Essay writing

Planning your essay

DEFINITIONS OF COMMON PROCESS WORDS.
1. Analyse the question
Analyse. Resolve into its component parts. Examine
Essay titles often contain two different types of
critically or minutely.
words – content and process words. It is
important to distinguish between these. Compare & Find some points of common ground
contrast. between X and Y and show how they differ.
Content words are those which indicate the
subject matter of the essay. Criticise. Make a judgement (backed by a discussion
of the evidence or reasoning involved) about
Process words are those which indicate the
the merit of theories or opinions, or about
treatment required, i.e. how you should tackle
the truth of facts.
the subject matter.
Discuss. Explain, then give two sides of the issue and
For example: "Evaluate the Keynesian
any implications.
argument for increase in government spending
as a cure for economic crises". 'Evaluate' is the Evaluate or Make an appraisal of the validity or
process word, the rest is the content phrase. assess. effectiveness of something.
Explain. Give details about how and why it is.

Not answering the question set is one of the
main reasons that students underperform in
assessed essays. If the question asks you to
analyse a topic and all you do is list some facts
about that topic with no analysis, then you
won’t get top marks. Think carefully about
what the question is asking and keep this in
mind when doing your research.
Illustrate. Make clear and explicit; usually requires the
use of carefully chosen examples.
Justify. Show adequate grounds for decisions or
conclusions; answer the main objections
likely to be made about them.
Outline. Give the main features or general principles
of a subject, omitting minor details and
emphasising structure and arrangement.
2. Explore the criteria
When you are told about your essay you should receive information about how it is to be written and how it will
be marked. In your planning stage it is important to find out:
• What length the essay has to be;
• What format it has to be in (e.g. word processed);
• What the marking criteria are;
• The deadline for submission;
• How you are expected to submit the essay (e.g. email or via the VLE).
Knowing these basic details will help you to plan your time properly and avoid any last minute panic!

3. Do your research
4. Journal
When marking your essay, your tutor will be databases
looking for evidence of your having ‘read
around’ the topic and having understood what 3. Library
you’ve read. catalogue

It is a useful strategy to start by looking at the

set reading for the topic that you are writing 2.
about then broadening out your search from References
there. You can move on to sources that you
find in the references contained in the set
reading, and then out further to sources you
1. Set
find by searching the library catalogue or reading
journal databases.

TIPS FOR READING.

Write careful notes as you read:
• Take notes using your own words and
clearly highlight direct quotations;
• Keep a reference of everything you read, it
will save time later;
• Colour-code or number notes and sort into
piles to make it easier to find relevant
information when you’re writing the essay.
As you are reading, stop and ask yourself more questions:
• Does this relate directly to the question? If not, take
care not to be carried off on an irrelevant tangent;
• Does this agree with what I have read before?
• Do I agree or disagree with what the writer is
saying?

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4. Write a plan
Creating an essay plan is arguably the most important part of writing the essay. It is at this stage that you begin
to shape your ideas into a coherent narrative. A good plan will simply list the order in which you are going to
tackle topics and the viewpoint you will be presenting.

All essays follow a basic structure:

• Introduction: say what you are going to say;
• Development of key points: say it;
• Conclusion: say what you have said.

