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Writing an essay

What is an essay?

Writing an essay

What is an essay?

An essay is a piece of writing that methodically analyses and evaluates a topic or issue. Fundamentally, an essay is designed to get your academic opinion on a particular matter.

Many students get confused about the word 'opinion' in academic writing, and think that academic writing should just stick to reporting the facts and forget about opinion altogether. However, there are important differences between an academic opinion and a personal opinion, and it's important to grasp these when you're putting together an essay:

Academic opinion OR argument, stance, position, thesis, claim Personal opinion d by: Conducting research, examining evidence, even-handedly considering

issues Gut feelings, personal experiences, own worldview

sed by: Objectivity - guided by logic and rational thinking Subjectivity - guided by emotions, personal experiences and ind character

able? Yes - you can defend or support an academic argument by citing credible evidence and laying out a reasoned argument

Hmmm, it's hard to say that one person's 'gut feeling' or worldvi more valid than another's, so personal opinions are very hard to validate objectively

Academic opinion OR argument, stance, position, thesis, claim Personal opinion d by: Conducting research, examining evidence, even-handedly considering

issues Gut feelings, personal experiences, own worldview

sed by: Objectivity - guided by logic and rational thinking Subjectivity - guided by emotions, personal experiences and ind character

able? Yes - you can defend or support an academic argument by citing credible evidence and laying out a reasoned argument

Hmmm, it's hard to say that one person's 'gut feeling' or worldvi more valid than another's, so personal opinions are very hard to validate objectively

Determined by:

Characterised by: Is it defendable?

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Personal opinion

Gut feelings, personal experiences, own worldview

Subjectivity - guided by emotions, personal experiences and individual character

Hmmm, it's hard to say that one person's 'gut feeling' or worldview is any more valid than another's, so personal opinions are very hard to defend and validate objectively

Writing a great essay is not about simply surveying and re-telling existing ideas. Instead, a good essay takes into account various opinions and points of view and puts forward an argument that reflects the writer's informed opinion. Before you begin planning any essay, then, it’s crucial to have a clear idea of what you think about your topic; you need to have a position, argument, or clear stance on a topic, that you defend with evidence and argument. This is what's called your thesis statement.

Remember that 'learning' at university does not simply involve memorising new ideas, but forming your own ideas in response to what experts in the field have said.

How NOT to write an essay

Brace yourself: this may sound familiar.

Many students who are being introduced to a complex new area of study put together essays using the following method:

1. They sift through resources and locate interesting, pertinent ideas that relate to themes or keywords in the question

2. They write these ideas out, mainly in quotation form, and then shuffle them around until they’re in an order that seems to 'flow'

3. They construct a 'story', 'narrative' or 'discussion' around these quotations 4. They finally conclude with a paragraph about what they think.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a particularly effective way of achieving the aims of an essay. If you do this, then you’ll find your paper simply ‘wanders’ between quotes without a clear purpose. The Harvard website calls these ‘walk-through’ essays, in which you act mainly like a tour guide walking your reader through the terrain of your topic, pointing out 'who said what'.

The result of this process is usually an essay that:

• does not directly answer the set question, but simply “talks around” its themes • is not cohesive, as it has no clear aim, argument, or thesis • is poorly structured, as quotes are grouped together simply according to theme, rather than

grouped together strategically to make a series of specific arguments or points that respond directly to the set question

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How is an essay structured?

An essay is a very structured piece of writing with many conventions that distinguish it from other genres and styles, such as reports, creative writing pieces or reflective journal entries.

All essays should consist of three parts: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Together, the introduction and the conclusion act as a frame for the essay, while the real work is done in the body.

• The introduction is usually the first paragraph (in essays longer than 2000 words, it may include the second paragraph also). It informs the reader about the topic of the essay, explains why the discussion in the essay is an important one to have, and provides a ‘map’ of the essay’s argument.

• The body of the essay consists of all the paragraphs between the introduction and the conclusion. The body is where the argument of the essay is actually laid out.

• The essay's conclusion is usually the final paragraph (again, in longer essays, it may be two paragraphs). It draws together and summarises the essay’s argument.

While some lecturers may specify changes to the typical essay format, all essays are generally bound by the following set of guidelines or rules:

Essays do not include sub-headings, unless they are very long, e.g. 5000+ words.

