulations or statutes
  • illustrations, maps, or diagrams

Bibliography

A bibliography lists the publication details of any work referred to during the preparation of the report, such as books or periodicals.

Each bibliographic entry contains the following information – in this sequence

Bibliography – books

  • name of author(s), surname
  • full title of book (in italics)
  • series (if any)
  • volume number (if applicable)
  • edition (if not the first)
  • city of publication
  • publishers name
  • publication date

Jones, Seymour, and M.Bruce Cohen, The Emerging Business: Managing for Growth, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1983.

Bibliography – periodicals

  • name of author(s), surname
  • title of article (in inverted commas)
  • name of periodical (in italics)
  • volume or date or both
  • page numbers which contain the article

Johnson, Donna. ‘Why Users Need Concepts’, Data Training, November 1986, pp 37-40.

Notes

Notes are sometimes needed to contextualise or to clarify points made in the body of the document. These are sometimes shown at the bottom of the page (as a footnote) at the end of a chapter (as endnotes) or in a section at the end of the whole document.

The item concerned is preceded by a number which corresponds with the relevant number in the note section. In terms of usability, footnotes are the most convenient for readers. (1)

However, they disrupt the appearance of a page, and for that reason the modern tendency is to use endnotes.


NOTES
1. Most word-processors can now arrange any footnotes automatically.

© Roy Johnson 2013


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How to publish your writing

October 31, 2009 by Roy Johnson

guidance and resources for writers

If you wish to publish your writing, you need to learn about the publishing process, marketing your work, and targetting your audience. The web pages listed here deal with all those topics – and more besides.

publish your writingThe writer’s marketplace
This is a selection of best-selling writer’s guides. These list all the information you need for contacting publishers, agents, and editors. They cover book publishing, magazines, newspapers, and specialist outlets for photographers and illustrators. Most of them provide mini-essays and tutorials featuring advice from professional writers.

publish your writingEditing your writing
Guidance snotes on editing, re-writing, and creating structure – plus basic advice on topics such as sentences, paragraphs, headings, titles, punctuation, and spelling.

publish your writingPublishing on the Internet
A selection of guidance manuals on writing for the Web – showing the special skills for creating readable web pages, plus writers’ groups and specialist outlets for creative online writing.

publish your writingePublishing and eBooks
Guidance manuals on how to create eBooks on a budget, using email as a marketing tool, plus writing in other digital formats. This approach takes the cumbersome and expensive printing costs out of publishing your work.

publish your writingWriting for the Web
Three excellent guidance manuals on crafting what you write so that it can be effective when read on line. Writing for the screen is different than writing for print publication: these books explain the differences.

publish your writingWriting for magazines
Writing for magazines is probably the most profitable form of authorship in terms of payment-per-word. But weekly, monthly, and specialist publications are often neglected as a possibile outlet by aspiring writers. This selection of guidance manuals show what markets are available, and how to break into them.

publish your writingWriting for newspapers
Newspapers are the most difficult form of journalism for beginners to break into. And if you manage to get a foot in the door, you will need more than just writing skills. These manuals provide the basics of law, copyright, plagiarism, privacy, and the relationship between the proess and the public.

publish your writingPublish your academic writing
Lecturers in further and higher education are obliged to publish their work if they wish to be promoted. It’s a very competetive environment. These manuals will show you how to convert a piece of academic work into something that can be commercially published. They also show the new possibilities of online publishing – or ‘open access’ as it is starting to be known.

publish your writingBlogging – publish your writing
Blogging is a form of publishing open to everyone – no matter what the level of your writing skills. But if you want readers to come back to your blog pages, it will help if you know some of the protocols of good blog behaviour. These guidance manuals will show you how to set up a blog: it’s easy – takes two minutes. More importantly, they will show you how to craft even a short piece of writing so that visitors will want to come back for more.

publish your writingHow to write book reviews
One way to break into publishing is to review the books you read. You can post the results on Amazon or on book fan sites. It’s good practice at showing engagement with your subject. These guidance notes show you what’s required.

