1. Academic Skills Week Workshop 1: Essay Planning and Academic Writing
Scottish University of the Year 2017
Academic Skills Week Workshop 1: Essay Planning and Academic Writing
Michael Allardice
Academic Skills Centre
9th October 2017

2. DUSA & CASTLE
This is a partnership between DUSA and CASTLE and each workshop will have a member of the DUSA Exec involved.

3. To begin!
Working with the people around you – groups of 3 or 4 people – develop a short list of questions you would like us to answer (if we can) in this session. Make the questions as short as you can, pass them to the front and we will group them together and respond

4. Workshop Plan
What’s the problem with essays? Some basic issues - planning Structure Dealing with Feedback

6. How do you feel about essay writing?

7. Does anyone recognise themselves?

8. Is this your definition of study?

9. Maybe you are the studious type?

10. Studious type 2!

11. Or just a little too smug!

12. What are the major issues?
Your Questions
What are the major issues?

13. Don’t Procrastinate – Produce!
Essay Writing Basics
Have a Plan!
Plan the research you want to do
Plan the writing you aim to produce
Plan the time you have available to do it in
Don’t Procrastinate – Produce!

14. Planning: where do you begin?
Start with the question:
What are you actually being asked to do?
Next:
What do you already know? Brainstorm
Look for the gaps in your knowledge – that’s a good place to begin your research.
Finally:
Work out what are the most important things you need to tell your reader? Prioritise

15. Introductions Main Bodies Conclusions
Some Basics
Introductions Main Bodies Conclusions

16. Introductions Begin with the context of the subject:
What is the focus of this question?
Don’t just re-write the question as the first line of your answer
Why is this topic important?
In other words: why should your reader bother reading it?
How will you tackle the rest of the discussion?
Structure & order of themes/issues/discussion

17. ARRRGHH! Avoid the following! “In this essay I will write …”
Introductions (2)
Avoid the following!
“In this essay I will write …”
ARRRGHH!

18. Main Body Where all the hard work gets done:
Main arguments/discussion points/issues all included
Evidence! Where is your evidence for the claims you make or the arguments you propose?

19. Topic Evidence Analysis Main Body (2)
Paragraphs need to link and flow:
Topic
Evidence
Analysis

20. “SO WHAT?” Main Body (3) Analysis – what is it?
When you give your reader evidence, tell them why it is important. In other words:
“SO WHAT?”

21. Conclusions Conclusions are for concluding: Summing up
Bringing together
Your opinion
Return your reader to the context within which your question is set

22. Feedback: What is it good for?

23. Feedback
Firstly, feedback is important! The grade you receive is only part of the story What the marker writes is probably more significant – that is where the learning takes place! The marker will have taken time to think about their feedback, you should take time to read it!

24. Feedback
Secondly, feedback should really be thought of as “Feed Forward” In other words, how you might fix what went wrong last time out, the next time you produce an assignment You might also get a sense of what you did well and what you ought to replicate next time round

25. Feedback
Finally, feedback gives you the opportunity to get a clearer idea of what the academic process is actually all about:
debate
discussion
constructive criticism

26. Take time to read your feedback: don’t be an Ostrich!

27. What are your questions? RLF Writing Fellows
…And finally!
What are your questions? RLF Writing Fellows

28. Contacts
The Academic Skills Team can be contacted through: For other issues go to: