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Essay Writing

Essay Writing. Some basic considerations. What this lecture will cover. General advice on your essay. How to organise your work. How and why to use quotations. How and why to use criticism. Some specific advice on the essay questions for this module. How to organise your essay.

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Essay Writing

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  1. Essay Writing Some basic considerations

  2. What this lecture will cover General advice on your essay. • How to organise your work. • How and why to use quotations. • How and why to use criticism. Some specific advice on the essay questions for this module.

  3. How to organise your essay • Introduction • Explain the question: what is it asking you to do? What are the terms that it introduces? • Set out you overall answer or argument: what is it that you hope to have proved or concluded by the end of the essay? • Describe what you are going to do: how do you intend to prove the argument that you have set out? • Main Body of the Essay • Describe characteristics of the text/texts that you are discussing and relate these to the question. • Support all your claims about the text with evidence from the text or from secondary material. • Justify your claims with analysis of the evidence. • Indicate why you cover the material that you do. Explain why the particular example or characteristic that you present helps your overall argument? • Conclusion • Restate what it is that you were trying to prove throughout the essay. • Recap what you have argued in the main body of the essay, explaining how each claim that you made contributes to your general argument.

  4. Your MAIN Argument Point A Point B Point C … A Hierarchical Structure Every point that you make should refer back to the question by contributing something to your main argument. They should also be related to one another and follow a logical sequence.

  5. Your MAIN Argument Point A Point B Point C … A Hierarchical Structure Your MAIN Argument Your main argument should be something you can simply express in a sentence or two. Point A Point B Point C … Your essay’s introduction will set out the main argument and then briefly describe the way that you intend to set about proving this.

  6. The Body of your Essay: a Three Part Structure • State an opinion or fact about the text. • Give some evidence to prove this opinion. • Explain: • How this evidence supports your opinion. • Whatthis point contributes to your overall argument about the text. • How this point is related to the rest of your essay.

  7. Your MAIN Argument Point A Point B Point C … Evidence Evidence Evidence Analysis Analysis Analysis A Hierarchical Structure Your MAIN Argument Point A Point B Point C …

  8. Using Quotations Look at the handout.

  9. Using Criticism Reasons for using criticism? • To give you ideas about how to approach the text you are writing about. • To help put your own ideas into a critical context. • To provide you with examples of critical styles and approaches.

  10. Using Criticism • When and how much to quote from a critic. • You should quote if: • The quotation adds something to your argument. • You disagree with the critical judgement and you are quoting to indicate how your own reading differs from existing critical judgement. • You agree with a critic but feel that you can improve upon or clarify their argument. That is, you should quote if the quotation forms the starting point for your own argument and you intend to show how the specific argument of the critic can be taken further or applied to a particular example which does not appear in the original. In such cases you must be careful not to misrepresent the view of the critic in question. You must ensure that you give an accurate impression of their view as expressed.

  11. Using Criticism • When and how much to quote from a critic. • Do not quote if: • You are merely using the quotation because you think the author puts the point better than you could. • You have nothing to add to the analysis that they provide. • The point that the critic is making does not follow on from your own argument. Try to ensure a logical flow to your argument. • Remember: • A footnote can be used to acknowledge the argument of a critic, you do not have to quote the actual argument. • Quotations from critics need just as much commentary as quotations from the text being analysed. Never leave a quotation from a critic hanging.

  12. Using Criticism • When and how much to quote from a critic. • Only quote as much of a critic as is necessary. • Your quotation should: • convey the critic’s argument simply and efficiently. • receive at least as many words of commentary as the quotation itself.

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