PONTIFICIA UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA MADRE Y MAESTRA

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, HUMANITIES, AND ARTS

SCHOOL OF LANGUAGES
FOREIGN LANGUAGES SECTION
English for Education and Psychology (ILE-495)
3-2017-2018
Essay writing

You will be required to write a critical essay in which you document your thinking about, and
reaction to, one of the topics discussed in Unit I. The idea is that you demonstrate
understanding of the topic.
The essay is due May 24 th. You have the option to submit a draft of the essay up until May 17 th,
so I can give you feedback on it. I strongly encourage you to submit a draft before submitting the
final essay.

Guidelines for the essay:

Write a critical essay of one of the topics discussed in Unit I. By critical, I mean that you
should not merely describe the topic, but critique it -- point out the main aspects and ideas, your
interpretation, and the influence/ impact you think they have for your field. Your essay should be
written in narrative form following the APA format and should be 2 typed pages, Times New
Roman 12, one and a half space (1.5). It should be organized and cover the issues as listed
below:
- Title of the Essay
- Brief description of the topic: main concepts and ideas, its importance for the field.
- The essay should demonstrate:
 Your understanding of the readings.
 Critical thinking: it should reflect analysis and discussion of key ideas.
- Application to practice: describe how the content could apply to your profession.
- Quotes from the readings to support your points.
Assessment criteria:
- Follows the guidelines as described above (4%).
- Shows coherence and cohesiveness (4%).
Coherence: The text shows a logical organization of the author's ideas that allows its
understanding. There are no information gaps or grammatical structures problems that
impede the clarity of the statements.
Cohesiveness: ideas are related to each other through the use of connectors to indicate the
type of idea: addition, contrast, cause-effect, sequence, etc. The progression of the ideas
developed is evident in each of the paragraphs of the text and between the various
paragraphs that comprise it.
- Takes care of spelling and punctuation rules (2%): correct use of letters and punctuation
marks: comma, period, semicolon, colon, exclamation and question marks, ellipsis,
quotation marks.