In the APA style of referencing, the reference list has certain conventions that you must also follow. Remember to introduce the relevant historical methods explicitly. A good way to expand your vocabulary is to look at the Academic Word List developed by Averil Coxhead at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, university level essay. Journal of the American Dietetic Association2 Thus, it will be argued that despite chocolate's positive effect in some cases on university level essay and the cardiovascular system it has also been linked to addiction and obesity. They must contribute to the critical argument, and that requires an ability to engage with three elements if the essay is to be a good one: Conceptualisation Methodology Historiography, university level essay.
Academic Skills Office
View the video, then try the essay exercises to test your knowledge! Watch the whole story, or see sections of the story below. All the videos have captions that you can view on YouTube. View the video on the Chinese site youku. To view the individual chapters of the above video, you can either click the 'PLAYLIST' menu item in the above YouTube video and select the chapter from there, or, you can click one of the links below and view the individual video on YouTube. Download the transcript of the video or download the exercises in PDF format or as a Word document. Essays in different academic cultures Teachers' notes. Essays help you discover more about a topic and write a reasoned analysis of the issues in question, using a range of external sources to support your position.
The idea can then be developed in a number of ways, such as through explanation, evaluation, exemplification or incorporation of research data. Your paragraphs should link together — use connective words, both within and between paragraphs, to keep a sense of cohesion and linkage. Writing a good essay can be compared to baking a cake—if you do not mix the right ingredients in the right quantities or order, university level essay, and do not follow the required processes, then the end result will not be what you hoped for! There is no set model for an essay, but the English for Uni website presents one popular way to do it.
The following example is based around a word discussion essay. To read about essays in greater detail, download this PDF or Word document. It is important for you to analyse your topic and title very carefully in order to understand the specific aim of the question. To do this, you need to break down the question. Most essay questions will university level essay these three elements:. Directive or Instructional words tell you how to approach the essay. Look at these sample essay titles from A Economics and B Nutrition:. In example B, answering the question fully involves looking closely at the directive word Discuss and analysing its exact meaning. Discuss: Present various points and consider the different sides.
A discussion is usually longer than an explanation, as you need to present evidence and state which argument is more persuasive. You also need to consider the length of your essay. In a word essay you can cover more points than in a word one! This example is based on a word essay. In relation to Limiting words, you need to consider what healthy food actually means. A good way to expand your vocabulary is to look at the Academic Word List developed by Averil Coxhead at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, university level essay. The uefap website also has very useful lists of words found in particular subjects, such as mathematics, business and health science. There are a number of directive words, or instructional words as they are sometimes called, which tell you university level essay to do in your essay.
Some common directive words include:. Brainstorming means producing ideas related to a theme. You can write the ideas down in any order. Text description of the above image. Other boxes area then added. A brainstorm like this is organic; it does not necessarily stop growing. You can add, university level essay, remove or reorganise it as you wish. If you like to put more system into your brainstorm, university level essay, use a step-based model such as the following:. Step 2 Look critically at your draft Which ideas could you develop or remove? Is there a balance of ideas?
Step 3 Think about ordering Which issues might you tackle first in your essay and why? If so, when is the best time in the essay to do this? Step 5 Move Reflect upon your brainstorming. Once you are happy with your brainstorm you can use it university level essay plan your essay. Finding what you want takes time and effort. is by using an academic database. If you are not sure how to use a database, then book an appointment with your subject librarian at your institution. Another option is to use an internet academic search engine such as Google Scholar. Make sure you are logged in to the library at your educational institution, so that you can use the full database capacities linked to Google Scholar. You need to enter keywords to begin with. For the chocolate essay, one of the first associations we thought of was chocolate and mood.
If we enter these words into Google Scholar it will look like this:. The first two articles have been cited 90 times and times respectively, suggesting that they might be good sources for your essay, university level essay. The links to the right indicate that you can access the articles through your university website. Read the abstract and ask yourself if the content of the article is likely to be relevant to your essay. a If yes, click on the PDF. This will take you to university level essay full article which you can then skim read quickly to decide if it is relevant. b If no, then you have a choice. Either click on the links to other related articles or go back to Google Scholar and then choose another article to skim read.
When you have found what you think might be useful, make a note in your plan at the appropriate place. Once you have brainstormed your ideas and done university level essay initial research, start putting them into a logical order as part of the essay planning process. Brainstorming helps you to see what you know about the topic. Researching will give you more depth, university level essay. Brainstorming, researching and planning are cyclical, which means that each process helps the other processes and you might want to do each process more than once. Here is the brainstorm for the chocolate essay again, which you can use to develop the planning process:. Read the text version of the brainstorming mind map.
