Perspective as Knowledge: The only reason to write an essay – ever – is because you know something your audience doesn’t. Sometimes, that knowledge comes from knowing your situation in life better than anyone else. Maybe others share that situation, and you’re able to speak to it. Or maybe folks who aren’t in that situation could benefit from seeing the issue from that perspective.

The Value of Perspective: Perspective is one of your greatest resources as a writer. Having a perspective is what keeps readers coming back for more. 

Defining Perspective: From the Latin per, “through, + specter, “to look at,” your perspective is the way you see the world from your unique position in it. It is the sustained point of view you have developed over time, as conditioned by your experiences, values, and goals. 

Picking Topics with Perspective: Use your perspective to help you decide which texts and topics to write about. Don’t write about something you don’t care about. 

Finding Yourself in the Material: So, when you’re assigned an essay, ask how you can “find yourself” in the text – your concerns and interests – because those are concerns and interests that you’ve already thought a lot about. That means you have expertise. You might have something to teach us. 

Beyond Perspective: It’s not enough to have a perspective. You have to deliver on it with quality arguments. But having a perspective, and knowing what yours is, is a key step to developing your unique voice as a writer. So what’s your perspective?

Thinking About Experiences and Identities: Perspective is closely bound up with experiences and identities. The best way to develop your academic perspective is to be responsive to the accidents of your life. For example, if you happen to be a recovering alcoholic and former juvenile delinquent who has attempted suicide, experiences bouts of depression, and is an atheist, you should use those experiences when deciding which texts to write about and when writing about those texts. You need not reveal those aspects of your identity in every paper, but you should use those experiences as the foundation for your perspective.

Perspective Need Not Be Traumatic: Having perspective doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve been through some traumatic life event. Sometimes you have, and that’s definitely part of your perspective. But usually perspective is about the specifics of your situation in the world, and how those specifics might relate to the materials you’re writing about and the audiences you’re addressing.

Developing Perspective: The questions below are designed to help you discover and formalize what your perspective is.  Because you may want to keep some of your answers below private, you won’t be asked to show this sheet to anyone else. So aim for honesty and consequentiality as you answer the following questions that will help you see what your unique perspective as a writer might be. 

Identities: List two identities you hold that give your life meaning. These could be biographical (e.g., middle child, father deceased, star athlete, military, etc.), geographical (city kid, Southerner, American), cultural (wealthy, Hispanic, atheist), political (radical, conservative, independent), sexual (in love, transsexual, virgin), or anything else that comes to mind.

Conceptrations: List the two academic fields you are most fascinated by (i.e., possible concentrations). 

Extracurriculars: Write down two extracurriculars you partake in (formally or informally). 

Classes: List the college classes you’ve taken, and any particularly memorable ones from high school.

Expertise: Identify a specific topic you know a lot about (e.g., some people, for whatever reason, know a lot about the French revolution, or soil density, or what have you).

Languages: Do you speak any languages other than English?

Social Challenges: What do you think is the single greatest problem facing society today?

Your Life: What has been the single most influential event on your development as a human being? 

Your Times: What has been the most important historical event of your lifetime? 

Thinking With Perspective: As you’re reading and thinking about essay topics to write about, ask how you might pose questions related to the above issues. True, a text like Shakespeare’s Hamlet is centuries-old, from a very different time and place, but it can also feel very current. Perhaps, instead of writing about the big and obvious themes in Hamlet – ghosts, revenge, tragedy, etc. – you might try writing about something with a significant modern valence in your life or our world. Or maybe Hamlet simply doesn’t speak to you and your perspective, and it could be interesting to ask why. To do that, be “on the look out” for questions and problems that you’re particularly well poised to address (because you already have significant experience or interest in those topics). Ask yourself how you can use the things you care about to interpret Hamlet, and how you can use Hamlet to interpret the things you care about.

Against Objectivity: Thus, don’t try to be objective. Objectivity is a myth. Embrace your perspective as a human and a writer. Allow that perspective to influence and play a part in your argument. If you’ve lost a parent, you have a perspective on Hamlet’s grief. If you’re a feminist, you have a perspective on the way that Polonius treats his daughter. When people tell you to “be objective,” what they really want is for you to be rigorous in your analysis of evidence; they don’t want you to pretend like you’re not who you are.