The world-wide-web is awash with not-so-helpful essay writing advice, rendering it tricky for students to get the advice they want when writing essays. So our experts that are academic written the following suggestions for you yourself to utilise before and whilst crafting your essay, to ensure your writing hits the mark.
Comprehend the question
This may, during the face from it, seem like somewhat banal advice – but simple fact is the fact that failing to properly comprehend the question set is regarded as, or even the most typical reason for a disappointing grade when it comes to essay writing. Are you being asked to critically evaluate something? Compare and contrast? Analyse a particular circumstance? Evaluate the usefulness of a concept that is particular?
These are a few of the common phrases found in essay questions, and every indicates a different collection of expectations. If you are asked to critically evaluate a certain theoretical approach, for instance, you must gain an understanding not only of said theory, but additionally other common approaches. They must all be weighed against one another, highlighting the relative strengths and weaknesses of every theory and, importantly, you must started to a well-justified and conclusion that is confident. Is the theory good? What exactly are its flaws? How do it be improved?
You don’t necessarily need to go into as much critical depth if you are asked to evaluate the usefulness of something, however. Yes, you should still acknowledge alternative approaches, and yes, you need to still note some strengths and weaknesses – however the bulk of the job must emphasise the concepts usefulness that is practical. Perhaps the approach that is best is to get one, or a few, case studies in which the theory has been utilized – the thing that was the results with this? Does the application of the theory reveal any shortcomings that are particular or strengths?
“Compare and contrast” essays, meanwhile, are essentially a hybrid for the above – you ought to take a critical approach and assess the literature, but your focus needs to remain solidly regarding the theories that you have now been asked to compare and contrast. It is critical to show which you understand both (or all) core theories in great depth, both on a applied and theoretical level.
In essence, the wording associated with essay question will let you know how the essay must certanly be written. It’s going to indicate where the focus of your essay should lie as you write and research.
Plan and schedule
Understanding the real question is step one, however it is incredibly important which you make efficient utilization of the available time. Students often underestimate the level of work expected to write a good essay, which results in a few things: (1) late nights during the library, and (2) a grade that is disappointing. You should start planning your essay the moment you receive the essay question if you want to achieve a good mark. The next table might be a aid that is useful
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| Understand the question | (Insert date) |
| Map the essay chapters | (Insert date) |
| Collect articles | (Insert date) |
| Read and take notes | (Insert date) |
| Start writing | (Insert date) |
| Finish draft that is firstInsert date) | |
| Proofread | (Insert date) |
| turn in | (Insert date) |
By setting deadlines that you won’t be left with too much work right before your hand-in date for yourself and committing to stick to them, you are ensuring. It is also important that you leave time, ideally a short time, between finishing your first draft and proofreading.
Be critical
Perfect theories and academic approaches are rare – the clear majority of theories, arguments, and research reports have flaws. Being descriptive is okay if you’re looking to scrape a pass, however for a higher grade you will need to show that you are able to leverage critical reasoning in your dealing with academic materials. What are the limitations for the theories you will be drawing on? How have these been dealt with within the literature? Just how can they impact the quality of arguments presented, also to what extent do they limit our knowledge of what you are actually studying? What alternate explanations might offer depth that is additional?
Critical thinking is what will make your essay stand out. It shows the marker that you will be not simply repeating the arguments which have been fed for you through your studies, but actually engaging with theories in an academic manner. A way that is good practice this can be to pay careful attention when reading literature reviews in published articles – you will find that authors don’t simply summarise previous studies, but offer a critique ultimately causing a gap due to their own research.
Structure, focus and flow
How you present your argument is nearly as important once the argument itself, and that’s why it really is imperative that your particular essay follows a logical structure. A vintage piece of advice is to “tell them what you are actually planning to let them know, then let them know, and inform them what you told them” – this, in essence, summarises the core introduction, main body, and conclusion structure of the essay.
Having an obvious and structure that is logical help make sure your essay stays focused, and doesn’t stray through the question being answered. Each section, paragraph, and sentence should add value towards the argument you will be presenting. When you are writing, it is good to take a step back and ask yourself “what value does this sentence/section add? How does it backlink to my argument that is overarching?” If you learn that you can’t answer that question, there clearly was a high risk which you have strayed from your core argument, and you may would you like to reconsider the trail you’re taking.
You should also be sure that all the different parts of your essay fit together as a cohesive and logical whole, and that the transition from 1 argument to the next is fluid. Students often treat essays as lists of arguments, presenting one after the other with little consideration for the way they fit together, which inevitably results in a lower life expectancy grade. Be sure to inform your reader why you are transitioning in one argument to another location, why they truly are in this order that is particular and exactly how each argument helps shed light on a certain facet of what you are actually discussing.
Whether you should read the article as a whole if you are still not a hundred percent sure, it is usually a good idea to skip to the conclusion – this usually contains a detailed summary of the study, which will help determine. You don’t want to waste time reading through and number that is endless of just to discover that they aren’t actually relevant. After you have identified a couple of solid articles, you ought to (a) proceed through their bibliographies and pay attention to who they are citing, since these articles will likely be of value for the research that is own (b) check into Google Scholar to see that has cited them. To work on this, simply input the true name associated with the article within the search bar and hit enter. When you look at the results, click “cited by” – this may return a listing of all of the articles which have cited the publication you looked for.
It’s important that you haven’t engaged with the wider literature that you don’t rely too heavily on one or a couple of texts, as this indicates to the marker. You need to be particularly careful in using course books (i.e. “introduction to management” and so on), as these are essentially summaries of other people’s work.
Quoting, paraphrasing and plagiarism
Academic writing requires a balance that is careful novel argument, and drawing on arguments presented by others. Writing a totally ‘novel’ essay, without drawing about the same source, indicates that you haven’t made yourself knowledgeable about what has already been published; citing someone for each point made shows that you haven’t produced a novel argument. As such, it is necessary you are making a statement of fact, or drawing on arguments, frameworks, and theories presented by other academics that you provide evidence (a credible citation) when. These, in turn, should support the novel that is overarching that you yourself are making.