Unit 14

Planning an academic essay

 Planning an academic essay
Learning outcomes
• When you have worked through this unit you should be able
to:
1. analyse an essay question;
2. brainstorm ideas about an essay topic;
3. draw up a writing schedule;
4. keep records of your research;
5. synthesise the information you have gathered.
 Planning an academic essay
• Writing an essay is like going on a journey, with the completed
text as your final destination.
• In most journeys, you need to plan the route you will follow
before you leave. If you do not, there is a good chance that you
will get hopelessly lost or perhaps not even reach the end of
your journey.
• In the same way, an essay should be planned before you start
writing the first paragraph.
 Planning an academic essay

• Having a plan or outline of your essay can help you

1. organise your ideas;

2. present your material logically;
3. be clear in your own mind about the relationship between
ideas.
 Planning an academic essay
• However, a plan – whether it is for a journey or for an essay
– presupposes that you know where you are going to.
• Getting this wrong will mean a great deal of wasted time
and effort.
• So, when writing an essay, the first thing to do is to make
sure that you understand the question or instructions that
you have been given.
 Useful Phrases to understand
Instructional Alternative Task at hand
verb phrase
Describe The verb describe is another example of a general
instructional verb, which normally means that you should
write down in detail:
the characteristics of entities, which could be concrete
objects, events, experiences, etc. In certain subjects
describe pertains to sensory experiences in particular;
the chronological or sequential steps, actions or operations
of how something happened, how something works or
how something should be operated.
Thus, if you see the verb describe, look at the other words
in the assignment prompt or examination question for
cues.
Instructional Alternative Task at hand
verb phrase
Discuss Debate Consider a problem or an issue from more than one point of view in
the light of some kind of "frame" or position. (Thus discuss actually
means to debate)
Please note that lecturers sometimes use the verb 'discuss' when
they actually mean 'describe'. Discuss is actually a rather general
instructional verb, and you should carefully analyse the writing
prompt for other cues that will help you to establish what you need
to do.

Compare Note the attributes that make two or more subjects similar, and
(similarity) emphasise the differences.
Contrast
Illustrate Give Explain a type, class or group (the general category) by presenting
examples examples (specific instances)
of;
Instructional Alternative phrase Task at hand
verb
Explain Give an explanation; Give Accounting (providing reasons) for how or why
reasons for; What are the things are as they are, and sometimes referring
causes of; to the consequences.
What caused?; Why, How
did it happen?

Analyse Separate or break up a whole into the elements

of which it was composed and to identify
relationships among the parts.
Instructional Alternative phrase Task at hand
verb
Argue Give your Informing the reader by arguing for a particular
opinion (and point of view on an issue by giving reasons to
support it …); support a thesis, and elaborating these using
comment evidence.
(v) debate (v); If you are required to voice your own opinion,
this is the point of view from which you depart.
You make a judgement and back it up with
examples or detail.
Instructional Alternative Task at hand
verb phrase

Evaluate Judge; Judge the value of a concept, entity, process,

give your etc. on the basis of facts and/or criteria, and
opinion conclude with a personal verdict, based on the
above.

Reflect Express your expectations, perceptions, and

(on) feelings about the experience represented by
your evidence.
 Brainstorming ideas: pre-writing
• After analysing the question, the next step in the writing process is
to brainstorm ideas about the topic.
• The aim is to generate ideas and possible directions that your
research might take.
• Your pre-writing may be in any of the forms of note-taking that
you looked at in Unit 9.
• The following is one possible way in which you could structure
your brainstorming:
 Brainstorming ideas: pre-writing
• On a sheet of paper, write down everything that comes to
mind when you think of the key content words in your topic.

