We need to complete one more step in the analysis before we get down to writing the paper itself. However, before we move to this, it’s important to consider whether a paper is what’s being required.
5. Analyzing the Requirements
One of the first questions instructors usually get about an assignment is, “How long does it have to be?”, followed swiftly by, “When is it due?” These are important considerations in any assignment, but they shouldn’t define what you write about — until you’ve fully analyzed your assignment.
Once we understand the topic, have a question to answer, and know who we’re writing to and why, it’s time to figure out how much we can say. This is defined both by length requirements and time constraints.
These can take a little unpacking, too.
Considering Required Length
Some papers will require a set length, say 3 to 5 pages or 1,000 words. Almost all word processors will count words, lines, and pages for you. Watch the language of these requirements carefully. Here are some questions to ask about Required Length:
- For page limits, are the pages single- or double-spaced? (If not, check; most college papers will be double-spaced, but some writing classes, such as business classes, will require different formats).
- Is there a required font size? (If not, assume 12-point font will be used).
- Does the page limit include reference pages? For instance, if I write a 3-page paper but have a 1-page list of sources, is that a 4-page paper or a 3 page paper? (Usually, source pages do NOT count into page limits or word counts).
- Does the assignment require any tables, charts, or illustrations, and will they count into the overall length? (Don’t assume that they do!)
- If a paper has only one limit, is it a minimum, maximum, or strict limit? For example, if you’re asked to write a 4-page paper, does that mean you have to write AT LEAST 4 pages, AT MOST 4 pages, or EXACTLY 4 pages? It will make a big difference!
Once you’ve figure out how many pages you need, look at the other requirements for the paper. Some papers will ask you to use a specific model for formatting. Sometimes, these will be provided by the instructor. At other times, you’ll be expected to understand how to use a formatting style like MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), or Chicago Style.
- You can find resources about each of these three major writing “styles” in online: One very good resource is About Writing, another open (free) text that describes basic research and citation styles. the sidebar. Each type has slightly different formatting requirements, and each type requires a writer to use citations of outside work in a different way.
- If you’re not provided with a certain style to work with, either check with your instructor or default to MLA Style, as it is what’s taught in most writing/English classes.
These styles will tell you where to place page numbers, titles, and headings, and they’ll also tell you what the required margin spacing will be on each page.
Further Requirements
The next requirement to consider is whether outside research is required, encouraged, or prohibited. Outside research is any work you need to do beyond your class textbooks and lecture. Considering how much research you’ll need to do is something we’ll discuss later, but it’s important to keep in mind that finding good, college-level sources will require time. It’s more than just a Google search! You’ll also have to leave time to create a works cited page for all of the sources you use.
Using the Deadline
Finally, we have to consider our timeline.
Most of us immediately consider the timeline in terms of our own schedule. How soon is the paper due? What do I need to accomplish before then? What else is going on that might slow my work down?
There’s another way to look at writing deadlines, too: A deadline can sometimes give you an idea of what’s expected in a paper. If you’re given less than a week to complete an essay of several pages, it’s likely that you won’t also be required to do much/any outside research. Remember our purpose section: A professor would require an essay to be done quickly because she wants to know what you already know and how well you can put it into writing. As always, though, asking for clarification of expectations is worthwhile.
Knowing how long a paper needs to be and how much time we have to work on it can also help us narrow our question. That way, we don’t end up trying to answer a question that’s too big — meaning, a question that could only be answered by writing a book. We may also need to broaden our question sometimes, when the question we’re asking is so short it could be answered in only a few sentences.
Finally, remember to leave yourself not just time to write, but time to research, as well. Planning to complete a paper the night before its due assumes that everything else in your work (and life) will be going perfectly, allowing you uninterrupted time and space to finish the paper. If that’s not how your life usually goes, think about getting started early, and working on a first draft that you make “due” several days in advance, so that there’s always time to correct (and a cushion in case of emergency).
6. Narrowing
Let’s look back at our original assignment and question.
Assignment: HISTORY 105: Write a thorough, thoughtful essay in which you discuss the major aims of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Use your textbook and in-class discussion notes as sources and guides. Include a conclusion that speculates on Lincoln’s success or failure in terms of these goals.
Our question: What were the major aims of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency? Did he fail or succeed?
Let’s say I know now that I’m asked to answer this in a 3-to-5 page paper of about 1,000-1,300 words. (In MLA Style, figure 350 words per page). That means I can’t really address every single good thing Abraham Lincoln did in his presidency. There are entire books written about that! So I’m going to need to narrow this down. One of the easiest ways to narrow a topic is to add a number to your question.
What’s a reasonable number of “major aims” that I can discuss in a 3-to-5 page paper? The question clearly wants more than one aim, so I’ll have to talk about at least 2. Therefore, I might settle on 2-3 or 3-4 major aims. I’d rephrase my question to reflect this:
Our question: What were the three most important aims of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency? Did he fail or succeed?
Making this question narrower will help us not only write a paper that has time to answer the whole question but also that meets the length requirement and can be finished in the time we have available.
We’ll continue to work on narrowing as we write.
7. Form an Answer
It’s almost time to start writing!
But wait, you’re thinking. I’ve spent all of this time… and I’m still not writing? How is this helping me get my paper written?
Assignment Analysis (also called Determining the Writing Situation or Finding the Rhetorical Situation) is the first part of a large part of your process called Prewriting. Prewriting is the stage of writing preparation that we go through before we begin to draft. It’s when we analyze our assignment and generate ideas to write about; it also includes organization and sometimes research around our topic. This is an expected part of college writing.
Often, students start writing classes with a writing process that includes just sitting down and typing out a first draft as fast as possible. If you’re used to working on assignments right at deadline, this might be your entire experience of writing. It can be a frustrating, stressful experience, and it doesn’t often lead to the best paper possible. Oh, in some cases, it can lead to an OK grade, but the work itself suffers. In short, if your goal is to do your best in your courses beyond just getting a good grade, pre-writing is the place to start.
So now that we’ve gone through all of these thinking steps, you’re ready to put the first real piece of your paper on, well, paper: the answer to the question you came up with at the very beginning (and have been slightly altering ever since). In no more than two sentences, answer the question you’ve formed from the assignment.
This sentence will become the center of everything you write for this assignment, and from it, we can begin to fill up those blank pages.
We’ll cover the remaining pieces of the Prewriting process — including how to get from that blank page to a full paper — next.