Essays
Essays have three parts:
- Introduction
- Body
- Conclusion
Example introduction paragraph
Video (1:56)
The different parts of an introduction paragraph, and their function, explained.
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Example body paragraph
The different parts of a body paragraph, and their function, explained.
Video (2:27)
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Example conclusion paragraph
Video (1:30)
The different parts of a conclusion paragraph, and their function, explained.
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Not sure how to start sentences in your essays? Visit the Academic Phrasebank from the University of Manchester for examples you can use in your writing.
Reading information about your essay assignment helps you identify:
- The learning outcomes related to your essay
- The main parts of your essay
- The range of expected content/topics
- The way your lecturer expects you to write
Check your study guide for assessment information (including assessment criteria to understand how your work will be graded).
Example assignment question
Key words in assignment questions
Look for the important words that tell you what to write about, as well as the way your lecturer expects you to write.
Common instruction words
Check with your lecturer about what their instruction words mean (as lecturers sometimes have different expectations.)
Video (1:11)
Understand your assignment task by:
- identifying key words
- identifying the relevant learning outcomes
- starting to structure your assignment
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To organise content for your essay, it’s useful to relate broad ideas and concepts to more specific types/parts. You can then identify the topic of each paragraph in your essay.
Start by making an ideas map.
You can then easily organise content into clear paragraphs.
The start of each paragraph (the topic sentence) should clearly tell the reader which idea you are focusing on because the reader can ‘see’ your ideas map, and understand how you have organised your essay.
Video: 2.10
Structure your essay by:
- looking at your assignment task and reading widely
- making an ideas map
- organising content into paragraphs
Related workshop
Journals are collections of articles which focus on particular topics. These articles are published periodically, such as four times a year. One common purpose of an article is to report on new research. For your essays, journal articles can provide you with up-to-date content on topics you have to write or talk about. To efficiently read journal articles, you need to:
- Quickly decide if the article is relevant for your assignment
- Understand the structure so that you can find specific kinds of information
First page skimming
Information on the first page of the article will often help you decide if you should read further.
Abstract structure
Abstracts are particularly good for quickly deciding if the content matches what you need for your essay. They are usually organised into distinctive parts that provide an overview of the whole article.
Reading shortcuts
It is not always necessary to read the whole article. Two common shortcuts are:
- Scanning: Use section headings of the article to find specific kinds of information.
- Top and tail reading: slowly read the introduction section and then the conclusion to get a more detailed overview.
Common sections of a journal article
Journal articles commonly have distinctive parts (eg, Abstract, Literature Review, Discussion…). Each part has a clear function, which helps you to find specific information. (You may not need to read the whole thing.)
There are different note taking options to keep track of your reading for essays:
- Note taking apps (good for adding images, graphs, pdf attachments, etc)
- Reading grids (good for comparing research findings)
- Three column method (good for adding examples and follow up questions)
Example notes using OneNote
Note taking apps
- OneNote (free to AUT students with Office 365)
- Evernote
- PDF expert
- Adobe Reader
Reading grids
Three columns
Video (1:52)
To answer assignment questions, you often need to group content from your readings into broad categories - often called themes. This helps you identify reoccurring topics across different readings.
Showing your lecturer that you can identify themes in your essay is important because:
- Themes focus on the big ideas and not just the people who have written about them, and
- You can demonstrate deep understanding of the topic
