ESSAYWRITING:PROCESS

Anessaypresentsawellargueddiscussionorresponsetoaquestionorproposition,using
analysisandcritiqueofrelevantliterature.Itestablishesapropositionorthesisandpresentsa
pointofview.Thefollowingaresuggestedstepsforwritinganessay.

1 . A na l y se th e q uest i o n

Circlekeycontentwordsandphrases.
Underlineanyinstructionalwords,e.g.discuss,explain,identify,evaluate.
Besureyouunderstandwhatthetaskis:putthequestioninyourownwords.
Lookforhintsonstructure,i.e.howmanypartsaretheretothequestion?Isit
compare/contrast,cause/effect?Anumberoffactors,features,principles,etc.?

2 . B r a i n s t o r m t h e q u e s t i o n

Bringallyourideastogetherononepageto:
takestockofwhatyoualreadyknow
identifyanygapsinyourknowledge
giveyouthebeginningsofaplanforyouressay
Mindmapsareusefulatthisstage.

Ess ay t ask s g en e ral l y

con t ai n :

C ontentwords:whatthe
assignmentisabout

Li mi ti ngwords:define
thescopeofthetopic

Di re ct i on / i n st ru ct i on
words:tellyouwhatto
do,e.g.discuss,
evaluate.

3 . S t a r t y o u r re s e a r c h

Beginwithgeneralreadingstartwithrecommendedtexts,coursenotesandbooksfromthelibrary.
Lookforpotentialwaystostructureyouressay.
Recordallbibliographicaldetails,includingpagenumbersforyourreferences,asyougotoavoidplagiarism.

4 . P la n t h e e s s a y

Decideonyourmainpointsandorganisetheinformationuseheadingsandmakeconnections.
Decideonalogicalorderforyourpoints.
Yourplanshouldinclude:
mainpointsandtheirrelationshiptothequestion
supportinginformationanditsrelationshiptothemainpoints
references
adraftoftheintroduction.

5 . C o n t i n u e y o u r r e s e a r c h

Focusyourresearch,expandingonthemainpointsandarguments,andrefinetheplan.
Usesearchtermsfromyourearlierresearchtolocatepreciseinformation/evidence(e.g.fromdatabases).

6. Wr it e

Writeusingyourdetailedplan.
Itmaybeusefultowritethebodyparagraphsfirst,thentheconclusion,thenfinalisetheintroduction.
Writeparagraphscontainingonemainideastatedinthetopicsentence.Othersentencesshouldexplain,
supportandgivedetail,withevidencefromresearchand/orexamples.
Integratetheoryandincludereferencesasyougo.
Expecttowriteseveraldrafts.Trytoavoidgettingstucklookingfortherightword.

7 . E di t

Focusoncheckingthattheessayislogical,pointsarelinkedtothepurpose,andinformationisrelevant.
Makesureyourreferencelistincludesallworkscitedandiscorrectlysetout.
Proofreadforspelling,punctuationandgrammarerrors.Readingaloudcanbeuseful.
Checklayout,margins,pagenumbers,linespacingandtitlepage.Checkyourlecturersexpectations.
Saveadditionalcopiesofyouressayindifferentlocations,e.g.GoogleDrive,RMITHdrive,USB,orDropbox.

Study Tips: Essay writing

2015

ESSAYWRITING:
STRUCTURE

I N TR O DUC TI O N

I n t r o d u c t i on a n ou t l i ne o f t he a r g u m e n t
Beginswithabriefgeneralstatementsettingtheessayina
context(connectingittotheworld)
Maydefineterms
Indicatestheareasandperspectivesdiscussedintheessay

Thesis statement

Leadstoathe si sst ate men t,whichsummarisestheessayinone

sentence,andcontainsapointofview

Topic sentence

Paragraph1

B o d y m a d e u p o f c o n n ec t e d p a r a g ra p h s
Eachparagraphcontainsonemainidea,expressedinatopi c
senten ce(usuallythefirstsentence).

Topic sentence

Paragraph2

Theothersentencesintheparagraphexpandonthetopic
sentence,givingdetailsandevidence(withreferencestothe
sources),and/orexamples.
Thefinalsentenceislinkedbacktothemainideainthetopic
sentence.
Thetopicsentencescarrythethemeoroutlineoftheessayand
relatedirectlybacktothethesisstatement.Thiscreateslogical
developmentandflowoftheargument.

Topic
Topic sentence

Paragraph3(etc.)

Ti p:Ifyoucoverthemaintextandreadonlythetopicsentences,
theessayshouldmakebasiclogicalsense.

CONCLUSION

C o n c l u s i o n t h e a n s w e r
Providesananswer:arestatementofthethesisindifferentwords
Givesaverybriefsummingupofthemainpoints
Oftenrestatesthesignificanceoftheissueandresponse
Containsnonewpoints.

Study Tips: Essay writing

2015