• Write down everything you know, or even think you know

or can guess, without worrying too much about details or
accuracy. Your aim at this stage is simply to activate your
existing knowledge.
 Brainstorming ideas: pre-writing
• Now write down at least three questions about the topic,
focusing on areas that you do not know, or feel uncertain
about.
• In groups or pairs, discuss what you have written.
• Add to your notes and explore areas where you seem to
differ. Try to answer each other’s questions.
Researching the topic
• Like writing, research is a recursive process
• Brainstorming – gives you some sense of direction
• You find that sources are not adequate or that new issues
have emerged that will need further research.
• Establish the trustworthiness of your sources.
• The UP home page (http://www.library.up.ac.za/index.htm )
provides help for anyone beginning the research process.
Researching the topic
• You should also distinguish between primary and secondary sources
of information.
• Primary sources include original information such as diaries,
interviews, photographs, reports or statistics.
• Secondary sources are those that interpret or analyse primary
sources: these would include scholarly studies or textbooks.
• As you gather information, always keep your research question or
topic firmly in mind.
• The first question to be asked in evaluating information is whether it
is relevant.
 Keeping records
• It is important to keep, in addition to any notes you might make,
accurate records of what you have read.
• An entry for a source could look something like this:
• Richards, J.C. & Rodgers, T.S. 1986. Approaches and methods in
language teaching: A description and analysis. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. Library: Main campus 418.007
• Covers: various approaches to language teaching (Oral/situational,
Audiolingual, CLT, Total Physical Response, Silent Way, Community,
Natural, Suggestopedia)
• Prepare your Bibliography
Remember the Bibliography must
be in alphabetical order
 Synthesising information
• One of the most difficult tasks at this stage of the essay writing
process is the synthesising of information.
• In the course of your research, you are likely to encounter a number
of different, sometimes conflicting, views on your topic.
• Your challenge is to acknowledge the diversity of opinion in your
sources while at the same time using them to support your own
position.
• Your essay should not seem to contradict itself.
• A synthesis, in effect, combines several texts into one, shorter text
where the ideas are expressed in your own words.
 Discussion
• In Reading 15 of the OPV Reader (“Outcomes-based
education in the context of three kinds of knowledge” by
Mark Mason) the author has synthesised a number of facts
and opinions about OBE before offering his own
interpretation.
• Study the reading carefully, noting how the information has
been synthesised and presented.
 An essay plan
• Research your topic
• Put your ideas down on paper in the form of an essay plan
• A plan could include the following elements:
 your position or stance on the issue to be examined in the
essay;
 the arguments or evidence you will use to support your
position.
 An essay plan
As you develop your plan, you could include more information to
support these points. This could include:
• the sources you will refer to or cite as authorities;
• possible quotations from sources (these should, however, be kept to
a minimum);
• a way of structuring the information into a coherent essay.
 An essay plan
• The plan should be as detailed as is possible at this stage. The
following attempt at a plan is so vague and non-committal
that it really serves no purpose at all.
• Introduction: Introduce the topic; define OBE
• Body: Discuss advantages and disadvantages of OBE
• Conclusion: Conclude discussion
 An essay plan
On the other hand, the extract from a plan below shows much more detail and would
be of real practical use to the writer:
OBE: A failure?
• Introduction:
• Background: part of overhaul of educat. post 1994 → controversial ever since
→numerous revisions. Future?
• Thesis: OBE unsuited to SA →must be replaced:
• 1. “Will be able to” = Functionalist/behaviourist (see Kraak 1999:46-7, v d Hoven
• 2003:87) →no educ, but training. Eg quote Green (2000:63) humanities in danger of
being “cultural wing of business school”etc.
• 2. Jargon incomprehensible to poorly trained teachers. Too ambitious for 3rd world
conditions. Evidence that teachers ignore outcomes (quote survey by Kramer 1999).
Mind Map
There are advantages to studying as a mature student. Do you agree?
• Government bodies and the universities are committed to a policy of widening
access to higher education. In the attempt to develop a trained, educated
workforce, there is greater flexibility in terms of entrance requirements and
routes to a degree. If you are 21 or over and do not have conventional
qualifications you may be given credit for your life and work experience.
• An Open University lecturer wrote that teaching mature students:
• … is sometimes an unnerving experience: at a lecture on Dickens's Hard Times
I suddenly realised that I was explaining the rigour of industrial work … to ex-
steel workers. Everyone of them knew more than I did and indeed they all
knew more than Dickens about the lives of workers in heavy industry.
• (Philippa Gregory, 1994)
• The mature student has often learned a powerful work discipline
and can find self-directed learning difficult to adjust to. The mature
student may also work full-time and have a home to run. Despite
enthusiasm for returning to study, the mature student may be
scared by comparing themselves to younger students who seem
very quick (having spent their recent years in full-time education).
• Your degree certificate is evidence that you have taken the
opportunity that you missed when you were younger, it tells
people that you have reached a certain level of academic
attainment, that you have time management and priority setting
skills, and that you have shown sustained interest, commitment
and self-discipline.
• As I mentioned earlier, increasingly people all over Europe are
realising that education and learning are lifelong processes, much
too valuable to belong only to the young. The oldest Open
University graduate is 92. More and more mature students are
entering Higher Education. In 1971, the first 24 000 Open University
students began their studies. In 1994, there were more than 200
000 students registered. At least 2 million people have studied with
the Open University. People are living longer and having fewer
children. Changes in the workplace may mean that older workers
have to retrain and seek a new career.
• The mature student may find it difficult to make room in their lives
and their homes for study. Many people like to shut themselves off
from the rest of the family, without interruptions (but this is almost
impossible without the support of your partner and children). It is
much easier for young people to be selfish and shut themselves off.
They don't have as much to worry about as older students. It is
even more difficult if you are a single parent who has to go out to
work as well as taking care of children, along with studying.
• It is a really big step to add to a busy life at work and at home and start to
study, but you do broaden your outlook and the range of ideas and
people that you are acquainted with. The self-discipline and motivation
that you need to develop will be a great help in the future. Once you
have finished studying it may still be difficult to find a different job
because of ageism, employers may think that you can't be as quick or as
full of ideas as a younger graduate.

Reference
• Philippa Gregory (1994), Foreword in Taggart, C. (1994), The Essential
Handbook for Mature Students, London, Kyle Cathie Ltd.
Questions

1. Are there an introduction and a conclusion, which

help to guide the reader?
2. Are important concepts or ideas communicated?
3. Does the writing build and have a sense of
direction?
4. Can you discern an overall plan?