In the first instance, it is important to distinguish between planning and university level essay plan, university level essay. Planning is an ongoing process, from when you receive the essay title to when you submit your final draft. A plan is a physical outline of the way you intend to conceptualise, structure and present your ideas. At this point it is time to write your first plan, university level essay. However, do not stop doing research yet. Why not? Remember that a plan is just that—a plan. Introduction Context for paper — popularity of chocolate.
Issue — whether chocolate is a healthy food is questionable, university level essay. Thesis — chocolate may be enjoyable but not healthy. Scope — only 4 aspects are covered here to keep the example university level essay. Main body Paragraph 1 with possible sources Ways in which chocolate can impact positively on mood. Parker, Parker and Brotchie — chocolate mood effects do not last. Macht and Dettmer — anticipation effect and more studies needed. Sources needed to help answer these questions. Problems with measuring correlation between chocolate consumption and cardiovascular health. Sources needed to help answer this. Paragraph university level essay Chocolate best viewed as a food or a drug?
Indulgence or addiction — are the boundaries unclear? See what external sources have to say on this Medication elements of chocolate? Readings needed around this issue. Paragraph 4 The correlation between chocolate and obesity, university level essay. Definition of obesity needed. What does the literature say in relation to other causal factors? Conclusion Summary of university level essay arguments presented. Chocolate is not a healthy food, but it is enjoyable nevertheless. Main body Paragraph 1 Ways in which chocolate can impact positively on mood. Parker, Parker and Brotchie chocolate mood effects do not last.
Note the change of focus from the original idea correlation between chocolate consumption and cardiovascular health due to the lack of research data available. Medication elements of chocolate? Used in relation to magnesium deficiency in women Pennington, in Steinberg et al, university level essay. Findings concur with Abraham and Lubran who found a correlation between magnesium deficiency and nervous tension in women. Note the narrow focus of medical benefits i. only considering magnesium due to the short length of the essay.
concept definition essay
The literature outlines the chemical properties of chocolate which could help explain some addictive type behaviour, particularly in regards to nervous tension in women, but there is also a strong research focus on chocolate as a sensory-based indulgence. It can therefore be said that chocolate is not a healthy food, but can be enjoyed as part of a healthy and balanced diet and lifestyle. Word count: Check this with your lecturer if you are in any doubt. Abraham, G. Serum and red cell magnesium levels in patients with premenstrual tension. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , 34 11 , Ariefdjohan, M.
Chocolate and cardiovascular health: Is it too good to be true? Nutrition Reviews , 63 12 , doi: Beckett, S. The science of chocolate. Cambridge, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry. Bruinsma, K. Chocolate: Food or drug? Journal of the American Dietetic Association , 99 10 , Hannum, S. Chocolate: A heart-healthy food? Show me the science! Nutrition Today , 37 3 , Lambert, J. Nutrition and health aspects of chocolate. Beckett Ed. London: Wiley Blackwell. Macht, M. Everyday mood and emotions after eating a chocolate bar or an apple. Appetite , 46 3 , Immediate effects of chocolate on experimentally induced mood states. Appetite , 49 3 , Macdiarmid, J. British Journal of Clinical Psychology , 34 1 , Mellor, D.
The effects of polyphenol rich chocolate on cardiovascular risk and glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus Doctoral dissertation, University of Hull, UK. Parker, G. Mood state effects of chocolate. Journal of Affective Disorders , 92 2 , Scholey, A. Effects of chocolate on cognitive function and mood: a systematic review. Nutrition reviews , 71 10 , Schramm, D. Chocolate procyanidins decrease the leukotriene-prostacyclin ratio in humans and human aortic endothelial cells. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , 73 1 , Steinberg, F. Cocoa and chocolate flavonoids: Implications for cardiovascular health. Journal of the American Dietetic Association , 2 , This is very important in academic writing in western countries, and if you do not do this you might be accused of plagiarism, which is a serious offence at university.
We gave some of the reasons for this before:. Include a reference in the text, where the words or ideas appear, and in a reference list at the end of the essay. All the references in the text must appear in the reference list, and all the references in the list must also appear in the text. However, if you are doing a group work assignment and your lecturer has asked you to work together and submit the assignment jointly, that is not collusion. Collusion, like plagiarism, has an element of dishonesty in it.
