Critical Essay Writing

Critical Essay Writing Here you should summarize what it is that you have said in your essay, stating what your answer to the question is and why. Often, there is no simple answer (which is why you are writing an essay, and not a two-mark answer on a class test), so you should state what the complexities of the issue are. You may feel that you are repeating yourself, as the body of your essay should have made your argument clear already, but the reader will appreciate a good summary. You will also find a section dealing with the differences between writing for the humanities and writing for the sciences and social sciences. The information and guidelines in these sections will provide blueprints you can apply elsewhere. The guide is a toolbox of essay writing skills and resources that you can choose from to suit your particular needs. Good essay writing is a skill acquired rather than learnt. Approaches vary from person to person and will depend on one’s experience in essay writing, almost to the point where a style of writing will be as individual as a signature. Plan and structure the body paragraphs of your essay into topic sentences with bullet points for each paragraph. Michael recommends that you begin writing your essay by expanding your plan. 'You may find it helpful to write the conclusion first, especially if you know exactly what it is you want to argue,' he adds. We've asked two academic experts for their recommendations on how to plan and write a first-class essay. Mastering how to write an essay early on will help you prepare for writing your dissertation in your final year. Taking the time to properly plan an essay can lead to higher grades, with lecturers welcoming a logical structure that clearly demonstrates your understanding of the subject. Writing Essays does not cover every type of writing you will do at university but it does cover the principal types. So you will find guides to essay writing, dissertation writing, and report writing. In essence, an essay is an argument, so your structure should be based on the particulars of your argument. Although this may sound obvious, a lot of essays lose marks for containing material that is simply irrelevant. Planning your essay makes the writing process quicker and easier. You'll be able to focus on expressing your ideas while remaining within the word count, rather than having to organise your thoughts as you write, which often leads to waffling. Remember that good essays don’t just give evidence for their point of view, but also demonstrate why opposing views are flawed. Imagine a reader, then try to predict their objections to your argument, and then demonstrate why they are wrong. A well-structured essay should consist of a series of paragraphs that progress logically through the series of points that you intend to cover. Obviously, the difficult part is working out what that order should be. 'This can help you to clarify your ideas and also give you something to work towards. Linear plans are useful for essays requiring a rigid structure. They provide a chronological breakdown of the key points you're going to address. This means that, when writing your essay, you can progress through these points. It's up to you to decide which essay writing strategy to adopt but pick the one that works best for you. This does not mean that you should be obscure, or use impossibly long sentences with multisyllabic words, but you should avoid being overly colloquial. Originality is one of the hardest things to achieve in an essay, but any effort you make at being original will be noticed by the marker. This doesn’t mean that you have to invent a new theory each time you write an essay. Your essay should have a definite ending, in the form of a conclusion. Make sure that you read the assignment sheet thoroughly and are sure about what it asks for before you start reading for the essay. While you are reading, bear in mind what sort of material you are looking for in order to address the assigned topic. Even if you do come across a lot of interesting material when researching for your essay, be selective. Interesting material won’t gain you extra marks unless it is relevant.