• At University the primary mode of assessment is written work. You are assessed here not on what you know, have read, or think, but on what you write. You should, therefore, put a lot of thought into how you write and organise your material as well as its content. Serious problems in spelling and grammar, academic presentation, and the essay’s own organisation will affect your grade regardless of the amount of work you have done.
     
• Errors students make in spelling, grammar, presentation and organisation are completely unnecessary. They often fix a student into a category of degree grade that they will never improve upon – however much reading and work they do – until they are eliminated. Don’t let your entire final degree grade depend more upon simple skills that could have been easily learned than upon the work you did. 
   
• Think of your essay itself as a medium giving specific information. If you’re supposed to be studying media it is ridiculous not to realise how important your own medium of communication is. Understand the specific qualities, strengths and limitations of the essay and exam essay form and learn to use them to your own benefit.    

The Work Required

• Whereas at pre-degree level information for your essays and exams was provided by lecturers and the knowledge required for success was very broad but textually thin, here the opposite is the case. Now you must demonstrate work beyond lecture notes, providing in-depth answers evidencing detailed textual knowledge.
      
• Your essays, therefore, must quote from and reference the key texts in the field or subject, adding significantly to handbook, handout and lecture material. Any essay or exam answer that fails to evidence further work will receive a grade reflecting the student’s effort and may well be failed. 
   
• There are no essays set at University that don’t require you to look at, use and reference books in the field. If you write an essay that makes no use of or reference to a book then it will probably fail.
    
• Be aware that there is a hierarchy of books. At the bottom are the simplest student textbooks. These are often useful in helping you to understand the basic points of a subject but they should rarely be quoted in an essay. Next come the better student textbooks. By all means use and quote these to help you understand the subject but more marks are gained if you use better sources. After these come secondary texts by academics, explaining a field. Some of these can be simple, almost like textbooks, whilst others can be highly complex monographs. All are good to use if they are respected in the field and on the subject. At the top of the hierarchy are classic works and original texts by major authors or thinkers. Sometimes you do have to look at these. Essays on theory, for example, must use original quotations from the thinker and essays on certain topics should refer to classic texts in the field. Your mark will reflect the sources you have used and how you have used them.
      
• Lecturers know from reading an essay whether the student has done sufficient - or even any – work. If you choose not to work or to do very little it will be obvious and your grade will reflect this.

Essay Writing 

• How you write an essay is as important as what you write. Once you have made sure your grammar and spelling and academic form and presentation are absolutely perfect you need to pay attention to how you write and construct your essay. 
   
• One of the first things to get right is your writing style. When you write adopt a formal, intelligent, critical, academic tone. Do not use slang or over-familiar phrases. Avoid making jokes or using personal anecdotes. Jokes are never funny and just say to the marker that you don’t think it is worth taking their module seriously whilst personal anecdotes are rarely academically relevant and are often just an obvious substitute for the real work the student should have done. Avoid pointless digressions and personal opinions that are ill-thought out, non-academic and of dubious validity. Avoid ignorant, generalised statements about the state of the world, contemporary culture, and ‘human nature’. Don’t assume that you know what people are ‘really like’, or what they ‘really think’ or ‘feel’ or ‘want’. You don’t. If you must make general points that are not backed by evidence try and be very careful with their phrasing. 
   
• Where possible don’t state your own opinion as fact. After you have covered an argument, don’t charge in going ‘well I think this is rubbish, I think instead that …’ Instead make your points in a more neutral and careful fashion. For example, say that, ‘It could be argued instead that…’; ‘Alternatively, it could be suggested that…’; ‘Another argument could be made that…’; ‘An alternative perspective is possible here …’; ‘We could take issue with this as it could be argued, in contrast, that …’ etc. This sounds more thoughtful and as if you are speaking for a possible perspective held by many and not just yourself. This way you can give your own opinion without annoying the marker. On the subject of giving your opinion, however, see also my advice below.
     
• Equally, when you are explaining what an author believes or the argument of a particular perspective, never state it all as fact. Instead of saying that ‘the world is divided into two classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie’ or that ‘the contemporary world is comprised of sign-objects whose signification can be read’, you must attribute these claims – ‘Marx says …’, or ‘according to Barthes …’, etc. You must include in your summary statements such as, ‘From this perspective …’; ‘It is claimed here that …’; ‘This perspective argues that …’ etc.  
      
