The online world is awash with not-so-helpful essay writing advice, rendering it tricky for students to get the advice they require when writing essays. So our academic experts have written the following tips so that you can utilise before and whilst crafting your essay, to ensure your writing hits the mark.
Comprehend the question
This could, at the face from it, seem like somewhat banal advice – but simple fact is the fact that failing continually custom writings reviews to properly comprehend the question set is one of, if not the most typical reason for a disappointing grade when it comes to essay writing. Will you be being asked to critically evaluate something? Compare and contrast? Analyse a circumstance that is particular? Assess the usefulness of a particular concept?
These are a few of the common phrases present in essay questions, and every 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 merely of said theory, but additionally other common approaches. They must all be weighed against each other, highlighting the relative strengths and weaknesses of each and every theory and, importantly, you must arrive at a well-justified and conclusion that is confident. Could be the theory good? What are its flaws? How can it is improved?
If you should be asked to gauge the usefulness of something, however, you don’t necessarily need to go into as much critical depth. Yes, you need to still acknowledge alternative approaches, and yes, you should still note some strengths and weaknesses – but the almost all the work must emphasise the concepts practical usefulness. Probably the best approach is to get one, or a couple of, case studies in which the theory has been used – the thing that was the end result for this? Does the application of the theory reveal any shortcomings that are particular or strengths?
“Compare and contrast” essays, meanwhile, are essentially a hybrid of the above – you ought to take a vital approach and measure the literature, but your focus has to remain solidly regarding the theories which you have been asked to compare and contrast. It is critical to show that 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 will probably indicate where in actuality the focus of the essay should lie while you write and research.
Plan and schedule
Comprehending the question is the initial step, but it is equally important which you make efficient use of the time that is available. Students often underestimate the amount of work necessary to write a beneficial essay, which leads to a few things: (1) late nights in the library, and (2) a disappointing grade. You should start planning your essay the moment you receive the essay question if you want to achieve a good mark. The following 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. 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 majority that is clear of, arguments, and research reports 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 are drawing on? How have these been dealt with when you look at the literature? How do they impact the standard of arguments presented, also to what extent do they limit our understanding of what you’re studying? What alternate explanations might offer depth that is additional?
Critical thinking is what can make your essay be noticed. It shows the marker that you are not simply repeating the arguments that have been fed to you personally through your studies, but actually engaging with theories in an academic manner. A good method to practice this might be to pay careful attention when reading literature reviews in published articles – you will see that authors don’t simply summarise previous studies, but offer a critique resulting in a gap because of their own research.
Structure, flow and focus
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 is always to “tell them what you are actually planning to tell them, then tell them, and inform them everything you told them” – this, in essence, summarises the core introduction, main body, and conclusion structure of the essay.
Having a definite and structure that is logical help ensure that your essay stays focused, and does not stray from the question being answered. Each section, paragraph, and sentence should add value to the argument you will be presenting. When you are writing, it is good to take one step back and ask yourself “what value performs this sentence/section add? How does it url to my overarching argument?” That you can’t answer that question, there is a high risk that you have strayed from your core argument, and you may want to reconsider the path you are taking if you find.
You should also make sure that all the various components of your essay fit together as a cohesive and logical whole, and that the transition from a single argument to another location is fluid. Students often treat essays as lists of arguments, presenting one following the other with little to no consideration for the way they fit together, which inevitably leads to a lesser grade. Be sure to tell your reader why you might be transitioning from one argument to the next, why they have been in this particular order, and exactly how each argument helps shed light on a specific facet of what you’re 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 endless number of articles merely to realize 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, as they articles will likely be of value for the research that is own (b) check on Google Scholar to see who may have cited them. To do this, simply input the true name associated with article within the search bar and hit enter. Within the total results, click “cited by” – this will return a list of all the articles which have cited the publication you searched for.
It’s essential that you don’t rely too heavily on one or a couple of texts, since this indicates into the marker which you haven’t engaged with all the wider literature. You ought to be particularly careful in making use of course books (for example. “introduction to management” and the like), 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 a totally ‘novel’ essay, without drawing about the same 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 such, it is necessary that you provide evidence (a credible citation) when you’re making a statement of fact, or drawing on arguments, frameworks, and theories presented by other academics. These, in turn, should offer the novel that is overarching that you yourself are making.