© Roy Johnson 2009


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How to read a novel

June 21, 2011 by Roy Johnson

reading skills for appreciating fiction

Studying FictionIf you love reading novels you’ll know that they can offer an entire world in which to get imaginatively lost. People read Wuthering Heights and actually cry when the heroine Cathy dies half way through the story. They read The Wind in the Willows and are utterly charmed by the antics of characters pottering about on a river – all of whom are little animals. Or they read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and are terrified by the story of a scientist who manufactures life and finds the thing he creates going out of control. The important question is how to read a novel in order to get the most out of it?

It’s true that some people read novels ‘just for the story’, or ‘to see what happens next’. Once they have finished reading, they retain only a vague notion of what the novel was about, and they pass the book on to the local charity shop. But to understand novels at a deeper level and to get more from them, all you need to do is keep a few issues in mind whilst you’re reading. It’s not difficult – and with practice, it becomes easier, then second nature.

What you will be doing is keeping one part of your attention focussed on the events of the story, but other parts on how the story is being told, features of the characters, and the finer points of language in the text. You will become an intellectual multi-tasker.

These guidance notes will give you some idea of things to look for, and activities you might not have thought of before. This approach will help you find greater depths and meanings in the world of fiction. It will also help you to understand how skilled authors put a story together, and how their works are full of subtle and complex effects which make their fictional worlds believable to us.


1. The author

Make a note of the author’s name – and try to find out something of the background or biography. If the author is well known, simply type <Author Name Biography> into Google, and you will get the life story plus links to further reading at Wikipedia.

What are the author’s dates? The answer to this question gives you a historical context into which the book and its author can be placed. More on this later.

There is no guaranteed one-to-one connection between authors’ lives and the stories that they write, but most novelists write about issues that interest them or have touched their imagination in some way.

Has the author written any other books of the same kind? Where does the one you are reading appear in the list? Does it fit into a particular genre – which means the type of story. Is it a romance, thriller, or detective story? Each of these genres has its own ‘rules’.

For instance best-selling Agatha Christie specialised in detective stories. We admire the way her sleuths Hercule Poirot and Miss Marples solve crimes from shrewdly observed details. But we wouldn’t expect them to behave in the same way as secret agent James bond in Ian Flemming’s spy thrillers.


How to read a novel


2. The book

Pick up the book you’re going to read. What do you know about it already? There’s a lot of information about it that’s part of the book itself. The back cover might give you a taster of the plot or details of the author.

When was the book first published? Turn inside to the title, then look on the next page, which usually gives details of its publication. Has it been reprinted a number of times? That’s usually a sign of its popularity.

First published 1988

Reprinted 1990, 1992, 1994

Second edition 1996

New introduction (c) Simon Blackstaff 2005

This tells us that the book was successful on first publication, that a new edition was created after less than ten years, and that after seventeen it has been dignified with an introduction.

Have a look at the opening of the novel. Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities begins

It was the best of times: it was the worst of times.

You just know that this is going to be a novel of tension and conflict from the very opening sentence.


3. The introduction

The book might have an introduction – often written by someone other than the author (as in the example above). This will usually give you information about the characters and themes of the novel – which could be helpful in telling you what to look out for.

It should not give away crucial details of the plot. But no matter how carefully written, it’s bound to influence the way you read the novel. You have two choices. You can read it either before or after you read the novel.

As you develop more experience and confidence, you’ll probably choose to read the introduction after reading the novel. This will enable you to form your own opinions of the book, without being influenced from the outset.


4. The story

In a novel, the story is basically a sequence of what happens in the book. It is a narrative of events arranged in some time sequence. As a reader, you are being invited to follow this sequence until you reach the end of the novel and have the complete picture in your mind.

Most people have no trouble in understanding a simple series of events – even if they contain flashbacks or a jumbled time-sequence. That’s because almost everybody has followed stories in books, newspapers, and on television. Problems only arise when the novel is long, complex, and contains lots of characters.

