An essay is used to evaluate your critical thinking skills and your ability to express such skills in academic writing. This website discusses some important factors to consider when writing an essay for university.
Markers will ask themselves questions like these while reading a student’s essay:
- Is this essay directly relevant to the task?
- Is it presenting a strong, backed-up position?
- Is it making proper use of relevant sources?
- Is the style appropriate and the expression clear?
- Is the essay well-structured? Is there a definite beginning, middle, and end?
These questions can be used to reflect on your own writing. Here are six pointers to help you meet these requirements.
1. Examine the situation.
Student essays are written in response to certain prompts. Because an essay must directly answer the issue, the first step should be to analyse the question. Make certain you understand exactly what is expected of you.
In general, essay questions are made up of three parts:
- Terms used in the content: Task-specific notions are important to remember.
- Limiting terms include: The topic’s scope is limited to
- Directive terms: Discuss, analyse, define, compare, and assess what you need to accomplish in respect to the content.
2. Define your point of view
You must examine what your argument will be while you plan and prepare to compose the essay. This entails forming an informed opinion or point of view on the question’s subject, as well as developing and delivering a specific argument.
Consider the following two arguments:
“The importance of light in mediaeval theology was literally reflected through the architectural use of light in Gothic churches.“
Or:
“Light was used to emphasise the priest’s authority and ritual prominence in Cologne’s Gothic church.“
Statements like these help to define the argument of an essay. They provide coherence by establishing a central theme and perspective to which the entire essay is dedicated.
3. Make use of evidence, logic, and scholarship
You must utilise facts and reasoning to persuade your audience of your point of view, which includes referencing and analysing relevant scholarship.
- Evidence is tangible information that backs up your argument. Specific examples, facts, statements, statistics, and drawings are usually included.
- The proof is linked to your argument through reasoning. You must examine the evidence and illustrate how it supports your argument, rather than citing it like a shopping list.
- Scholarship is used to demonstrate how your argument relates to previous research on the subject (citing specific works). Scholarship can be employed to support your argument as part of your evidence and reasoning.
4. Compose a logical essay
An essay is made up of three parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
Introduction
An introduction’s objective is to introduce your essay. The information is usually presented in the following order:
- A broad statement about the subject that sets the stage for your argument
A thesis statement that explains your point of view. ‘This essay contends that…’ is an example of an explicit lead-in.
A ‘road map’ for the essay, describing how it will present and develop your argument to the reader.
Body
Your point is developed and elaborated in the body of the essay. It accomplishes this by offering a well-thought-out argument backed up by evidence from relevant scholarship. It has the same shape as the overview you gave in your introduction. Paragraphs should be used to write the body of your essay.
Conclusion
There should be no new information in your conclusion. In the body of the essay, your evidence and argumentation should have been evident to the reader.
Use the conclusion to reiterate the major argumentative stance and provide a concise overview of the main themes explored. Furthermore, consider telling your reader:
- What importance do your findings have, or what ramifications does your conclusion have?
- Whether there are any more factors that need to be considered but aren’t included in the essay
- How your issue relates to your discipline’s larger context (‘greater picture’).
In this part, don’t just repeat yourself. A summary-only conclusion is redundant and lessens the effect of your paper.
5. Make sure you write clearly.
Only a clearly written essay will obtain a high mark if it makes good, evidence-based points. Clarity is achieved by meticulous rewriting and editing, which can elevate a decent essay to greatness. When you’re editing your essay, attempt to look at it with fresh eyes, as if it were written by someone else.
Pose the following questions to yourself:
Structure in general
- Have you mentioned your point of view in your introduction?
- Is the actual structure the same as the ‘road map’ you described in your introduction?
- Have you made it apparent how your primary points contribute to your argument?
- Have you adequately shown to your reader the transitions between each of your primary points?
Paragraphs
- Is there a main idea introduced in each paragraph?
- Is the main point supported by every sentence in the paragraph?
- Is there sufficient proof and argument in each paragraph?
- Does each paragraph make sense in relation to the one before it?
Sentences
- Are all of the sentences grammatically correct?
- Is it spelled correctly?
- Are your readers able to see the connection between sentences?
- Have you avoided repetition and redundancy?
6. Use references and proof to back up your claims.
Finally, double-check your citations to ensure they’re correct and full. Some faculties demand you to use a specific citation style (for example, APA), while others may let you use your own. Whatever style you choose, you must adhere to its rules precisely and consistently. To double-check your citations, use Recite, the University of Melbourne style guide.
