How to improve your essay style and structure
Published on 14 October 16
It is a truth universally acknowledged that academic essays seem way harder than they need to be. There you sit for hours, clicking away morosely at your keyboard, adding sentence after sentence of painstakingly researched ideas – until deadline day dawns and the submit button is your saviour. You worked really hard. You wait (im)patiently for the verdict.
And it’s nowhere near the grade you expected to get.
It can be difficult to keep morale up after something like that happens. Being on an essay-focused course with little essay writing experience – I’ve had more than my fair share of such incidents. Eventually, I figured out that there was something wrong with the way I was writing my essays as opposed to how hard I was working on them.
So I set out on a quest to find the secret to good essay writing. I asked around – these are some responses I got:
“Wing it the night before – the pressure will inspire you.”
“If you don’t start at least a month before, there’s no point even trying.”
“Coffee.”
This advice unfortunately, is not completely dependable – so I searched elsewhere - and found the Library’s skills support programme My Learning Essentials. It turns out there is no “perfect” formula for writing a good essay but there are certainly some key elements you need to include and some useful tips for improving your writing style. So here are some steps to keep in mind – along with several relevant 15-20 minute online resources from My Learning Essentials that’ll help you get started.
Stop to think:
Your immediate instinct might be to dive headlong into writing – but it’s almost always better to really understand your task first. What are you being asked to do? Break down the question into key terms, are you being asked to contrast, to discuss or to outline? Think about what you already know and what you need to find out. These online resources will help you think about what it is you actually need to do:
Get a grip: understanding your task
What's the big idea: developing and organising your argument
Search:
Now that you’ve thought about it – maybe written down specific ideas you need to explore – get started on the research. Google Scholar, the Library, your course reading lists; these are all your best friends. Be strategic in the way you search – remember you can’t read everything on a topic. Use the key terms in your question to direct your search and use chapter titles and journal abstracts to predict which sources are most likely to give you the information you need. Check out these resources on finding the best information:
Finding the good stuff: evaluating your sources
Planning ahead: making your search work
Plan ahead…and think some more:
Take the time to write a well-thought out essay plan. Don’t just start writing and get yourself in a muddle! What is the best way to structure your points into a clear and concise argument? Remember you will need to include secondary literature as well as your own thoughts and make sure you have considered all counter arguments. These resources will help you make sure that every sentence counts:
Start to finish: essay writing
Never a wasted word: writing your essay
Choose your words wisely:
If you find yourself using the same favourites like “therefore” or “hence” more than two or three times in your work – you need the University’s Academic Phrasebank, which is filled with examples of introductory phrases, connective terms, transitional words etc. The words you present your work in should be compelling, specific and academic. You can find it here:
End on a high note:
It’s far too easy to lose precious marks on typos or incorrect referencing. Always proofread your work and reference everything (don’t forget to double check you’ve put the commas and colons in the right place!). Here are the Library’s resources on proofreading and referencing:
Better safe than sorry: proofreading your work
Citing it right: introducing referencing
It’s absolutely worth looking through some of these “how to” resources from My Learning Essentials – my work improved enormously when I actually knew what I was meant to be doing in all the essays I was writing. It might do the same for you!
As well as all the MLE online resources there are also face-to-face workshops and drop-ins, find them all here.
If you wish to improve your academic English, there is support available! The University Language Centre offers a drop-in Postgraduate Writing Clinic for any questions you may have on essay writing.