When that’s the case, you will need to become a more active reader. This means making a brief note of what happens in each chapter – plus creating a list of characters.

These notes and lists will help you in two ways. You will have a record of names and events to which you can refer. But more importantly, the very act of writing them down will help you to remember them.


5. The characters

Authors can choose any number of ways to make their characters realistic, memorable, or convincing. They might give them a striking physical appearance, make them act in a vivid manner, or have them speak in a way that stands out.

Miss Havisham, the embittered old woman in Great Expectations, was jilted at the altar, and has been wearing her wedding dress ever since. The detective Sherlock Holmes plays the violin (and takes opium!) whilst he is solving crimes. Humbert Humbert in Lolita makes literary jokes whilst he is murdering his rival, Clare Quilty. Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights jumps into the grave of his true love Catherine Earnshawe, wishing to embrace her as if she was alive. You will not forget these characters after reading about them.

At the opening of Pride and Prejudice it might not be easy to distinguish between Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy when they set the hearts of the Bennet girls fluttering. But if you make brief notes on what you know about them (age, home, appearance) it will help you to understand their roles in the story.


Studying FictionStudying Fiction is an introduction to the basic concepts and technical terms you need when making a study of stories and novels. It shows you how to understand literary analysis by explaining its elements one at a time, then showing them at work in short stories which are reproduced as part of the book. Topics covered include – setting, characters, story, point of view, symbolism, narrators, theme, construction, metaphors, irony, prose style, tone, close reading, and interpretation. The book also contains self-assessment exercises, so you can check your understanding of each topic.

Studying Fiction Buy the book at Amazon UK
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5. The plot

In a novel, the story is basically the sequence of what happens. It’s not the same thing as the plot. E.M.Forster explained the difference as follows:

“The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot.

The key difference here is that element of causality. There is some significant reason connecting events in the story. In a murder story the detective eventually finds hidden connections between clues to solve a crime. In Pride and Prejudice the heroine Elizabeth Bennett overcomes her prejudice and realises that the hero Mr Darcy is in love with her after all. In Great Expectations the hero Pip eventually realises that his true benefactor is not a rich woman but a convict he helped to escape as a child.

Some novels have plots that are quite difficult to unravel, but good authors normally give readers enough evidence to be able to work out what is going on. Hidden solutions and surprise endings produced like rabbits out of a hat leave readers feeling cheated.


6. The theme

The theme in a novel is not the same thing as the story or plot. It’s something larger and more general – like a single concept, or the moral of the story. For instance Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park explores the theme of education. It’s a story of a young girl who goes to live with rich relatives and eventually marries their youngest son. But almost every character in the novel learns a lesson from mistakes or errors of judgement they make.

So – the story is a version of the Cinderella tale – the poor young girl who eventually gets her prince. But the theme of the novel is a more subtle issue, running through the lives of other characters as well.


7. The style

The style in which a novel is written will reveal one very important factor – the author’s attitude to the content of the story. This will give you some idea of how to ‘read’ the novel: that is, how to understand and appreciate it.

Here’s the opening of Raymond Chandler’s 1939 hard-boiled detective novel The Big Sleep.

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high. Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn’t have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair. The knight had pushed the vizor of his helmet back to be sociable, and he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. He didn’t seem to be really trying.

This is a first-person narrative. The fictional detective Marlowe is relating the story – so his manner of expression tells us a lot about him. It also tells us how the author Raymond Chandler is inviting us to view the story.

The literary style provides us with lots of conventional details – his suit, shirt, and shoes – but then he reveals that he is ‘sober’. This not only tells us that he normally drinks a lot, but his comment ‘I didn’t care who knew it’ is the sort of amusing and ironic inversion that helps to create his witty yet tough-guy persona.

‘I was calling on four million dollars’ In a factual sense he is visiting someone rich: but the expression does a lot more. This is a compressed figure of speech (metonymy) which also characterises the crime novel. It’s like a cartoon, with everything summed up in a single vivid image.

