Writing an effective essay

An essay should present a logical, reasoned argument in response to a specific question.

Planning your essay

Careful planning is the key to developing a successful essay. Before you start writing, ask yourself a series of questions:

• Do I understand the essay question?
• What is my instinctive response to the question?
• What do I already know about this topic?
• What do I need to find out?
• Who had written about this topic? What do I think of their ideas?
• What is the main point/argument I want to get across?
• What evidence do I have to support this?

Everyone plans their work in different ways but useful techniques to consider are mind maps, lists of key arguments and resources you’ll need, lists of things you already know, and things you need to find out, or a mixture of all of these. Once you’ve developed your plan, ask yourself whether you have all of the information and resources you need.

Structure

The structure of your essay should be focused, paying close attention to the question. Introductions and conclusions are an important part of the essays you write. A good introduction should briefly explain the topic and the key themes to the reader and outline the main structure of the essay. Similarly the conclusion should review the evidence presented within the essay and draw together the themes and debates within there. One very simplistic but useful way of looking at writing an essay is:
Say that you’ll say it - Introduction
Say it – Main body of the essay
Say that you’ve said it – Conclusion
When thinking of the structure of the main body of your essay, consider the following points:

• Group similar ideas together – if you have one point that is key start with this and use further points as evidence to further back up your argument.
• Each paragraph should make only one main point.
• Try to link the paragraphs together as the argument progresses – useful words and phrases  to use here include ‘alternatively’, ‘consequently’, ‘as a result’, ‘furthermore’ etc.
• Paragraphs should be placed in a logical and consistent order – play around with the structure to find the best way to make your essay flow. It should read like you’re building an argument rather than making a list.

Types of essay

Throughout your course you will be asked to write a range of different essays. The further reading section (below) features links to resources to help you with this. Two of the most common types of essays are argumentative essays and discursive essays.

Argumentative essays

Essays which ask you to make and argument for one side of a debate are called argumentative essays. In an argumentative essay you need to ‘argue’ in favour of one side of debate although you will still need to consider the opposing views and refute them in your writing. A good structure for an argumentative essay is as follows:

• Introduction – Introduce the topic and the main debates, say which side of the argument you are on.
• Develop your arguments – This section of your essay will be several paragraphs long and will consider all the evidence on the side of the debate you support.
• Refute opposing arguments – This section will be shorter and will consider but refute opposing views of the debate.
• Recap your arguments – Review all the evidence here.
• Conclusion (in which you state why the evidence points to the side you are arguing for.)

Discursive essays

Another type of essay you might be asked to write is a discursive essay. In this you will be asked to discuss relevant points around a topic. A discursive essay should be balanced where you consider all the evidence around a topic. A discursive essay still needs a conclusion but whereas in an argumentative essay you are supporting one side or another of an argument, the conclusion of a discursive essay does not to come down in favour of a particular side, although you can if you wish.

Further reading

Essay structure
https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/skills/asc/documents/public/Short-Guide-Essay-Planning.pdf
Building an argument
https://www.kibin.com/essay-writing-blog/argumentative-essay-outline/
https://www.thoughtco.com/write-an-argument-essay-1856986
Essay terms explained
https://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ld/resources/writing/writing-resources/essay-terms
Linking words