Essay Writing Skills

ESSAY WRITING SKILLS Today’s Agenda 1. Academic writing 2. How to write a good essay 3. Understanding assessment ASSESSMENTS • Essays What is an ‘essay’? What makes for a bad essay? What makes for a good essay? • Answer the question set… • Structure your argument effectively • Use appropriate signposts • Overarching Structure • Introduction • Main Body • (Conclusions) Example question ‘To what extent is August Strindberg’s play, Miss Julie, a Naturalistic drama?’ Define the question! • • • • • Who was Strindberg? What do we know about his societal context? What do we know of his literary agendas? What is ‘Naturalism’? How might the plot in Miss Julie address these themes? Example question ‘To what extent is August Strindberg’s play, Miss Julie, a Naturalistic drama?’ Sub‐Theme B Sub‐theme A Class Struggle Gender Struggle Main Theme Naturalism Writing the Introduction Criteria for a good introduction Criteria for a bad introduction • Contextualisation and its • Contextualisation = sweeping statements (not relevant to relevance to the essay topic the essay question itself)/ • Essay topic reformulated padding • Structure of the essay • Lack of reformulation of the (main themes to be essay question discussed) • No indication of the actual content of the essay • Vague overall Writing the Conclusion • The conclusion should not be the same as the introduction • It must sum up your argument • It must give a sense of completeness Writing the Main Body • Answer the question set • Structure your argument effectively • Paragraph Structure Topic Sentence Evidence Analysis • Give illustrative examples • Engage with other writers • Provide source references Writing the Main Body The means / analytical tools you use to illustrate your points Textual evidence / textual clues Brief summary of a passage only if you are going to use it to contextualise a point, to trigger a demonstration (no long summaries…) Citing the text with the purpose of analysing specific details, concrete examples (looking at the imagery, the language used to convey a given theme, carry out a critique of society, etc.) Monologues / Dialogues Indirect discourse Narrative devices Description: landscape, cityscape etc. Parody Comedy Metaphors Personification Figures of speech/tropes Oxymoron / antithesis Periphrasis Synaesthesia Assonance / alliteration Other devices Onomastic (meaning/ symbolism of names) Pace / rhythm Referencing: In footnotes or main body 1. I would argue that thematically Labé is continuously giving a voice to her desire, her suffering and her consequential frustration in addressing what Baker calls the theme or ‘motif of the absence/inacessibility of the Beloved’[add reference in a footnote] (NB: always indicate full reference if first occurrence; or abbreviated if second occurrence, giving page numbers). 2. I would argue that thematically Labé is continuously giving a voice to her desire, her suffering and her consequential frustration in addressing what Baker calls the theme or ‘motif of the absence/inacessibility of the Beloved’ (Baker, [insert date if you cite more works by him], 16). Referencing • See ‘Research Skills’ Powerpoint Presentation by Shenxiao Tong. • For more information on how to reference citations within your essay; for the presentation of your bibliography at the end of your essay, and for formatting in general see also the DELC Style Guide: https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures‐languages‐ cultures/delc/current‐students/general‐assessment‐ information Prepare thoroughly • Research • Keep detailed notes • Sketch out your thoughts Question: Examine the main changes in immigration demographics in Sweden since the 1970s, commenting on the success or otherwise of successive governmental policy in this area. References?!! References?!! Official Statistics Historical Context Evidence Documents Observations Media Political Academic Other? Official statistics Govt websites? References?!! References?!! Changes over time? Interpretations Migration & Sweden Introduction Definitions?? References?!! References?!! Migration in the UK ‘Migration’ ‘Emigration’ ‘Immigration’ References?!! Conclusions Ghettoisation? ‘Immigration Board’‐ ‘Migration Board’ Integration of ‘New’ Swedes Education References?!! Housing Laws References?!! References?!! Title • • Intro • Brief general contextualisation of the question • Definition of any particular terms or ideas • Outline of the main themes of your essay Main Body Discuss with reference to primary and secondary sources • • Theme 1 • Theme 2 • Theme 3 Conclusion • Draw your ideas together • Sum up your argument • Give your overall conclusion Excellent work. Intimate yet selective use of ‘facts’: Comprehensive understanding of conceptual frame Shows independent insight and reading Demonstrates an awareness of altern. critical positions Sustains analytical and independent argument Good work. Few factual errors: Covers the subject matter Appropriately organised and presented Does not engage effectively in critical discussion Fail. May show some awareness of the course, but: Makes frequent mistakes Is unable to formulate a response to the question Does not adhere to the conventions of essay writing Question: Examine the main changes in immigration demographics in Sweden since the 1970s, commenting on the success or otherwise of successive governmental policy in this area. Example 1 As the home of the Vikings, Sweden is more famous for emigration than immigration. Compared to New York, there is hardly any immigrunts in Copenhagen. Most people look the same and have a very similar cultural background. Recently,,, however, there has been a lot of anger with large numbers of refugees causing big problems. Especially with their weird urban dialects. The Sweden Democrats have suggested welcoming the incommers with open arms but other parts opf the political spectrum has been less enthusiastic about all of this. I think its easy to see that there are no real problems in Sweden anyway, but immigrants are famous for writing some really good books over the past couple of years. One of the most famous is the so‐called ‘New Swede’ Jonas Hassen Khemiri, who made his breakthrough with a book about montecores. The whole problem started after the war in the Balkans. Question: Examine the main changes in immigration demographics in Sweden since the 1970s, commenting on the success or otherwise of successive governmental policy in this area. Example 2 For almost 200 years now, human migration has played a major, and in some senses transformative role in the dynamics of Swedish society. While the main direction of this flow was outwards‐bound throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the events leading up to the Second World War saw the prevailing trend in emigration change to one of immigration (Johansson 2003:23). Although accepted as a moral obligation by the Swedish establishment during the war (Schramm 2010:112‐3), the continued and increasing influx in the years that followed was welcomed out of economic necessity as much as anything else (Johansson 2003: 25). With the luxury of a buoyant economy, and the support of a perennially left‐of‐centre social‐democratic government, comprehensive measures were put in place to accept all incomers on their own terms (Newton 1977:56). However, following global recession in the late 1970s, and the concomitant rise in military unrest in less developed parts of the world, the demands on the Swedish system grew to untenable levels (Newton 1977:65). In this essay, I will explore how the Swedish response to the immigrant issue has developed in recent decades, showing how it has differed from that of similar countries, and discussing the challenges that face it in the future. Question: Examine the main changes in immigration demographics in Sweden since the 1970s, commenting on the success or otherwise of successive governmental policy in this area. Example 3 From a point at the beginning of the 20th century when Sweden was recognised as the least diverse nation in Western Europe, the intervening period has witnessed changes in immigrant numbers and characteristics, which could hardly have been more dramatic. In 2016, around 20% of Sweden’s 9 million inhabitants were classified as either first or 2nd generation immigrants (Wikipedia). With a steadily increasing proportion of these arriving as refugees, the strain placed on the economy in a time of global recession and cutbacks, has been considerable. The inevitable friction this has caused with a hard core of disadvantaged natives, encouraged by the less scrupulous politicians, has fed into an increasingly heated debate on the Swedish state’s moral obligations to the victims of new international crises, and the measures taken to provide ongoing support for those already in the country. In my opinion, the problem can be boiled down to economic priorities.