Essay Writing Assistance

Essay Writing Assistance Don't just talk in general terms about the subject area. Make sure you have a clear point that you want to communicate in your essay. Essays also sometimes begin with an issue, outline the scope and then move on to end the introduction with the thesis statement. Sometimes an essay will begin with a direct quote to draw readers into the essay. The thesis and scope are sometimes combined to form one or more sentences known as a thesis statement. The thesis statement often comes at the end of the introduction, although it can be written earlier. Scope â€" where you outline what exactly is going to be covered in relation to your argument. Writing your introduction last means you are more likely to have a tighter fit between the introduction, main body and conclusion because you already know what your essay will be about. View the text description of the above body paragraph example. And actually that's not a very good plan, because when you go down to write something you don't know what you're going to say. You know what you're going to talk about, but you don't know what you're going to say about it. And even if the essay title isn't in the form of a question, make sure that you have something clear that you want to say. Hello, my name is Robin Banerjee and I'm a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Sussex. I teach many first year, second year and third year students so if you come into the Psychology department I'm sure I'll see lots of you while you're here. For example, if you and a friend work together on an essay and then submit identical or very similar versions of the essay, one under your name and one under your friend’s name, that is collusion. Before you begin your essay, have a look at the Massey University assignment planning calculator. View a text version of the above proofreading and editing your essay considerations. Proofreading has a micro-focus on the details of your essay, such as formatting, grammar and punctuation. You can then add examples and references to make your paragraph stronger. Concluding sentenceThe Concluding Sentence should echo the main point of the paragraph and function as a bridge to the next paragraph.N.B. Paragraphs should be balanced â€" keep to the ‘no less than 3 sentences per paragraph’ rule. Elaboration and examplesElaboration of the main point should add more detailed information in relation to the topic sentence. The last sentence is a broad statement relating to the significance of the argument. Editing focuses on the big picture elements such as overall structure, appropriate paragraphing and whether the question has been answered. Your lecturers will want to hear your ‘voice’ as they read your essay. View a text version of the redrafting your essay diagram above. Always save each draft as a separate file; then you can see how your essay develops and improves. The first sentence links the conclusion to the discussion in the previous paragraph. Note the narrow focus of medical benefits (i.e. only considering magnesium) due to the short length of the essay. Plans can be structured/restructured at any time during the planning process. Planning is an ongoing process, from when you receive the essay title to when you submit your final draft. You can also download a PDF version of the chocolate essay. You can see that the biggest part of your time is spent on the planning/research elements and redrafting/editing/proofreading elements, which together should comprise around 60% of your time. As you can see from the assignment planning calculator, if you only start your essay a few days before the due date, you will have to do things too quickly. However, if you are doing a group work assignment and your lecturer has asked you to work together and submit the assignment jointly, that is not collusion. Collusion, like plagiarism, has an element of dishonesty in it. People who collude do so secretly, as they know that the lecturer would not be happy. Include a reference in the text, where the words or ideas appear, and in a reference list at the end of the essay.