• Don’t use headings, sub-headings, bullet points or lists in an essay. Instead of listing points write them out in full, grammatical sentences and discuss them in the same way. Remember, just because Word can do it, it doesn’t mean that you should. 
   
• Don’t use non-grammatical short-cuts or note form.
   
• The hardest thing to do is to find the motivation to begin an essay. After that you still have to work out where you are going, what you want to cover and argue and follow that without digression or confusion. Few students accomplish all this perfectly. I would recommend the following: 
   
• Make an essay plan! Start with the word count for the essay – say, 2000 words. Then consider that you will need an introduction and a conclusion. Whilst they will be longer in a much larger piece of work they should normally be about 200-300 words, or a fair sized, single paragraph.  
   
• If your introduction and conclusion are 250 words each, then that’s 500 words accounted for. Now ask yourself what the essay wants you to do in between that. Divide your essay into sections – for example, the information and arguments that the essay wants you to factually describe or summarise, and the analysis and evaluation that you are expected to carry out on this information to answer the specific question. If the question wants you to do both these things then divide up your remaining word count between them: information = 700 words; analysis = 800 words.  
   
• Now your essay is easier to begin and to write. You don’t have to get up and write ‘an essay’, you have to get up and write a 250 word introduction today, or 700 words over two days etc.  
      
• Now divide up your sections again. If you have to summarise an argument in 700 words then spend time thinking and planning what you have to cover in this. It may be three main points or sets of points or four or eight etc. Divide up this figure to give you an idea of the word length you have to write to. Some points may be made in fewer words in which case you can carry the extra over to other, more important points. Now it is easier to write this section. Your writing will also be simpler and more concise and effective.
   
• As you write each section edit it down afterwards to make sure that you stick to your word count as much as possible. Editing isn’t just cutting words out, it is a far more effective and valuable process of rewriting and simplifying. Select your section and ask yourself as you read each paragraph, ‘What points am I trying to make here? How can I rewrite that to make these clearer and cut out some of the waffle as I do it?’ This kind of editing can transform an essay, making it worth an entire class of degree more. Do it as you go along and leave time at the end to do it again. Leave time to ignore it so that you can go back in a few days and read it afresh. There is an art and a craft to writing well and every good piece of writing was carefully crafted and rewritten for maximum effect.
   
• Editing also allows you to compress your essay, packing in more information. Many essays run out of word count having said little of any substance. The best essays pack in their information and quotations to allow them to say more and appear more authoritative.
    
• When you think about the content of an essay, it usually falls into four categories. As well as an introduction and a conclusion you will usually have to supply two other things: factual information about the subject, argument, perspective or debate that the question requires you to summarise and present, and your own evaluation and analysis of it, as you offer your opinion on the question set in preparation for the final answer in your conclusion.
   
• Sometimes you can write a simple essay following this plan – introduction, information, analysis, conclusion - doing each in turn. Often, however, your essay plan will be more complex. For example, you may have to present several different sections of information before your analysis,  or analyse a section of information immediately before you can move on to present the next section of information etc. Give a lot of thought in advance to how you compose and organise the sections of your essay and plan it all out in advance as I have suggested, awarding a word count to each section and write to this plan. 
   
• Remember that  the clearer the essay structure is and the more logical you move through the information and answer the better your essay will read and the more effective and expert your points will appear. The same arguments and points made in a more confused essay will appear less clear and receive less credit.
   
• What then should you put in each of these sections and how should you write them? I would advise the following:
   
• Introduction: A brief introduction of one to two paragraphs is best, telling the reader what the subject of the essay is and explaining the issues to be dealt with or controversies surrounding it etc. Don’t get drawn into giving detailed information here – save that for the next section. 
   
