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I am an experienced academic passionate about inspiring individuals to aim high. I have assisted multiple students and early career academics to achieve their goals.
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I am an experienced academic passionate about inspiring individuals to aim high. I have assisted multiple students and early career academics to achieve their goals.
When I was studying for my undergraduate degree and then my taught Master’s between 1999 and 2004, every module that was part of the courses I was studying contained at least one essay. Little has changed across taught university courses and essays are by far the most common form of assessment used by academics to assess their students. Even though AI can be used to write essays on most things these days, students are still required to learn how to write them without the assistance of this controversial technology.
Since the start of my academic career in 2004, I have marked hundreds, possibly thousands, of essays! This experience has shown me that the three most common areas in which students make mistakes when writing an essay are as follows:
By focusing on each of these three areas you can ensure your essay is going to be of a high standard.
The first thing to consider when seeking to make a good argument in any essay is to know what the essay title is asking you to do. Often this is a question. What is the question that the essay is asking you to address? Once you are certain what you are being asked to do, then you can consider the best possible answers to that question. Sometimes there are two possible (sometimes opposing) answers or arguments you can make and sometimes there are more than two. It’s important to ask yourself, “how many possible answers are there to your essay question?”
The next thing to consider is what evidence you can find to support each of those answers. This only comes by engaging in thorough reading and research to first appreciate what evidence exists and then to determine how you can use it to support each of the possible arguments you could make. Deep and comprehensive reading and research is the key to success in any assignment, especially an essay. If you don’t devote enough time to this then you can forget about receiving the highest possible marks!
Once you have determined the possible answers and considered the evidence, you need to determine which answer provides the best argument to address the essay question. This is usually the argument that can be supported by the most evidence. I often encourage students to think about it like a court case. The judge and jury usually go with either the argument of the prosecution or that in support of the defendant based largely on which side presents the most compelling evidence. Without solid evidence the barrister has no case! The same is true with the essay author: poor evidence means they will make a weak argument.
It’s worth remembering that you need to demonstrate critical analysis throughout your essay and go beyond merely describing things. Being critical means questioning evidence and/or theories in the literature through comparing ideas/arguments and evidence. Each paragraph should logically build upon that before it so that your argument coherently runs through the whole essay. This takes a lot of drafting and editing to achieve so don’t expect to get it clear in the first draft!
When considering the content of your essay it’s important to think about what examples would be best to use as the evidence to support the main points that make up your argument. Ideally, the examples that you use should really highlight the strength of your evidence. Your examples should come directly from your reading and research rather than being hypothetical or abstract. Real-life specific examples that can be supported with citations are always the best ones.
Depending on the length of the essay, it’s usually best to make three distinct but related points, each with a clear real-life example to support it. I would advise you not to use more than three examples so that you can go into real depth on each of them. If you use more examples than that you won't be able to go into enough detail. A good rule of thumb for any assignment is that it’s better to say a lot about a little, rather than to say a little about a lot. This ensures you demonstrate a deep rather than a surface level of knowledge and understanding. You should use the examples to show the reader that your argument is stronger than any of the other possible arguments.
Your reference list at the end of your essay should be comprehensive and there should be exact parity between this and your in-text citations. Many students lose marks simply by not checking that the citations listed at the end of their essay are exactly the same as those they have referred to within the essay. It’s worth remembering that a reference list is a list of sources you have actually used in your essay, whereas a bibliography is a list of sources you have simply read, but not necessarily used. It’s well worth checking with your module leader which one is required at the end of your essay!
Once you have developed your argument and aligned this with your content, then it’s time to look at the structure of your essay. Just as with your argument, a lot of drafting and editing is required when working out your structure. The structure for a good academic essay should be made up of three things. The first is a concise introduction that provides a brief outline to your whole essay as well as your argument/answer to the essay question. It’s important to clearly state your argument right from the outset of your essay and then defend this with your evidence/examples throughout. Make sure that you don't waffle in your introduction and that it makes up around 10% of the word count of your essay.
The second, but by far the most important part of any essay, is the main body. This should make up about 80% of the word count. When you begin writing your essay, the main body is the section you should write first, before you write your introduction and conclusion. If you write the main body first, then you will find it much easier to write both your introduction and your conclusion. These sections are also likely to more accurately reflect the content of your essay if you write the main body first.
You should end your essay with a succinct conclusion that effectively summarizes your argument. A good conclusion summarizes the evidence and the examples that you've used, and it directly addresses the essay question. The final sentence of your essay should provide final answer to the essay question.
Finally, once you have produced a number of whole essay drafts and edited your essay so that everything is in the right place and it is as clear as possible, don’t forget to proof-read for errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, referencing, etc. Many students lose silly marks simply by neglecting to proof-read properly!
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