/Writing in the Humanities/

Introduction
Writing in the humanities includes posing questions dealing with human values. The ultimate goal in writing in the humanities is to explain/share the human experience, to use writing as a tool to reflect upon the nature of life, and to tell how the nature of life should be lived. "Humanities" as a discipline includes not only literature, but also philosophy, ethics, performing arts, fine arts, history, aspects of anthropology and cultural studies, foreign languages, linguistics, jurisprudence, political science, and sociology. In a humanities class, you might be asked to attempt the analysis of a poem, a performance or a play, a painting, a film or even a musical performance.

There is often a difference in feel between writing in the Sciences and writing in the Humanities. Writing in the Sciences is often convergent (meaning oriented toward finding or articulating a specific answer to a specific question). Writing in the Humanities is often divergent (meaning oriented toward exploration of multiple answers to multiple questions).

Categories of Humanities Writing
Writing in the Humanities can fall into three categories. Theoretical writing, creative writing, and interpretive and analytical writing. Term papers and research papers can also be included in this discipline of writing.

Theoretical Writing
Theoretical writing includes historical writing and philosophical writing. As opposed to other types of writing styles, theoretical writing analyzes and interprets. This type of assignment may be a reaction paper. Many art history papers take on a theoretical approach. There are many avenues that can be taken when writing a theoretical paper, but be sure to stick to the basic elements that are covered in any paper such as: a strong argument, a summary, a conclusion, an intro, etc.

Creative Writing
Some of the words that have been used to define creative writing are storytelling, expression, and imagination. Creative writing can include he genres of poetry, non-fiction, short stories, novels, and even song lyrics. It is a way to express what you feel inside your heart or the ideas that are in your head. It gives the writers an outlet for expressing their views of their surroundings and their world. Uniqueness lies in creative writing because the work is never the same as someone else's. It is a personal expression that comes from each individual writer at each individual moment. However, the true test of creativity occurs when the writing can be said to give readers an experience. For that the reason the writing is called, creative, is because it creates an experience in the minds of its readers.

Interpretive Writing

 * Interpretive writing can be a very difficult experience due to the fact that it asks many questions. It tries to assist the reader in understanding specific events rather than just sum up the information.  For example, if a student is writing an interpretive paper about a specific book, he may try to explain the author's attitudes or views on a specific subject matter.  The writer of the paper then uses that book to back up his claims.   A good example of interpretive writing is a book report.


 * Interpretive writing might ask questions such as, "Why did these events happen?" or "What was the significance of these events to the author or main character?" as opposed to, "How did these events come about?" The former encourages the writer to explore his own thoughts or delve into the mind of the writer of the piece, or even attempt to put himself in the shoes of the protagonist.  The latter is less challenging, as the book or piece of literature will plainly lay this type of information out for the reader.

Analytical Writing

 * Analytical writing takes all the components of interpretive writing and blends them all together. The writer needs to do more than just provide information; they need to analyze the information with supportive material.  The writer will take the information, break-it-apart, and reconstruct it in order to describe the information so the reader can make sense of it.   The writer must make sense of a work before he can attach their feelings to it.


 * Analytical writing focuses on the words "how" and "why." A writer often uses each of these two terms to give proof of their current analogies. By using these strong terms, a reader can feel that the writer is confident in their work and know "how" and "why" they should react.


 * Analytical writing happens in four steps. The first step is to clearly identify the problem, the question, or the issue.  The second step is to define the issue.  The third step is the actual analysis of the topic.  Finally, the fourth step defines the relationship between the issue and the analysis of that issue.

Research Papers and Term Papers
Term papers have a variety of elements that make them stand out from other papers. They carry three distinct characteristics. First, there is a massive amount of research that goes into a term paper. The research contains various findings such as: facts, statistics, interviews, quotes, etc. Researching and gathering data must include understanding that information once it is compiled. The second characteristic is the amount of preparation it takes in gathering, compiling, analyzing, and sorting through everything in order to create a draft of your data. Finally, the third characteristic involves knowing the rules that must be followed when writing a specific term paper in the humanities discipline. These rules will generally be conveyed by your instructor.

Writing the research paper involves a bit of detective work. While there is much reading to be done on the chosen topic, reading is not the only pathway to gain information. As a writer in the humanities, you can also conduct interviews, surveys, polls, and observation clinics. You must research and discover as much information as you can about the given topic and learn enough from it to form a coherent and valid opinion.

Elements of the Humanities Paper
Many styles of documentation are used when writing the humanities paper. Choosing the style depends on the subject being addressed in the paper and the style your instructor may prefer you use.

When it comes down to actually writing your paper, be sure to include the following elements: an introduction, a thesis statement, the body of the paper (which should include quotations, and, of course, the citations), and the conclusion.

Introduction
Like most papers and essays, an introduction is absolutely necessary when writing in the humanities. There can be some confusion as to which should come first; the introduction or the thesis statement. This decision could probably be clarified by asking your instructor. Many writers include the thesis statement in their introduction. Generally speaking, however, the introduction usually comes before the thesis statement.

The introduction should grab your reader and make them interested in continuing to read your paper. Ask a question, say something powerful, or say something controversial. Be specific, not vague. Say something interesting, not mundane. Relay something the reader may not know, not something that is public knowledge. The idea is to get the reader's attention, and keep it.

A good intro may go something like this:

After the introduction has been written, you can then go into your thesis statement. Many people regard the thesis statement as a continuation of the introduction, only in the next paragraph.

Thesis Statement
The thesis statement should come at the beginning of the paper. It will introduce the reader to the topic you intend to address, and gives them a hint of what to expect in the pages that follow. Thesis statements should avoid words and phrases such as, "In my opinion..." or "I think that..." Start your thesis by taking a stand immediately; be firm in your statement, but not pushy. You'll either be given your topic for your paper or you will choose it yourself. In either case, after the topic is chosen, write a thesis statement that clearly outlines the argument you intend to address in the paper. The thesis statement will be the center of your paper. It should address one main issue. Throughout the paper, whatever you write will be focused on the thesis statement. As your paper develops, you may find you will want to, or need to, revise your thesis statement to better outline your paper. As your paper evolves, so does your thesis. In other words, when writing your thesis statement, keep your paper in mind, and when writing your paper, keep your thesis statement in mind. Your paper will defend your thesis, so write your paper accordingly.

For example, if the topic is "Analyzing Mark Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn,' your thesis statement might address the social implications or meanings behind the characters chosen for the story. Keeping the thesis statement in mind, you would then write your paper about the characters in the story.  Let's say you are writing a philosophy paper.  Your thesis statement might include two opposing arguments, with the hint that you intend to argue or prove one side of the argument.  Many thesis statements are written in such a way as to try to prove an argument or point of view, but challenge yourself; make your thesis statement a statement of how you plan to disprove an argument.  Maybe you want to attempt to show your readers why a specific point of view does not work.

Your thesis statement should address one main issue. It takes a point of view or an argument, and the paper is the development of this argument. If your thesis statement is too simple, obvious, or vague, then you need to work on it a little more. You should try to write it in a way that will catch your reader's attention, making it interesting and thought-provoking. It should be specific in nature, and address the theme of the entire paper. The thesis statement may be written to try to convince the reader of a specific issue or point of view. It may also address an issue to which there is no simple solution or easy answers; remember, make it thought-provoking. Many thesis statements invite the reader to disagree.

Don't be alarmed if you find yourself midway through your paper and wanting to change your thesis statement. This will happen. Sometimes a writer will start out thinking they know exactly the point they want to make in their paper, only to find halfway through that they've taken a slightly different direction. Don't be afraid to modify your thesis statement. But a word of caution; if you modify your thesis statement, be sure to double check your paper to ensure that it is supported by the thesis. If you have changed your thesis statement, it would be wise, even advisable, to have a third party read your paper to be sure that the paper supports the thesis and the revised thesis describes the paper.

Body
The "body" of your paper contains the evidence, analysis, and reasoning that support your thesis. Often the topic of the paper is divided into subtopics. Typically, each subtopic is discussed in a separate paragraph. It is good practice to begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the subject of the new paragraph and helps transition between paragraphs. A topic sentence will help keep you focused while writing the paragraph, and it will keep your reader focused while reading it.

Conclusion
The purpose of a conclusion is to "wrap up" the discussion of your paper. Especially if the paper is a long one, it is a good idea to "re-cap" the main ideas presented in your paper. If your paper is argumentative, you'd likely want to re-enforce the standpoint introduced in your thesis statement; however, rather than repeating your thesis, offer closing statements that make use of all the information you've presented to support your thesis. Try to "echo" your thesis so that your reader understands that you have fulfilled the "promise" a thesis statement implies, but give your reader a sense of closure rather than simply restating everything you said above just ending it.

Here are some strategies for closing your discussion:

After summing up your main points/thesis you might
 * Comment on the significance of the topic in general: why should your reader care?
 * Look to the future: Is there more work to be done on the topic?  Are there predictions you can make about your topic?
 * Ask something of your reader: Is there something your reader can do?  Should do?

Resources To Use
The humanities category offers many good sources from which to gather information. The Internet is fast becoming an important source of information for humanities writing. There are many history sites, journalism and news sites, sites focusing on the history of film, sites dedicated to womens' issues, and so on. More traditional physical resources include dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographies, indexes, abstracts, and periodicals, and our old friend, the library.

As you can see, there are many resources from which to choose when writing your paper. Start at the most basic level and progress from there. For example, if you are writing about a specific work of a famous author, the obvious place to begin is with a careful reading of the work in question. Once you are done, try to articulate what you know to be true, what you think is probably true, and what is open to question: that is, what you might need to find out. It is helpful to actually go through the physical process of writing out two or three key questions that you would like to focus on.

At that point, you may want begin your further researches with a search through an encyclopedia, or do an online search for available resources, including interviews. After you have found the information you need there, you might then search a through a card catalog in a library for specific books. You may find that while searching for one specific book you will stumble upon many other useful books on the same subject. You can then begin to look through book reviews for information on your subject. Book reviews can be especially informative in that they will often will identify important themes, raise new questions, and broaden your sense of what is at stake in the text. Next, you may want to try searching for articles in periodicals, and even abstracts of articles, which will provide a summary of the content of the potential article.