Essay Competition Guideline This document will help you manage a well-structured essay and provide you with

the tools needed for a professional layout. Major essay sections Title page The title page should contain the title of the essay, the author's full name and email address, and the institutional affiliation inclusive of its official address and webpage link. Please note that your page header should look like this: [Title of the essay] The page numbers on all pages following the title page should be flushed to the right in the header line. Abstract page (conditional) Begin a new page. Your abstract should be a short (word limit to be decided by IPSF and the Pharmacy Education Taskforce) summary of the essay that will be following in the main body. Main body The limit of words and/or pages as well as specifications for clarity of figures (diagrams, graphs, charts, etc.) and allied details shall be provided by the IPSF Executive. References and Acknowledgements: Any ideas, quotations, and paraphrasing from other peoples work and publications must be appropriately referenced and you should cite relevant references. Each statistical fact must be accompanied by a reference. Content In the assesment of each essay, the judges will be looking for an essay that :

Presents findings clearly and accurately, that develops a logical argument, and displays evidence of critical thought; Demonstrates understanding of the background to the specific project; States aim(s) clearly; Explains and justifies chosen methods and techniques; Performs adequate analysis and interpretation of results or retrieved information; Uses results to draw logical conclusions, which are related to the project aims;

Considers findings critically in context of other work; Considers weaknesses and drawbacks of methods used, and makes suggestions for further work;

General considerations Write clearly and concisely. Use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. Use headings, subheadings as well as tables and figures effectively; Consider the overall presentation of a section, and the quality of figures and diagrams.

Structure of the essay A well written essay should contain the following parts: Abstract Introduction (including a literature review of the wider subject area, and the basis of techniques used for data collection in the project) Aims and objectives of the essay Materials (if applicable) and methods Results and analysis of data (if applicable) Discussion of results (if applicable) and the literature review outcomes Conclusions