Writing Essays For Dummies, UK Edition

This straight-talking guide will help you develop your essay-writing skills and achieve higher marks

Do ever wish that you could write the perfect university essay? Are you left baffled about where to start? This easy-to-use guide walks you through the nuts and bolts of academic writing, helping you develop your essay-writing skills and achieve higher marks. From identifying the essay type and planning a structure, to honing your research skills, managing your time, finding an essay voice, and referencing correctly, Writing Essays For Dummies shows you how to stay on top of each stage of the essay-writing process, to help you produce a well-crafted and confident final document.

Writing Essays For Dummies covers:

Part I: Navigating a World of Information
Chapter 1: Mapping Your Way: Starting to Write Essays
Chapter 2: Identifying the essay type

Part II: Researching, Recording and Reformulating
Chapter 3: Eyes Down: Academic reading
Chapter 4: Researching Online
Chapter 5: Note-taking and Organising your Material
Chapter 6: Avoiding Plagiarism

Part III: Putting Pen to Paper
Chapter 7: Writing as a process
Chapter 8: Getting Going and Keeping Going

Part IV: Mastering Language and Style
Chapter 9: Writing with Confidence
Chapter 10: Penning the Perfect Paragraph
Chapter 11: Finding Your Voice

Part V: Tightening Your Structure and Organisation
Chapter 12: Preparing the Aperitif: The Introduction
Chapter 13: Serving the Main Course: The Essay?s Body
Chapter 14: Dishing up Dessert: The Conclusion
Chapter 15: Acknowledging Sources of Information

Part VI: Finishing with a Flourish: The Final Touches
Chapter 16: It?s all in the detail
Chapter 17: Perfecting Your Presentation
Chapter 18: The afterglow

Part VII: Part of Tens
Chapter 19: Ten Tips to Avoid Things Going Wrong
Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Make Your Essay Stand Out