How to read a novelMarlowe’s description of the stained glass window reinforces his characterisation. He describes the figures in a naive manner, as if he had never seen such an emblematic composition before. The lady ‘didn’t have any clothes on’ and the knight has pushed his visor back ‘to be sociable’ but he was ‘not getting anywhere’. Raymond Chandler is simultaneously creating his main character – who is tough, but a little naive – and is giving us clues about how we should view the novel. It’s not to be taken entirely seriously. In fact describing European art from a naive American perspective is a device he has taken from Mark Twain. There is lots of serious crime ahead in the rest of the novel, but he is creating a witty and ironic point of view which we are invited to share.


8. The setting

It is possible to have novels with no setting. The events might take place in a character’s mind – as in Dostoyevski’s Notes from Underground for instance, or Samuel Beckett’s The Unnamable. But most novelists will try to convince readers to take their stories seriously by giving them a credible setting. Charles Dickens’s Bleak House is set in a London whose streets we can still walk down; and the events of Tom Woolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities can be traced on a street map of New York – as we once did when I was teaching that novel.

Some novelists are able to evoke the spirit of a place so vividly that literary tourists are attracted from all over the world to visit the locations. Bath is full of Jane Austen fans, re-tracing the steps of characters from Nothanger Abbey, and large parts of south-west England (Dorset, Wiltshire, and Somerset) attract visitors to Thomas Hardy’s fictional region of Wessex. He might have changed the name of the hills above Dorchester to Egdon Heath, but his passionate description of the countryside is so vivid and powerful that readers will travel half way round the world to see the original.


9. Historical context

This term means ‘social conditions at the time the novel was written’. In other words, the sort of things that were happening, how people behaved, and what they believed in the period the novel was written. Your awareness of these matters will depend upon the depth of your historical knowledge, and it is something which you will develop, the more your read.

Why is it important? Here’s an example – from Jane Austen again. Any number of her young female characters have their eye fixed upon marriage, but they have to be very careful about choosing the right man. All sorts of moral problems arise in her novels about making the right decision. If something goes wrong and the engagement goes on too long or is broken off, it will be regarded as disastrous.

You might think – what’s the problem? She can simply choose somebody else.

But in polite society during the early nineteenth century, women were not free to act as they wished, and certainly not free to choose a husband. A broken engagement would cast a dark shadow over a young woman’s reputation. It would be thought that if her fiance broke off the engagement, there must be something wrong with her.

The same suspicion would even fall on an engagement that was protracted. If the man had made his choice (it was the man who proposed) then his failure to follow through would immediately arouse suspicion – on the woman.

The stories and plots of any number of novels rest on social conditions quite unlike our own, and in fact at a more advanced level of reading the content of novels is one of the richest sources of social history we may have about a period.


10. Reading and taking notes

Novels will yield up more of their riches if you are prepared to do a little work whilst reading them. This means making notes as you go along. You can make a note of anything that strikes you as interesting, but here are some suggestions:

  • the appearance of characters
  • recurring themes or motifs
  • features of the author’s style
  • plot twists or crucial scenes
  • important details of the story

It’s certainly a good idea to summarize the events of each separate chapter. This will help you keep the events of the story in your mind.

Some do’s and don’ts

If something strikes you as important or interesting, underline the text – but also put a word or two in the margin that gives it a title. In other words, give a name to what you think is important.

Don’t underline whole paragraphs: that creates an ugly page, and it’s a waste of time. Instead, write a note in the top or bottom margin, saying what you think is important. Or put a circle round a name or a special couple of words.


Teaching the Novel and Reading for Pleasure



Salman Rushdie

© Roy Johnson 2011


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How to start blogging

September 14, 2009 by Roy Johnson

a quick guide to creating an online journal

Start blogging

A blog (short for the term ‘web log’) is a form of online diary or journal. It’s rather like having your own personal web site, but somebody else does all the technical work. All you need do is write the contents.