2. Essays do not include dot-points; they are made up entirely of prose.

3. Essays are made up of paragraphs, which should be clearly distinguished by either:

• indenting the first line of each paragraph (press Tab when you begin a new paragraph), or • leaving an extra blank line between each paragraph.

4. Essays should adhere to the word count, however, a variation of ±10% is usually acceptable. For example, a 2000 word essay could be anywhere from 1800-2200 words.

5. Essays should be printed in black ink on white A4 paper on one side of the paper only. Essays should also be stapled in the top left-hand corner only – and should not be placed in plastic sleeves.

6. Essays should use a plain legible font of reasonable size (e.g. Times New Roman or Arial in 12 point). Do not be tempted to use fancy fonts as they are very tiring for lecturers’ eyes.

7. Essays must have either 1.5 or double line spacing (your lecturer will usually specify). In MS Word, go to Format, then Paragraph, then Line Spacing, and select either ‘1.5’ or ‘Double’). This is for ease of reading and it also creates spaces for comments and corrections.

8. Essays should have a generous margin (at least 2.5 cm all round). This also creates room for comments.

9. Essay pages should be numbered consecutively (in MS Word, go to Insert, then Page Numbers).

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10. Essays are argumentative, not pretty; don’t use pictures (e.g. MS Clip Art) on your cover page or in the body of the essay with the aim of enhancing the appearance or presentation. Pictures should only be used if they will be referred to as part of your argument.

11. Essays do not use formatting to emphasise words, like italics, bolding or underlining. Your choice of suitable words, phrases and evidence should be enough to provide a c lear and convincing argument.

12. Essays must include either a ‘Reference List’ or a ‘Bibliography’.

10 steps to a strong essay

There are 10 steps you can follow to write a strong essay:

1. Scrutinise the question 2. Brainstorm your ideas 3. Research your topic 4. Establish a thesis statement 5. Do the math 6. Outline before you write 7. Write paragraph by paragraph 8. Lastly, introductions and conclusions 9. Edit and polish 10. Review with a final checklist

1. Scrutinise the question

When your lecturer sits down to mark your essay, the very first thing s/he will look at is whether or not you have answered the question directly and comprehensively. It does not matter how dazzling your ideas are or how sharp your writing is; your lecturer has asked you a specific question for a reason, and if you have not answered it, you are likely to be marked down considerably. This means that the first stage in writing any essay should always be to scrutinise the question and dissect it carefully so you can work out exactly what it is you are being asked to do.

Any essay question will contain at least two crucial ingredients:

1. Information about the content that you are supposed to cover o For example, Vygotsky's theories on child development, or systems of governance in

Europe 2. One or more verbs, or direction words, that tell you what to do with that content

o For example, analyse it, explain it, discuss it or describe it.

Let’s work with the following essay question as an example of just how much information an essay question contains:

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Workplace diversity is now recognised as an important feature in organisations, especially in multicultural nations like Australia. What communication problems might arise in a culturally diverse workplace, and how can managers best deal with them?

Very broadly, this is a question about communication. More specifically, though, it is a question about communication problems, and particularly those that arise in a culturally diverse workplace.

But what are we being asked to say about this topic in our essays?

From looking at the question closely, we can see that we’re really being asked to talk about two things. The first is highlighted here:

Workplace diversity is now recognised as an important feature in organisations, especially in multicultural nations like Australia. What communication problems might arise in a culturally diverse workplace, and how can managers best deal with them?

The lecturer is clearly asking us to identify and perhaps briefly outline the kinds of communication problems that might arise in a culturally diverse workplace. Notice that the lecturer has not used terms here like examine or analyse; this is a good indication that in this part of the essay, lots of detail is probably not required.

If we look at the essay question again, we can see a second part to the question, highlighted here:

Workplace diversity is now recognised as an important feature in organisations, especially in multicultural nations like Australia. What communication problems might arise in a culturally diverse workplace, and how can managers best deal with them?

Here, the lecturer is asking us to look at the area of management to find out what strategies or techniques managers can use to deal with the communication problems we discussed in the first part of our essay.