People who collude do so secretly, as they know that the lecturer would not be happy. People make genuine mistakes, so lecturers are usually very happy to advise you if you ask them. English for Uni. home english for uni Current: Essay Writing. Essay Writing. Ms Parrot: Essay Chef View the video, then try the essay exercises to test your knowledge! Expand View the individual video chapters To view the individual chapters of the above video, you can either click the 'PLAYLIST' menu item in the above YouTube video and select the chapter from there, or, you can click one of the links below and view the individual video on YouTube. Essay Chef - Introduction Essay Chef - The cooking show Essay Chef - Teaching. Exercises Exercise 1: Introductions Exercise 2: Conclusions Exercise 3: Voice Exercise 4: Paraphrasing Exercise 5: Referencing Exercise 6: Academic Integrity Resources Download the transcript of the video or download the exercises in PDF format or as a Word document.
Expand Essay structure Essays help you discover more about a topic and write a reasoned analysis of the issues in question, using a range of external sources to support your position. An essay is a highly structured piece of writing with follow a typical pattern: Section Explanation of section contents 1. Introduction B ackground statement — where you set the context for your essay I ssue s — where you outline the specific issues that are relevant to your essay. Main body Each paragraph should focus on one idea only. Your paragraphs should be balanced — keep to the rule of no less than 3 sentences per paragraph.
Conclusion Begin with a link to the preceding paragraph. Restate your thesis and summarise your principal points. End with a broad statement relating to the significance of your argument. In relation to Content words your focus is clear: chocolate! Directive or Instructional words There are a number of directive words, or instructional words as they are sometimes called, which tell you what to do in your essay. Some common directive words include: Analyse Look at something in depth, examining the details.
Argue Give reasons for why you agree or disagree with something and show that you understand different points of view. Assess Compare different points and see if the argument or information is true or persuasive. Compare Show the similarities between two sets of information or arguments. Contrast Show the differences between two sets of information or arguments. Criticise Evaluate an argument or a text to see if it is good. Critique Evaluate an argument or a text to see if it is good. Define Explain the meaning of a word or a term, especially in the context of your essay. Describe Give details about something. Discuss Look at the different sides of an argument and say which is more convincing.
Help your reader to understand more about something by giving relevant details. Evaluate Look at the strengths and weaknesses of the material and give your final opinion of it. Examine Look at the strengths and weaknesses of the material and give your final opinion of it. Explain Help your reader to understand more about something by giving relevant details. Illustrate Give examples to make something clearer. Interpret Help your reader to understand more about something and provide your own perspective if necessary. Justify Give reasons to explain what you think about a subject. Outline Give a broad explanation of something without too many details. Prove Show if something is true and demonstrate how you reached that conclusion.
Review Look at something in detail and give your perspective on it. State Put your ideas or arguments clearly. Summarise Pull everything together and present it clearly without using too much detail. Here is a possible brainstorm for the chocolate essay, done in the form of a mind map:. Remember that an academic essay requires academic sources. This will take you to a webpage which lists a number of relevant articles, like this:. If you think an article looks promising, click on the link and look at the abstract:. If you do not find what you are looking for, then you need to change your keywords search.
Do the same thing for all the points that need academic references to support them. Planning or a plan? A plan helps you to put your ideas into a form which gives you a clear direction for your reading. Once you have written your ideas up into a plan, you are beginning to give a structure to the essay writing process in order to make your argument more coherent. You might surprise yourself by discovering you know more about the subject matter than you thought. This can help build your confidence. Scope — only 4 aspects are covered here to keep the example short Positive: Can positively impact on mood Positive: Possible health benefits for cardiovascular system Negative: Chocolate can be seen as a drug rather than a food Negative: Potential correlation between over-consumption of chocolate and obesity Main body Paragraph 1 with possible sources Ways in which chocolate can impact positively on mood.
Scope — only 4 aspects are covered here to keep the example short Positive: Can positively impact on mood Positive: Possible health benefits for cardiovascular system Negative: Chocolate can be seen as a drug rather than a food Negative: Potential correlation between over-consumption of chocolate and obesity Main body Paragraph 1 Ways in which chocolate can impact positively on mood. There are a number of questions you should ask yourself, such as: How will everything finish? Your conclusion ties your essay together. It should normally: Begin with a link to the preceding paragraph. So, our chocolate essay conclusion should mirror this pattern. Chocolate essay conclusion The following conclusion has three parts. Topic sentence The topic sentence can function as a sentence of transition from the previous paragraph.
