Why Write Essays?

Why Write Essays? If you perform poorly at this, you might as well pack up and go home. Next, think about what you need to prove in order to make that claim. What might be the immediate negative reaction of someone reading your central claim? How can you defend yourself against that response? If the reading list is really short, you’ll need to go beyond it. Look through the reference lists of the papers and books you’ve just read. Mark out a few of the most promising-looking readings. When the assignment says between 6-8 pages, it is better to do 8 than 6. If you can, familiarise yourself with the people who think they’re wrong and awful. Figure out if there are arguments which are unresolved and see if you can make a contribution towards resolving them. You don’t want to get penalised because you didn’t reference your readings properly after you’ve put in all that effort to make sure that your arguments are founded in the literature. For more information, check out thishandouton developing a logical argument. This is really important as it defines the scope of your paper, especially when using broad all-encompassing terms like empowerment, globalization, international community, democracy, etc. Don’t make your opponent look like they have no arguments, or take the weakest version of their argument. Think about the strongest possible response to the claim you’ve put forward, then beat that. If you’re making a claim, you need to tell me why that claim is correct. Think of a potential response to your argument, perhaps from an author you’re arguing against. Ideally you want to be able to split your burdens of proof into a few different points. Start your intro with the central claim of your essay. When you have such limited number of pages, you need space to develop your argument. However, don’t just ramble on and on, repeating the same arguments in different ways to fill-up space. The most important thing to remember after selecting your preferred citation style is that in-text citation must match the work cited list. Citation style also has to be consistent throughout the paper (i.e. you cannot go from APA to MLA). If you use sourcing engines to make your references, always double check their accuracy. It could even affect your chances of getting into a grad program, as it remains on your record, and you are required to give an explanation as to what happened . The point is, good citation is really important. You shouldn’t take the risk of being caught of plagiarism and you should give other academics due credit for their work. Identify some of the future areas for research that your paper opens up. If I’m reading it, I want to know within literally five seconds what you’re trying to convince me of. Ninety nine percent of the structure of your essay is exactly the same as you learned in secondary school. You might think you’re too good for Point, Evidence, Explain. How are you going to relate your argument to the existing literature? Make sure you know their arguments reasonably well and have armed yourself with flexible quotes from their work. Write out that response, then tell me why it doesn’t defeat your argument, or at least why it only mitigates it. This is the stuff that actually makes up your argument. Plagiarism is the most serious academic offence. If you are found guilty of plagiarism you can fail the assignment or the class, or be suspended or expelled from university.