WORK HARD ON THE STRUCTURE/FLOW OF THE ESSAY

99% of you will be using the same sources of information so the overall structure
is the thing that will largely differentiate one essay from another. Once you have
a clear structure, you will find it MAKES WRITING EASY (it's a matter of filling
in the blanks, not a case of writing from scratch). The essay structure will
probably go through SEVERAL VERSIONS. Start off with relatively little regard for
details - you shouldn't have to do excessive reading to be able to generate a good
essay structure.
So what makes a GOOD STRUCTURE? There are no hard and fast rules, so the following
is for GUIDANCE. This is a personal opinion: some will agree, others will disagree
with what follows. It also depends on the particular topic and, obviously, your
personal writing style.

INTRODUCTION (either a section, or simply the first few paragraphs).

The reader of any review essay (which your essays are essentially) - whether they
know anything about the subject matter or not - needs leading through the essay by
the hand. So use the introduction to DEFINE the content of the essay. The content
is always up to you so tell the reader what's coming up. The introduction should
not be a listing, but rather give the FRAMEWORK for the essay (for example tell
the reader about the two main competing theories, then about the type of
information needed to differentiate between them, then about the areas you're
going to review). As this sets the scene for the entire essay, it's often an idea
to WRITE IT LAST (plan it first, but write it last). This ensures that you
introduce all the relevant areas and issues and to get the order correct (see main
body). The limited space allowed means you will not be able to discuss every
aspect - so let the reader know how the areas you are going to discuss fit within
the BIGGER PICTURE and why you selected those areas.

MAIN BODY The sections (sometimes with subheadings but consult your tutor) should
FOLLOW THE INTRODUCTION in terms of order and the topics. If they don't the reader
will wonder why they are there. Find what order flows well (again, details are not
necessary to build the flow). The order feeds back into the introduction - they
should match each other. Do not just give lists of the findings from the book(s)
you have read. Try and extract the RELEVANT RESULTS/IDEAS to your essay structure
from the studies. Careful selection of LIMITED DETAILS of methods/findings can
often clarify the point you want to make.

You should not give all the results from each chapter/section - just those that
you need for your argument/flow/structure. For example "It has been widely found
that xx and yy are related (list of refs). For example, Smith (1990) examined the
responses of subjects to stimuli of aa and bb. She found that performance was more
accurate and faster to aa than to bb�Similar findings have been implicated from
studies of lesions in rats (ref), those with learning difficulties (refs) and dual
task experimental paradigms in both monkeys (refs) and humans (refs)"

Use the BALANCE of what is in the literature to decide what you believe is closer
to the "truth". Then include references to both points of view - but with more
emphasis on your assessment of the more accurate stance. If you can find a reason
for the different findings, then note it. If the issue is not central to your
argument, note the possible explanation when mentioning the counter examples
("Perhaps because the inclusion of zz in the stimulus sets confounds xx and
therefore yy, others have found�").If the issue is important, then mention of the
issue should appear in the introduction and be part of the essay structure.

CONCLUSION This is where you tie the sections in the main body together. They do
not expect you to find the "truth" or come to an earth-shattering conclusion.
[They'd love it if you did]. You should, however, be able to conclude something
RELATED TO THE INTRODUCTION - the issues and problems described in the
introduction should be, at least partially answered. For example, "While xx seems
a reasonable position when conditions a, b, and c are met, yy seems more viable
under conditions l, m and n.. The few studies examining the effect of interactions
between these different conditions on [main point of essay] have reached
contradictory conclusions, possibly indicating that the sub-processes associated
with xx and yy are not as fully understood as once thought".

There are very, very, very few people who write a great essay on their first
draft. This isn't fantastic but it has taken three drafts to get to this point so
I hope it helps!