Basics of Scholarly Writing

Prompt: An open-ended question(s) that requires an explanatory response. Prompts ask you to give a short or long written answer and expec tyou to clearly explain the reasoning behind your answer.

When answering a prompt, make sure you do exactly what the prompt has asked you to do. If you ignore parts of the prompt or disregard the parameters of the prompt. your writing will not be taken seriously.

1. Find out what the prompt is actually asking you to do. Sometimes there will be multiple tasks. Number the tasks or questions and complete them all.

2. Identify the limits, rules, and scope of the prompt. Stay within these parameters.

3. Plan your answer using RARE or a similar format. Make a plan before you write the actual answer; this will ensure that you have a logical plan and that you have not missed any parts of the prompt.

The best written answers to questions/prompts and the best arguments in general will be able to stand on their own as an independent piece of writing. In other words, the reader will not need to know the original question/prompt in order to understand the written answer. The written answer will make sense all on its own even if the reader has never seen the question/prompt it answers.

Formal Tone: A professional voice in writing where the author refrains from using personal pronouns in reference to themselves (e.g. 'I', 'me', 'my'). The author also uses scholarly grammar and vocabulary.

If you use slang, contractions, abbreviations, poor spelling, or poor grammar, your tone will come across as informal and unprofessional.

Here’s a question:

Why are mentor characters so common in literature?

Here’s an example of an answer using professional tone:

Mentor characters show up frequently in literature because they have knowledge the heroes do not yet possess. Authors use mentors to advise and warn heroes, because mentors have already faced fearsome trials and gained wisdom. For example, in The Hobbit, Gandalf warns Bilbo and the dwarves that they must stay on the path while they travel through Mirkwood. Gandalf knows the dangers lurking in Mirkwood, so the author uses him to warn and advise the characters who lack knowledge.

Here’s the same answer without a professional tone:

I think mentors are major characters in books and show up alot because they have lots of good ideas the hero doesn’t have/get yet. The wise mentor guy will say “hey get outta there!” to the hero&friends, because they’ve been through scary stuff. Gandalf warns Bilbo and Co. because mirkwood is full of kidnapper elves and scary devil squirrels and giant man-eating spiders!! He knows the CRAZY stuff they will face so he warns…..don’t go off the path!

Specific Detail: The use of proper names and nouns instead of personal pronouns (e.g. ‘Mr. Hyde’ instead of ‘he’) and the inclusion of specific dates, settings, objects, and events relevant to the subject the author is writing about (e.g. ‘In 1894’ instead of ‘A long time ago’).

Here’s a question:

How does the protagonist slay the Jabberwock in Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky”?

Here’s an answer to the question that uses specific detail:

In Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky,” the main character kills the Jabberwock by slicing through the creature with his “vorpal sword,” cutting off the beast’s head.

Here’s an answer without specific detail:

With a sword.

The best pieces of evidence or examples for any scholarly writing will be:

• Specific, accurate, and detailed; it will be clear that the writer understands the evidence/examples they chose.
• Relevant to the actual argument. They will support the claim being made.
• Often include quotations from the source.
• Large enough in number to support the argument. The standard minimum is three examples or pieces of evidence. Some prompts may ask for more or less. If the prompt does not state a number, default to three.