English Papers

This week, I have found out that I can't write an English paper to save my life.

Alright, that's not entirely true. I can write an English paper. It will follow the MLA format. It will even be written rather well. But I'll still end up with a crappy mark. And why would that be? It appears that I write the papers the way I write psychology papers. I guess that's what I get for being a psychology student in English.

What exactly does this mean? No, it doesn't mean that I'm psychoanalyzing Hamlet, or writing about oedipal complexes in characters. It is more of the style that I am writing in. I don't jump right into the texts and go; I give background information, acknowledging what came before. This isn't always a bad thing, but in the paper I was working on all week, it really wasn't necessary to go back to Plato.

Yes, the writing style may be alright, but it's my content that is lacking. I'm failing to analyze the literature properly. So I have worked on one of my papers since last weekend every day, getting help and trying to rectify the problem. Hopefully this time I'll do alright. I have one more paper due next week, and that's it for the term.

One way or another, this is a learning experience!