Essay Writing
What should I do once I've done my essay plan?
Once you've done your essay plan, you've got something to work from. This may not be the end product, but it's where you start. Your essay will eventually have a beginning and an end. That doesn't mean that you have to start at the beginning. It's very difficult to have an empty sheet of paper and find that opening sentence. Start anywhere that you feel comfortable with, but when you have a plan you can do this, because you know how all the pieces are linked together. You start writing where you feel comfortable, and when you get towards the end you can start putting in your first part, your introduction. Once you've done that, the last thing you do is the concluding paragraph. That will be your first draft.
How important is writing style?
Writing style is very important. Very often, I see student essays, and they use words like "gorgeous", "massive", "great", and "wonderful". These sorts of words are very emotive and very subjective, and you often find them in newspapers, so it's like a journalist writing. However, when you write an academic essay, it needs to be objective. We can't have your opinion being filtered all the way through it, and we need to have evidence of your view. You're looking at what other researchers have done, and you're supporting that in your essay. Cut out words like "gorgeous" and "great" because they are too emotive.
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism is taking an idea from somebody else. That could be a concept, a piece of music, a diagram, some facts, or anything that they have done some research on and taking that as your own work. Now, you may not mean to do this but if you do put some facts or some opinions down in your essay and you don't accredit where it's come from that could constitute plagiarism. It's important to check with your institution the rules they have on plagiarism because if they find you have plagiarized work, then they could invoke penalties, and you may have to lose marks for your essay. If you actually know you are plagiarizing by copying and pasting big parts from the website, then the penalty would be really great!
What should I remember about the layout of my essay?
You may wonder how to layout your essay. That will depend on your tutor, you really have to go to the tutor, ask them how they'd like their essay laid out. But roughly speaking, if it's going to be a long essay, you may want to put in a contents page because it just helps to show the structure of your essay. If it's a shorter one, then you probably won't need that. But all essays will need to have a title, they'll need your name as a student. I must admit, I've had so many essays where the student doesn't put their name on it for some reason, and the pages should be numbered.
What will happen if I don't hand in my essay on time?
If you don't hand your essay in on time, there will probably be some penalties. What those penalties are will depend on your institution, on the course you're taking, and possibly the lecturer. It's very important to find out what the penalties are if you don't hand your work in on time. If, for some reason, something important has happened to you, which means you can't do your work on time, most universities have what they call 'special considerations'. These penalties will be waivered, but you need to find this out.
