Tips on Essay Writing

Writing an Essay

To Begin
Read the questions carefully. Make some rough notes on what the questions is asking and make sure that you are answer the question asked ! It may seem a bit obvious, but many essays simply do not answer the question posed.



Writing the essay..
You will need to balance the length of each section with the number of marks offered or with the total length of your essay.
A thumbnail guide is Introduction (10%), Body (65%), Summary / Conclusion (25%)

Introduction
Probably the key to any RE Essay. It should state what you will do in the essay. Have an Essay Statement that directly answers the question, if this is possible. The rest of the introduction should explain what to expect in the coming paragraphs. A strong introduction shows that you already know what you are doing before you start to write. In the introduction you tell the corrector what you are going to say.

Body
Here you show your knowledge and use the sources and sacred texts (where applicable) as the evidence to support what you were saying in the introduction. Each new paragraph should have a topic sentence which supports your Essay Statement. The sentences in the paragraph should then support the paragraph's topic sentence. In the body you say what you want to say.

Summary
This should never be a couple of sentences "tacked onto the end". This is where you remind the reader of the points you have made and how they support your Essay Statement which answers the Question. This is also where you are offerering your own conclusions (if appropriate) of the validity of the different interpretations. A good way to remember how to do a summary is to ask yourself, "So, what was the point I was trying to make ? ". In the summary you tell the corrector what you have said.

Tips
1. An essay with a strong conclusion, weak body, and strong summary is better than an essay with a weak introduction, enormous amount of information in the body, and weak summary

2. Stick to the topic. Make sure your facts are relevant rather than related. e.g. You are trying to explain how to write an essay and start using facts on the manufacture of paper. Now paper is related to an essay (you use it to write on) but it is not relevant to how to write an essay.

Avoid

1. Unnecessarily flowery language (use concise language and get to the point)

2. Irrelevant facts. They should all directly relate to the points you make.

3. Strong and highly opinionated statements without adequate factual support.

4. Listing facts without argument or analysis.