The ‘Uneven U’
Breaking Down the Uneven U
One of the writing strategies I have found useful is the Uneven U. The Uneven U is especially helpful for my academic writing, but I think it offers practical principles for all kinds of writing genres.
Dr. Eric Hayot, a Professor of Comparative Literature at Penn State, develops the simple but powerful idea of the Uneven U:
“Imagine a system or a continuum that, across five levels, divides one major function of a piece of literary critical prose: its proximity to a piece of evidence” (p. 59)
These five levels range from the most abstract level from the evidence to the most concrete level of raw evidence itself:
5 — abstract idea that orients the reader towards a solution or conclusion
4 — less abstract level that brings ideas together to set up a problem for the reader.
3 — summary of the main idea that introduces the reader to two or more broad examples
2 — detailed interpretation or description that provides framing for raw example
1 — the raw, unmediated data of facts, information or concrete observation.
Now why would these five levels, as a continuum for structuring your writing, be called the Uneven U? The main point is to finish your…
