How To Write An Academic Essay

How To Write An Academic Essay Read each paragraph and ask yourself whether it addresses the topic. If you work continuously on your essay right up to the deadline, there is a very high likelihood that you won’t have done yourself justice. Aim to have what you subjectively feel is a “final” draft at least two days before the submission deadline. Not everyone can do this but, as long as you follow some of the guidelines above, you will avoid shooting yourself in the foot before you have even begun. Another approach is actually to state your answer in the introduction and then go on to prove your case in the essay. Summarise your argument and draw on some of the main points discussed in the body of the essay, but not in too much detail. Each main point should be relevant to your essay question or thesis statement. You might wait a day or so before between the previous step and this final step. This is your chance to tweak the writing and smooth over any awkward phrases. Add some transitions between the body paragraphs if needed. Look for basic errors like incomplete sentences, copy-paste issues, and the like. This kind of introduction will grip readers, impress them and make them want to know more. This approach is far mare exciting because it shows that you have a definite point of view, and are prepared to argue it. It shows an examiner that you have planned your essay, know what you are going to say and in all probability will support it with good evidence. At undergraduate level, more so than at A-Level, you will need to demonstrate evidence of further reading. Lectures are supposed to be a pointer and guide for your further reading. Use the remaining days to review your work at well-spaced intervals. This will help you look more objectively at your own work. Throughout this short guide we use the term “essay” to mean any sort of academic writing assignment that you hand in for a course. Others will be concise reports of experiments or descriptions of economic or other data. However, they are all referred to herein as “essays,” and most of the principles of clarity, organization and presentation apply to them all. In an Honours essay, you should look around a bit to see whether anyone else has already made an argument that you believe you have been the first to work out. Your Essay Supervisor will be able to direct you towards the right material. Don’t be discouraged if you find such workâ€"develop it. All published academic works contain bibliographies that can point you to other papers. Use the on-line library catalogue to search for the books held by the University Library. It will also let you search for any publication citing your target article in its bibliography. You may not be the first to make these connections, but that doesn’t make them any less valid or interesting. It is also a good policy to check your final draft with this in mind. This is the main point of your paragraph and everything within this paragraph should relate back to it. Introduce and define some of the key concepts discussed in the essay. Don’t go into too much detail in the introduction. For further details and examples, download the Guide to essay paragraph structure from this page. Use the Guide to essay paragraph structure and the Essay paragraph planner on this page to plan your next essay. By reading, we mean published, peer-reviewed literature; Wikipedia does not count! Other websites should not be cited in essays, but you can use them to further your understanding and get lists of peer-reviewed literature to read. Finally, make sure you read carefully any feedback you are given on your essays. Your tutors will be keen to help you learn and progress. Write an answer to the question in just one or two sentences â€" this can form the basis your thesis statement or argument. Use the Deakin Assignment Planner to get a better idea of the time required to complete your essay.