There is something more to this question, however, that it would be dangerous to overlook. The word best suggests that the lecturer doesn’t simply want us to explain the range of strategies available to managers, but wants us to evaluate which strategy or combination of strategies is the most effective for dealing with these problems. This will involve plenty of critical thinking on our part as we will have to look carefully at the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy to construct an informed argument about which is best. Notice that this process of analyzing the question methodically helped us determine the following:

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• We can look for relevant information in both the communication and the management sections of the library and the databases • The first part of our essay in which we outline the possible range of communication problems is likely to be relatively brief – perhaps a third of the word count – with the main focus on the second part of the question • We need to research all the possible strategies that managers might use in this context • We need to think very carefully so that we can confidently recommend the best strategy

• We need to move beyond ‘description’ or ‘reporting’ in the second part of the essay in order to evaluate the pros and cons of each strategy and make a convincing argument about the strategy we recommen

2. Brainstorm your ideas

Before you can determine what points you want to make in your essay, you need to do some brainstorming and some research to make sure you have a good idea of all the issues relevant to your topic; only then can you select the most important ones.

It’s likely that, from your readings, lectures and tutorials, you will have a fair idea of the ground you need to cover, so you can probably start to brainstorm straight away, before you even set foot in a library. The first thing to do, then, is think:

• What are the various issues/problems that characterise your topic? • What theories or examples of research relate to your topic? • What questions arise when thinking about your topic? • What tricky or contentious terms need to be defined within your topic area?

Many students find that, initially, some sort of spray diagram or helps them to think out the many facets of their topic. This, in turn, can help them decide which area they need to focus on to make their analysis sufficiently deep. At this stage, try not to think about what your essay will look like. Rather, concentrate on teasing out every possible angle of discussion so you can make conscious choices about what to include in the final piece. Video on Concept Mapping

3. Research your topic

Once you have thought out all the facets of your topic, and identified all the questions you need to answer, you can begin to research. Of course, as your research continues, your area of discussion will often shift slightly or become more refined, in response to what you find in the literature. This is good! In fact, it shows that you are extending the bounds of your understanding.

There is a comprehensive section on this website about researching that contains step by step advice about where, what and how to research for assignments at university.

4. Establish a thesis statement

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So what is a thesis statement and how do I come up with one?

A thesis statement is usually 1-2 sentences and is a short, condensed version of your response to the essay question. In other words, it is your answer to the question expressed in 1-2 sentences.

It is common for students, when stating the aim of an essay, to simply rephrase the question and say that the essay will "examine" it. It's much stronger, however, to suggest what your answer to the question might be. Your thesis statement should therefore take the form of a claim, argument, or assertion that you can (and will) defend with evidence and argument in the body of the essay. It should not simply restate the question and present a broad topic that you will 'explore'. For example

Rephrasing the question

Possible opening phrases

"This essay will look at...[the question rephrased]"

"This essay explores...[rephrase the question]"

"This essay examines...[the question]"

Examples

This essay will examine what communication problems might arise in a culturally diverse workplace, and offer suggestions about how managers can best deal with them.

Presenting a thesis statement

This essay will argue that..."

"This essay suggests that..."

"This essay asserts that..."

Examples

This essay will outline the main communication problems that can arise in culturally diverse workplaces, focussing particularly on the two most common: those arising from gender role expectations, and those relating to body language. After examining the causes, this essay will evaluate a range of management strategies and suggest that a combination of cultural awareness training, and a focus on workplace culture offers the best approach.

It is worth establishing a tentative thesis statement before you begin to research, as it provides focus and helps you determine what is relevant to the discussion and what is not. You can always adjust it as you go along, and as you uncover new information.

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To determine what your thesis statement is going to be, the main thing you need to do is think. Think about your question, and consider what your answer might be if you were asked to answer it promptly, in a tutorial discussion, for example. A good place to begin is considering 'both sides', or, the varying opinions held by experts on your topic:

'It is a shame that even in contemporary Australia, race and ethnicity have the power to affect the outcomes of a person's life'. Critically evaluate this statement.

Evidence supporting this statement: certain groups are associated with higher unemployment, attain lower levels of education, perform below average at university, have lower life expectancy...

Evidence against this statement: many successful people in Australia aren't white, and do not have a European cultural background

Perhaps the issue is a complex one, and your thoughts are beginning to look something like this…

Perhaps race or ethnicity do sometimes affect people's opportunities . . .

. . . but they don’t have to determine a person's life outcomes completely . . .

. . . but then again, how difficult is it to overcome both overt and covert racism . . . ?

From these notes and ideas, determine a thesis statement: one or two sentences that summarise clearly what you think about your topic. For example:

What NOT to do:

This essay will evaluate whether or not a person's race or ethnicity have the power to affect their life outcomes in Australia.

