Department of Lifelong Learning: Study Skills Series

A Complete Guide to Writing Essays

Section One – An Introduction to the Essay

(download pdf version here)

Finding your way around the Guide

Welcome to the Department of Lifelong Learning and congratulations on deciding to attempt your essays! Essay writing in the Department is always an optional activity, and while it can be initially daunting, it can be one of the most fulfilling exercises you will undertake as a student. We hope that this guide will assist you in the essay writing process, and will help you to feel less intimidated by the task in front of you.

This guide is based on a face-to-face workshop, but unlike the workshop participants, you can choose which sections you would like to focus upon, and you can skip through the bits you don’t think will be helpful for you. At the beginning of each section you will find a checklist of skills and knowledge that you should have obtained through completing the section. You can use this checklist in two ways. Firstly, the checklist is a way of determining if you want to work through the section. It allows you a preview of the topics and skills that will be covered, and if you already have these skills, then you may wish to skip the section, or briefly glance over it. If you don’t recognise the listed information and skills on the checklist, then it is probably a good idea for you to work through the section more thoroughly. Secondly, the checklist is a great way for you to ensure that you have understood the section, and that you have developed the essential skills that you will need for essay writing. When you have completed each section, return to the checklist and ensure that you can tick off each box. The checklist for section one looks like this:

The guide contains five more sections, set out in the same way as the Introduction. Section two deals with the essay question itself and how to decipher it, while section three will deal with specialty note-taking skills, including information about the library. Section four should answer all of your questions about the structure and presentation of your essay, and section five shows you to how to use the Harvard referencing system. Section six is probably the most important section; you’ll learn about how to submit your essays and the marking system used here at the Department. You will also learn about the type of feedback you’ll receive from your tutor, and how to use this feedback to your advantage.

Much of this guide is filled up with instructions, lists and information. However, there are many activities scattered throughout the guide. The activities fall into two main types: reflection activities and action points. Reflection activities ask that you think about your own situation and may ask you to write down your experience or thoughts. Reflection activities can be used as a starting point if you wanted to keep a learning journal. (If you want to know more about keeping a learning journal, contact the Student Support Officer!) Reflection activities look like this:

The other kind of activity is called an action point, and it looks like this:

When you see the running symbol, it means that you might have a task to complete. You might be encouraged to complete a task, or make a list. There are suggested ‘answers’ available for all of the action points. These activities are optional, but if you would like feedback on your responses to these activities, please contact the Student Support Officer or your tutor.

At the end of each section you will find a ‘Where do I go from here?’ box. The box summarises the section and prepares you for the next section.

Why essays?

As a student in the Department of Lifelong Learning, you can choose whether or not to complete essays and other assessment. While assessment is optional, we do encourage students to attempt their assessed work, and we do this for four good reasons:

1. Completing essays helps you to develop good academic skills. Traditionally, being an undergraduate student was a kind of academic apprenticeship. As an undergraduate, you are expected to learn and develop those skills that will help you become a better thinker, better researcher, better writer, better critic, and better speaker. This means that at level one, we don’t expect you to be an expert, but that we do expect you to try out these skills, and in turn, we will help you to develop these as you progress through the academic levels. Essay writing is one of those activities that allow you develop the widest range of academic skills. Essay writing helps you to develop research, writing, analytical, and organisational skills.
   
   
2. Essays, for most people, are a good way to break up the academic workload, and are a welcome relief from exam pressure. Many of us have bad memories of formal examinations. Here at the Department we try to minimise exam stress by using coursework (essays) as the main form of assessment. In this way, you are not relying on a single examination at the end of each year to determine your grades.
   
   
3. Most modules require you to complete at least two essays. This is so that you can receive feedback on your progress during the module. Essays help you to gauge your progress and allow you to make mistakes before achieving a final grade. Essays also allow tutors to track your progress so that you are supported along your learning journey.
   
   
4. By completing all of your pieces of assessment, and gaining an overall passing grade (and fulfilling other module requirements), you can gain credit for the module. Credits eventually add up so that you can claim a certificate, diploma, or even a degree. If you would like more information about how completed essays and modules can count towards an award, please contact the Student Support Officer.

Hang on, but what exactly is an essay?

With all of this talk about essay writing, it’s important to outline what constitutes an essay. In the face-to-face workshop, the participants would be asked to contribute to a list (compiled on the blackboard or whiteboard) outlining what they believe constitutes ‘an essay’. Take a look at the blackboard below for some of the ideas that the workshop participants came up with.

	Defined task to follow   Developing ideas and arguments     expression of views       Getting to explore a topic – in depth Source of feedback   Formal, academic writing style needed

You might have suggested that essays are a good way to learn how to develop a flowing argument, or a good way to practice logical writing skills. But, after listing all of these things that an essay ‘should be’, you might be wondering how to achieve all of these things, and you might be wondering if you have the ‘know-how’ to complete the task. You will actually find that many of the writing tasks you complete in your professional, private, and voluntary capacities require skills that can be transferred to your essay and academic writing. As a way of concluding this section, use the reflective activity below to assess your current writing skills and to see how these can become essay writing skills.

See! You may already have many of the skills needed to write an essay! So, while the task of turning an essay question into a 1500 or 3000 word answer may seem daunting initially, you may find that you already possess many useful skills that will make your task much easier.