What do people put in their blogs? Answer: just about anything. Most are a sort of public diary where people record the events of their lives – occasionally adding a rambling commentary on the state of the world in general. Others can be a fairly serious record of professional work, with invitations for visitors to comment.

Belle de Jour claimed to be the diary of a London call girl, and was so successful it has now been snapped up by a publisher and turned into a book. The Baghdad Blogger became famous because he sent eyewitness accounts of what was happening during the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq.


Start BloggingBiz Stone’s Blogging: Genius Strategies is an enthusiast’s guidance manual. He hit the blogging scene running, and has made himself an expert overnight. He now works for Blogger, which is owned by Google. Biz takes you from the very first steps of creating a blog, through to the advanced possibilities of syndicating what you write and even making money from it. He’s something of an evangelist, but all his advice is perfectly sound. Good for beginners, but he takes you all the way through to more advanced topics such as content syndication and money-making affiliate programs.

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Content

What else can go into a blog? Links to other blogs you find interesting, pictures of your pet dog, observations left behind by your visitors, even snapshots posted from your mobile phone. Here come some examples. Go to an index such as Blogdex.net which lists the most popular and the most recent blogs. Try A Message from Albia, which is a very funny satire of English social and political life purporting to come from a mythical European country. BoingBoing.net is a very popular ragbag of entries, which when I just checked included an item on the youngest video blogger. Even newspapers such as The Guardian have their own blogs.

Blogging began as a medium for Web-based personal diaries, and most people still use it for this purpose. But some bloggers have started to develop the medium for what is essentially self-publishing. They might post notes reflecting briefly on a topic or discuss it with other bloggers, but they also upload essays, articles, or opinion pieces which count as serious pieces of journalism, expressing ideas and points of view which might not be available elsewhere.

It’s a fairly simple process to keep a blog going – once you’ve got it set up. The procedures for signing up and creating a blog are fairly similar in each case. Basically, you subscribe to a blogging service; you set up your blog, choosing from a number of ready-made templates; then you start posting what you have to say.

There’s no point spelling out the procedures in detail here, because online tutorials such as the excellent BlogBasics.com already exist. Read through their suggestions, print out the pages if you wish, then go to Blogger and get started immediately. What I’ll give you here are some general tips, additional support resources, and how to make money from your blog.


Essential BloggingCory Doctorow’s Essential Blogging takes you through all the options of free blogging or paying a small fee to get extra features and more control. It covers all the essentials you might need, and it’s presented in publisher O’Reilly’s impeccably high-standard style. Doctorow is a young guy who has made a big impact in the world of online writing, and he’s now an editor-in-chief at Boing-Boing as well as a successful writer of science fiction. Up to date.

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Procedure

Plan first — Before you start, think of a name for your blog, and decide what you are going to write about. It can follow a theme or a topic; it might be all about your home town or your favourite sports team; it could be a record of your trip around the world. I’ve just discovered that a lot of journalists have personal blogs where they record the gossip they leave out of their official reports. It doesn’t even have to be true: a blog is the perfect medium for an online soap opera.

Sign up — When you have decided on a name and a theme, you need to sign up for an account. These come in two flavours – free and subscription. Blogger.com is the most popular, because it’s free; but some people prefer MoveableType or DiaryLand because they offer additional features for a small charge. WordPress.com offers both a free and a commercial version.

Blog commerce — How can you make an income from all this? Well, it’s unlikely that you can do so directly. But there are all sorts of small possible spin-offs. Lots of bloggers sign up as affiliates at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com and other commercial sites. You place advertising for Amazon on your blog, any they send you a (modest) residual income for sending customers through to their site to buy books, CDs, and software.

There’s also the possibility of micro-payments. This is a system in which people are prepared to pay a small amount for downloading an article of interest. There’s still some resistance to this idea, but it’s now fairly common in downloading music files – so it might catch on.