This is much stronger:

This essay will suggest that while one's skin colour or cultural background cannot dictate life outcomes entirely, they can, to varying degrees, affect people's access to certain ‘life-improving’ services, such as education and healthcare, which in turn, affects life outcomes. This is particularly the case for Aboriginal Australians, who will form a substantial focus of this essay.

Throughout your initial planning and researching phase, make sure you constantly consider your own thoughts in relation to what you are reading and the question you’ve been asked to answer. Note these thoughts down as you research and read, both in the margins of all your texts and on separate sheets of paper (take a look at the reading and note-taking section for further advice here). Your ‘reactions’ to the texts you engage with are the beginnings of your own critical opinion: your thesis statement.

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The thesis statement is also crucial later on, when you need to decide on the argumentative aim of each paragraph in your essay.

5. Do the math

Q. Why might we want to do math in preparation for an essay?

A. By determining roughly how many paragraphs we have to work with, we can determine roughly how many points we will be able to make in the essay. This will help us focus on the most important ones and also help avoid stunted (short) or waffley (long) paragraphs.

As a general rule:

• Introductions and Conclusions each consume about 10% of the word count = 20% total

• An academic paragraph is somewhere between 100 and 200 words = 150 words on average (see the box below)

So in an essay of 1500 words, the introduction will be roughly 150 words and the conclusion will be another 150 words...

That leaves us with about 1200 words, and 8 body paragraphs. So if 1 paragraph = 1 point, then we can contribute about 8 points to proving the thesis statement

What are those 8 points going to be?

The reason an academic paragraph is somewhere between 100 and 200 words is that it has quite a specific series of jobs to do and it can rarely complete all these jobs in less than 100 words. While introductions and conclusions are a bit of an exception, an academic paragraph from the body of an essay should contain the following elements:

• A topic sentence that gives the reader an idea of the ‘topic’ of the paragraph • Citation of evidence or reference to expert opinion • Discussion of that evidence or opinion, clearly indicating its relevance to your argument and topic

6. Outline before you write

By now you should have:

• done the bulk of your research • developed your argument, or thesis statement • 'done the math' to calculate roughly how may paragraphs

your essay will contain

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It is at this point that you need to write an outline before you sit down to write the essay

For each paragraph in your essay:

• establish the topic and the argumentative point • write out a dot-pointed plan for how it will unfold • determine what evidence and/ or resources you will

incorporate to support your point

If you think of your essay as a 'body', the outline is the skeleton that offers an overall structure. As you write, you then slowly 'flesh out' that body, adding meat to the skeleton step by step.

Consider the sample outline for the following essay topic:

Workplace diversity is now recognised as an important feature in organisations, especially in multicultural nations like Australia. What communication problems might arise in a culturally diverse workplace, and how can managers best deal with them?

Introduction

1. Discuss general communication problems in the workplace

• Body language (Barker & Lloyd 2007) • Gender expectations (Barker 2003) • Power imbalances (Taylor & Sweet 2009)

2. Discuss how these three main problems are exacerbated by cultural differences

• Body language (Smith 2006) • Gender expectations (Barker & Lloyd 2007) • Power imbalances (Brown and Wood 2009)

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3. Evaluate the success of Workplace cultural training programs

• Can raise awareness of issues (Taylor & Sweet 2009) • Can allow employees to discuss issues faced (Barker 2003) • However, can stigmatise employees who feel

'different' (Brown and Wood 2009)

4. Evaluate the success of Workplace communication training

• Focusses not on cultural 'difference', but on successful communication techniques (Brown and Wood 2009)

• Avoids stigmatising employees (Brown and Wood 2009) • However, may not address key issues (Brown and Wood

2009)

5. ...

6. ...

7. ...

8.

Conclusion

• Overall, the most successful approaches to combatting the main communication problems that occur in culturally diverse workplaces will take into account . .

• 7. Write paragraph by paragraph • “If there were a single skill which, if mastered, could

help most of us to improve our writing immediately, it would be the skill of paragraphing. The paragraph is the basic unit of argument. . . .[and] teachers will sense whether or not their students have an argument largely on the basis of whether the thoughts in their

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essays have been susceptible to organisation into paragraphs” • Osland, Boyd, McKenna and Salusinsky, Writing in

Australia: a composition course for tertiary students, p.103.

