The trick to writing a good essay is obviously things like, grammar and wording, but also the structure of it, this is where an essay plan comes in handy. Once you know your topic and know the things you are going to discuss brainstorm ideas then write up a plan. So say your question was… “The existence of Santa Claus has been widely debated over many centuries. Draw to your own conclusion regarding this statement and us evidence to support your argument”.
• How to write an Essay

  • Intro: (this is the section you put in your opinion on the subject mention the points that will be discussed in your essay, state the issue)

    For example. The existence of Santa Claus can not be denied after taking into account, factors such as, the manifestation of his story etc

  • Body: this is where your arguments should go, discuss the issue preferably in the order in which you placed them in the intro. Make sure the order that you put them in best suits the flow of the essay, ensuring that one paragraph links to the next.
    1. Para 1: the story of Santa…discuss
    2. Para 2: what points of this story prove his existence
    3. Para 3: how the imagination of children contribute to maintaining his existence
    4. Para 4: how shops contribute to his existence

  • Conclusion/ summary: there is a big difference between the two.

    A summary is when you ‘sum’ everything up

    For example Through reviewing many factors including the manifestation of his story, imagination, etc it proves the existence of Santa Claus.

    A conclusion is when you end the argument by reinforcing your point of view usually through a statement.

    For example The manifestation of the story of Santa Claus has contributed to his existence. This has been made clear through looking at various aspects etc

• Help Writing Assignments

  • Stick to the word limit, usually they allow 100 under and 100 over without penalty

  • Use quotes to back up your arguments, don’t use quotes as your arguments. To ensure this doesn’t occur formulate your own opinion about the subject before and find information that backs up your opinion.

  • Every time you quote, put it in inverted commas and reference it, if not they can pull you up for plagiarism which is an offence that can get you kicked out of uni for.

    There are two common ways of referencing:

  • Foot Noting: where you put a number at the end of the quote and at the bottom of the page it has information as to where that information originated from

    For example: Author, title, location of publishing, year of publishing, page number

  • Harvard System: This way requires you to put this information in brackets after the quote

Lastly, always include a bibliography or citation or both depending on the lecturer and trust me there is a difference. A citation or reference list has the details of all the books you quoted from and bibliography requires you to write down the information of every book you looked at, even if you didn’t quote from them. The way you write either of these is different based upon the material you use (e.g. text book, video, live quote etc) so just ask your lecturers how they would like it.

So anyway I hope all this helps…have fun and good luck for the year ahead.

Author: Lisa

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