Strategies for Avoiding Plot Summary

Do professors and tutors keep telling you that you rely too much on plot summary? Try these strategies to make your papers more analytical and less summary-driven.

1. Read critically, with pen or pencil in hand.

• Mark any places where you think the author makes a particularly good point (or uses especially important imagery, symbolism, etc.). Also mark places where you think the point is problematic or contradictory (or where the imagery, symbolism, characterization, etc. seemed flawed.) These notes will give you raw materials for analysis.


• Mark any places where you have questions. You can follow up on these later.

2. Look very, very carefully at the assignment questions.

• Look for key words that describe important tasks or required content.


• Figure out the overall purpose of the essay. Remember that most assignments contain more than one task word. Read carefully to determine which tasks are crucial to the assignment (especially task words like analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and critique), and which tasks are providing you raw materials for that analysis (usually task words like describe, list, summarize, compare, contrast, and delineate).

3. Write down the answer (or answers) to the questions in the assignment.

• Keep in mind that the answers may change, but get started on this process anyway.


• Take your answer(s) and makes sure you can see them while you are writing your draft. Try writing them in big letters on an index card and keep it with you while you are writing. This tip can help keep you on track if you have a tendency to get off topic.

4. Develop a strong thesis statement that takes a position on the questions in the assignment.

• Your thesis should be a statement of argument. You want to choose a thesis that takes a clear position that you can back up with academic evidence (usually assigned course materials or related outside research).


• Make sure that your thesis is related to the assigned questions. Don't go off topic without checking with your professor first.

5. Ask yourself, “Would a reader be surprised by the information?” (The “duh” test.)

• Try to find an angle into your topic that represents a problem that needs to be solved or a question that has not yet been sufficiently explained. This is called problem posing, and it helps your readers understand why they should care about your paper topic.

6. Ask yourself, "How much background information does my reader need?"

• Are you writing for an expert audience that knows as much or more than you do? Are you writing for a lay audience that is completely unfamiliar with the topic? Are you writing for an educated audience that doesn't know specifically about your topic, but has a lot of general background knowledge?Once you've figured out who you are writing for, you can determine how much background information to include.


• Background information includes plot summary, as well as descriptions of other people's ideas, studies, or arguments. Your background information and evidence can help you craft an interesting argument, but you need to remember that plot summary and other forms of evidence should support your argument, rather than overwhelming it. Include only as much as your audience needs to understand your points.

7. Step back once in a while and look over what you've written.

• Give yourself a break! Stepping away from your writing for a short time (even 15 minutes) can help you see problems and work out solutions.


• Try our Five Tips to Make Any Paper Stronger.

Some General Suggestions for IH or Literature papers

• Identify the author and the title of the work in the first paragraph.


• Don’t refer to a treatise, essay, poem, or play as a “story.”


• Unless you are writing an informal response paper, avoid describing your experience as a reader. Most academic papers involve an argument about the text, rather than a discussion of your reactions to the text.

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