Example plan: Discuss the case for and against animal testing.
Introduction.
Explain what animal testing is; for commercial purposes (e.g. cosmetics), for applied
scientific research (to solve a problem), for ‘pure’ scientific research (to expand
human knowledge). Explain why it’s controversial; that the infliction of pain to
animals is regarded by some as unjustifiable.
Second paragraph.
Discussion of why it’s wrong to inflict pain on animals: they are sentient; they may
have intelligence and self-awareness. Why there might be relevant differences
between humans and animals and why this has implications for morality. Discussion
of differences between animals e.g. rats/mice vs. primates. Conclude that testing
may be permissible on some animals under certain circumstances.
Third paragraph.
Animal testing for commercial purposes. Controversial as aim is to make money
rather than to do good. Arguments weak here.
Fourth paragraph. Animal testing for applied scientific research. Strong case if research can save human
lives. Weaker case if outcomes are speculative.
Fifth paragraph.
Animal testing for pure scientific research. Also controversial as aim to expand
human knowledge rather than solve specific problem. Potential of ‘pure’ research to
turn in to applied research makes this a grey area though.
Conclusion. Strongest arguments in favour of animal testing are those for applied scientific
research that has the potential to save human lives. The potential reduction in loss of
human lives/suffering can justify the animal suffering. This does not hold for other
cases. Still the possibility to hold a strong moral position that no testing is ever
justified- that animals, like humans, should not have pain inflicted upon them against
their will, even if doing so could save human lives.

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Writing your essay
1. The introduction
An introduction should do the following things:
Introductions are normally the last piece of the
• Analyse the question: explain the title in your own
essay to be written. This is because an
words;
introduction tells the reader what you are going
• Explain how you intend to tackle the subject: to talk about and the order in which you are
highlight the issues you are going to discuss and the going to do it. You probably won’t finalise this
order in which you are going to deal with them; until you’ve written your first draft.
• Define key terms: don’t use dictionary definitions:
books, articles, critical essays are the best sources of
definitions.

2. Development of key points

LINKING WORDS.
If your essay is a continuous, undivided piece of text, you
need to use paragraphs to divide the writing into However. This means that what comes next is
meaningful and linked sections. There is no fixed rule for somehow opposed to, or an
length, but in general, paragraphs should be around 200 exception to, what came before
words in length. Although. This means that what you have just
Paragraphs should also be structured with a beginning, a said is a justified qualification of
middle and an end. The first sentence of a paragraph sets the main point, but does not
out the topic, which the rest of the paragraph will develop. invalidate it.
The last sentence often returns to the ideas in the first Despite. This means that what you have just
sentence to show how they were developed.
said in the previous paragraph may
It is important that paragraphs should link together; seem to contradict the main point,
otherwise, they become a series of short disjointed essays, but it does not, in fact, actually do
instead of a longer, cohesive one. This can often be done so.
using linking words and phrases.

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3. The conclusion
All essays need a short generalising paragraph to
round it off. Whatever else it contains, it must relate
back to the question. Before starting to write the
conclusion re-read the question to ensure that you are
still tightly focussed on what it is asking you to
consider.
It is often a good idea to use your conclusion to put
the issues you have been describing into a wider
context but don’t start on a whole new line of
argument at this stage.
If the question asks you to decide how far you
agree with a proposition.
The early sections will contain explanations of all
the issues to be taken into account and indicate
whether these issues cause you to agree or
disagree with the proposition. Actually stating to
what extent you do agree is done in the
conclusion. However, don’t let this cause your
conclusion to become overly long- you should have
covered your main arguments in the body of the
essay.
If the question asks you simply to discuss a
proposition.
This is the point at which you will need to consider
the arguments more generally. This may involve
discussing the issue in relation to basic principles,
or looking at it from a different point of view or
putting it into a broader context.
You can test the effectiveness of the conclusion by
asking whether it would tell a reader who had not read
the earlier part of the essay:
• What the original question was;
• What your answer to this question is.
If the question asks you to make a judgement
between differing views or theories.
The earlier parts of the essay will contain
descriptions, explanations and analysis of these
different views. Your conclusion is the place to
make your judgement and justify it. However, it
should already be clear from the analysis contained
in the earlier parts of the essay which view or
theory you prefer. Your conclusion will just be
used to summarise the points for and against each
view and to state your judgement.
If the question simply asks you to explain or
describe.
The conclusion will be short. You need only
highlight the most significant points and make
some general comment.
Even in this case, though, it is not enough to say,
‘Thus it can be seen that …’ followed by
information already given out in the main body of
the essay. You need to make some evaluative
comment on what has been explained or
described.
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