Tips for writing better essays

• Read the question
• Remember that reading and answering the question are two very different things - it is not enough to write paragraphs and paragraphs about the general topic to which the question is referring. You have to manipulate your knowledge in order to specifically address the question that is being asked
• Unpick the different parts of the question and start collecting ideas and organise your notes which refer to the different parts of the question.
• Refine your ideas, think of examples which support your position and why and how they support it and then try to find some weaknesses in your argument and test your theory. Develop your ability to analyse and criticise.
• Structure your ideas and examples into a coherent argument, which has a clear, and logical progression and which flows from point to point.
• Your argument should permeate the entire essay and not come as a sudden revelation in the last paragraph. The 'I conclude, therefore that x,y & z' is a fatal ending to an essay. Use the concluding part of the essay to draw together your theory and to suggest some other avenues for future discussion, which have arisen from your answer to the question.
• If you want to rise above the 2:1 masses, you will have to show a degree of original thought and a deep and subtle understanding of the subject matter.
• Write stylishly, check your grammar, and make sure you conform to the School guidelines on quotation and citation (i.e. Harvard referencing), double space your essay. There may be guidlelines on which font and font size to use as well as other information on marking criteria that can be found usually in the module guide.
• For most people doing a degree is the last stage of their academic career. Ten years after you finish your degree there is not much chance that you will remember the detailed arguments that you expressed in your essays. You are more likely however to not only remember, but also be using, the organisational, research and critical analysis skills which you developed while writing the essay -so *think skills not knowledge
• - especially in your first year and you will get a lot further in your degree and leave university with something genuinely valuable.