College Writing

College Writing Themes are illustrated and developed through a number of points . Choose relevant points only, ones that most reveal the theme or help to make a convincing and interesting argument. In the main body of the essay every paragraph should demonstrate both knowledge and critical evaluation. Quality of Written Communication - writing clearly and succinctly with appropriate use of paragraphs, spelling and grammar. All sources referenced accurately and in line with APA guidelines. For longer essays with distinct sections, you may consider using headed sections as in these guidelines. Doing so may disrupt the flow of the essay, however. For essays of less than 1500 words, it is unlikely that you will need to section. Aim to have what you subjectively feel is a “final” draft at least two days before the submission deadline. Use the remaining days to review your work at well-spaced intervals. This will help you look more objectively at your own work. However, they are all referred to herein as “essays,” and most of the principles of clarity, organization and presentation apply to them all. Each main point that you make needs to be linked back to the introduction and the thesis statement. You also be required to devise your argument which is commonly referred to as the thesis statement. The introduction is usually one paragraph 15% of total word length (don't get caught up on numbers). The introduction sets up the essay by presenting background information related to the essay question. 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. 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. 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. The general focus on the introduction will then become more focussed on the essay question. You will then need to find some research based on the topic which can include text books, journal articles, conference papers etc. Firstly we explore the planning and preparation required to write a standard essay and then outline the basic essay structure. Don’t be discouraged if you find such workâ€"develop it. All published academic works contain bibliographies that can point you to other papers. Be careful not to focus on only one minor point in the conclusion - it is essential to summarise all of the main points covered. A very common mistake that students make is introducing new material, new evidence or new points into their conclusion that have not been previously mentioned in the body of the essay. 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.