Essay Writing Tips and Help | Study Coach Educational Consultant Services
Are you in education, writing essays, reports, doing presentations or working towards a dissertation? If the answer is yes, and you could use some support, Study Coach would be glad to help you. Welcome to the world of submitting essays and other assignments.
Academic studies will require you to produce numbers of written assignments and you will be required to accurately evidence your work. At the start of an academic year students will be introduced to their University Academic Support department and students will receive information about the importance of referencing; the topic of plagiarism will no doubt be discussed. There is usually so much information to absorb at the start of a course, that it is understandable students might soon forget the instructions given on referencing and why it is crucial to get referencing right. Study Coach UK would therefore like to offer students the following on the importance of referencing assignments.
Essay Tip – Cite Them Right
Pay close attention to Harvard style referencing. I suggest that students should quickly make it their duty to become acquainted with the definition of Harvard style referencing. You can also find out about Harvard style referencing in the book Cite Them Right, copies should be available at your University Library, you might want to consider purchasing your own copy, since there are many students and few books or find an alternative publication on Harvard referencing.
Harvard Referencing
You need to take note of referencing in view of the marking criteria, poor referencing is likely to lead to a poor mark. You don’t want to receive the following feedback: missing sources, inappropriate sources, inaccurate sources, superficial use of sources, incomplete sources. If you’re not familiar with the term sources it refers to the evidence you have chosen to rely on to support your academic arguments for the essay.
Example, if studying Psychology and your course curriculum is based on Freud’s theoretical ideas, it is therefore expected that Freud’s ideas should feature in your essay. To dismiss his research and focus on other theorists work would not be a good idea, particularly if the essay title given by the University states that Freud’s psychodynamic approach should be discussed; assuming that your lecturers have taken the time to explain the theory. The Learning Outcomes for the essay are designed to test that you understand the ideas delivered through the lectures, seminars and other modes of teaching.
You therefore need to evidence your essay with the suggested theoretical ideas and furthermore you need to ensure that you are not simply being descriptive; meaning that this should not be a copy and paste exercise of the theory and various concepts.
Current References
Please note that your University might stipulate that only current and contemporary references should be used and stipulate a minimum of references, for example a minimum of 25 reliable references. University instructions might also say that journal articles should be peer reviewed and robust. Be mindful to keep to the instructions given for your University. Do note that a reference list is excluded from the allowed word count.
Harvard Referencing Example
Haralambos, M; Holborn, M (1990) Sociology Themes and Perspectives, 3rd ed, London, Unwin Hyman Limited.
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2016) Cite them Right: the essential reference guide, 10th edn, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Listing references takes place at the end of the assignment, you are expected to supply all the references that is cited in the body of the essay. The aim is that readers can read and easily locate the books/articles/journals used, should they wish to.
Essay Help – Quoting
When quoting you should use quotation marks. Do however try to limit your use of quotes in assignments, since the aim is for you to develop and express your understanding in your own words and to convey meaning. Massive use of quotes is not acceptable. You should develop skills in rephrasing text, demonstrating understanding and generating ideas, simply repeating the author’s words is not good.
Essay Tip – Cite Authors not Self, give Application
From our teaching experience we note that some students will prefer to rely on their own definition of terms and set aside researchers’ ideas. Please do not rely on your own definition, you are not yet an authority. Study Coach note that this error usually occurs when students are writing on familiar topics such as culture, social care, communication skills, prejudice/discrimination and reflective assignments.
If you are studying sociology or a related topic and need to define culture then use an authority on the topic. For example, you could say the following: according to Haralambos and Holborn (1990: p3) ‘culture defines accepted ways of behaving for members of a particular society’.
Note that you need to refer to the authors surname (not first name), provide the date when the work was published, and since it is a quote you should give a page number. Furthermore, you will note that the year and page number are in brackets. You are therefore directing your marker to the source and furthermore telling the marker that the definition can be found on page 3. Once you have cited a definition you then need to discuss/apply the definition, for example you should be thinking what is mean’t by ‘a particular society’ and ‘accepted ways’.
Educational Consultant Services
Study Coach can help you with your education, to improve your grades, to be the best that you can be. We act as a critical friend and will guide you to understand the assessment criteria and for you to develop your academic skills. We provide both an Essay and Dissertation Online service. Study Coach provides online tutoring at its best, and you can access the service at any time and submit your work overnight. To find out more about our academic support and other services, call Morel Benard for a chat on 07944 849271 or email info@studycoach.uk.com Website: www.studycoach.uk.com
Study Skills Book – Study Coach
Our Study Skills book ‘How to Write Essays and Reports (Student Guide) – author: Morel Benard is available at Amazon and on Kindle: