Writing Essays Beginners Guide

A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO WRITING ACADEMIC ESSAYS Coursework can prove difficult to cope with, especially at the beginning of your academic career. Below you will find some information and a few suggestions drawn from experience that you could find helpful, especially for the first couple of tries. Please use this information in conjunction with: Student Study Skills Handbook UCL Policy on Plagiarism Essay Assessment Criteria A Beginners Guide to Bibliography and Referencing 1. WHAT ARE ESSAYS FOR? As you would expect, there are very clearly defined purposes for each piece of coursework you are required to write, even if at the beginning you might find them impenetrable. To put it very simply, academic essays are for two things: 1) for learning; and 2) for evaluation. 1) From the first point of view, you should approach essays as a very useful exercise designed to help you understand and use better the course topics. By writing an essay, you get a chance to a. Reinforce and consolidate what you have learned during the course; b. Apply the theories and concepts you have studied to empirical cases in the real world; 2) If the first point of view refers to the knowledge you have acquired, the second concerns the manner in which a tutor will look at your work. An essay gives you the chance to demonstrate knowledge and understanding, and the tutor will use it to evaluate what you have learned. 2. HOW DO YOU PREPARE, AND WHAT DO YOU READ FOR ESSAYS? Your tutor will never ask you to reproduce the textbook in your essay. An essay always requires careful preparation and extensive reading that goes beyond any one textbook. This is because it may well be the case that the textbook, or any one of the materials you read, do not cover the topic in a manner relevant for the essay question. Remember the purposes of the essay: learning and evaluation. They indicate that you need to show what you have learned in order to receive a high evaluation: the more you read, know, and understand, the better you will be able to answer the essay question, and therefore the better the mark you will receive. Limited reading limits therefore both what you learn, and the mark youll get. 3. WHAT ARE THE KEY INGREDIENTS OF A GOOD ESSAY? Writing an essay implies therefore two things, other than writing the essay: reading a lot; and using the knowledge gained to answer the essay question. No matter what the topic of the essay is, there are a few basic issues that you should always keep in mind. 1) Answering the essay question; 2) Structure and argument; 3) Bibliography and referencing 3.1. ANSWER THE ESSAY QUESTION This is certainly the most important aspect of writing an essay. It may seem banal, but many students ignore this crucial aspect, and instead of focusing on the question, they mistakenly go on writing everything they know about a topic, or everything the textbook says about the topic. So before starting work on the essay, think carefully: What is this question really about? Try to understand what is asked from you, and make every effort to answer this in your essay. Read a lot, but use what you know adequately. If you just spill out every thing you have read in the essay, you will waste both time, and the limited space of the essay. Once youve figured out how to answer the essay question, it is time to think about the structure and argument of the essay.

Dr. Felix Ciut

Writing Essays Beginners Guide

3.2 STRUCTURE The provision of a clear structure is very important: This includes 1) The structure of the essay: introduction, the steps of the argument; conclusion; and 2) The structure of the argument: the coherent and logical way in which you proceed to present what you want to say (more about this in the next section) Most essays follow this basic structure: The introduction announces what you will do in the essay, and sets the stages and key points of the discussion: This is what I want to say, and this is how I am going to do it. An introduction is good for many reasons, two of which are immediate. First, it sets the lines of your argument, making it easy for you to check as you progress in the essay: Am I doing what I said I would do? Second, it provides the examiner with a clear indication that the essay question has been understood, and that there are some logical steps to be followed in the discussion. The argument of the essay must be carefully structured to answer the question posed by the essay. Construct your argument as clearly as possible. If necessary, use subheadings to flag the key steps of this structure; examiners will appreciate this, as it shows clarity of thought and confident handling of the knowledge acquired. The conclusion fulfils two functions: it sums up your argument and delivers your verdict on the essay question; by doing this, it provides a good way to check Have I done what I said I would do? It should appear from the summary that the issues anticipated at the beginning have been addressed. 3.3 ARGUMENT A good argument is also an essential ingredient of a solid essay. This means a clear, coherent and logical way in which the ideas of the essay are presented. This does not necessarily mean an original argument, and it does not only mean your personal opinion on the topic (see below). You can, for example, follow a certain authors position, or criticise her/him; either way, you must always provide evidence that you have read about and understood the topic and the debates that surround it. Always ask, What do I want to say in this paper? and make sure that you have a clear answer to this question before starting your work. This will ensure that the essay tells the same thing to the examiner. Once youve decided that you want to say 1, 2, 3, 4, stick to these ideas and check constantly that the written result not only what is in your mind, where things might be very clear clearly reflects each point. You must be very careful with the terms and concepts you use in your argument. Provide definitions for the central concepts of the essay. Do not engage concepts you cannot handle, and do not structure your arguments around concepts which are not defined, not fully understood, or never mentioned again in the rest of the essay. Be careful to identify and distinguish between: what a theory claims; what its critics may argue that the theory claims; what the critics may claim instead; what you may claim about any of these. This demonstrates theoretical awareness and analytical skill, and will be adequately rewarded by all examiners. This aspect will become increasingly important as you progress in your academic career. 3.4. REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Academic essays have different rules, compared to newspaper articles or letters to friends. One of the most important rules is that you acknowledge the sources of your argument, by providing references for every single idea that does not belong to you and use in your essay, quoted directly or not. Apart from respect for a compulsory academic rule, the use of references also shows: 1) That you have read many things, which will be appreciated by the examiner; 2) That you respect the work of those whom you quote, which would be appreciated by them; 3) That you are honest, which should be appreciated first of all by yourselves.

Dr. Felix Ciut

Writing Essays Beginners Guide

A bibliography is also compulsory for every academic essay. It fulfils the same role as the references, and it allows the examiner to track the sources you used. They will, as a result, be able to establish whether an issue was misunderstood or used in a correct manner by you according to a particular author. Consult the Departmental guides to bibliography and referencing, and check the separate document A Beginners Guide to Bibliography and Referencing.

Plagiarism is a very serious offence that can lead to severe sanctions, including expulsion from the university. Plagiarism means cheating. Consult the UCL policy on plagiarism. When in doubt, ask your tutor. Besides cheating, if you plagiarise you: 1) Learn nothing about the topic and about writing essays; 2) Insult the real author; 3) Insult the examiner: it is extremely unlikely that they will not spot the resemblance between the essay and the plagiarised work. It simply is not worth it. 4. ORIGINALITY AND PERSONAL STATEMENTS The rules of an academic essay do not preclude the statement of personal opinions (on the contrary), but they have to be supported with evidence from relevant literature, and supported by the essay itself. Be cautious and restrained in your statements, as it usually is very difficult to be original at this particular stage of your academic and theoretical development. One has to know a lot of things about a topic (preferably everything) in order to be able to say something new about it. Ambition towards originality is commendable, but so is the desire to know and understand more. Formulate personal opinions according to academic criteria, even if they are brief and have a confessional tone. Avoid value judgements about authors: comment on ideas, not people. An advice I received as an undergraduate student: you must not walk naked in the essay. Meaning: do not address issues which you do not fully know or understand, or whose implications you do not master. This leads to conceptual, theoretical, or factual errors that could be severely sanctioned by examiners. 5. KEYWORDS Writing a good essay requires effort and perseverance, but it can nevertheless be an engaging and rewarding exercise, which opens doors to new and interesting knowledge. Remember these basic rules: READ widely ANSWER the essay question STRUCTURE your essay/argument PRECISION with conceptual/theoretical issues PRUDENCE with personal views Have fun. I mean it.

Dr. Felix Ciut