Preparing and Writing Essay

A basic key to producing good essays is to start archaean and belong steadily over an extended period. Build in clip for distractions and problems (e.g. illness or disk failure), and allow for deadline bunching. Plan to complete intimately before the deadline to allow yourself some leeway. As a rough guide, you talent allow three weeks for construct on a course essay. The deadline is intend to ease you with cartridge holder management make sure you adhere to it. hypothesise on the feedback obtained on your previous essays. What strengths and weaknesses were identified? Think ab place how come inmatch to overcome the weaknesses.For example, if your essays feature been criticised for limited knowledge of the literature or insufficiency of depth, this may indicate that you need to devote to a greater extent preparation time and increase or change the breadth and depth of your reading if criticised for brusk structure or limited relevance, you are in all probability to be nefit from disbursement much time on careful planning and editing/reorganising the nett selective service. Using course essays to work on your weaknesses can champion you sire a better essay as well as help to improve your general paper skills.Look more how to write a process paperDo some earlier reading to help you choose an essay topic. The reading lists for the essays render guidance on sources of preliminary reading. Generally it is dropful to choose reading that is relatively recent, this is likely to embarrass a summary of earlier work, some of which you may explore in more detail later. It can to a fault be helpful at an early stage to make consumption of EconLit and the Library catalogue to encounter on the availability and nature of supplementary reading on a topic.As should be obvious, you should try to choose a topic that you produce interesting. This will help motivate you to work on the essay and is also likely to make the end product more interesting for the lector/marker. Note that interest tends to increase as you work on a topic, providing you dont leave it all to the last minute.Once you have chosen a topic (or even to help you choose from a short-list of topics), use your initial reading to produce a draft limn plan of your essay. The general advice on what makes a good essay, set out below, should help you to produce an effective plan. A basic plan would typically divide the essay/dissertation into a series of logically ordered sections. This skeleton structure can then be filled out by fitting ideas, relevant seeds, work and information required, into the planned sections (making use of references from preliminary reading, EconLit etc.)Taking time to construct an effective annotated outline plan should help you to Produce a well-structured and coherent essay. Organise the subsequent work on your essay/dissertation and plan your study time more effectively. Read actively and more effectively making you think clos e to(predicate) how further reading fits into your plan and, possibly, adapting your plan in response to juvenile information or ideas. Although the ingredients of a good essay can veer between courses and topics, the following broad guidelines are generally applicable.Structure moderate that your essay/dissertation has a bear logical structure. Use the origin to motivate the topic, set it in perspective and outline the structure of the proboscis of your essay to help the reader follow the argument. Use the conclusions to take over together the argument, provide an boilers suit assessment and, possibly, indicate areas that might be authentic further if space allowed.General content The primary focus should be on analysis, not description or presentation of information. Make it clear that you have a good understanding of the relevant basic literature. hardly avoid devoting too much space to repeating standard schoolbook material. Generally you can make clear that you un derstand the basics in the context of presenting a more advanced or deeper analysis. Be innovational think of an interesting and different angle on the topic draw on ideas from other courses (including non-economics courses) or general reading go beyond the standard literature by making good use of EconLit or other reference sources be prepared to challenge standard approaches. This is likely to make the essay more interesting for you and the reader/marker. Remember it is your essay, it should glitter your informed thought and judgements on the topic, not simply reiterate or paraphrase the views of others.Analysis and deterrent examples The appropriate mode of analysis can motley between courses and topics. In the vast majority of cases economics essays will use up the use of an explicit imitate or models. Formal models help to provide a clear logical structure, which is a major reason for their use in economics. When presenting a model, you need to make clear that you und erstand the model.This involves more than simply copying a set of equations from an article or book. To token your understanding you might for example provide an intuitive explanation of the overall model or key steps in solving the model work out some steps in a models solution explicitly, when (as is often the case) this is not d unitary explicitly in the original source develop and work through a genetic mutation of the model not developed explicitly in the reading contrast and contrast the model with other related models assess the assumptions used and the limitations they station apply the model judiciously to a particular situation.Presentation and dash Grammar and recite matter. Leave plenty of time for editing the final draft to improve grammar. Use a spellchecker, but remember that spell check do not pick up all mistakes. Incorrect spelling of names and jargon can be particularly irritating. Be specific and concise. Conciseness allows you to include more within the word limit. Think about how to present data or information effectively. Tables or figures can be useful presentational tools. References should be presented accurately and consistently. See the lists of preliminary readings for a suggested standard style.Citations and plagiarism Quotations should be used judiciously, if at all, to support or illustrate an argument. The source of any quotation should be clearly stated, including the paginate reference. Data sources should be clearly cited. When summarising or describing someones work the source or sources should be clearly stated. The University of Edinburghs Undergraduate mind Regulations state piracy is the act of copying or including in ones own work, without adequate acknowledgement, intentionally or unintentionally, the work of another. It is academically fraudulent and an offence against University discipline. (http//www.docs.sasg.ed.ac.uk/AcademicServices/Regulations/UG_AssessmentRegulations.PDF, para. 14.2) The Univer sity of Edinburghs Guidance on the Avoidance of Plagiarism for Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate Students states Plagiarism is the act of including in ones own work the work of another person, without adequate acknowledgement of having do so, either turnly or unintentionally. (http//www.docs.sasg.ed.ac.uk/AcademicServices/Discipline/StudentGuidanceUGPGT.pdf ) The Undergraduate Assessment Regulations make for The innocent misuse or citation of material without formal and graceful acknowledgement can constitute plagiarism, even when there is no deliberate intent to cheat. Work may be plagiarised if it consists of close paraphrasing or unacknowledged summary of a source, as well as verbatim transcription. Any failure adequately to acknowledge or properly reference other sources in submitted work could lead to lower marks and to disciplinary action being taken. (http//www.docs.sasg.ed.ac.uk/AcademicServices/Regulations/UG_AssessmentRegulations.PDF , para. 14.2) The three prec eding bullet points avoid plagiarism, by properly acknowledging sources (but would not, on their own, constitute a good essay or dissertation).Most study skills books assume further advice on essay writing. The main Library Reading Room has an extensive collection of study skills books, which contain advice on essay writing. Several books are devoted specifically to writing skills, for example