How to write a better essay

1. How to write a better essay

2. How will you know if you have written a good essay?

3. Be Literate Access the Literature Say Something Worth Saying

4. How to write a better assignment • Reference the literature • Use Harvard Referencing

5. Referencing Creating a reference list Author surname, initials. (Year of publication)Title.Edition (if not first). Place of publication: Publisher. Pearson, A., Field, J., Ford, D. and Jordon, Z. (2007) Evidence-Based Clinical Practice in Nursing and Health Care: Assimilating Research, Experience and Expertise. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

6. The Harvard System: Using Quotations A quotation can range in size from a single word to a short paragraph and should be accurate to the original, including any italics or errors of spelling or punctuation. If the quotation is less than one sentence you should use quotation marks (‘…’) and then give the author’s surname and year of publication.

7. The Harvard System: Using Quotations If the name occurs naturally in your sentence, the year and page number should follow in brackets: Glucksmann (1990, p.143) argues that ‘mass-production methods entailed the emergence of new class relations for assembly-line workers’

8. The Harvard System: Using Quotations If not, then name, year and page number should be shown in brackets: It has been suggested that ‘mass-production methods entailed the emergence of new class relations for assembly-line workers’ (Glucksmann, 1990, p.143)

9. The Harvard System: Using Quotations For long quotations (one sentence or more) the quote is indented and quotation marks are not used: • Today, the comparatively abstract international aspirations of the European Union confront the loyalties and embedded national prejudices of many citizens of its member states.(Torbiörn, 2003, p.262)

10. The Harvard System: Using Quotations If part of the original text is omitted, indicate this with three full stops in brackets (…) in the body of the quotation, or four full stops (….) at the end. Today, the comparatively abstract international aspirations of the European Union confront the loyalties (…) of many citizens (….). (Torbiörn, 2003, p.262)

11. Do … • Do read your written work aloud to yourself • Do read your work to a friend • Do make your meaning clear • Do beware of overly complicated sentence structure • Do use short sentences where this helps meaning • Do use the library web pages

12. Structure … • Have a beginning, middle and end • Don’t waffle! • Plan the assignment before you start to write it • Use paragraphs properly. Each paragraph should be about one main idea/area