Essay writing

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Essay writing

• Today we will cover
• Characteristics of academic writing
• Planning and writing your essay Assignment 3
• Revision of referencing
• Editing your completed work
• Sentence structure

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Key Characteristics of Academic Writing

• Emphasis on analysis vs mere description and
  explanation
• Using knowledge from reading vs personal opinion
• Relating general concepts and theories to
  particular situations and examples
• Acknowledging various perspectives and approaches
  

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Expectations of the writer

• Content relevant to set topic
• Critical reading from a range of sources
• Development of a position on a topic supported by
  evidence
• Well structured writing following an appropriate
  format
• Referencing of sources of information

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Essay format

• An academic essay
• analyses a topic that has been set
• develops a point of view based on your reading-in
  response to that topic
• seeks to persuade your reader that your point of
  view is well thought out
• Your essay needs to flow logically from start to
  finish, and be well referenced.

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Essay and exam questions topic analysis

• To analyse a topic you need to be able to work
  out
• exactly what is being asked of you to avoid
• misinterpreting the topic
• wasting time on researching around but not on the
  topic
• writing a largely irrelevant response.
• NB Be wary of selecting topics on which you have
  a set point of view! You must approach topic
  analysis objectively, be open to new ways of
  thinking and to evidence that challenges your own
  experience.

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Topic analysis (contd.)

• To analyse a topic you need to know the precise
  meaning of every word as each has been chosen and
  used deliberately.
• Then
• identify any directive or task words (What are
  you being asked to do?)
• identify the content words (What is the question
  about?)
• are there any limiting words ( words that limit
  what you have to do? Eg in South Australia,
  between 1969-75)?

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Assignment 3 essential information

• Your Course information presents three essential
  sets of information about requirements for
  Assignment 3, on pages 12 and 13. These are
• The actual topic, including a list of five
  suggested sub-headings
• Marking criteria
• Format of assignments

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Assignment 3 Essay (2000 words)

• Using the knowledge you have acquired so far,
  seek more information on the topic The shortage
  of nurses. Then using a wide range of resources,
  discuss the
• factors believed to contribute to the current
  shortage of nurses.
• International, national and local issues of
  concern related to the shortage of nurses (What
  does the shortage mean at these levels?).
• Strategies in place or planned to rectify the
  problem and their influence.
• The role of nurses in influencing a better future
  through political activity.
• The impact of the shortage of nurses on your
  future practice.
• NB You may convert these into headings for your
  essay

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Marking criteria for assignment 3

• This assignment will be marked using the
  following criteria.
• evidence of logical planning and sequence
• the quality and relevance of the content of the
  paper
• quality and clarity of written expression (see
  Calabretto and Kokkinn)
• overall presentation, including format, correct
  grammar, spelling and punctuation (see Calabretto
  and Kokkinn)
• use of inclusive language and regard for other
  Uni policies (see Calabretto and Kokkinn)
• supporting evidence for information/statements
  (quality and accuracy of referencing and
  reference list using current and relevant
  sources)

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Format of assignments

• Use 1.5 spacing
• Good margin space on left hand side for
  lecturers comments
• Headings can be used
• The first person approach can be used in
  assignment 1 only
• All papers should have an introductory statement
  and a conclusion
• Staple the paper in the top left hand corner only
• Do not submit in a plastic sleeve or folder of
  any kind
• All papers must have a clear and undecorated
  title page
• All assignments must have an assignment cover
  sheet attached

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Parts of an essay

• Three main parts
• Introduction initial statement of point of view
  (10 of word count)
• Body ideas that uphold the point of view, with
  supporting evidence (80)
• Conclusion draws together the arguments. It
  must not contain new material. (10)

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Paragraphs and topic sentences

• A sentence will generally have one main idea.
• A paragraph will generally have one main topic,
  and consist of a sequence of sentences developing
  this topic.
• A topic sentence is a key sentence in the
  paragraph, often the first sentence, which sums
  up the topic of that paragraph.
• Just as your whole essay has an introduction
  which sums up the general direction of your
  essay, we can think of the topic sentence as a
  introduction to the particular paragraph

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Paragraphs and topic sentences an activity

• The shortage of nurses
• Introduction
• Factors contributing to the current shortage of
  nurses
• How many paragraphs will you have under this
  sub-heading (ie how many factors will you
  cover)?
• List two factors now that you might include.
• Draft a topic sentence for one of these
  paragraphs.

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Telling the story

• Your essay answers the question asked!
• It does this through a clear structure of
• Introduction which outlines the approach your are
  going to take towards the question asked
• A body which consists of a series of paragraphs
  (each with its topic sentence) dealing with all
  the key aspects of the question
• A conclusion which looks back to the introduction
  and sums up the case you have presented
• Your whole essay is a logical and coherent whole
  which tells a clear story in relation to the set
  question.

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Editing

• When you finish, put your essay aside for a
  while, and then give it a final edit.
• Does it answer all parts of the question asked?
  (An acid test if someone read your essay without
  knowing what the question was, would they be able
  to reconstruct the question as a result of
  reading your essay??)
• Is it presented according to instructions (double
  spacing etc)?
• Is it referenced appropriately?
• Have you checked spelling and grammar?
• Do you stay on topic, and tell a story?

