Writing Your Essay

Writing Your Essay Lectures are supposed to be a pointer and guide for your further reading. By reading, we mean published, peer-reviewed literature; Wikipedia does not count! Then, branch out your list to words that aren’t as closely related to your main topic. If writing an essay sounds a little bit scary, just think of it as a chance to improve your writing skills. introduces your main ideas and arguments - that the rest of the essay will explore this in greater detail. This video will introduce useful advice and tips on how to write an effective conclusion to an essay, report or case study. A concluding sentence that restates your point, analyses the evidence or acts as a transition to the next paragraph represents effective writing. If you experience difficulty in structuring and developing your body paragraphs, you can always talk to a HELPS Advisor or one of our volunteers. They are always ready to help you if you need assistance at any stage of the writing process. This video will introduce useful advice on how to write a well-developed paragraph. Not everyone can do this but, as long as you follow some of the guidelines above, you will avoid shooting yourself in the foot before you have even begun. Another approach is actually to state your answer in the introduction and then go on to prove your case in the essay. This approach is far mare exciting because it shows that you have a definite point of view, and are prepared to argue it. Daily workshops are delivered throughout semester and target reading, writing, speaking and referencing skills. They are a great way to bring your academic literacy skills ‘up to speed’. Be sure to provide a map, by previewing or outlining your essay, so that your target reader is at no time unsure which way you are going and where you are taking them. Now let’s summarise the main points of this tutorial. Remember to follow the formula to structure your introduction. Researching, mind mapping and making notes will help sort and prioritise your ideas. If you are writing a literature essay, planning will help you decide which parts of the text to focus on and what points to make. It shows an examiner that you have planned your essay, know what you are going to say and in all probability will support it with good evidence. At undergraduate level, more so than at A-Level, you will need to demonstrate evidence of further reading. The real value of writing introductions based on a simple structural formula is that you’re more likely to feel more confident about what you’re writing. As you develop your writing skills you can modify your style to suit your needs. These definitions may not always be necessary and you should use your own discretion based on the subject material. This kind of introduction will grip readers, impress them and make them want to know more. Other websites should not be cited in essays, but you can use them to further your understanding and get lists of peer-reviewed literature to read. Finally, make sure you read carefully any feedback you are given on your essays. Your tutors will be keen to help you learn and progress. Once the essay is written, go back through the writing to find any sentences that seem too long or wordy. A thesaurus is another valuable tool when writing an essay. A thesaurus tells you synonyms, or words that have the same or a similar meaning to the word you look up. It’s important because it can add some volume to your essay and increase the impact of your words. Also, by arguing for the opposite side of your opinion, you will learn which points you need to better address in your essay. You will learn more about the topic, and you will gain more vocabulary words to enrich the essay. A strong essay is one that covers a lot of content in a succinct (short, to-the-point) way. This process of acting like a reporter will give you valuable quotes, resources and vocabulary to begin the writing process. Once you have a thesis, think about your main topic and find words that relate to it in different ways.