4. Layout

You can lose the goodwill of your marker before they even start by presenting an essay that is hard to read. There are several things that you can do to make your essay look good. These will not get you extra marks, but they might stop you losing some. They will also put your marker in a better frame of mind.

Put the question at the top. It might be obvious to you which question you are answering, but believe me, it is not always clear to the marker. Having the question on your essay also helps you keep the question in mind as you write. In exams there is no need to rewrite the question, but mark the number clearly both on your answer and on the front of the paper.

Double-space the text. The reason for this is so that the marker has space to correct your work in between the lines. It is for your benefit, even if it does not feel like it. Leave a 1”/2.5cm margin. This leaves room for comments and corrections. These will be useful. Make sure you read them.

Use a sensible font. Palatino is one of my favourites, but Times New Roman, Arial, or Verdana are also are easy to read and familiar to the eye. Use 11 or 12-point text; some judgement is necessary. For example, 11-point Palatino is about the same size as 12-point Times. Anything smaller is hard to read (so please forgive the 10-point font of this document). Anything bigger suggests that you might be trying to cover up for a short piece of work. Do not put quotations in italics, unless that is how they appear in the text you are quoting. Only use italics for titles of books and plays or words in a foreign language.

Give clear references. It is easy when you know how. See pages 29-30. Always include a list of works cited or references used. Even if you only have one or two texts to list, please do so. It looks professional and it is a good habit to form.

Include a word count. Writing to length is a useful skill which you will need later on. Learn to tailor your work to the requested word length. You will not be penalised for an essay that is within 10% of the stated word count, either over or under. However, you will be penalised for lying about it. When marking essays for a whole class, it is usually easy for the marker to tell when something is too long or too short, so be honest here or face the consequences.

5. Submitting your work

Make sure you know the submission dates and regulations for your course. You can get this information from your course guide. If you need an extension, you must ask the course coordinator before the deadline. Try to let your tutor know about a problem as quickly as possible.

Your course guide and the relevant level handbook will also have information about marking criteria and how to interpret the Common Assessment Scale. It is worth understanding how the marking system works, so have a look at the level handbook. Also look at the cover sheet which you should attach to your essay before depositing it in the box. This cover sheet gives you a good idea of what your marker wants to see in your essay.

Return of written work usually takes two to three weeks. Most courses operate a system of essay moderation. This means that once your tutor has marked your work they pass it on to another member of staff who looks at a random sample and any borderline cases. This means the system is fair, but can take a bit of time, especially in the middle of term when we have other things to do. Please be patient, and try not to pester your tutor for your work. This will only slow them down.

Further Reading

Clancy, John and Brigit Ballard. 1998. How to Write Essays: A Practical Guide for Students. Harlow: Longman.

Clifford, James, George E. Marcus (eds). 1986. Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Greetham, Bryan. 1999. How to Write Better Essays. London: Palgrave.

Hennesey, Brendan. 2002. Writing an Essay. Oxford: How to Books.

QUICK FIX: PLANNING 1. Read the text carefully, but do not focus so closely on your chosen question that you miss out on everything else. Take notes as you go along. It saves time later. 2. Make sure you understand the question. If you are unsure about anything, look it up or ask your tutor. It is better to look a bit silly at this stage than after the event. 3. Think about the question, and try to work out why your marker has set it. How does it connect with issues and ideas explored in lectures and tutorials? Identify the issues that you are going to concentrate on. 4. Make a plan. Remember that your essay is an argument that should persuade the reader. Try to give it direction and purpose. Focus everything towards answering the question you have chosen. Work out at this stage which material you will use in each section. 5. Demonstrate that you can step back from a text or argument and view it as a series of connected ideas or strategies. 6. If you are writing a comparative essay on more than one text, make sure you integrate the texts fully. Do not simply talk about them one after the other. Create a plan that allows you to move between the ideas in both documents. 7. Use your introduction to outline where you are going in the essay. Avoid simply restating the question. Try to be interesting. 8. Use paragraphs to distinguish between separate ideas and to move your argument forward. 9. Use your conclusion to point out how the evidence you have given answers the question. Make sure you answer the question. Do not sit on the fence. 10. Present your essay neatly and with enough room for comments and corrections.

SECTION B: LANGUAGE