The most lucrative source of revenue for many blogs and web sites is the Google Adsense scheme. In exchange for letting Google put advertising on your blog or your web pages, they offer you micropayments each time your visitors click through to the advertiser.


The Weblog HandbookRebecca Blood’s The Weblog Handbook is a guide to creating your own blog. It’s a book for anyone who has ever thought about starting but isn’t sure how to post, where to find links, or even where to go to register. She certainly knows what she’s talking about, as you can see at her own blog rebecca’s pocket. She guides you through the whole process of starting and maintaining a blog and answers any questions that might pop up along the way, such as the elements of good blog design and how to find free hosting. She’s gone on to be a very successful professional blogger.

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Advertising

The Google Ads scheme has three big advantages. First, the visitors don’t have to buy anything: you get paid simply for their viewing the ad. Second, the whole thing works automatically. Once the code is in your pages, Google start paying money straight into your bank. Third, Google provide all the scripts and coding, and you can even customise the ads so that they blend into the design of your blog.

One of the cleverest features of Google’s scheme is that the ads are matched to the content of the pages on which they appear. So, if your blog is about music or fashion, the ads will be for CDs and iPod downloads, clothing and online stores. Whatever you write about, the ads will be on the same subject. This is good for Google and good for you, because readers are more likely to click through.

Companies such as Blogger have done everything they can to make the process of setting up a blog as easy as possible. It’s possible to set one up from scratch in just a few minutes. And yet everyone I know – including experienced users – has had some sort of minor problem in doing so. And that includes me.

If you get stuck there are FAQs to answer the most basic queries (“My blog has disappeared. Where has it gone?”). I found these very helpful when setting up my blog because they are full of genuine questions from beginners and answers from more experienced bloggers.


Blogging for Dummies Brad Hill’s advice in Blogging for Dummies is aimed at getting you up and running as quickly as possible – though he begins with what blogs are – and what they are not. He explains the different types of blogs, and how and why they are different from web sites. The good thing is that he looks at all the options and draws up comparison charts which show the features, cost, and options offered by the various providers and software programs. This includes popular features such as the ability to display adverts and upload photos.

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GLOSSARY

Blog (noun) – a journal or diary that is on the Internet – Andrew Sullivan has the most popular blog on the Internet.

Blogger (noun) – a person who keeps a blog – Bloggers are revolutionizing the way news is shared.

Blog (verb) – to write a blog – I am going to blog before breakfast this morning.

Blogging (verb) – the action of writing a blog – Blogging is my way of sharing my passions with the world.

Post (verb) – to write and despatch an individual entry on a blog – I will be posting on this issue tomorrow.

Post (noun) – an individual entry on a blog – In yesterday’s post you mentioned that …

© Roy Johnson 2004


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How to structure an essay

November 21, 2009 by Roy Johnson

What is structure?

Structure is the underlying framework which holds something together. You might not be able to see it, but it’s underneath the outer shape – like the skeleton of a body or the steel girders under the surface of a skyscraper.

The most suitable structure for an essay will depend upon the subject, the title of the essay, or the question to which it is an answer. So the structure for any given piece of work will grow naturally out of these factors. But you can learn about the process fo creating structure by following these guidance notes. Your essays need to be well structured, and this is one simple way of understanding what that means and what is required.

The simplest structure or plan for any essay is as follows:

  1. introduction
  2. main contents
  3. conclusion

This is the basic minimum. Keep in mind that it must start with an introduction and end with a conclusion. Of course, that is rather simplistic, but it’s important that you grasp this basic shape or arrangement of parts.

You could think of it like a sandwich. The introduction and conclusion are like the outer layers of bread, and the main contents are the filling – the meaty or more serious part. You will still need to arrange the main contents in some way – but we’ll come to that next.