• Information: A significant proportion of your essay should always be devoted to simply giving the factual information the essay question expects you to know and wants you to summarise and present. This information may be about the work of a theorist (presented in detail with original quotations etc.), about a historical or contemporary phenomena, or about a debate (all discussed using original textual sources) etc. It is here that you demonstrate the work and reading you have done. Write it well and edit it carefully so that you don’t get bogged down in too much pointless detail or digressions. For example, if you are writing about a theorist then the essay doesn’t require three pages on their life and biography even if the lecture and the books mention it. Always concentrate on what is really important and what will bring marks and balance your coverage of the information. Spend time working out what information you will need to cover and divide your writing of into sections. Don’t complicate your presentation of the information by introducing an analysis or critique unless it is necessary. If possible save this to cover separately. As I have suggested above, don’t present opinion as fact - cover your claims by saying things like, ‘this argument asserts that…’, ‘it is argued’, ‘it is claimed’, ‘according to this perspective’ etc. Where possible attribute positions and arguments to authors and texts and reference to them. Remember to explain and define all jargon and any key concepts. Also, don’t try to write about what you want to write about instead of what the question asks. If you’ve got lots of examples to discuss because you can’t remember the material you should be writing about then its absence will be noted. You can use and develop examples but not as a substitute for the work you should have done. All examples should be balanced so that you first get all the marks you can by presenting in detail (with quotations and references) all the information about what you are going to give an example of. Don’t spend three pages waffling on about something to illustrate a point that you only spent one sentence making – you won’t get extra marks for this. Balance your coverage of examples with your coverage of the material to maximise your marks. Get the marks you can and move on – don’t spend too long on anything that won’t add more to your essay.  
   
• Analysis: All essays want you to do something – to analyse, critique, discuss, argue, make a claim, reach a decision or evaluate some information or facts. The key here is to present a critical discussion. This doesn’t just mean criticise, it means weigh up, give the pros and cons, the strengths and weakness, and evaluate what is good or bad or significant about what you have been explaining. Don’t introduce opinions or criticisms that are overly personal and that either aren’t or couldn’t be found in the discipline. If possible reference all criticisms to specific texts, authors or perspectives. Consider competing interpretations or perspectives; make concessions about arguments you don’t like to present a balanced critique or consider why the phenomena might be important if you don’t like it or are uninterested. Bear in mind that if it is there on your syllabus then the discipline thinks it is important. If you aren’t so bothered by what you are writing about then stir up or at least fake some enthusiasm so that your essay appears more engaged. 
   
• Conclusion: First offer a summary of where you have come – the main arguments covered and what you have made of them – then follow that with a final, considered, intelligent conclusion, directly referring to and answering the question set. This is the last thing the marker reads before allocating a grade so make it good. Don’t just tail off and don’t end with banalities or too-obvious restatements of material. You also don’t have to end by sitting on the fence with a, ‘it’s a bit of both really’ conclusion – we do like engaged, interested, forceful but thoughtful, conclusions so have a position. Plan your conclusion in advance – find a point, an argument, or, even better, a quotation, to end on and leave the marker thinking. Spend time on the conclusion and its phrasing and you can make it powerful. If you don’t care about it then it will be obvious.  
   
• Your opinions: Students often complain that they are discouraged from giving their personal opinions in their essays and this isn’t true. If they mean they are discouraged from writing down whatever comes into their heads and their own, unsupported ‘common-sense’ then that is true. As I’ve explained above, avoid that kind of ignorant waffle. Please don’t make stupid-sounding, sweeping claims about ‘people’ or the state of the world. Instead, come to realise that the whole essay is your opinion: you have been asked a question and your answer – your opinion – is the whole essay you write. In order to give it, you have to provide the background information the questioner requires to follow you and you have to analyse that information to begin to move towards an answer. Finally, therefore, you also have to offer a concluding opinion answering the question. What the essay is not is a forum for the statement of your own meandering, irrelevant, stream of personal prejudice, generalisation and ignorance. Anyone listening to that in real life would be justified in concluding that you were talking rubbish so don’t expect markers to put up with it and award a degree for it here. Instead write an intelligent, informed essay and give your final opinion in the conclusion, provided it is derived from and refers to the arguments and analysis you have presented and is, therefore, relevant and academically expressed. Save the made-up rubbish for the pub.
   
• My final piece of advice is consider what it might be like to mark your essay. This can be achieved by actually marking it yourself or getting someone else to mark it. Be as cruel and pedantic as you can and you will pick up on all those silly errors that you haven’t spotted and discover the weak parts of the essay that need more referencing, explanation or justification. You might also get an insight into how depressing and annoying it is to see the same errors repeatedly cropping up or whole sections of an essay rendered unmarkable by ungrammatical, meaningless sentences.