Essay Writing and Proofreading UCC DSS Academic Skills Programme 1 © J. Amberson
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- Essay Writing and Proofreading UCC DSS Academic Skills
Programme 1 J. Amberson
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- Contents Essay Writing Key Words Essential Ingredients Drafting
Referencing Taster Turnitin Proofreading J.Amberson2
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- Key to Essay Writing Key to good essay writing is to: Identify
Trace and Develop Certain key words in your Research Planning and
Writing. 3
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- What are key words? Key words are: a.Action words at the start
of your essay title b.Key periods, ideas or concepts
c.Relationships to time, space, location e.g. Examine (a) the use
of propaganda (b) during the Irish Civil War (c) in Ireland (c).
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- Understanding the Title 1 ANALYSE: Describe the main ideas and
principles or assumptions on which they are based, describe the
significance and results of those ideas and describe how the ideas
are related. COMPARE: Show the similarities and differences.
CONTRAST: To compare in order to show difference only. DEFINE: Give
the exact meaning; to be safe, also give an example. DESCRIBE: Give
a detailed and accurate picture. DISCUSS: Write in detail from
different points of view. EXAMINE: Explore inquire into attempt to
discover. EXPLAIN: Give details so that it can be understood,
(account for) or illustrate the meaning by examples. 5
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- Understanding the Title 2 GIVE AN ACCOUNT: Same as describe.
HOW? In what way, by what means for method, to what extent.
OUTLINE: State the main ideas of a topic in a general way. Do not
give all the details. REVIEW: Examine the subject critically.
STATE: Give information, a conclusion or an opinion briefly and
exactly. SUMMARISE: Briefly present the main points; do not go into
too much detail or use too many examples. TRACE: Show that you
understand how a topic has progressed and developed from start to
end. WHY? For what reasons. 6
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- Researching Your Essay What key words did you identify in you
essay title? These are the words used for a literature search Do an
online literature search, including reviewing UCCs resources,
before you physically enter the library Do not wander, undirected,
up and down the shelves looking for resources. 7
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- What resources can I use? Use a wide range of resources to
support your essay, for example: Peer reviewed journal articles
Databases Recommended reading Supporting additional material
material from depositories, Youtube and television documentaries
and contemporary documentation (i.e. newspapers, legal and
historical documents). 8
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- Broad Spectrum Online Research 1 st steps Wikipedia: just to
find your feet, Never reference this! Online dictionaries,
encyclopaedias and reference sources 2 nd steps Academic or peer
reviewed websites and journals Association resources Look out for
websites ending in.edu or acu.co.uk these are academic websites.
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- Evaluating Resources Online Literature searches can be done in:
UCCs online catalogue, using Google Scholar, other reputable or
recommended websites Look out for websites ending in.edu or
acu.co.uk these are academic websites. J.Amberson10
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- Evaluating Resources Print Consult your recommended reading
lists supplied by your Department. These usually stored in UCC DESK
RESERVE Check publication dates these should be relatively recent
unless youre specifically looking for contemporary documents Check
publisher and author is it an established academic publisher? How
well published and experienced is the author? J.Amberson11
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- Documenting my Research Such broad spectrum research turns up a
whole load of other problems How to reference this correctly? Thats
another can of worms What referencing system does your department
use? J.Amberson12
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- Reading Using your chosen key words Read Conclusion or Summary
first Check Table of Contents and Index Scan read If reading an
electronic resource, add your own notes using Onenote, Stickies or
Insert comment in Word. Use CTRL and F text FIND box If in print,
use coloured pens, drawings and sketches, post it notes (if you
trust them to stick), handwritten notes or Mindmaps. 13
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- Next Steps Once youve figured out what the question is asking,
evaluate material you have already gathered which helps to answer
the question Check out: Lecture and tutorial notes? Blackboard
slides and class handouts? Background reading and core texts?
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- Next, Next Steps! Now you must decide which bits of the answer
go where References to lecture and reading material Definitions
Introductory and concluding comments Own opinions Supporting
evidence Future research, your questions or concerns Where do the
above fit? Are they appropriate to the question? But first, what
does an academic essay look like? 15
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- Essays: Essential Ingredients J.Amberson16
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- Essential Ingredients The Introduction needs to do a number of
things: Introduce the topic: whet readers appetite! List the main
points covered i.e. provide an overview Explain any limitations in
your work. You should pre-empt questions that may arise in the
readers mind. You might say things like In this essay, I am going
to concentrate on the twentieth century or In this report, Ireland
refers to the Republic of Ireland. Alert the reader to any major
conclusions. 17
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- Essential Ingredients The Main Body or central part of your
essay If you make 3 main points in this section of the essay there
should be 3 visually separate paragraphs, which deal with separate
but related points Spaces between paragraphs should be obvious Each
paragraph should deal with separate point i.e. argument should
progress from point to point. 18
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- Essential Ingredients Continued Your Conclusion should include:
a restatement of your key argument a demonstration of your proof
for this argument perhaps a nod to future research/developments.
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- What is referencing? Referencing or citation is needed when you
quote or use an idea or material which is not your own It gives
details of the author, source and nature of the material which is
not your own and which is included in your work It gives the reader
directions to find the source of the material. 20
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- What is Plagiarism? Quoting verbatim (exactly as it appears on
the page!) from a source without referencing it Taking someone
elses thoughts, argument and supporting evidence without showing
that they arent yours Submitting someone elses work, in whatever
form, without complete and accurate acknowledgement. 21
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- Turnitin Turnitin is a tool used by UCC to prevent plagiarism.
It: compares a students submitted assignment against a set of
already written sources to identify areas of overlap between the
submitted assignment and existing works creates opportunities to
help students identify how to properly attribute sources rather
than paraphrase works as a deterrent and an educational tool. O.
Whelton, 201322
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- But Have you proofread your assignment This is: The final step
before submitting your assignment Where you check for omissions and
errors of spelling and grammar When you complete and double check
referencing When you ensure you have satisfied departmental
guidelines i.e. font, spacing, page numbering and cover sheet
requirements. 23
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- OK I made mistakes, but HOW do I spot them? Pay attention to
red and green lines and other messages from MS Word or similar Word
wont pick up every error, i.e. words left out, so read, read and
re-read Record your assignment as its read aloud and listen back
i.e. dictaphone or I-phone Use your friends and family to check and
proofread your work 24
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- Checklist Structure Have I arranged the material logically? Is
there fluency between each paragraph? Have I left out transitions
where they are needed? Do I introduce the subject of each
paragraph? Does each argument relate to the overall essay plan? Has
each argument developed clearly and in enough depth? Have I dealt
with all the implications identified in the introduction? 25
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- Checklist Evidence Is there enough evidence? Or too much?
Sometimes you may have too much and need to prune unnecessary
detail for the word count Is evidence relevant? Is it specific
enough? (avoid generalisations or abstract concepts) Do I show
rather than tell? 26
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- Checklist Starting and Finishing Do introduction and conclusion
relate to each other? Have I avoided raising new issues? Have I
delivered on promises made in introduction? Style: Have I removed
unnecessary words, sentences and paragraphs? Have I broken up
complex sentences enough? Have I replaced long/obscure words with
simple ones? Have I removed all unnecessary modifiers in favour of
good strong nouns and verbs? 27
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- Checklist Check accuracy of your facts & quotations;
otherwise you might lose the readers trust As you revise your style
keep a simple checklist of those things youre looking for Remember,
the more you take out the more readable your essay becomes Get
someone to read it to you so you can see where the fluency breaks
down or where the sequence of ideas seems illogical. 28
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