The paragraph is the fundamental building block of academic writing, and particularly of the essay. The paragraph allows us to put forward one point and support that point with evidence and reasoned discussion. If your paragraphs are not working well to make their points, no amount of fancy footwork in the introduction and conclusion will save the essay.

There is another good reason for coming to terms with paragraphs: rather than thinking about your essay as 1500 words, think about it as roughly 10 paragraphs, or 10 points. You can then work on them one by one. Suddenly, the process of putting together an essay can be tackled in steps, and doesn't seem so daunting!

The Golden Rule of academic paragraphs

Begin the paragraph with a sentence in your own words: a 'topic sentence'. This is usually the most general sentence in the paragraph, offering an overview of the point being addressed. It also ‘frames’ the references you cite, allowing your reader to interpret their relevance and significance.

Each paragraph should have its own job; it should be responsible for one point that contributes to the main topic:

• A concept to explain and discuss • An argument to make • A point to debate

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The sentences that follow should unfold logically from that first sentence. They should be:

• united in a single cause: unpacking, explaining and supporting the topic sentence

• coherent; each sentence should flow on logically and smoothly from the previous one

• complete; the main point should be fully illustrated and developed with sufficient evidence & references.

Topic sentence 1-2 sentences

Like an introduction to the paragraph which:

• outlines the topic to be discussed • clearly demonstrates the link to the main topic of the essay

Body sentences 3-10 sentences

Discuss evidence to support point:

• examples of relevant research • relevant theories • make any necessary critical comments

Conclusion (not always needed) 1-2 sentences

• summarises the research you've just discussed • clarifies how it helps to answer the question you're trying to answer

For further advice on writing good paragraphs, click here.

Referencing

Using references more effectively

Throughout your study, you will probably never stop learning how to make your reference use more effective. But here are a few guidelines to get you started on developing strong academic writing. Look closely at the paragraph below in which references are used.

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In the field of nutrition, there is debate not only about what to eat, but also about how to distribute quantities of food across the day. Traditionally, the largest meal of the day is eaten at dinner time, and this approach is certainly still valid (for example, see Bert, 2009; Field, 2007; Alger, 2007). Wiggan and Penn (2009), however, argue that the best time of the day to eat your largest meal is at breakfast, as your body has the opportunity to burn off the calories consumed across the entire day. In contrast, Albretti and Huang (2008) propose that the largest meal should be eaten in the middle of the day, at lunchtime, as some studies have shown that a large intake of food (particularly protein-rich food) early in the day can actually slow the metabolism for the following 12-15 hours. Still other studies (Gorman & O'Bree, 2008) have shown that we should abandon the very idea of a 'main' meal, and instead consume food by 'grazing' - eating smallish quantities evenly and consistently through the day. Based on these conflicting opinions, it is unsurprising that people are confused about the best way to construct their daily food consumption patterns.

Notice that the paragraph has used the 4 principles below when discussing its references:

1. Paragraphs should be framed with a topic sentence

A paragraph should have a purpose - a clear point to make. And usually, this will be stated up front in what is often called a 'topic sentence'. In the paragraph above, the author's point is also summarised in a little more detail in the final or 'clinching' sentence.

It is very important to begin (and often end) a paragraph with a whole sentence in your own words.

This ‘frames’ the references you cite, allowing your reader to interpret their relevance and significance for your essay. If you don't include these important framing sentences, your essay will be a 'collage' of quotes and your reader is likely to be confused about why you're including them.

2. References should be used for a purpose - not just mentioned to show your lecturer you've been reading.

The paragraph above uses its references well, because it does not simply report on what each of the resources states. For example, here's what to avoid:

Many studies have been done on when to eat the largest meal of the day. Many researchers (Bert, 2009; Field, 2007; Alger, 2007) say that the largest meal should be eaten at dinner time. Wiggan and Penn (2009) argue that the best time of the day to eat the largest meal is at breakfast, as the body has the opportunity to burn off the calories consumed across the entire day. Albretti and Huang (2008) state that the largest meal should be eaten in the middle of the day, at lunchtime, as some studies have shown that a large intake of food (particularly protein-rich food) early in the day can actually slow the metabolism for the following 12-15 hours. Gorman and O'Bree (2008) say that we should abandon the idea of a 'main' meal, and instead consume food by 'grazing' - eating smallish quantities evenly and consistently through the day.

Your lecturer is left thinking . . . SO?

