How to Write a St. John's Paper - Colloquy @ SJC

How to Write a St. John's Paper - Colloquy @ SJC

Geoffrey Young, graduate writing assistant at St. John's College in Annapolis, explains how to write an essay in the school's distinctive Great Books program.

"It is not a summary of the text in question. It is not a 'personal essay' in the sense of the text serving as a means to fly freely and gleefully into the realm of your thoughts on the world. It is not 'a work of specialized research'.... [Y]our essay will not use outside sources that provide academic context or commentary...."

"It is the 'pursuit of a difficult question in dialogue with a great author,"... a conversation... in the open-ended and exploratory mode of a seminar... an attempt, a trial, a try. Consider that you are not answering a question; you are asking one, and then trying out an answer."

How to get started?

"Free write!... Now is the time to write uncritically -- no editing, no crossing out. Write out why a particular text is confusing, or why it is beautiful. Write out why you're having trouble writing. The process of writing -- writing anything at all -- has a funny way of demanding clarification in your thought. A mere 10-15 minutes of free writing will likely take you a long way toward a fruitful opening question."