ACADEMIC WRITING TUTOR GERARD HANNAN

ABOUT THIS COURSE THIS COURSE HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO HELP YOU TO PLAN, WRITE AND ORGANISE YOUR ESSAYS. IT HAS BEEN DESIGNED USING A VARIETY OF SOURCES AS WELL AS FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE FROM PROBLEMS MANY STUDENTS HAVE ENCOUNTERED AND ERRORS THEY HAVE REPEATEDLY MADE. THIS IS A SHORT COURSE BUT DON’T BE PUT OFF BY THE LENGTH INFORMATION IS VALUABLE AND IF FOLLOWED IT WILL HAVE AN IMMEDIATE EFFECT ON YOUR GRADES.

BRIEF OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION – SAY WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO SAY A VERY BASIC PATTERN FOR WRITING AN ESSAY IS TO FOLLOW THE SIMPLE STRATEGY OF: INTRODUCTION – SAY WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO SAY MAIN BODY– SAY IT CONCLUSION – SAY WHAT YOU’VE SAID OF COURSE THAT IS A VERY SIMPLISTIC WAY OF WRITING AN ESSAY, BUT IT DOES ILLUSTRATE THE BASIC ESSAY FORMAT.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN 1 ALWAYS BEGIN WITH AN ESSAY PLAN. YOU WILL FIND THAT THIS REALLY HELPS TO ORGANISE YOUR THOUGHTS. THIS SHOULD INCLUDE YOUR INITIAL REACTION TO THE ESSAY TITLE, YOUR BASIC IDEAS AND THOUGHTS AND SOME QUOTATIONS YOU WANT TO USE. YOU MAY FIND THAT YOU DO NOT STICK COMPLETELY TO YOUR PLAN AND THIS IS OKAY, AS THE MORE YOU THINK ABOUT AN ESSAY YOUR IDEAS WILL EVOLVE AND CHANGE. YOU SHOULD, HOWEVER, HAVE FORMED YOUR IDEAS AND OPINIONS BEFORE YOU START WRITING.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN 2 IN PLANNING YOUR ESSAY IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE DONE PRELIMINARY READING. THIS MAY INVOLVE SURFING THE WEB AND CHECKING OUT RELEVANT SITES OR IT MAY INVOLVE READING YOUR NOVEL/TEXT TO HUNT OUT SOME QUOTATIONS TO JUSTIFY YOUR ARGUMENT. WHICHEVER IT INVOLVES, MAKE SURE YOU WRITE DOWN THE SOURCES OF THIS INFORMATION FOR YOUR REFERENCING AND BIBLIOGRAPHY. THERE IS NO AVOIDING THE FACT THAT YOU CANNOT RISE A GOOD ESSAY WITHOUT FIRST HAVING DONE THE RESEARCH, JUST AS A LAWYER WAS NEVER GOING TO COURT TO TRY A CASE WITHOUT HAVING DONE SUBSTANTIAL RESEARCH AND PREPARATION. IMAGINE GOING INTO COURT AND JUST MAKING IT ALL UP ON THE SPOT, HOW EMBARRASSING WOULD THAT BE? THAT IS WHAT IT IS SOMETIMES LIKE READING BADLY WRITTEN ESSAYS – EMBARRASSING!

SO HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT PLANNING AN ESSAY? 1. PRELIMINARY READING A. USE THE INTERNET TO BEGIN YOUR INVESTIGATIONS TRY TO USE ACADEMIC WEBSITES AND NOT BLOGS ARE BLATANTLY SUBJECTIVE RATING. THIS IS A DISADVANTAGE OF THE INTERNET; NOT ALL SOURCES ARE RELIABLE. WITH OVER 550 BILLION WEBSITES HOW MANY CAN REALLY BE RELIABLE ACADEMIC SOURCES? NOTE: AVOID WIKIPEDIA AT ALL COSTS. ANYONE WHO CARES TO SUBMIT TO WIKIPEDIA ARE FREE TO DO SO. THIS MEANS THAT A LOT OF THE INFORMATION ON WIKIPEDIA IS UNRELIABLE. HOWEVER IT IS FAIR TO SAY THAT WIKIPEDIA CAN GIVE A GOOD INTRODUCTION TO THE SUBJECT MATTER WHICH YOU INTEND TO WRITE ABOUT. BUT NEVER QUOTE FROM WIKIPEDIA

SO HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT PLANNING AN ESSAY? B. DO NOT MERELY USE GOOGLE, MSN OR ASK JEEVES AS YOUR ONLY SEARCH ENGINE. TRY ALSO USING SPECIFICALLY ACADEMIC SEARCH ENGINES SUCH AS BEAUCOUP, LOOKOFF, VIRTUAL FREE SITES, FREEALITY, SEARCHBUG, COLLEGEBOT, TURBO10, COLLOSSUS OR LINCON. A LITTLE BIT OF RESEARCH CAN YIELD EXCELLENT RESULTS AND ENHANCE YOUR FINAL PAPER.

SO HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT PLANNING AN ESSAY? C. LOOK AT THE WEB ADDRESS OF THE SITE YOU ARE USING AS THIS DOMAIN TYPE INDICATES A POSSIBLE BIAS AND THE INFORMATION MAY THEREFORE BE UNRELIABLE. FOR EXAMPLE, A .ORG WEBSITE MAY BE A SOURCE OF SUBJECTIVE INFORMATION LOADED IN FAVOUR OF THE WEBSITE CREATOR. IF YOU ARE WRITING AN ESSAY ON A SPECIFIC SUBJECT MATTER, FOR EXAMPLE, THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, THEN IT IS A BAD IDEA TO USE A SOURCE CREATED IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY. THE INFORMATION THAT APPEARS ON SUCH WEBSITES MAY BE INACCURATE ARE BIASED.

SO HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT PLANNING AN ESSAY? D. DO NOT JUST USE THE INTERNET. GO TO A LIBRARY AND SEE WHAT RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE THERE. ANY OF THE TEXTS, READINGS, JOURNALS, PERIODICALS ETC AVAILABLE IN THE LIBRARY ARE AN EXCELLENT SOURCE. THE LIBRARY IS A WONDERFUL RESOURCE AND WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH A FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY TO PRODUCE EXCELLENT, WELL RESEARCHED WORK…..SO PLEASE USE IT.

SO HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT PLANNING AN ESSAY? WHEN YOU HAVE DONE YOUR RESEARCH AND COLLECTED A VARIETY OF SOURCES CAREFULLY PLAN THE DIRECTION OF YOUR ESSAY. ESTABLISH YOUR OPINION. DO YOU AGREE WITH THE ESSAY TITLE? DO YOU DISAGREE? HOW WILL YOU ANSWER IT? WHAT IS YOUR STANCE? WHAT PROVE AND EVIDENCE (SOURCES AND QUOTATIONS) DO YOU HAVE TO JUSTIFY YOUR POINT OF VIEW? HAVE YOU GOT ALL THE NECESSARY INFORMATION FOR THE REFERENCING AND BIBLIOGRAPHY? TRY BRAINSTORMING ALL OF YOUR IDEAS ON THE TOPIC, OR TRY USING A GRAPHIC ORGANISER TO HELP YOU IN THIS STAGE OF THE PLANNING.