Which argument should I believe and why?

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Are both equally valid?

And why is this information important? What are you trying to tell me?!

n the stronger example at the top, the paragraph summarises what the resources tell us when considered together: there is disagreement between experts on this topic and people are confused about what to do. It uses the references to make a point that suits the purpose of the essay.

References can be used for a range of purposes. You may want to:

• provide evidence for a point you want to make - in which case you would use references that clearly and simply confirm or support your claim

• demonstrate that you disagree with an idea - in which case you would use a reference you want to argue with, critique or discredit

• summarise a widely-held position - in which case you might cite multiple references simultaneously show that lots of people agree on the idea

• show that there is debate surrounding an issue - in which case you could use two or more references in order to compare, contrast and evaluate them

• 3. Make it clear you are referencing, by discussing and citing the reference/s in a style appropriate for your discipline

• As well as using different referencing styles, each discipline at university will use different linguistic techniques to discuss information. In some disciplines, for example, it is common to introduce the authors by name in the sentence:

Wiggan and Penn (2009), however, argue that the best time of the day to eat your largest meal is at breakfast, as your body has the opportunity to burn off the calories consumed across the entire day. In contrast, Albretti and Huang (2008) propose that the largest meal should be eaten in the middle of the day, at lunchtime, as some studies have shown that a large intake of food (particularly protein-rich food) early in the day can actually slow the metabolism for the following 12-15 hours.

Naming the authors within the sentence isn't always necessary, however, as in more scientific disciplines (including psychology), it's the information that's important, and not necessarily who said it. In this case, the author names might appear only in the reference and you would avoid naming them in the sentence:

Still other studies (Gorman & O'Bree, 2008) have shown that we should abandon the very idea of a 'main' meal, and instead consume food by 'grazing' - eating smallish quantites evenly and conistently through the day.

Alternatively, you may want to present a particular piece of information as a ‘fact’, or something that can be assumed to be true, in which case, no allusion to a study or expert is necessary in the sentence - only a reference is needed:

Traditionally, the largest meal of the day is eaten at dinner time, and this approach is certainly still valid (for example, see Bert, 2009; Field, 2007; Alger, 2007).

4. Make use of summarising and linking phrases

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In order to make its point clearly, the example paragraph shows the disagreement between opinions with summarising and linking words/phrases, which help make the paragraph more cohesive, as well as show the reader what the relationship is between the resources:

In the field of nutrition, there is debate not only about what to eat, but also about how to distribute quantities of food across the day. Traditionally, the largest meal of the day is eaten at dinner time, and this approach is certainly still valid (for example, see Bert, 2009; Field, 2007; Alger, 2007). Wiggan and Penn (2009), however, argue that the best time of the day to eat your largest meal is at breakfast, as your body has the opportunity to burn off the calories consumed across the entire day. In contrast, Albretti and Huang (2008) propose that the largest meal should be eaten in the middle of the day, at lunchtime, as some studies have shown that a large intake of food (particularly protein-rich food) early in the day can actually slow the metabolism for the following 12-15 hours. Still other studies (Gorman & O'Bree, 2008) have shown that we should abandon the very idea of a 'main' meal, and instead consume food by 'grazing' - eating smallish quantites evenly and conistently through the day. Based on these conflicting opinions, it is unsurprising that people are confused about the best way to construct their daily food consumption patterns.

8. Lastly, introductions and conclusions

Each student will prefer to work on their introduction and conclusion at a different stage in the writing process. Some like to start the introduction first, others will write it slowly as they construct the body, while others leave both the introduction and the conclusion until the end. But whenever you begin to write them, the introduction and the conclusion should be the last parts you finalise. Both of these sections work as summaries of your essay, so you need to wait until the body is completed before you can give an accurate overview of what you've written.

What should an introduction do?

The introduction to most essays written at university should be roughly 10% of the total word count. A good introduction should also do the following:

• discuss the broader context in which the main issue is located • outline the scope and direction of the paper • identify the focus, or point of view of the discussion/argument • provide a 'map' of the main topics addressed by the essay

In addition, a good introduction should try to alert the reader’s interest - the reader should be keen to read your essay! You might try: giving a real-life example of the kind of thing you are going to write about that contains unusual or colourful details; beginning with a relevant quotation (from anywhere except a dry textbook), or beginning with some startling statistics that indicate the significance of the topic.

