Essay writing

Why write essays?

Because you have to, in order to pass your exams!

"Formative" term essays, which are not assessed, are set so that you may sharpen your skills for the real test, when you will be assessed by coursework or examination in the final, "summative" essay

For whom am I writing?

Imagine that you are writing for an experienced reader of English who read the primary text a long time ago. She (or he) won't expect an explanation of the technical terms that you use (there's no need to explain what a metaphor is!), nor is there any need to "tell the story" of the text, but you should refresh your reader's memory with specific details by quoting from the text.

What should an essay look like?

Your essay should be structured as an introduction, an argument and a conclusion. Using such a framework will help you to attain the appropriate assessment objective.

The introduction is a single, relatively short paragraph — not usually more than five to ten percent of the total length of an essay; in an exam answer it need not be more than two or three lines. Its purpose is to show the reader that you have understood the question and have planned your argument.
For more about introductions. click here

The argument is your answer to the question that you have been set. It is the “dialectic” — the ideas, logic and reasoning — by which you will be assessed. The argument is a linked sequence of paragraphs, each on a single topic: making a point relevant to the question and illustrating that point with a suitable quotation or reference. The linking mechanism is just “how one paragraph leads into the next”, but it is very important because it shows that you have thought about and organised your material.

A well-organised essay does not just stop at the end of the argument (did you spot how I used the idea of ‘organised’ to link these two paragraphs?). There should be a short conclusion, the purpose of which is to review the argument (but without examples), tell the reader that you have answered the question as you said that you would in the introduction, and generally give a sense of a "controlled landing", not a power failure. The conclusion is possibly the most important part of the essay, since it is the last thing the examiner reads before she puts a mark to your paper — and you do want to leave her with a good impression of your work!

One final comment - which perhaps should have come first - is that you should avoid using the personal pronoun "I" in your essay. Once or twice may be acceptable, but any more than that and the reader feels that your essay loses the objectivity which is so important in academic writing.

How do I go about writing my first essay?

Analyse the essay title: read and understand what you are being asked to do.
Think about your response. Read around the subject (unless you are in an examination) and make notes. Be sure that you record the titles of all the secondary material that you have read
Plan your argument (“answer the question”) . There are several ways of planning an answer; "mind maps" or "spider diagrams" are good for coursework. Under exam conditions, where time is limited, I find it fastest to write a list of bullet points, each of which can be used as a topic sentence for the actual essay.
Write your introductory paragraph, argument and concluding paragraph, using the recommended framework and layout conventions.
You will, of course, be expected to use appropriate terminology , as well as accurate punctuation and coherent expression of your ideas.
Having created the first draft, follow the guidelines for Content Editing your essay to correct spelling, sentence structure, punctuation and other common errors, and to make sure that your paragraphs are neatly linked together into a solid chain.
You are required to add a bibliography to a coursework essay, to identify and give credit to all the secondary material that you have assimilated while researching your essay. This will avoid accusations of plagiarism (which is fortunately rare: I have only ever had one student who was daft enough to copy paragraphs of her coursework straight out of a secondary text without acknowledging that it was somebody else’s work).

For a practical example, read this essay plan.

Finally, when you are happy with your essay, submit it on the agreed date.