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Essay
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I'm on an Access course and I have to do an essay on a short story called The Snow Child by Angela Carter for Englist Lit. I've been putting it off for two weeks now and it's due in on Monday. When I get into the flow I'm usually okay (after painfully squeezing out an introduction..gah hate them!) but I've found that with another essays I've done recently that the words just don't want to come out onto paper.
After a Sociology essay I've realised not to use bullet points in an essay (which I still don't get) and to include more detail and to quote correctly.
Any tips anyone? I've had help from the teacher in that we've had classes on how to write essays so I shouldn't really be having a problem really at this stage :rolleyes:
After a Sociology essay I've realised not to use bullet points in an essay (which I still don't get) and to include more detail and to quote correctly.
Any tips anyone? I've had help from the teacher in that we've had classes on how to write essays so I shouldn't really be having a problem really at this stage :rolleyes:
Post edited by JustV on
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What I do is to write the main body of my essay, and then come back to the introduction, because you're right it is a hard part to do! An introduction should really just summarise what points you're going to make in your essay, and that's a lot easier to do once you've already made them all. Then the conclusion should summarise the points you've made to provide a brief answer to whatever the essay question was.
The reason you wouldn't use bullet points in an essay is that it's meant to be a flowing piece of writing which discusses in detail various points about the text. Bullet points are useful to summarise information but that's not what you're doing in an essay, so you don't need them.
Including more detail is a good tip - you only need about three points to discuss (although that does depend on how long your essay is supposed to be), but those three should include plenty of detail so as to make your argument strong. The format should be PQA - Point, Quote, Analysis. Make your point, back it up with at least one quote from the text, and then discuss why this point is important in answering your essay question.
When you say quoting correctly, do you mean quotes from the book or quotes from secondary literature? (I don't know what level an Access course is so I don't know whether you're using secondary literature or not.) Just remember to always put it in speech marks, and don't just plonk a quote into your essay, you need a few words of introduction like "In chapter 4, the following conversation between X and Y is a good example of Z: ..."
Hope those tips were helpful for you, and if you want any more help just ask, or post the essay question
Firstly, you can save a lot of time and agony by not writing the introduction first. I wrote my introduction for my dissertation last as really an introduction often includes what the rest of the essay is going to be about, or an insight into an overall idea you have written about. At the beginning, this isn't necessarily clear in your head. In fact, writing in any kind of logical order from the outset isn't necessarily the way forward at all. The main thing is to get your strong thoughts, ideas and perceptions down in clear paragraphs and then go back and structure them.
I know what you mean by having an essay writing class and still feeling stuck, as I remember the same thing. It was only really in my final year of study that I forced myself to really take on board everything my tutors were telling me and put the tips into practice. The reason bullet points aren't acceptable in an essay is because they don't illustrate clarity of thought or the ability to expand on concepts or original ideas, and ultimately these are the kind of things that a person marking an essay is looking for.
Other people might disagree with my thoughts on how to write an essay, as I guess people have their own styles for success - but just to reiterate, rigid structure from the beginning restricts creativity and probably your ability to just get some stuff down. But obviously you will need to make sure that by the end everything is neatly in place.
I hope this helps - let me know if you need clarification on anything.
Click for some 'more traditional' tips on essay writing
Crucial point :thumb:
The great thing about computers is that you can do that! I always do crap in exams tho as you have to write in a structured way from the start and my head just doesn't work in that way
Write a critical apprasial of any short story you have read. (I've chosen the Snow Child)
A Critical Appraisal of The Snow Child by Angela Carter.
It doesn't need to be anymore complicated than that.
Good luck with it
I won't go into detail, as many have already done that in a great way. When I write essays, I first write a plan. This plan should contain all the questions you need to answer in your work and points you feel relevant. It shouldn't be all of your points, as you are bound to come up with new ideas in your research and writing process.
About posting it on here, I personally think you should only do that if you are in great need.
I know this might be rude, and no offence meant, but I really think it is a bad idea that you've started so late, although I do understand you (I did that all the time until I realised the last-minute stress which really messed me and the work up). Starting it off and planning it is the worst part - once you've completed that, then it's downhill. Good luck with it!
This approach has always served me well.