WRITING THE EXTENDED ESSAY

AIMS

The main aim of this unit is to produce an extended piece of writing based on

research in your subject area.

Prior to the written work you will discuss the 'Guide' section with your teacher.

This focuses on:

1. Choosing a topic

2. Collecting data

3. Writing the paper

4. Writer's block

5. Revising

6. Proof-reading

7. Abbreviations commonly used in academic writing.

1. CHOOSING A TOPIC

It may be difficult to select a topic for a piece of extended writing. This may be because the area of study is new to you, or because you roughly know the area you are interested in but are not sure what topic to follow up. Various approaches for selecting a topic are suggested below. You might like to combine a variety of these, assuming you have access to subject specialist sources.

Find out what has been done before. You can do this in several ways:

(a) Refer to your department.

• Consult a course outline.

• Discuss areas of interest with your tutor/fellow students.

• Browse through previous dissertations of predecessors on higher degree courses.

(b) Go to a university or college library.

• Look through some research journals.

• Consult a catalogue and look under specific topic areas.

• Skim through an index to theses accepted for higher degrees by universities in an English-speaking country.

Once you have found out what has been done on the subject it will be easier for you to identify a gap in a well-researched area you are interested in. Now write down a brief title for your essay. It is important for you to do this before you do more reading as you may have now found which direction to follow. If you do not write the title down, you may feel an area has been over-researched and has nothing more to offer, when in fact an interesting gap in the research exists that you may be able to fill.

2. COLLECTING DATA

If your chosen topic is a new field of study or you have discovered a gap in research, you may find there is a lack of literature relating specifically to your chosen area. If this is the case, consider what line of research you should follow.

What problems do you envisage? How far will current literature and research relate to this new area? Will you need to carry out primary research (e.g. experiments, interviews, questionnaires) to support your ideas?

(a) Discover important sources.

• Consult your department as to any recognised authorities or important published works.

• Consult a library catalogue for authors who have published books and for collected editions of articles in your area.

• Follow up references in your reading. Familiar references which occur repeatedly in different works will indicate that you are becoming more knowledgeable and are recognising authorities.

• Check in the prefaces or forewords of books for mentions of your topic.

• Be aware of possible rival or alternative hypotheses or interpretations of data.

(b) Be selective.

• Only read information which is relevant to your topic. You may only need to read a particular section or part of a chapter from a book. Checking the contents page and the index of a book will help you here.

• Assess the importance of what you read. How reliable are the findings of any research? What is the relevance for your chosen topic?

If you are breaking new ground, then in your paper you will need to discuss the reasons for the lack of literature pertaining specifically to your topic area. What areas need to be researched? Are you able to extrapolate ideas from other research or literature to use in your topic area?

3. WRITING THE PAPER

You should produce a balanced, coherent piece of work which compares ideas from more than one source. Ensure that you provide additional comment on these ideas and do not merely present them. Be selective and, where appropriate, use source materials to support or challenge a particular position in your work.

Do not worry if, as you write, you deviate somewhat from your original outline.

You may have discovered interesting information or developed lines of thought which you had not originally been able to anticipate.

4. WRITER'S BLOCK

The term writer's block is used to describe the condition in which your mind goes blank and you have no ideas, or you feel that you cannot express your ideas clearly. This strikes all writers at some time. It can be interpreted as a healthy sign that you are overtaxing the brain in one particular way and should not be a cause for alarm.

The following hints may help:

(a) Read over what you have written.

(b) Try recopying sections of your work. You may find that ideas occur to you while you are doing this. Note the ideas down (even if they are one word only). Try extending the ideas into sentences.

(c) Relax and do something else. Later you may find that your mind has cleared.

(d) Move to a different section of your work and try working on it.

(e) Do something fairly mechanical, such as writing out your contents and bibliography page. You will have spent time productively and given your mind the opportunity to process your ideas.

(f) Proof-read your work.

(g) Go back to your reading sources, or read a related article or chapter. Reading frequently will improve your writing skills, suggest ideas and clarify your thoughts.

5. REVISING

Revising your work means checking for any improvements that need to be made.

You may have to do this one or more times before you write your final draft.

(a) Organisation:

• Have you presented your work in the most effective way?

• Is there a logical presentation and progression of ideas or do paragraphs/ sections need re-ordering?

(b) Content:

• Is the content appropriate to the title and the introduction?

• Is there a clear presentation and development of ideas?

• Is all information relevant? Check for any information that may be interesting but is irrelevant to the topic, redundant or repetitive.

• Do you give reasons for the points you introduce?

• Do you incorporate too much or too little supporting information?

(c) Clarity:

• Is the reader able to follow your line of reasoning?

• Have you integrated important ideas/sources of information when and where required, and in a clear way?

• Do all sentences/paragraphs have a logical connection with preceding/ following sentences/paragraphs?

(d) Language:

• Have you selected an appropriate level of formality (e.g. no use of contractions such as it's instead of it is)}

• Is your language too complex or too simplistic?

• Is your linguistic referencing too vague (e.g. over-use of pronouns or imprecise vocabulary)?

• Have you kept to the objective structures that characterise academic writing, such as impersonal forms and passive verbs?

(e) Clear sections:

• Have you written a clear introduction and conclusion?

(f) Reference to sources:

• Have you acknowledged all sources and given clear bibliographical details?

• Have you integrated your material (including any tables and illustrations) clearly and at relevant points in your work?

6. PROOF-READING

Proof-reading means checking your work for errors in spelling and style and checking that you have met the format requirements of your subject/department.

(a) Features of language use that you should check include:

• subject/verb agreement

• verb tense

• the presence of a verb in a sentence

• the presence of a subject in a sentence

• word order

• correct word class (e.g. noun, adjective, adverb, verb)

• punctuation

• linking words to show logical progression of ideas.

(b) Layout

7. LATIN ABBREVIATIONS AND WORDS COMMONLY USED IN ACADEMIC WRITING

The following Latin abbreviations and words are commonly used in academic writing. Several of them have been used in this book:

Some of the above abbreviations may be new to you. Only use them in your own writing if you are confident you are using them correctly. Reading widely and noting when and how they are used will help you assess their correct use. Below are examples of how some of the abbreviations may be used.

(a) et al. This is used when a book was written by joint authors/editors. Only the first author/editor is given in your paper to save space. Refer to the bibliography for the names of the other authors/editors (e.g. Ochs et al.,

1983: 71).

(b) ibid. When making consecutive references to a particular source, ibid, can be used instead of repeating the name of the author and the book. If the page number is different from the one previously mentioned, this can be given after ibid. (e.g. ibid., p. 22).

(c) loc. cit. This is used when references to a source are not consecutive but the later reference comes closely after the earlier one. It refers to the same author, book and page as the earlier reference.

(d) op. cit. This is used when references to the same source follow each other closely but are not consecutive. Op. cit. comes after the author's name, and is followed by a page number, i.e. it is like loc. cit. except that the page number is different.

Below are examples of references as they might occur in a text:

1. (James: 1991) - normal reference.

2. (Watkins: 1970: 93) - normal reference with page number.

3. {ibid) — repeats reference 2.

4. {ibid., p. 83) - repeats reference 2, but with a different page number.

5. (James, loc. cit) - repeats reference 1.

6. (James, op. cit., p. 57) - repeats reference 1, but with a different page number.

Sources:

Mackay, John T & S.E. (1998). Study Skills For Academic Writing. London: Prentice Hall Internaional English Language Teaching.