Help with Essay/Dissertation Writing, Study Tips

Study Coach UK is here online to support university and college students with academic assignments.  Writing essays can cause students anxiety, and we are here to help you, so that you can reduce stress levels. Study Coach provide students with support on a one-to-one basis, in order to help raise the standard of essays. We work in an ethical manner, students therefore need to draft their respective essays in order to receive support from Study Coach.  The first draft is likely to be weak; in working with Study Coach, students will be able to make progress and improve the essay or dissertation. Don’t spend hours trying to go it alone when help is at hand. If the assignment is a dissertation, take care when choosing the research topic. Don’t simply choose a topic because you believe that there are numerous researches on the particular topic. I think that it is better to choose a topic that you will find interesting, you need to engage with the topic in order to do well. For example, Sentencing might be a popular trending topic, but if you find the topic to be dull, then it is better to choose another research area. 

WHAT ARE CONCEPTS 

First year students, coming from completing ‘A’ levels or mature students coming from an Access course, can sometimes need support to understand concepts. It is therefore important to make a conscious effort to understand key conceptual ideas associated to your assignment. In respect of assignments concepts are terms, usually linked to a particular theory, the theorist (researcher) gives us the meaning and our job is to understand the concept and to appraise.  For example, the essay might require students to critically assess the relationship between the following concepts: accommodation, assimilation and intrinsic motivation. If you don’t understand the concepts because you missed the College/University lecture, or you didn’t do the reading, then you will need to seek understanding before you start planning the essay.    

DEFINITION

If you simply don’t know what to write, the chances are that you don’t fully understand the theoretical concepts stated in the assignment brief. If this is the case then you will no doubt start searching the internet for a document to explain the concept(s) in simple terms.  From my experience, students’ sometimes will even try referring to the ordinary English dictionary to find an explanation for an academic concept (I would not recommend this).  Remember that it is the theorist who will give the theoretical concept meaning, the ordinary English dictionary will give you a definition of the term accommodation, but it won’t be the same definition as given by the theorist (in this case the theorist is Piaget).   

RESEARCH AREA/FIELD

From a general point of view, you may have come across the word ‘field’ when reading books in preparation for your dissertation.  The word ‘field’ is a concept, but it doesn’t mean a football field or other playing field. If you have been instructed to carry out primary research for your dissertation, and the term ‘field’ is mentioned, it means that you are being asked to go out into the community to gather data, since you will be producing an original piece of work. Example of what is mean’t by ‘field’ = GP surgery, shopping mall, park, company, prison, library, private home, basically it is the research environment. If you were to sit in the library and gather data from students about attitudes towards using the library, then the library is the field/environment, and you would be conducting Primary research. 

PRIMARY RESEARCH 

Let’s say that you are studying for a media degree and that you are interested in how television programmes can impact on people’s lives. A certain character in a popular television programme is innocent of charge, but they have been given a custodial sentence. You are aware that many fans are deeply upset and have made their views known via social media and they have made complaints to the television station. In researching for the dissertation you would like to hear from the television producer and writer about their perspective  on the public outcry.  As student researcher you would need to make contact with the producer and writer and schedule an appointment to speak with them. It is likely that you will need to visit the television studio (therefore you are going into the field). 

PRIMARY RESEARCH DATA

Going out into the field to collect research data pertaining to the aim of your research statement or hypothesis, is central to doing primary research. If you’re not going out to collect original data first hand, then you are not doing Primary research, you are doing something else. 

TIME MANAGEMENT & WORKLOAD

Studying is great, but when you have a number of deadline dates to meet,  and limited time to draft assignments, then it could all become a bit worrying and overwhelming.  Study buddies and tutors might tell you that you just haven’t got your time management right, but you might beg to differ.  You know that you are well organised,  setting aside adequate time for studies, work and family life, but yet you realise that you have difficulties completing course assignments. 

LITERATURE REVIEW SEARCH STRATEGY

Once you have decided on an area for research, you will need to conduct a search for suitable literature to review. Planning is very important, you should therefore choose a search strategy to locate appropriate articles (it is not a good idea to aimlessly go in search of evidence). Start by identifying the keywords from the research question. For example if you are interested in researching how people of South Asian descent perceive hypertension, then I would expect you to select and search for the terms ‘hypertension’ ‘South Asian’ and ‘perception’. Hypertension amongst people of South Asian descent is however a very broad subject for a 6000-7000 short dissertation; I would therefore expect you to narrow down the area for research, by being more specific. For example, you could research hypertension amongst South Asian men, age 50+, residing in the London borough of Camden. What you should note is that this second example is more specific, this is necessary for a number of reasons, plus there is a limitation on the word count for the assignment.

RESEARCH DATABASES

Your search strategy should therefore be conducted by identifying the keywords from the research question, this will form the basis for locating articles via using databases, such as CINAHL, Pubmed, Medline, Google Scholar. If focusing on the second example, you could enter the following search terms into the elected database ‘hypertension and south asian men and Camden London, hypertension control and south asian population perception or beliefs, cardiovascular risk’.

PEER REVIEWED 

When conducting a search, do consider publication date; your University may have stated that only recent articles (the last 10 years) should be considered and must be peer reviewed. If these are the instructions, then ensure that you keep to your University instructions.

Carrying out a critical review of literature can be a challenge, Morel at Study Coach is here to help you.

STUDY COACH

Follow Study Coach UK and when faced with your next assignment simply access the website www.studycoachuk.com  and contact: Morel Benard. You can send an email to Study Coach info@studycoach.uk.com Phone: 07944 849271