A student's writing guide: How to Plan and Write Successful Essays

✍ Scribed by Taylor G.

• Publisher: CUP
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 284
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Are you struggling to meet your coursework deadlines? Finding it hard to get to grips with your essay topics? Does your writing sometimes lack structure and style? Would you like to improve your grades? This text covers everything a student needs to know about writing essays and papers in the humanities and social sciences. Starting from the common difficulties students face, it gives practical examples of all the stages necessary to produce a good piece of academic work: • interpreting assignment topics • drawing on your own experience and background • reading analytically and taking efficient notes • developing your argument through introductions, middles and conclusions • evaluating and using online resources • understanding the conventions of academic culture • honing your ideas into clear, vigorous English. This book will provide you with all the tools and insights you need to write confident, convincing essays and coursework papers.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Preface......Page 13
Preface to the original 1989 edition of The Student’s Writing Guide for the Arts and Social Sciences......Page 14
Sources of extracts used in the text......Page 17
1 Introduction......Page 19
1 The main elements in academic writing......Page 20
2 You and your writing task......Page 22
3 You and your subject matter......Page 25
4 You and your reader......Page 30
5 Your language: form and structure......Page 33
Part I Reflection and Research......Page 37
2 Reflection: asking questions and proposing answers......Page 39
1 Speculative thinking and writing......Page 40
2 Choosing a topic......Page 42
Devising your own topic for a research paper......Page 44
3 Kinds of question......Page 45
Who, whom......Page 46
How......Page 47
Why......Page 49
To what extent, how much, how far, how significant......Page 50
Which......Page 51
4.1 Making up your mind......Page 53
Clarifying the meaning of terms......Page 55
The meaning of an essay topic as a whole......Page 57
Essay topics that contain a number of questions......Page 59
Background knowledge......Page 60
4.3 Formal meaning: the logical shape of possible answers......Page 61
An example......Page 62
4.4 Evaluative criteria......Page 68
5 Summary......Page 69
3 Interpretation: reading and taking notes......Page 71
1.1 Common difficulties......Page 72
1.2 The importance of background reading......Page 74
2.1 Primary, secondary and tertiary sources......Page 75
2.2 The consequences of this distinction for essay-writing......Page 77
2.3 Authoritative opinion and the internet......Page 81
3 What an author does......Page 83
4 An author’s major motives......Page 87
5 Modes of analysis......Page 95
6 An author’s structural intentions......Page 97
Summary......Page 99
7 Interpreting a difficult text......Page 100
Part II The Dynamics of an Essay......Page 107
4 Introductions......Page 109
1 The constituents of an essay......Page 110
2 The constituents of an introduction......Page 112
3 The use and misuse of introductory material......Page 113
4 Setting out your case......Page 116
The core of a 'discussion’: debating your answer......Page 119
5 Writing an introduction to a research paper......Page 125
5 Middles......Page 129
1.1 Changing your mind about the answer......Page 130
1.2 Grinding to a halt......Page 131
1.3 Writing too much......Page 133
2 The uses of outlines......Page 134
3 Expanding a case......Page 135
3.1 Extending your answer......Page 136
3.2 Elaborating a point......Page 140
3.3 Enhancing the value of your information......Page 145
3.4 A note on the use of sources......Page 149
4 Summary......Page 151
1 Recapitulation......Page 152
2 Mood: suggestion and implication......Page 154
3 Variations on a theme......Page 158
Part III Language......Page 163
7 You, your language and your material......Page 165
1 Subjective and objective: the uses of 'I’ and 'we’......Page 166
2.1 Dangling modifiers......Page 169
2.2 Passives......Page 171
2.3 Time and tense......Page 173
2.4 Your own text and others’ texts......Page 177
3 Quoting – and not quoting......Page 179
Uninterested/disinterested......Page 181
Imply/infer......Page 182
Speculate, conjecture......Page 183
Wish, hope......Page 184
8 Analytical language 1: sentences......Page 185
1 Discrimination and confusion......Page 186
2.1 Referrig and predicating......Page 187
2.2 Sentences without finite verbs......Page 190
Conjunctions and sentence adverbials......Page 192
Punctuation: colons and semi-colons......Page 193
3 Participants, processes and circumstances......Page 195
3.1 Clarifying participants, human and non-human......Page 197
Processes expressed in abstract nouns......Page 200
Noun–verb agreement......Page 203
The function of quotation marks and italics......Page 205
Object-language and meta-language......Page 206
3.4 Singular and plural......Page 208
1 Analysing versus describing......Page 212
2.1 The dynamics of definition......Page 217
2.2 Defining and non-defining relative clauses......Page 223
3.1 The dynamics of comparison......Page 225
3.2 Comparative structures......Page 230
1 Determinants of cohesion and texture......Page 233
1.2 Referring expressions......Page 235
1.3 Coordinating structures......Page 236
1.4 Vocabulary......Page 238
2 Revising and improving text......Page 239
1 Academic culture......Page 248
Abbreviations......Page 250
2.3 Layout......Page 251
Tables and figures......Page 252
2.4 Quotations......Page 253
2.6 References and bibliographies......Page 254
Appendix 1 Writing book reviews......Page 258
1.1 The meanings of terms......Page 261
None......Page 262
Some......Page 263
2.2 Relationships of meaning between terms......Page 264
Some......Page 265
3.1 The meanings of terms......Page 266
None......Page 267
Some......Page 268
Appendix 3 A revised manuscript......Page 270
Index......Page 275