A helpful and definitive guide to essay writing.

1. James King
Guide To Writing an Essay

2. • Most common assignment at College or University
• Can vary in length from 500 to 5000 words
• Explorative piece, developing arguments, opinions and exploring topics
• Discursive in nature, (flowing, fluent and expansive)
• May or may not include subheadings, depends upon the writers style
• Always check the criteria with the assignment leader
What is an Essay

3. There are clearly defined differences between the two formats, these are as follows -
Why an Essay and not a Report
• Often a problem starts with a hypothesis
• Includes lots of field work
• Investigative in nature
• Includes recommendations to solve problem
• Formal style and layout
• Objective tone
• Successful outcome based upon presentation
and analysis of research
• Usually based around a question or a
proposition
• Established a proposition and explores
arguments and responses
• Not normally separated into sections
• May be subjective in nature
• Successful outcome based upon the
interest of the argument and how the
essay demonstrates/relates to the
overall topic
• Report • Essay

4. • Interpret the question
• Organise your time
• Read
• Think
• Plan
10 Tips to Writing a Successful Essay
• Writing
• Referencing
• Draft
• Refine
• Review

5. • Interpretation of the question is a key aspect and will shape the entire
argument/essay
• Identity the topic and the key themes of the particular topic
• Retail brand awareness, Government tax levies, globalisation – these are all overall topics
that have been identified.
• What are the next steps, they key actions?
• Check the language of the question, is it asking you to “explain” “demonstrate” or
“evaluate”
• Plan your thoughts and arguments, outline briefly what you want to convey
Participation in Decisions

6. • Plan your research, your witting and conclusion
• Depends upon your writing ability
• Remember that you will need more time to research than you think, especially if you
are inexperienced – thorough research equates to a good essay
Organise Time

7. • Good Sources
• Google Books
• Books
• Journals
• Broadsheet papers
• Research papers
• Journalist blogs
Read
• Sources to Avoid
• Wikipedia
• Low quality newspapers
Use as many resources as possible

8. • Think about what conclusions that you can draw from the research
• Do they answer the question?
• Top line what you would like the essay to say and stick to that line of thought
throughout
• This will help you maintain momentum and keep your thoughts focused
Think

9. • Structured, well thought through essays perform better
• Noes should be taken within a logical order
• No strict rules, but make sure that arguments flow and make sense
• The essay should follow an introduction, main body and conclusion
• Introduction should highlight what the essay is about
• Main body should highlight main points, theories and arguments
• Conclusion should bring together the main points and conclude the essay, remember to
demonstrate how the essay answers the original question
Plan

10. • Some people prefer to write the conclusion and then work out the details in the
body and finish with the introduction
• Some prefer to construct the essay around the introduction
• It does not matter how you write it, as long as your opinions topics and arguments
are well researched and referenced within the text
Writing

11. • Acknowledging an authors writing is important, not only does it demonstrate that
you have researched the topic, but it also demonstrates that you have the ability not
to plagiarise other authors work.
• Paraphrasing and quoting an authors works, needs to be recognised and referenced
properly
Referencing

12. • Test your structure, hypothesis and arguments.
• Critique the essay, seek out the weak arguments and strengthen them where
appropriate
• Aim for the third draft to be perfect, second draft is to get the main points right and
make sure that your arguments flow and make sense
Draft and Redraft

13. • Be concise and sincere when reviewing, are you bring too direct or forward.
• Do not use slang or colloquialisms, these will be greatly frowned upon, unless
absolutely appropriate
• At this point you would really want to review the marking schedule, make sure that
your piece will gain marks where appropriate
• You would be surprised how many marks are lost due to silly referencing and
grammatical problems
Review

14. • This article has been produced by James King, Student Advisor for Santa Barbara
Colleges within the USA.
• James is an expert within his field and often lectures on topics including academic
writing for Nursing, Criminal Justice and Business.
Note from Author