Introduction 1

About This book 2

Conventions Used in This Book 2

How This Book is Organised 3

Part I: Navigating a World of Information 3

Part II: Researching, Recording and Reformulating 3

Part III: Mastering Language and Style 3

Part IV: Tightening Your Structure and Organisation 4

Part V: Finishing with a Flourish: The Final Touches 4

Part VI: The Part of Tens 4

Icons Used in This Book 5

Where to Go from Here 5

Part I: Navigating a World of Information 7

Chapter 1: Mapping Your Way: Starting to Write Essays 9

Transitioning to University-level Writing 9

Writing at school 10

Writing at undergraduate level 10

Writing at postgraduate level 11

Getting the Genre Right 12

Writing an essay, not creative prose 12

Writing an essay, not a newspaper article 13

Writing an essay, not a report 15

Crafting Your Essay: Stages in the Writing Process 17

Stage 1: Analysing the title 17

Stage 2: Making a timetable 18

Stage 3: Gathering data 19

Stage 4: Brainstorming and planning 20

Stage 5: Writing the first draft 21

Stage 6: Revising your draft 22

Stage 7: Checking and polishing 22

The final hurdle: Handing in 23

Becoming a Successful Essay Writer 23

Just write, write, write 24

Giving yourself enough time 25

Changing your mindset 25

Chapter 2: Getting Going and Keeping Going 27

Getting Ready to Write 27

Finding out what helps you to work 27

Organising yourself 30

Overcoming Writer’s Block 32

Challenging your fears 32

Writing something – anything – and rewording it 32

Talking before you write 33

Visualising the final product 34

Forgetting about the essay for a while 34

Sleeping on it 35

Reading something different 35

Getting your blood flowing 36

Doing something that makes you feel good 36

Keeping Yourself on Track 37

Planning large scale 37

Planning small scale 39

Thinking half hours not whole hours 41

Dividing work into manageable chunks 42

Rewarding yourself 42

Getting Help: Using Other Students as a Sounding Board 42

Recognising What Helps You to Write 44

Chapter 3: Working Out the Essay Type 45

Finding Out What to Write About 46

Unpicking keywords 46

Looking for function words 47

Identifying Different Frameworks 51

Knowing what you do for all frameworks 52

Examining types of essay 53

Making your story flow 61

Planning Around Your Framework 61

Part II: Researching, Recording and Reformulating 63

Chapter 4: Eyes Down: Academic Reading 65

Reading Academically: How It Differs 66

Using Your Reading List 67

Knowing which books to read 67

Finding the books on your list 68

Moving Beyond the Reading List: Searching for Literature 70

Using the library catalogue 70

Calling on the experts 71

Using Articles from Journals 72

Brushing Up Your Reading Techniques 75

Reading smartly 75

Reading online 78

Reading faster 79

Putting it all together: The SQ3R technique 82

Reading critically 83

Chapter 5: Researching Online 85

Exercising Caution as You Surf 85

Getting Started: Using Popular Websites 86

Checking out key websites 86

Broadening the Net 87

Working with Wikipedia or not? 87

Finding Academically Acceptable Websites 89

Recognising scholarly sites 90

Determining sources and authors 90

Scoping the scope 93

Being wary of bias 94

Assuring accuracy 94

Checking currency 94

Completing your checklist 95

Searching with keywords and other terms 96

Chapter 6: Note Taking and Organising Your Material 97

Preparing to Take Notes 98

Stocking up on supplies 98

Creating a filing system 98

Working with index cards 99

Annotating: Marking Up Texts in a Useful Manner 100

Writing in your books 100

Working with PowerPoint handouts 101

Finding your own mark-up system 102

Colour coding 102

Making a Page of Notes 103

Selecting what’s important for you 104

Laying out your notes 105

Drawing and making diagrams 105

Creating your own shorthand 108

Stopping the Notes and Starting to Write 110

Knowing when to move on 111

Turning your notes into a plan 111

Chapter 7: Avoiding Plagiarism 115

Understanding Plagiarism 115

Falling into the copycat trap 116

Seeing how tutors catch you out 117

Considering the consequences 118

Keeping on the Straight and Narrow 118

Writing in Your Own Words 121

Paraphrasing 121

Summarising 124

Part III: Mastering Language and Style 129

Chapter 8: Writing with Confidence: Brushing Up Your Grammar 131

Punctuating Properly 132

Capitalising Correctly 137

Using Different Parts of Speech 138

Verbs 138

Nouns 139

Pronouns 140

Adjectives 142

Adverbs 143

Prepositions and conjunctions 143

Interjections 145

Chapter 9: Penning the Perfect Paragraph 147

Understanding Paragraphs 147

Thinking about types of paragraph 147

Looking at the dos and don’ts 148

Structuring a Paragraph 150

Following the process 150

Penning a topic sentence 152

Writing supporting sentences 153

Considering sentence length 154

Ensuring Coherence and Logical Flow 157

Ordering sentences within the paragraph for coherence 157

Making the language flow 159

Signposting your sentences and paragraphs 159

Checking for coherence and flow 160

Chapter 10: Writing in the Academic Style 163

Adopting the Right Tone of Voice 163

Remembering your audience 164

Being modest 164

Being cautious 164

