Stages of essay writing

Step 1

Take 5 minutes to draw a diagram of the various stages you generally go through when researching and writing up an assignment
Then annotate this diagram with comments to describe how you would rate your enjoyment of the process
At which stages do you feel more confident?
And which do you find most stressful, or challenging?

Commentary

While there is no getting out of the fact that developing your academic writing to the next level of scholarship is hard work, do take comfort in the thought that everyone finds writing difficult, as it is when you are committing your ideas to paper that you are forced to confront the gaps in your argument, the feeling that it has all been said before, and the pressure of a looming deadline!

Nevertheless, this module attempts to take some of the mystery out of this process, so that you feel better equipped to push on and find what works best for you in the way of developing your practice as a scholar and a writer.

Step 2

There are many ways to approach writing an essay and some may suit you better than others!

However, it is generally possible to separate the different activities involved into three separate stages:

Scoping and planning

Unpacking your essay title
- What is the purpose of this assignment?
Scoping the field
- What has been written on this topic before?
- What seem to be the current focuses of debate / discussion / development within the literature?
- Are you particularly drawn to one of these areas of discussion?
- If so, do you have an idea of what you would like to contribute in the way of an opinion, further evidence, or a parallel study?
Planning
- What is your strategy? How will you go about persuading your reader to your point of view?
- What evidence do you need to gather?
- Do you have a draft outline in mind for how your essay will progress
  - via themes?
  - chronologically?
  - according to a recognised pattern used by scholars in your discipline?

The next two units of this module address these issues

Structure and argumentation

There are different approaches to arriving at a structure which best presents your argument, and it is important that you build on your current levels of competence when following advice given within this course.

The units that follow provide advice on making connections across the various notes you have taken, and evidence gathered, to construct an argument that follows a logical progression, and guides your reader comfortably across the difficult terrain that leads to your conclusion

Editing and proofreading

This is the stage where you polish your prose so that it is ready for public consumption. It comprises:

Editing
- summarising, cutting and reorganising to maintain that logical flow described above
- reviewing the balance of your word count, making sure that each point has been given the space it deserves in your essay, is developed and evidenced
- and making sure that your voice rings out loud and clear as the author of the piece
Proofreading - this is where you check that you have the 'Nuts and bolts' of writing under control, just getting it right!

Editing is covered in the units on structure and argumentation, described above. For more detail on proofreading and formatting, see the module titled 'Presentation'.

KEY POINT

These stages are not distinct
Successful scholars and students take different approaches to researching and writing up their research - this could be linear, circular, or apparently random!
The point made here is that each of these stages is necessary

Nobody sees your process, they see the final product, so it doesn't matter how you get there!

Moving on

Unpacking the essay title