Planning and Organising
First, examine the question carefully. What does it ask, what topic(s) is it asking you to cover and how are you going to answer it? Focus on key terms.
Decide on your approach. Remember that there are many ways to approach any essay – there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way, but you need to choose one. Plan an argument. Remember that you must have an introduction, a middle and a conclusion.
Always begin with an introduction, which tells the reader what the essay is going to include and the order in which it will do so. Remember the importance of not creating false expectations – so when you have finished the essay, go back and look at the introduction and make sure that you have done what you said you would. What matters at this point is whether you have promised anything that you do not deliver – so if you have, change the introduction.
Concluding paragraphs are important in drawing together the threads of discussion so that the reader understands the point of it all. Include a summary of your main points and your own conclusion to the essay.
Within the body of the essay, try not to proceed in a disjointed fashion from one point to another, but to make linkages between paragraphs. Use the first sentence of a new paragraph to introduce a new topic and to show how it leads on from the previous one.
Notes (if there are any) should come at the bottom of each page or at the end of the essay. If they include references then Harvard referencing is recommended (see below) and the references themselves should come in the bibliography at the end.
Content
Write only in your own words except where you use quotation marks. Quotes you use must be referenced with the page number as well as the Harvard reference. Quotes longer than 30 words should be indented.
Remember the essay is your piece of work and you must drive the material, using it to support your own argument. Don’t just provide a list of others’ ideas. Try not to start a paragraph with someone else’s argument: for example, (1999) states’ or similar phrasing – make your own point at the start of the paragraph, and use Jones (1999)’ statement to back up your point.
Be critical. Do not assume that simply because something has been published in a book or an article it is right. Some reading has been suggested to you purely because it puts forward a highly arguable point of view.
Give definitions where necessary. These should then serve as a basis for discussion. Do not just give a definition for form’s sake and then forget about it, give it because it is necessary to go further.
Beware of sweeping generalisations and unfounded statements of ‘fact’.
Back up what you say with theories, examples or studies. Does it really support your point? Show how and do not use the phrase ‘evidence has shown’ without demonstrating the evidence.
If you are comparing two theories, countries, sectors or periods of time, do not describe one and leave the reader to work out how it is difference from/similar to the other. Comparing should involve taking various dimensions and showing how two or three theories are similar or different, more or less comprehensive, etc.
Avoid very short paragraphs. Look back at your essay after you have written it and if you see a paragraph that is only one or two lines long – either expand it or delete it. Use the point – or lose it.
Be wary of using the phrase ‘it is obvious that’. It may not be as obvious as you think. And if it is obvious, do you need to say it?
Bibliography
The bibliography comes at the end of the essay, with sources listed alphabetically by author (or institutional author) name.
The bibliography should be comprehensive, so that the reader can find your sources in the list. Any source referenced in the text must be in the bibliography, including (books, articles, reports, government publications, theses etc.).
References
References are scholarly acknowledgements of work referred to or quoted. Please note that proper citation of sources is an elementary but critical mark of the presentation of academic work. There are several different conventions and it does not matter which one you adopt provided that you cite sources properly, giving all the necessary information and keeping consistently to the same convention. However, the ‘Harvard’ system is recommended and is outlined below:
The ‘Harvard’ system requires you to put in the text of your work the surname of the author, the date of publication, and the page number all within brackets.
(1995) observes……..’ where the observation is on page 351. At the end of the dissertation you then give a single list of all the references you used, arranged alphabetically with full bibliographic information. The references in the alphabetical list should contain the name of the author, the date of publication, the title of publication, the place of publication and the publisher, set out as follows:
for books:
(1995) Public Policy ()
for articles:
(1991) ‘The Computerization of Social Security: The Way Forward or a Step Backwards?’ Public Administration 69 (3) pp.325-43.
for chapters in books:
(1995) ‘Core Executive Decision Making on High Technology Issues: The Case of the Alvey Report’, Prime Minister, Cabinet and Core Executive (London: Macmillan) pp. 219-247.
for government reports where there is no author’s name:
National Audit Office (1999) Government on the Web (London: The Stationary Office).
Plagiarism
At all costs avoid plagiarism. The dictionary definition of ‘plagiarise’ is ‘Take and use another person’s (thoughts, writings, inventions) as one’s own.’ The most obvious form is using someone else’s words without any acknowledgement, but there are other kinds of plagiarism. For example using a verbatim passage without quotation marks even if the source was acknowledged in a reference. When the work of other people is referred to there should always be an acknowledgement.
You should be aware of the College’s policy regarding plagiarism, a copy of which is attached to your dissertation guidelines in your induction pack.
Examples of essay content which would constitute plagiarism, include:
(i) Copying the words used in a textbook or paper written by someone else (whether published or not) without clearly indicating, through the use of quotation marks and a cited source, that the words are not your own.
(ii) Closely paraphrasing the words of a textbook or paper, to have the same effect as (i) above, albeit with minor differences in wording.
(iii) Using an argument or line of argument from a book or paper written by someone else, without indicating the source, and in such a way as to suggest that the argument is your own.
(iv) Presenting data, for example in a table, which has been obtained from a book or paper written by someone else without showing clearly the source from which the data was obtained.
There is an imprecise boundary between (a) plagiarism and (b) work, which is unoriginal and over-dependent on the work of other people. An essay which contains lengthy passages (e.g. a number of pages) which follow the sequence of arguments in another paper (or in a limited number of other papers) may involve plagiarism, even if the sources used are cited, if it is not made sufficiently clear that the relevant sections follow so closely the organisation of material in the other paper.
You are reminded that plagiarism is not confined to copying material from published books and papers. Copying material from unpublished papers, government papers, or consultancy reports constitutes plagiarism in exactly the same way. Likewise, material drawn from Web sites should be clearly identified, with details given of the source and – since the contents of Web sites can change – of the date at which the material was obtained.
There are now many new ways of plagiarising on the Internet, including sites, which provide sample essays and lesser-known articles for students’ use. Please remember that not only is plagiarism easier with the Internet – so is identifying plagiarism! Search engines and plagiarism web sites specifically for this task have been used to great effect in the past.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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