Way back in the day, as a young undergrad in the English dept, there was a common misconception that essays were really just opinions, and you couldn’t be graded on your opinion, now could you? Until one professor came out and reminded us that not all opinions are created equal: those backed up by some actual evidence, of course, are going to carry more weight than those that riff off “I like this poem because it reminds me of my dog…”1, and in fact your writing would be stronger the smaller and tigher its focus: think globally, write locally. Your opinion may even be “right”, in some grand scheme of things, but finding ways to essentially repeat “Shakespeare was a genius” for ten pages isn’t nearly as interesting or useful as, say, discussing the ramifications of the Duke’s presence on stage during Act II, scene iii, if indeed the stage directions suggest he is, even if he has no dialog, given what he says later.
Anyways. I don’t pretend to be an expert on much, which is why, chances are, if you’re reading this, I’ve been reading you this past year, to learn a few things. (And dammit, you’re all keeping me from the stack of books I’m supposed to be reading. You’re just too interesting.) So going into 2012, here are just a few of the writings I’ve found particularly useful this past year, because they had the evidence beyond the usual “Open! Closed! Awesome! Crappy!”…