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Referencing and plagiarism

• Why use a referencing system?
• to acknowledge the work of important others,
  your research sources
• to show how and why you developed the line of
  thinking presented in your assignment
• The Harvard system is used most commonly at
  UniSA see the current Learning Guide.
• Careful acknowledgement of sources ensures that
  you cannot be accused of plagiarism (presenting
  another persons ideas/work as if that work is
  your own). This type of academic misconduct is
  viewed very seriously.

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When to reference

• A reference is required if you
• quote (use someones exact words)
• paraphrase (use their ideas in your own words)
• summarise (use a brief account of their ideas)
• copy (use their figures, table or structure)

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Using other voices

• The original paragraph from The Bulletin
• Once the GST has been introduced special help
  with food costs will need to be given for those
  families whose income falls below the average
  wage.

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Quotation

• Example 1 a student's voice supported by a
  Quote
• An independent Senate enquiry has stated that
  'Once the GST has been introduced special help
  with food costs will need to be given for those
  families whose income falls below the average
  wage' (The Bulletin 1999 p32).

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Paraphrasing

• Example 2 a students voice supported by a
  Paraphrase
• An autonomous Senate investigation has
  concluded that low-income families will need to
  receive some kind of support if food items are
  included in the Goods and Service Tax (The
  Bulletin 1999 p32)

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Summarising

• Example 3 a students voice supported by a
  Summary
• An autonomous Senate investigation has
  announced that low-income families should receive
  food support under a GST (The Bulletin 1999 p32).
   

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The Harvard author-date system

• The Harvard system works on a combination of
• The in-text reference
• The reference list

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In-text references

• With information prominence
• The methodology and results demonstrate how
  systems using artificial intelligence might have
  qualities which can help them adapt to a variety
  of situations without extensive programming
  (Schlieffer, 2005).
• With author prominence
• Schlieffer (2005) underlines the importance of
  developing a model which can readily adapt to
  tasks and changes without the need for
  laborious programming.

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Your voice in conjunction with Schliefers

• According to Schleifer (2005) it is vital to
  develop models of artificial intelligence which
  can readily adapt to various situations.
  Schliefers model is important because of its
  potential to save time and money in industry. An
  example of this is in the area of robotics
  where.

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Reference list

• Schleiffer 2005, An intelligent agent model,
  European journal of operational research, Vol.
  166, Issue 3,  pp 666-693, Viewed 6 April, 2005,
  lthttp//www.sciencedirect.com/science?_obarticleU
  RL_asetV-WA-A-W-Auuu-...gt 

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Plagiarism

• At University
• You cannot take someone else's words, ideas or
  data and use them in your assignments so that
  they appear as though they are your own words,
  ideas or data.
• Plagiarism is viewed very seriously by the
  University, as academic misconduct.

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How long should a sentence be?

• Go.
• Stop

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Sentence length

• What is a sentence?
• has a subject
• contains at least one finite verb
• a complete thought
• Appropriate sentence length
• 15 20 words
• Paragraph topic sentences should be short.

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Long sentence

• There are many factors which are believed to
  contribute to the shortage of nurses, such as
  relatively poor rates of pay, shift work
  conditions which can be unfriendly to family
  demands, and the emotionally and sometimes
  physically demanding nature of the work, and this
  shortage has national, international and local
  implications, such as the migration of trained
  nurses from less affluent parts of the world,
  where there skills are badly needed, to more
  affluent countries, where the rewards, though
  still not high, are higher than in their home
  countries.

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Appropriate sentence length

• There are many factors which are believed to
  contribute to the shortage of nurses. Some of
  these are as relatively poor rates of pay, shift
  work conditions which can be unfriendly to family
  demands, and the emotionally and sometimes
  physically demanding nature of the work.
• This shortage has national, international and
  local implications. One issue of major concern is
  the migration of trained nurses from less
  affluent parts of the world, where their skills
  are badly needed, to more affluent countries.
  This migration is driven by the fact that
  salaries in these countries, though still not
  high, are higher than in the migrating nurses
  home countries.

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Linking sentences together

• Linking words
• Firstly, secondly, on the other hand
• Thus, however, although
• This
• Specific words used in one sentence and then
  again in a subsequent sentence in the paragraph

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Common errors

• Fragments groups of words which have no
  complete or finite verb
• Example
• The demands of shift work contributing to the
  shortage of nurses.
• Correction
• The demands of shift work contribute to the
  shortage of nurses.

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Common errors (2)

• Run on sentences two sentences joined by a comma
  and presented as one.
• Example
• There are many factors which are believed to
  contribute to the shortage of nurses, some of
  these are relatively poor rates of pay, shift
  work conditions, and the demanding nature of the
  work.
• Correction
• There are many factors which are believed to
  contribute to the shortage of nurses. Some of
  these are relatively poor rates of pay, shift
  work conditions, and the demanding nature of the
  work.

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Thank you.