Traditional Academic Writing

Traditional Academic Writing

In the Tutor’s Shoes

An excellent way to help you improve your own written work is to look at things from the point of view of the tutor who is going to mark the work. If you were that tutor as yourself:

·  What would you expect to see in the piece of work?

·  What would you NOT expect to see?

·  How would you assess the piece of work?

·  What marks would you give and why?

·  What feedback would you give to the student to help him/her improve?

This activity will help you review your work critically from another angle and hence will help you understand more of what is enquired for good written work.

Consider the following essay title;

“Thorough research is essential in order to write a good essay: discuss”

Start by making a few notes about what you would expect to see in a good essay. The points you note down should include both;

(i)  some points about what would or would not be in the essay and

(ii)  some points about how the essay was (or was not) written.

Here are some things you may have expected to find in a good essay:

·  Sticks to the point, doesn’t wander “off-message”

·  A definition of the phrase “ a good essay”, explanation of what “good” means in the context of a university essay

·  A definition of “thorough research” – what sort of research, done how and when? How do you show you have done some research? How do you indicate where you went for material for the essay?

·  Discussion of both points of view – thorough research is essential and thorough research is not essential

·  A conclusion, based on the arguments put forward on both sides in the essay

·  An introduction which sets the scene for the essay and outlines the scope for the essay

And in a poor essay, you might expect;

·  Absence of or inconsistency in any or all of the above

·  Irrelevant material

·  One-sided discussion

·  Assertions without evidence or argument as a basis for them

·  Unjustified and unexplained assumptions

·  Unsuitable or no use of breaks between paragraphs

·  Few references and/or incorrect citations and references

·  Poor spelling, grammar and punctuation

·  Plagiarism

Now take your two lists and arrange each list in order of importance. Imagine you have 100 marks to award for the whole essay.

Step 1: Assign marks to each criterion on your features of good essays. For instance, you might assign 10 marks to staying relevant and 5 marks to each of the definitions of “good essay” and “thorough research”.

Step 2: Where there are two matching but opposing criteria, such as relevance or avoiding irrelevance, combine the criteria into one and assign marks to be awarded according to how well an essay meets the criterion. For example, an essay which is mostly, but not entirely relevant to the title, might score 8/10 marks for relevance.

Step 3: Continue to assign marks and adjust your assignments until you have a total possible mark of 100 and a clear breakdown of marks for all the criteria you need to assess the essay against. You now have what is called a “mark scheme” for the essay

Step 4: Now, consider the following essay and apply your mark scheme to it, noting down each mark for each criterion and also your reasons for your decision about each mark. Consider also how the essay writer could improve the essay in that particular respect and note down your advice to the writer on how to make a later draft better

e.g. “Relevance to title – 7/10; essay wanders away from title in paragraphs 3-4 but rest is all relevant; suggest you remove the parts of paragraphs 3-4 which deal with methods of finding relevant internet sites and books and journals in the library”

Sample essay

“Thorough Research is essential in order to write a good essay: discuss”

The last time I ahd an essay to writer my tutor told me I had nto done enough research so I ma sure this is correct, you really must do very thorough research before you can hope to write a good essay.

My tutor alos told me that Im must give a reference list at the end of my essays showing the sources I have used and the places I have got my information from, You can do this using what is called the Harvard system witch is really a fancy way of writing down all the details of the book you have got the information form. You can use it for journals too.

At Bradford uni in the library they have these subject librarians who know all about the books and journals for your subject and your course. Thye are really nice people who,love helpoing others to find the information they need. Sometimes thy use the online catalouge and sometimes they just show you the part of the library where you can find stuff about your course.

You can make your essay a good one by finding a lot of references on the internet. It’s a realy good resource fro students and of course it is their at any time of day or night so there is no excuse for not having lots of references in your essay even f you leave it to the last minute and stay up all night to write it you need to give the fujll URL for the website in our reference and state the date on which you went to the website and found the information.

Of course references are not the only thing you need for a good essay. You need to make sure you essay stays focused on the question or the title. You need to make lots of notes and then organise the material you have collected from your research into paragraphs like this one. Having it really well organised will mean you can write an essay that is easy for the tutor to read and follow, then you will get good marks.

