Selecting texts to write about
(if the essay question permits choice)

• Make sure that you choose texts which enable you to address the central issues that you have identified in the essay question. Do not try to twist the question too far in order to fit a particular text that you want to write about, as you will probably end up not focusing on the main issues which the question highlights.
  
  
• If you are writing about two or more texts in one essay, you should be able to explain and justify why those texts are being studied alongside one another - for example, they deal with similar themes, or are in the same genre, or are from the same historical period. The basis for your choice of texts should be clear within your essay. It should be evident to the person reading the essay that the texts have been selected for a reason, not just at random.
  
  
• Try to think creatively about your choice of texts. It is likely that you are permitted to write about texts other than the ones which you’ve covered in lectures and seminars. Although it is not the case that choosing obscure texts to write about will get you a higher mark for your work, looking beyond those dealt with in class does demonstrate the use of initiative. Reading widely develops your skills in analysing and writing about literature. It is also possible that you might find you have more 'freedom' when writing about something that you have not studied extensively in class. It can be easier to develop your own critical understanding, rather than worrying about how your point view compares to that of the lecturer.
  
  
• The essay question might not instruct you to write about a specific text but instead asks you to consider some issue in relation to a particular historical period, literary genre or author. For example:

  Do you consider the love poetry of the period (1550-1750) to be misogynistic?

This type of question can be very daunting as you might imagine that you need to have read everything by that author, or in that genre or historical period in order to be able to answer the question properly. Don’t worry - this is not the case! It is perfectly acceptable to focus on a limited number of texts and to discuss them in relation to the issues which the essay question foregrounds. At this level of study no one expects you to have read all of the love sonnets of the Renaissance, for example. You are not being asked to make some authoritative critical statement about all the works of a particular author or in an entire genre or historical period: rather, you are required to show your ability to think about critical issues in relation to what you have read. It goes without saying, however, that your essay will be improved if you have read more than a few isolated examples of a particular kind of text.

• Make sure that you know the course requirements and regulations. If your course is assessed through both essays and exams, it might well be the case that you cannot write about the same texts in both coursework and exams. You might be required to write about a certain number of texts. If the unit, module or course relates to a particular literary period and/or genre (e.g. British poetry 1750-1850; tragedy), check that the text(s) you select are suitable.
  
  
• Do not try to cover too much within a single essay. It is difficult to give hard and fast rules about how many texts it is appropriate to write about in a single essay, but remember that anything you say about a text in your essay has to contribute to the development of the essay’s argument. This means that you probably would not be able to write comprehensively about numerous aspects of, say, four moderately lengthy texts in a 2000 word essay. Your discussion of the text would probably be superficial and would not serve to prove adequately the critical points you would be trying to make. However, you could successfully analyse certain shared features or aspects of those four texts within the word limit, for instance examining how each one of chosen texts depicts relations between the sexes, makes use of soliloquy, etc. In other words, concentrate your discussion on specific issues.

An example of an effective choice of aspects of the text(s) to write about		An example of a more effective selection of texts to discuss in the essay