Sample essay question and introduction

Workplace diversity is now recognised as an important feature in organisations, especially in multicultural nations like Australia. What communication problems might arise in a culturally diverse workplace, and how can managers best deal with them?

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Discuss the broader context in which the main issue is located

The Australian workforce is a more diverse place now than at any other time in the nation's history. Certainly, Australia's multi-cultural landscape contributes to this diversity, but the workforce is also diverse in terms of gender, age, sexuality, ability/disability and religious beliefs. While this diversity has the capacity to contribute much to the goals of Australian workplaces, it can result in problems if employees have difficulty communicating with and relating to one another.

Significance of topic

Scope and direction of the paper

Relationships between employees with such varied backgrounds need to be carefully nurtured and maintained to ensure that employees feel valued and respected at work, and the workplace functions effectively.

Focus and map: It is important, then, for managers in particular to understand what kinds of communication problems can arise in diverse workplaces, and how to best deal with them.

Main argument, or thesis: This essay will focus particularly on culturally diverse workplaces, and will firstly identify the main communication problems that can arise. It will then focus discussion on the two most common: those arising from gender role expectations, and those relating to body language. After examining the causes, this essay will evaluate a range of management strategies and suggest that a combination of cultural awareness training, and a focus on workplace culture offers the best approach.

The introduction should also line up well with the conclusion, so make sure you look at them side by side when you've finished writing to make sure your conclusion does, in fact, bring closure to the issues raised in the introduction.

What should a conclusion do?

The conclusion, like the introduction, should be roughly 10% of the total word count. While there are a number of things a good conclusion should do,there are a number of things it should avoid:

• rephrasing the introduction: we should know more at the end of the essay than we did at the beginning, so be more detailed and specific in the conclusion

• simply re-telling the reader the points that were made in the essay - what do all the points mean when considered together, more broadly?

• ending with a long quote, or many citations from other sources - the conclusion should conclude your essay

• focussing on a minor point • introducing new ideas

Instead, a good conclusion should:

• draw together all the points that were discussed and consider the 'sum' of their meaning, or, their overall significance

• bring closure to the main issue discussed

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• be a logical ending to what has already been discussed • make suggestions for how the topic needs to be further investigated, or speculate

on what is likely to happen in the future

Sample essay question and conclusion

Workplace diversity is now recognised as an important feature in organisations, especially in multicultural nations like Australia. What communication problems might arise in a culturally diverse workplace, and how can managers best deal with them?

Provide a logical ending to what has been discussed, reflecting the points made in the introduction

Bring closure to the main issue, but be more specific than in the introduction

How should this issue be further investigated?

Example

Maintaining good relationships between employees in culturally diverse workplaces can be challenging, but it is too important to be left to chance. When managers overlook the importance of building good workplace communication to focus simply on managing staff behaviours on work-related tasks, staff can feel under-valued and excluded, which is likely to result in a loss of job satisfaction and productivity. As this essay has demonstrated, the main communication problems that arise from culturally-diverse contexts stem from differences in gender role expectations across cultures, and differences in the meanings of body language. Problems tend to arise when staff make assumptions about how others will act, and then take offense when expectations are not met. While cultural awareness training has traditionally been the strategy used to educate staff about general cultural differences, this should not be relied upon as the sole strategy, as it can lead staff to assume that certain generalised differences exist between cultures, leading to stereotyping and reinforcing a focus on 'difference'. Instead, this training should be used only to complement the building of a workplace culture in which staff are given formalised opportunities to speak openly about their concerns and ideas. The nature of these opportunities should be carefully considered, as they should vary depending on the size of a workplace, and the nature of the organisation. So research into precisely how to faciliate these kinds of conversations in particular organisational types would be worthwhile.

9. Edit and polish

There are 5 basic steps to effective editing:

1. gain critical distance 2. print out your paper 3. think BIG 4. think medium - time to read out loud 5. think small

1. Gain critical distance

When editing your own work, you need to try to approach your paper as the reader will. The reader doesn’t know what you’re thinking, or what you’re trying to say. You, on the

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other hand, have all the ideas in your head, so when you try to edit your own work, your brain fills in all the pesky gaps in your sentences, and you miss glaring problems that the reader will pick up. To edit well:

• aim to finish your draft about a week before the due date • if you are strapped for time and plan to write your whole paper in just one day, that’s okay; just

make that one day a week before the due date, instead of the day before! • Then, do not touch or look at your draft until a day or two before your paper is due. • What happens in that one week period is crucial: you forget what you were trying

to say. Your brain loses its capacity to fill in all the holes in your argument and skim over the spelling and grammar mistakes. When you then return to your draft, you have ‘fresh eyes’ and will pick up loads more mistakes than you would have done before. If you can’t spend a whole week not looking at your paper, at least plan ahead so you can leave it alone for a day.

