Writing Overview

Writing Overview Be careful not to focus on only one minor point in the conclusion - it is essential to summarise all of the main points covered. A very common mistake that students make is introducing new material, new evidence or new points into their conclusion that have not been previously mentioned in the body of the essay. This video will introduce useful advice and tips on how to write an effective conclusion to an essay, report or case study. A concluding sentence that restates your point, analyses the evidence or acts as a transition to the next paragraph represents effective writing. By reading, we mean published, peer-reviewed literature; Wikipedia does not count! Other websites should not be cited in essays, but you can use them to further your understanding and get lists of peer-reviewed literature to read. Introduce and define some of the key concepts discussed in the essay. Don’t go into too much detail in the introduction. For further details and examples, download the Guide to essay paragraph structure from this page. Finally, make sure you read carefully any feedback you are given on your essays. Your tutors will be keen to help you learn and progress. However, you must strive to present an organized and logical description if the reader is to come away from the essay with a cogent sense of what it is you are attempting to describe. Like vases, paragraphs tend to be more narrow in the middle. That’s where you’ll find the specifics of the argument, the quotations and the facts. While you can have sub-points, the most important thing is that you come up with ONE coherent argument that ties together everything in your essay. In other words, as long as you introduce your topic, argue your case persuasively, and provide some closure, the number of paragraphs is completely irrelevant. At undergraduate level, more so than at A-Level, you will need to demonstrate evidence of further reading. Lectures are supposed to be a pointer and guide for your further reading. Write an answer to the question in just one or two sentences â€" this can form the basis your thesis statement or argument. Use the Deakin Assignment Planner to get a better idea of the time required to complete your essay. Summarise your argument and draw on some of the main points discussed in the body of the essay, but not in too much detail. Each main point should be relevant to your essay question or thesis statement. This is the main point of your paragraph and everything within this paragraph should relate back to it. Aim to have what you subjectively feel is a “final” draft at least two days before the submission deadline. Use the remaining days to review your work at well-spaced intervals. This will help you look more objectively at your own work. Throughout this short guide we use the term “essay” to mean any sort of academic writing assignment that you hand in for a course. Use the Guide to essay paragraph structure and the Essay paragraph planner on this page to plan your next essay. It is easy to fall into an incoherent rambling of emotions and senses when writing a descriptive essay. Others will be concise reports of experiments or descriptions of economic or other data. However, they are all referred to herein as “essays,” and most of the principles of clarity, organization and presentation apply to them all. This kind of introduction will grip readers, impress them and make them want to know more. Not everyone can do this but, as long as you follow some of the guidelines above, you will avoid shooting yourself in the foot before you have even begun. Another approach is actually to state your answer in the introduction and then go on to prove your case in the essay. This approach is far mare exciting because it shows that you have a definite point of view, and are prepared to argue it. It shows an examiner that you have planned your essay, know what you are going to say and in all probability will support it with good evidence.