Arranging the parts – 1

The first thing to recognise is that the body of the essay – the main arguments – need to be arranged in some way. The arrangement of these parts will depend upon the subject, but it may be any of the following:

  • logical progression
  • increasing significance
  • equal significance
  • chronological order
  • narrative sequence
  • category groupings

Imagine you were writing an essay about French wine. You have decided to discuss four red wines and four white wines. The structure for this essay could be as shown here.

Essay structure

1. Introduction

2. Red wines

  • wine 1
  • wine 2
  • wine 3
  • wine 4

3. White wines

  • wine 1
  • wine 2
  • wine 3
  • wine 4

4. Conclusion

This is clear, simple, and uncomplicated. The red wines have been kept separate from the white wines, so the essay structure is in four distinct parts. There are also four separate examples under red wine and white wine – so the essay is nicely balanced, with equal weight given to each category.

If you are in any doubt, it’s always a good idea to create a clear and simple structure of this kind. But if you felt more ambitious, you could arrange the same elements with a different structure. Let’s see how that can be done.

Arranging the parts – 2

The last example created structure by dividing the wines into reds and whites. But you could just as easily create structure by arranging the wines by region. This could be done using arrangement shown here.

Essay structure

1. Introduction

2. Loire

  • red wine
  • white wine

3. Bordeaux

  • red wine
  • white wine

4. Cotes du Rhone

  • red wine
  • white wine

5. Bugundy

  • red wine
  • white wine

6. Conclusion

It’s the same number of examples, but the arrangement is slightly more complex. Notice that there are now six parts to the essay structure, and an example of red wine and white wine is discussed for each region

This arrangement might also make the essay more interesting to read. Notice how each item is kept separate in the essay plan – so they don’t get mixed up. And each example might be discussed in a paragraph of its own. Next we’ll see how this process can be taken one step further.

Creating essay structure

You might often be asked to write an essay considering the arguments for and against some topic or proposition. For instance – “Consider the arguments for and against congestion charges in city centres.” This is a very common form of writing exercise, because it is forcing you to look at an issue from different points of view.

There are two ways you can arrange the structure for an essay of this type. Here’s the first, which we’ll call Strategy A.

Essay plan – Strategy A

1. Introduction

2. Arguments in favour of congestion charges

  • [traffic] reduces volume
  • [ecology] less air pollution
  • [economy] generates local income
  • [politics] positive social control

3. Arguments against congestion charges

  • [traffic] public transport alternatives
  • [ecology] transfers problem elsewhere
  • [economy] reduces profitable activity
  • [politics] punishes tax-payers

4. Conclusion

The structure is simple, clear, and uncomplicated. The essay is in four parts, and the arguments in favour of congestion charges are kept separate from the arguments against.

Notice that the same topics (traffic, ecology, economy, and politics) are covered in both the case ‘for’ and ‘against’. This gives the essay some structual balance, and it shows that an effort is being made to match the substance of the arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’.

Essay structure – Strategy B

Strategy A kept all the arguments for separate from those against. But here’s Strategy B – which is the most sophisticated essay structure of all.

You can see that in this example the structure is arranged in the form of TOPICS – and each one contains an argument for and against the proposal.

Essay plan

Introduction to congestion charges

TOPIC 1 – Traffic

  • [for] reduces volume
  • [against] public transport alternatives

TOPIC 2 – Ecology

  • [for] less air pollution
  • [against] transfers problem elsewhere

TOPIC 3 – Economy

  • [for] generates local income
  • [against] reduces profitable activity

TOPIC 4 – Politics

  • [for] positive social control
  • [against] punishes tax-payers

Conclusion

The topics are kept separate, and each one is used as the basis for an argument for and against the proposition (of introducing congestion charges).

It’s important if you are using this essay structure to keep the arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ clearly distinguished and firmly related to the question. And the topics must be clearly identified and matched. That is, you must not put an argument for economy alongside one against traffic.

This strategy should only be used if you are experienced, but the result is a more sophisticated essay. This approach demonstrates that you are able to think clearly, organise your arguments, and produce a piece of writing which delivers what the question is designed to call forth.

© Roy Johnson 2009


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