Be careful with your attitude 165

Writing in a Formal Style 166

Using ‘I’ in your essay 166

Active or passive? 167

Avoiding overstatements 169

Expanding contractions 169

Keeping your eyes peeled for clichés 170

Steering clear of slang 172

Using a wide range of language 173

Using the right specialist words 174

Minimising your use of long words 175

Substituting phrasal verbs 176

Never using formatting or punctuation for effect 177

Remaining Objective 178

Avoiding Biased Language 178

Being Clear, Concise and Precise 179

Being specific 180

Cutting out unnecessary fluff 180

Steering clear of complicated sentences 185

Writing statements not questions 185

Finding Your Own Voice 186

Seeing your writing as part of a process 187

Working with feedback 187

Taking it at your own pace 188

Part IV: Tightening Your Structure and Organisation 189

Chapter 11: Preparing the Aperitif: The Introduction 191

Understanding the Aims of Your Introduction 191

Knowing What to Include 192

Covering the conventions of intros 192

Defining keywords and terms 194

Writing a thesis statement 195

Exploring alternative openings 197

Coming Back to the Introduction at the End 198

Avoiding Common Mistakes 199

Chapter 12: Serving the Main Course: The Essay’s Body 201

Developing a Position 201

Using Different Types of Writing 203

Descriptive writing 203

Analytical writing 204

Reflective writing 206

Keeping a Balanced View 208

Knowing what counts as evidence 209

Reading with critical eyes 209

Stating your opinion 210

Incorporating Quotations 210

Using Visuals 211

Presenting visual information 212

Interpreting visual information 212

Summarising information in charts 213

Chapter 13: Dishing Up Dessert: The Conclusion 215

Knowing How to Conclude 215

Understanding what a conclusion does 215

Getting the content right 217

Writing the Conclusion 218

Drawing all the threads together 218

Pointing forward 220

Striking the right tone 220

Getting the length right 222

Realising that writing your conclusion can change your essay 223

Evaluating Your Conclusion 223

Checking your work. 224

Asking yourself ‘So what?’ 225

Making the final check 225

Chapter 14: Acknowledging Sources of Information 227

Understanding the Importance of Referencing 227

Bearing in Mind Some Basics 228

Getting to Grips with the Jargon 229

Pinning Down Your Referencing Style 231

Using Harvard (a.k.a. author/date) 232

Working with footnotes 232

Quoting within Your Essay 233

Citing the author in the text 233

Quoting directly 235

Quoting indirectly 236

Slotting a short quotation into your sentence 236

Dealing with longer quotations 237

Listing References at the End of Your Work 238

Part V: Finishing with a Flourish: The Final Touches 243

Chapter 15: Editing and Proofreading: It’s All in the Detail 245

Knowing the Difference between Editing and Proofreading 245

Editing: Casting a Critical Eye over What

You’re Saying 246

Considering content 246

Examining structure 247

Addressing style 248

Ensuring that your essay’s the correct length 249

Proofreading: Dotting the is and crossing the Ts 252

Knowing what to look for 252

Using different proofreading techniques 256

Chapter 16: Perfecting Your Presentation 259

Looking Good: First Impressions 260

Picking paper 260

Perfecting pages 261

Binding 261

Creating a cover sheet 262

Looking Good: On Closer Inspection 262

Choosing the right font and font size 262

Styling headings and subheadings 263

Using italics 263

Spacing adequately 264

Incorporating data into your essay 265

Finishing Off 267

Running through your checklist 267

Kissing the essay goodbye 268

Chapter 17: Moving On: Results and Feedback 269

Congratulating Yourself on What You Achieve 270

Noting what you’ve done well 270

Focusing on positive feedback 272

Understanding What the Marks Mean 272

Coping with Getting a Lower Mark than You Hoped For 273

Dealing with disappointment 274

Talking to your tutor 275

Taking action to improve 275

Taking advantage of other support 276

Moving On to the Next Essay 277

Part VI: The Part of Tens 279

Chapter 18: Ten Troubleshooting Tips 281

Oops! I’ve Written Too Many Words 281

Uh-oh . My Essay is Too Short 282

Eeek! I’ll Never Finish On Time! 282

I’m Having Technological Torments 283

My Writing is Just Appalling 284

I’m Not Sure I’ve Answered the Question 285

I Think My References are All Wrong 285

I Don’t Really Understand the Reading 286

I Hate My Course and Can’t Be Bothered 286

I Can’t Find Any Mistakes – is That Really Okay? 287

Chapter 19: Ten Tips for Writing Essays in Exams .289

Planning for Exams from the Start 289

Managing Your Time 290

Trying Different Revision Techniques 291

Using What’s Gone Before 292

Being Good to Yourself 294

Gearing Up 294

Writing by Hand 295

Dealing with Exam Nerves 296

Answering the Question 297

Presenting the Examiner with a Polished Product 300

Index 301

Mary Page teaches English for Academic Purposes and essay-writing skills at the University of Southampton.

Dr Carrie Winstanley is a Principal lecturer in Education at Roehampton University. Carrie was recently named one of the Top 50 university teachers in the UK by the Higher Education Academy.