And of course you need to spell your words correctly and make sure that your grammar is right. Its no good having lots to say that is relevant if you can’t express it clearly and get the message across. It’s also necessary to make sure you punctuation is correct including avoiding things like greengrocers’s apostrophes. Sometimes if youre grammar is all wrong you don’t get your meaning across to the tutor at all well,

Plaguiurism is a big danger for all students. It means writing stuff in your essay that is actually somebody elses work but if you don’t reference it you will make it seem like it is your work and that is wrong because it isn’t. If you use somebody elses words you must use quotation marks and give the reference or it but it is beter to put everyting into your own words unless you really cant think of any other way to say in in which case you can use a quotations

So if you do lots of research and make sure you use plenty of references you are going to write a good essay not a bad one so yes, thorough research is essential for a good essay.

Here is one possible mark scheme for this essay.

Criterion / Max mark / Actual mark / Feedback to essay author
Relevance to title, not going “off message”, absence of irrelevant material / 10
Defines key words (“good” and “thorough research”) in the context of a university essay / 5
Discusses BOTH points of view (that research is and is not essential) using reasoned argument / 15
Evidence is used to support statements and arguments. At least 3 points pro and 3 points con the statement are included. Unsupported assertions are avoided / 25
All sources are cited and referenced appropriately (e.g. using Harvard system) and plagiarism is avoided / 15
Introduction sets the scene and outlines the scope of the essay / 5
Conclusion sums up the main points pro and con the statement in the title and gives the essay writer’s own view which is clearly based on the evidence and discussion in the essay / 10
Any assumptions made are clearly stated and explained / 5
Essay is divided into paragraphs, each with its own theme or main idea / 5
Quality of written English – Clarity, spelling, punctuation, grammar / 5

What marks would you award against each criterion?

What feedback would you give against each criterion?

Here is what one tutor decided about this essay.

Criterion / Max mark / Actual mark / Feedback to essay author
Relevance to title, not going “off message”, absence of irrelevant material / 10 / 7 / This essay wanders away from title in paragraphs 3-4 but the rest is all relevant; I suggest you remove the parts of paras 3-4 which deal with methods of finding relevant internet sites and books and journals in the library
Defines key words (“good” and “thorough research”) in the context of a university essay / 5 / 2 / There is no explanation of what constitutes a good essay, though research and referencing are said to be necessary and there is some explanation of how to do it. No clear link is made between referencing and showing you have dine research.
Discusses BOTH points of view (that research is and is not essential) using reasoned argument / 15 / This writer discusses only one
point of view, that thorough
research IS necessary. The
essay does not address the
alternative view mentioned in
the title that a good essay can
be written without thorough
research. (see **below)
Evidence is used to support statements and arguments. At least 3 points pro and 3 points con the statement are included. Unsupported assertions are avoided / 25
All sources are cited and referenced appropriately (eg using Harvard system) and plagiarism is avoided / 15
Introduction sets the scene and outlines the scope of the essay / 5 / 0 / There is no introduction to this essay. The writer simply dives in with an assertion that one side of the argument is correct. The introduction should tell the reader what the essay is about and indicate the scope of the essay.
Conclusion sums up the main points pro and con the statement in the title and gives the essay writer’s own view which is clearly based on the evidence and discussion in the essay / 10 / 3 / This essay does include a brief attempt at a conclusion, but it could be a much better one if it included a summary of the main points on each side of the argument as well as a final statement of the conclusion the writer draws (See example of a possible conclusion below***.)
Any assumptions made are clearly stated and explained / 5
Essay is divided into paragraphs, each with its own theme or main idea / 5
Quality of written English – Clarity, spelling, punctuation, grammar / 5

**Suppose your essay is about, for example, a personal view of your last holiday or journey, a concert or theatre performance or any subject about which you already know a great deal, perhaps via experience rather than by study. In those circumstances you would not need to do “thorough research”, as you would of course need to do for an academic essay. You could use this argument to give the opposing view, which would make your essay more balanced.

***A good essay will result if the writer is well-informed about his or her subject and is able to discuss it lucidly on paper. If the subject matter is unfamiliar, the writer needs to undertake appropriate research nd acknowledge his or her sources.

1

Academic Skills Advice service
www.brad.ac.uk/academic-skills/