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Essay Writing Guide

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27 views1 page

Essay Writing Guide

Uploaded by

snoozes-03.wedges
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Essay Preparation and Writing Guide

This guide offers some pointers that should be used to help you prepare and write your essays for each
of the HRIGx courses. It explains how to deal with core elements in essay writing and it highlights
several matters that often prove problematic for students and result in the production of essays that do
not match the higher criteria descriptors.

1) Read the assessment question carefully and make sure that you understand what you are being asked
to do; often you will be asked to do several things as part of your response. Pay careful attention to the
key terms that you need to consider as well as the tasks you need to satisfy such as discuss, examine,
critique and so on.

2) While there are numerous ways to start an essay, one sound approach is to ensure that your
introduction:
 uses the question or task statement to formulate your thesis,
 lists the key points that you intend to discuss throughout the body of your essay and, if necessary,
 (if necessary) explains your own position (bias) and why you have decided to include certain points and
not others.

A clear introduction to your essay will provide both you and your reader with the overarching
structure (map) for your essay. It should tell your reader how you are: interpreting the question; framing
your response (thesis statement); and structuring your main body via particular points for discussion.

3) Ensure that your essay, especially the body, follows the structure you outline in your introduction. If
you use a style of introduction that is less explicit than the one suggested above, ensure that the body of
your essay is structured in a way that clearly communicates the distinct points associated with the essay
topic. This includes developing paragraphs that have a clear topic sentence, followed by an explanation
of key terms in the topic sentence and that then explains, illustrates (provides examples) and discusses
the paragraph’s main point. Each paragraph should conclude with a sentence that links your discussion
of this point to your thesis statement.

Generally, a new paragraph is required for every new major point. It is acceptable, although not
obligatory, to use sub-headings.

4) Reference everything. This point is absolutely essential and, along with the pointers about structure, is
one of the main reasons why many essays fail to match the higher criteria. Essays, especially at this
level, must incorporate and acknowledge all sources of knowledge.

When researching your essay topics, start with the material provided in the course, including the
weekly lectures and required reading material. This material indicates the absolute minimum standard
of material that you should be using to write your paper. If these sources do not appear, to at least some
degree, in your references it communicates that you have not carefully considered the core content of
the course.

In addition to these sources you can (and should) search for your own sources but pay careful attention
to the quality of the sources you choose. In addition to this, a good general rule regarding the inclusion
of reference material is that for every 150 to 200 words you should be using a new source. Therefore, if
you are writing a paper that is 1000 words in length, you should be using at least five or six sources to
write that paper.

5) Reference your sources consistently throughout your essay (using the reference style of your choice)
and provide a reference list or bibliography.

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