Tips and Tricks for an Essay Type Answer

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Law 9084 AS and A2 Level Rifat Rahman Faculty of Law

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Rifat Rahman, Faculty of

Introduction
Whichever approach you choose, remember that your introduction is the

first statement your examiner will read. Again, this sounds obvious but many students are careless about introductions, saying either too much or too little. A good introduction sets out clearly your response to the topic and how you are going to present that response. Its as simple as that. It is commonly agreed that quotation should be omitted from your introduction as this is where you are going to say what your response is not that of others. Remember to keep your introduction short and to the point ending with a feed into the opening paragraph of the main body of your essay.

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Rifat Rahman, Faculty of

Main Body
In the main body of your essay, each paragraph should be based on a

separate but related aspect of the main topic of the essay. Following the plan you made earlier, write each paragraph almost as though it were under a sub-heading to the main title and supplement each of your points with the evidence you have collected. Students are often unsure about the length of paragraphs but though there is no hard and fast rule, it is a good idea to keep them to four or five sentences.
Supporting your statements is vital and, in the case of a

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literary essay, this evidence should also be analysed. This means that you should comment on individual words and/or phrases that seem to you to be of particular interest or importance. Analysis of this kind will not only get you extra marks but will also sometimes suggest additional lines of thought which may be helpful, if relevant to the main argument.
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 Quotations should not be too long, never more than a few lines at most,

except in exceptional circumstances, and should adhere to the referencing style you have been requested to use. It is usual to indent longer quotations and set them out on a separate line, single-spaced, following a colon. Shorter quotations (i.e. a line or less) should be incorporated within the text and enclosed within quotation marks.
Try to end each paragraph in the main body of the essay with a hook to

the next i.e. an idea that introduces the topic of the subsequent paragraph; follow this up by opening the next paragraph with reference to the link. This will help your essay to flow better and seem to be establishing a pattern which will ultimately lead to your conclusion.

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Rifat Rahman, Faculty of

Paragraphs should move on using the basis of furthering the argument. This can be achieved in several ways:
Sequential writing, where one event follows naturally from another Elaborative writing, where you develop a point made previously Contrasting/comparing, where an idea contradicts or questions a point in a

preceding paragraph
These are just a few ideas, there are many more and your choice may be

determined by the type of essay/argument you are constructing.

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Rifat Rahman, Faculty of

Conclusion
The conclusion should be a summation of your argument. Students often

lose marks for presenting an abrupt conclusion which overlooks the implications of the overall argument, its future development and unavoidable contractions/omissions due to shortage of space. It is acceptable to use quotations in conclusions but not to introduce new ideas at this stage. By now, your reader should have been given such a strong sense of your central argument that no further information is necessary anyway. In your conclusion, you are just giving a more generic context to your specific thesis and tying up any loose ends which you feel have occurred during the writing of the essay.

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Rifat Rahman, Faculty of

Style of Writing
The importance of following the required referencing style has already been stated.

However, there are other stylistic features which should be adhered to and these will normally be set out in the instructions you are given when an essay is set. As a general rule, do not write in the first person unless specifically asked to do so i.e. avoid the use of phrases such as I think or in this essay I am going to. Rather, allow your essay to reflect a personal perception whilst being presented in an objective manner. It is useful to look at how professional writers construct essays to gain style tips (though remember, do not plagiarise under any circumstances as this is sure to be detected, is unfair on the writer whose ideas you are stealing and ultimately self-defeating). Do not use colloquial expressions, stick to Standard English throughout. Lists are not a good idea unless the essay specifically requires them, as they can appear to be rushed, a truncated way of presenting a lot of information without sufficient explanation.

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Rifat Rahman, Faculty of

Thank You

7/19/12

Rifat Rahman, Faculty of