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Essay feedback lecture

Essay feedback lecture. Troubles of Youth. What are we going to cover?. What does a good essay look like? Style/presentation Referencing Structure Content Critical thinking The specific questions. Marking guide.

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Essay feedback lecture

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  1. Essay feedback lecture Troubles of Youth

  2. What are we going to cover? • What does a good essay look like? • Style/presentation • Referencing • Structure • Content • Critical thinking • The specific questions

  3. Marking guide Based partly on Roberts, A., Burford, C. And Mew, S. (undated) Essay Marking Guidehttp://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/MarkGuid.htm

  4. Effective use of english

  5. Style/presentation What we are looking for • Clear use of English • Good presentation • Conventional font in a reasonable size • Page numbers • Double spacing Common problems • Poor use of English made it hard to follow arguments • Poor sentence construction • Spelling mistakes/typo's • Not including page numbers

  6. Sentence length • Average sentence length of 15-20 words. • “This does not mean making every sentence the same length. Be punchy. Vary your writing by mixing short sentences (like the last one) with longer ones (like this one), following the basic principle of sticking to one main idea in a sentence, plus perhaps one other related point.” Plain English Campaign (2001) How To Write Reports in Plain English

  7. Structure

  8. Structure What we look for • Clear introduction demonstrating understanding of subject and question • Sections defined clearly • Maintaining focus so that your argument/thesis is clearly developed through the essay Common problems • Limited introduction or no introduction • Disjointed – lack of flow • Lack of sign-posting

  9. What is ‘sign-posting’? • Your essay probably has between 3 and 6 main sections. • At the start of each section, ‘sign-post’ for the reader eg • “I will now examine the strengths of police crime statistics . . .” • “Having described the strengths of the jury system, this essay will now analyse the weaknesses . . .”

  10. Sources and referencing

  11. Sources and references What we are looking for Common problems Insufficient references Over reliance on one source Not using Harvard referencing Not including all references in the Bibliography Uncritical use of sources, particularly non-academic ones • Reference to a range of sources (eg text books, articles, newspapers) • Use of predominantly academic sources • Where non-academic sources are used their limitations are recognised and they are used appropriately • Well chosen quotes

  12. Why is this so important? • The use of an appropriate range of resources and their effective citation is important evidence of: • Your understanding of the topic • Your ability to think critically

  13. Selecting quotes • Only quote when: • it is a key piece of text; • a succinct summary of an overall point; or • a piece of text that would lose its meaning if you paraphrased it.

  14. Harvard referencing There is a clear distinction to be made between multi-agency working and inter-agency partnerships. The latter are distinguished by the way partnerships change the way individual agencies work and the degree of interdependence between partners (Crawford 1998: 175). Bibliography Crawford, A. (1998) Crime Prevention and Community Safety, Longman

  15. Referencing from edited collections • When referencing books such as the Oxford Handbook of Criminology which are compendiums of material by a number of authors, it is not sufficient to reference them simply by the name of the editor eg Maguire et al. • This leaves the reader unable to identify which author was responsible for the material being referenced. • Fox, C. (2000) ‘What I Did On My Holidays’, in Ellingworth, D. The Bumper Book of Tedious Holiday Stories, London: Anyoldrubbish Publications

  16. Critical analysis

  17. What is it? Establishing whether we believe what we see or hear Actually trying to find out whether something is likely to be true Arguing and presenting our own case and convincing others to accept our point of view Indications Identifiable and dependent steps in an argument Statements are supported by evidence (theories or research findings) Strengths and weaknesses of theories and research are discussed Critical analysis

  18. Poor critical analysis • Broad/generalising/sweeping statements which are not clearly supported by evidence • Limited referencing or a narrow range of sources • Poor choice of sources (eg Wikipedia) or a failure to identify the potential bias or limitations of a source

  19. Essay questions: 1st essay • To what extent are young people’s lives affected by ‘risk aversion’, and what are the effects of this? • How useful is the concept of ‘gangs’ to explaining young people’s deviance? • What significance should be placed on economic and political shifts since 1980 in understanding the experiences of young people? • How can an understanding of the age-crime curve inform appropriate ways of responding to young offenders? • What are the important differences in the experience of young women and young men? • Critically assess the links drawn between parenting and youth deviance. • Why do youth justice professionals argue for a reduction in the use of incarceration for young people, and why has this been unsuccessful?

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