Essay Feedback Guidance

I appreciate that many of you are not sociology students, and are doing this module as a
free choice. Therefore I hope that these general guidelines will be of benefit to all of you
in this module and perhaps for the other modules that you are doing. However, I do
appreciate that there will be different conventions and guidelines for how you write in
these modules. For those of you, who may be more experienced at writing sociology
essays, some of these guidelines might help demystify some of the magic and mystery to
writing a good academic essay. Furthermore, I hope that it might reveal some of the good
practices that you are already doing, so that you can ensure you continue to keep writing
sophisticated arguments.
Question /Reading

The first thing perhaps that you need to do when writing an essay is to decide on
the question that you are going to do. I suggest that you unpack the question:
o

What does it mean?

What is the focus of the question?

What are you being asked to do critique, evaluate, discuss, consider?

Where do you think the emphasis is in the question?

I feel that the question and reading are part of an iterative process. You will need to
have some sense about what the question is asking from you, and you will get this
more fully from reading. Tutorial/lecture readings and engaging in further reading.
You may use the question to direct and focus your reading. When doing your
reading be critical, what does one author say? What interpretation is given by
another author? Are they similar? Are they different? Why?

The reading and note taking that you do will act as the content of your essay.
Ensure that when you read that you note the full reference and keep a record of
page numbers etc.

It is absolutely imperative that you read when writing an essay; you are being
tested/assessed on your engagement with the lectures/tutorials/readings and your
ability to argue and assess material.

Structure/language

Your essay needs to have a logical framework that holds all the content together
that you have compiled from your reading.

You might find it helpful to structure your response into 5 main points that you can
build it as a response to the essay.

Your essay will need an introduction: Your introduction should set out what you
intend to do. You might like to use signposts words or phrases that explain to your
reader what you are going to argue/build as a response to this essay. For example,
this essay will first discuss x, followed by x, finally x will be outlined/evaluated. This
should allow you to control the points that you make.

Make sure that your introduction is concise. Avoid woolly introductions, get straight
to the point.

Building your argument. Make judicious assessments about what to include and
what to leave out Ask yourself is this point/evidence relevant? How? Show your
reader why it is relevant it possibly sounds obvious but it helps to subtly guide
your reader with phrases and explanations so that they can see the relevance of
your argument. It is not enough just to assume that I know what you are thinking.
An analogy I use is the forest and trees. In your first point you might like to show
your reader that you understand the forest, (that you know the wider debate and

issues that are related to this topic/question). In your remaining points it is then
advisable to explain to your reader that you are going to show them this tree and
this tree (focus on particular issues within the wider debates/issues). In terms of
your essay you might phrase it an academic/formal way that you say something
like for the purposes of this essay/argument/response, the intention is to focus on
this and this in order to evaluate this claim.

All essays need a conclusion where you summarise what has been discussed and
answer the question!

Do not use colloquial/chatty language or clich phrases

Please proof read your work typos, badly constructed or clunky sentences,
without proper punctuation means the flow of your work is disrupted and I lose the
thread of your argument and means you loose marks!

Do not use contracted forms or abbreviations unless you have a good reason.
Examples are dont, doesnt, etc - use proper words do not, was not, does not

You can use personal anecdotes but be careful that you dont sue them as
evidence of research. You can use them as illustrative examples, and they need to
be supported with a discussion of academic literature

Ensure that you link quotes/evidence together with phrases. Writing an essay is not
just about wowing us with lots of content and quotes! You have to string it
together, so that it flows. You can be quite creative and it can be quite fun. Use
your synonym function in word to see what different words/phrases you can use.
For example, make your opening point, and then perhaps say this is supported by
x (date: pg), who claims that. However, this is challenged by x (date: pg) who
emphasises that and so on.

A rule in structuring your point that you might like to use is PQA. Point. Quote.
Analysis. An example would be to encapsulate the main point in a couple of
sentences. Then elaborate, perhaps with a quote or evidence. You may like to
suggest what this means and how it is relevant to the question. Then subject this
quote/evidence to some form of critique analysis.

A rule in structuring your point that you might like to use is PQA. Point. Quote.
Analysis. An example would be to encapsulate the main point in a couple of
sentences. Then elaborate, perhaps with a quote or evidence. You may like to
suggest what this means and how it is relevant to the question. Then subject this
quote/evidence to some form of critique analysis.

Critical/analytical
Structure, reading and content are all essential in essays. However, you generally get two
types of essays: Descriptive or descriptive/analytical. Your purely descriptive well
structured essay is unlikely to get above a 58 to get a 2.1 and higher you need to subject
your content to related intelligent evaluation. Furthermore, you need to able to sustain
this throughout the essay and perhaps indicate what this means.
Referencing

Finally Referencing!

Within the text this is likely to be the (author(s) surname(s), date, and page
number).

The fuller reference goes into a reference list at the end of your essay: Surname.
Initial. (date). Title. place of publisher. publisher. (Or) if it is a journal: all the above,
but journal title. volume (issue).

Obviously there are bound to be exceptions. With those that dont fit the general
rule, just do your best!

Everything that you write, within reason (perhaps not your opening statements,
linking phrases and summations) should be supported with references from
academic literature or empirical evidence (such as stats NOT Wikipedia!). You
should all have referencing handouts in your pack. Any queries email me or your
tutor.