The web is awash with not-so-helpful essay writing advice, which makes it tricky for students to find the advice they need when writing essays. So our academic experts have written the following advice so that you can utilise before and whilst crafting your essay, to ensure your writing hits the mark.
Understand the question
This might, during the face of it, appear to be somewhat banal advice – but simple fact is the fact that failing continually to properly comprehend the question set is regarded as, if you don’t the most frequent reason behind a disappointing grade when it comes to essay writing. Have you been being asked to critically evaluate something? Compare and contrast? Analyse a particular circumstance? Measure the usefulness of a concept that is particular?
They are a number of the common phrases present in essay questions, and each indicates a set that is different of. If you should be asked to critically evaluate a particular theoretical approach, by way of example, you must gain an understanding not only of said theory, but also other common approaches. They must all be weighed against one another, highlighting the relative strengths and weaknesses of each and every theory and, importantly, you need to come to a well-justified and conclusion that is confident. Could be the theory good? Exactly what are its flaws? How can 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 should still note some strengths and weaknesses – nevertheless the bulk of the work must emphasise the concepts practical usefulness. Probably the best approach is to find one, or a couple of, case studies where in fact the theory has been utilized – that which was the results with this? Does the use of the theory reveal any particular shortcomings, or strengths?
“Compare and contrast” essays, meanwhile, are essentially a hybrid of the above – you ought to take a critical approach and evaluate the literature, however your focus has to remain solidly regarding the theories which you have already been asked to compare and contrast. You should show which you understand both (or all) core theories in great depth, both on a theoretical and applied level.
In essence, the wording of this essay question will let you know the way the essay should always be written. It’s going to indicate where in fact the focus of the essay should lie while you write and research.
Plan and schedule
Knowing the real question is the initial step, but it is equally important that you make efficient utilization of the time that is available. Students often underestimate the amount of work necessary to write a beneficial essay, which leads to a couple of things: (1) late nights at 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. Listed here table may 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 first draft | (Insert date) |
| Proofread | (Insert date) |
| Hand in | (Insert date) |
By setting deadlines that you won’t be left with too much work right before http://www.payforpapers.net/ your hand-in date for yourself and committing to stick to them, you are ensuring. Additionally, it is essential 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 almost all theories, arguments, and studies have flaws. Being descriptive is okay that you are able to leverage critical reasoning in your dealing with academic materials if you are looking to scrape a pass, but for a higher grade you need to show. Which 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, and to what extent do they limit our understanding of what you are actually studying? What alternate explanations might offer depth that is additional?
Critical thinking is what is likely to make your essay get noticed. It shows the marker that you are not only repeating the arguments which have been fed to you through your studies, but actually engaging with theories in an academic manner. A good option to practice this is certainly to cover careful attention when reading literature reviews in published articles – you will see that authors don’t simply summarise previous studies, but offer a critique leading to a gap with regards to their own research.
Structure, flow and concentrate
Itself, which is why it is imperative that your essay follows a logical structure how you present your argument is nearly as important as the argument. A classic piece of advice would be to “tell them what you are 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 your essay.
Having a definite and logical structure will help make sure that 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 are presenting. When you are writing, it’s advisable that you take one step as well as ask yourself “what value performs this sentence/section add? How does it connect to my overarching argument?” If you learn which you can’t answer that question, there is a high risk that you have strayed from your own core argument, and you will would you like to reconsider the road you’re taking.
You should also ensure that all the different components of your essay fit together as a cohesive and logical whole, and therefore the transition in one argument to another is fluid. Students often treat essays as lists of arguments, presenting one following the other with little to no consideration for how they fit together, which inevitably contributes to a diminished grade. Be sure to inform your reader why you might be transitioning in one argument to another location, why they truly are in this order that is particular and how each argument helps shed light on a particular element of what you’re discussing.
If you’re still not a hundred percent sure, it is usually a good idea to skip towards the conclusion – this usually contains a detailed summary of this study, which can help determine whether you need to read the article in general. You don’t want to spend your time reading through and number that is endless of simply to discover that they aren’t actually relevant. Once you have identified a couple of solid articles, you really need to (a) go through their bibliographies and take note of who they really are citing, as these articles will likely be of value for your research that is own (b) check on Google Scholar to see who has got cited them. To do this, simply input the true name for the article within the search bar and hit enter. Into the total results, click “cited by” – this may return a summary of most of the articles which have cited the publication you looked for.
It’s essential 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 making use of 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 careful balance between novel argument, and drawing on arguments presented by others. Writing an entirely ‘novel’ essay, without drawing for a passing fancy source, indicates which you haven’t produced a novel argument that you haven’t made yourself familiar with what has already been published; citing someone for every point made suggests. As a result, it is necessary that you provide evidence (a credible citation) while you are making a statement of fact, or drawing on arguments, frameworks, and theories presented by other academics. These, in turn, should support the novel that is overarching that you yourself are making.
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