IACT 418/918 Corporate Network Management Week 1 Introduction & Assessment SITACS University of Wollongong Bob Brown 2003

IACT418/918 Report vs. Essay  REPORT  Answers a question  A report is primarily written in order to present information in an easily accessible form  "A report is a communication of information or advice from a person who has collected and studied the facts, to a person who has asked for the report because they need it for a specific purpose" (Stanton, 1990:243).  ESSAY  Presents an opinion  An essay is written in order to present a reasoned argument  Must be well structured and presented in a way that the reader finds easy to follow and clear  Must not present any obstacles to the reader.  It must consist of your ideas about the topic.

IACT418/918 Structure of a Report  A report can be broken down into several sections  Not all disciplines need all of these, some need others as well  Introduction  Background  Methodology & Data  Results  Discussion  Conclusion

IACT418/918 Structure of a Report  Introduction  A clear indication of the objectives of the report  Should not be more than a few paragraphs or not much more than a page  The aim of the introduction is to enable the reader to know exactly what he/she is about to read and why it is important  Background  The background section contains information that may be relevant to the problem  The aim of the background section is to put the analysis into some context. The length of the background section will vary depending on the nature of the problem being addressed

IACT418/918 Structure of a Report  Methodology and data  A description of the steps undertaken in the analysis  A clear description of the assumptions underlying the techniques  A description of the data used,  the sources of data, and  any modifications to the data that were necessary  It should not include any results

IACT418/918 Structure of a Report  Results  Contains only the results of the analysis  Discussion  Information on the implications of the results  Details on any deficiencies in the analysis and the implications for the results  Provides the reader with an idea of the level of confidence in the results

IACT418/918 Structure of a Report  Conclusions  A brief summary of the report  Should restate the purpose of undertaking the study, and identify the specific questions being examined  Should provide a brief description of the key results, and should highlight the most relevant results  No new information should be introduced in the conclusion that was not discussed previously in the report

IACT418/918 What an Essay is NOT  Not a cut’n’paste assembly of quotes!  Not a ramble with no point to make  Not padded out  Not a collection of dot-points  Not about “I”  Not a report!  Not copied from anyone else!

IACT418/918 An Essay Should:  Make a clear central point(s)  Have a linear thread of argument  Support the argument with citations, references and evidence drawn from prior papers in the field  Be well structured  People read the introduction & conclusion BEFORE they read the body!

IACT418/918 One Way to Write an Essay  An essay is a connected series of points that establish your argument  The essay should have a structure that makes this linear progression of ideas very clear for your reader  Good structure can often win more points than good content !  The essay should have a good rhythm

IACT418/918 One Way to Write an Essay  Here is just one possible method for helping to build a well-structured essay:  All essays have an INTRODUCTION – BODY – CONCLUSION we are going to write the BODY first!  Why? - Because the ‘body’ (your argument) will grow and develop as you write it … and you cannot possibly introduce an argument that isn’t complete yet!

IACT418/918 One Way to Write an Essay  Choose the question carefully (if you have a choice)  often a longer question is better as it bounds the solution more tightly and it’ll be easier to give the type of answer the instructor is looking for  Read a heap of stuff about the topic for a day or two, review as many different ideas and points of view as you can  “Sleep on it” ie: spend some time NOT thinking about the question – let your subconscious mind process all the data you have gathered

IACT418/918 One Way to Write an Essay  Return to the question and you should find that you now have an opinion on the issue  the beginnings of the argument which will be the core of your essay  start to WORKSHOP your opinion –  ie: try to write down some key ideas and issues that come to your mind as if trying to explain your opinion to someone  Should lead to 6~10 small points on a piece of paper  NOW: take each of these ideas separately and workshop them, to get several subpoints that explain them … now you have about 20~40 points

IACT418/918 One Way to Write an Essay  Now examine your list of 20~40 short points  shuffle & rearrange them so that they form a logical and linear sequence, which builds up in a straight line to establish your argument.  The hard work is now done! … just take each of these 20~40 points, and turn each one into a paragraph! (adjust this formula for length or course)  NOW you have the body! … so  you can write the introduction & conclusion:

IACT418/918 One Way to Write an Essay  INTRODUCTION:  will tell the reader what the argument will be and what conclusion the paper will reach, roughly mentioning the sorts of ideas the paper will visit  CONCLUSION:  will revise the key points/stages that the argument had through the body and essentially summarise the argument  [REMEMBER: the reader will read the into & conclusion BEFORE they read the body!]

IACT418/918 One Way to Write an Essay  If the body has some discontinuities in it – places where the subject changes abruptly, then write some small linking passages (maybe just a sentence or two) to smooth the readers way … “having established THIS, it is necessary to review THAT” etc.  Provide references. NOT only for any direct quotes, but also for ANY ideas or factoids you have gained from your reading. If you say 20% of all ducks are black tell the reader where that statistic came from! If you say most people think such-and-such tell the reader WHO says that most people think that!

IACT418/918 Some useful metaphors:  An essay is like:  a walk through a garden  a brick in a wall  a bridge between two mountains One Way to Write an Essay

IACT418/918 ? ?

! !

Du’Oh!