Elaboration and examples Elaboration of the main point should add more detailed information in relation to the topic sentence. Concluding sentence The Concluding Sentence should echo the main point of the paragraph and function as a bridge to the next paragraph. In the following example, the unrelated ideas are highlighted in red: Paragraph Sentence keywords It has been claimed that chocolate is a healthy food, but in fact it contains a lot of sugar, which can be unhealthy. Sugar makes chocolate sweet, so it is a necessary ingredient. There is currently an obesity epidemic in many western countries. Topic sentence — sugar and health sugar and tooth decay health sweet ingredient — unrelated obesity health obesity in the West — unrelated These unrelated ideas can be removed to make a more coherent paragraph: It has been claimed that chocolate is a healthy food, but in fact it contains a lot of sugar, which can be unhealthy.
You can then add examples and references to make your paragraph stronger. Here is an example:. Let us have another look at the functions of an introduction: B ackground statement — where you set the context for your essay I ssue s — where you outline the specific issues that are relevant to your essay. Sometimes an essay will begin with a direct quote to draw readers into the essay. Explanation Sentence s in order Background statement which draws the reader into the issue Since Spanish explorers brought back chocolate from the new world, chocolate consumption has become a worldwide phenomenon. Additional information to the background statement At first, chocolate, a derivative of the cacao bean, was consumed as a drink, only later achieving mass popularity in tablet or bar form.
The issue that is suggested by the title However, chocolate's inherent popularity does not equate to it possessing healthy properties, as suggested by the title. Scope of the essay The realities of chocolate are more down to earth; a number of these realities will be addressed in this essay. Thesis statement Thus, it will be argued that despite chocolate's positive effect in some cases on mood and the cardiovascular system it has also been linked to addiction and obesity. When you are writing an essay you will need to include references to external academic sources.
Why do you need to reference? Such citations are called information-centred citations. Sounds difficult? Well, these approaches add interest and understanding, and help make your degree a worthwhile process of education and exposition. Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is the author, with Donald M. MacRaild, of Studying History Palgrave, 3rd edition, How to Write Your First Undergraduate Essay. Jeremy Black prepares readers for the rigours of university history. Jeremy Black Published in History Review Issue 63 March They must contribute to the critical argument, and that requires an ability to engage with three elements if the essay is to be a good one: Conceptualisation Methodology Historiography. Conceptualisation Many questions relate to key concepts in history.
Methodology In this section, you should explicitly address the issue of how scholars, including yourself, can handle the conceptual questions. Historiography A key feature of university work is that you need to address explicitly the degree to which historians hold different views, and why, and to show that you understand that these views change, and can locate your own essay in their debates. Ten Key Things To Do Read the question and understand what it is asking. Work out your approach. Write a detailed essay plan, with different points per paragraph. Have an introduction in which you reveal your understanding of the current debate in interpretations. Remember to handle the concepts in the question and in your answer clearly. Remember to introduce the relevant historical methods explicitly.
Engage with the historiography, the views of different historians. In doing so, show how your work is part of the debate. When you are asked to write an essay, try to find some samples models of similar writing and learn to observe the craft of the writer. You can use the samples as a basis for working out how to write in the correct style. Most books on essay writing will supply you with a number of model essays—collect some of these as they are great teachers! No matter what the topic is, you will see similarities between your writing tasks and these model essays. This is because many features of writing are common across subject areas. In some subjects e.
The following five paragraph essay has paragraph labels to show the parts of an academic essay. Note: This essay does not contain authentic references and has been written specifically to use for this teaching task. Using assignment essays for assessment supports student learning better than the traditional examination system. If we insist that all students write about everything they have learned in their study courses at the same time and in the same place e. in examinations , we are not giving all of our students equal opportunities. Wonderland University, , p. Additionally, Jones et al. Exams only provide students with a mark rather than specific feedback on their progress. Therefore, setting assignment essays for a substantial part of student assessment is a much fairer approach than one-off examination testing.
Bloggs, J. Linking teaching, learning and succeeding in higher education. London: Bookworld. Jinx, J. Student essay writing. Journal of Research in University Education, 9 2 , Jones, J. Helpline: Essays and the university student. Tokyo: Courtyard Printers. Sankey, J. Learning to write essays [CD-ROM]. Sydney: Wonderland University.
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