• 2. Print out your paper • Printing onto paper makes for much more effective editing because it allows you

to: • see every page at the same time, making it much easier to see structural problems • ‘skim’ more effectively, helping you combat the urge to get bogged down in details • get closer to that ‘readerly’ position that is so crucial to successful editing.

Make sure you also move away from your computer. This helps you resist the temptation to edit as you read.

3. Think BIG

The order in which you analyse aspects of your writing is very important. You need to check the really important issues before you get caught up in picking over relatively minor problems. Thinking BIG addresses issues that are crucial to the success of your paper. These things are:

• The basic ingredients of your paper, or the main ideas: content • The order in which you’ve put this content together: structure

To successfully address big picture issues, you need to do a skim read. That is, you need to read to get the basic gist of the paper without getting bogged down in details, or small picture stuff. That will come later.As you skim your paper, have your topic clearly in mind and think honestly about the following questions:

• Does the essay directly address the set question? • Has every part of the question been answered? • Does the essay have a clear focus and a point of view? • Does each paragraph’s content cover an important part of the topic? • Does each paragraph contribute something crucial to my aim? • Regarding structure: am I leading my reader through the ideas in the most effective/clearest way

possible?

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Often, at this stage, it’s very difficult to answer these questions honestly; if the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’, fixing the problem can be time consuming. That is why it’s important to leave yourself plenty of time to edit. If you need to make significant changes to improve your paper, at least you have time. Consider this when you plan your timeframe.

4. Think medium - time to read out loud

Once you have skim read and you are happy with the basic content and structure, now you can move on to thinking medium. Medium issues are very important to the success of your paper. This is the point where you look at:

• the clarity of your explanations, and • your use of evidence

At this stage, try not to look at punctuation and spelling. Work your way through each paragraph one by one and consider the following:

In the introduction:

• Is there a thesis statement (a statement of the main point of your essay)? • Does this thesis statement directly address the question? • Is a brief essay map included?

In the body paragraphs:

• Is the main idea introduced directly? • Are the important concepts discussed clearly? • Does the evidence provide relevant and credible support? • Have I referenced all the cited material accurately? • Do the sentences flow coherently or have I wedged some ill-fitting concepts side by side?

In the conclusion:

• Is there a brief summary of the main points? • Has a position been expressed or the essay question answered? • Does the conclusion follow logically from the body of your essay? • Does the conclusion properly avoid introducing any new ideas or information?

It is often at this medium stage that students find it difficult to assess their own work. The ideas probably sound clear in your mind, but to your reader, they may well not. In order to try to get further into a ‘readerly’ position, it is at this stage that reading out loud is very useful. Reading your work out loud, while envisaging an audience sitting in front of you, makes you much more aware of any points at which you are being unclear. Any time you have to pause or stumble, it’s likely that there is a problem that you need to check.

5. Think small

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Once you are happy with the clarity and strength of your paragraphs, think small . This means spelling and grammar. While these issues are important, they mainly affect your credibility and should, as a result, be de-prioritised in favour of more important issues. After all, your lecturer will not care that your spelling and grammar are perfect if half your paper does not address the question. Spelling and grammar might hold you back from a slightly higher grade, while issues of structure and content can often hold you back from a pass. It’s useful to run a spelling and grammar check, but the technique of reading out loud can also be useful for picking up sentences in which grammar needs work.

10. Review with a final checklist

1 Have the big issues been checked? 2 Have the medium issues been checked? 3 Have the small issues been checked?

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Font:

• is the font plain, legible and a good size? • Is the font consistent throughout the essay?

5 Are page numbers included?

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Line spacing:

• does it adhere to that dictated in the unit outline? • if it’s not specified, is it either 1.5 or double?

7 Is the reference list complete and accurate? 8 Is the relevant cover sheet attached and filled in? 9 Is the essay saved on a computer and is there an extra printed copy, just in

case the saved copy gets lost, deleted or destroyed?

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