HUM190 Assignment 1: The Critical Review: A Guide to Essay Structure Basic structure: (i) Introduction (ii) Body of Essay

(iii) Conclusion Or: Tell your readers what you are going to do, do it, and tell them what youve done. Introduction: You should aim to do three things here:

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Show clearly that youre responding to the question. Ideally, this will mean either repeating or rephrasing key words or phrases of the title. Eg. The Relationship between Knowledge and Belief: My aunt, with whom I lived, had a parrot called Knowledge and a dog called Belief. In critically examining the nature of. This begins with the right tune, in some ways; its lively, unusual and pulls the reader in. That said, it walks a fine line between engagingness and egregiousness. Strike a balance. Note: Only exceptionally should introductions be more than a paragraph long. Tell the reader exactly what youre going to do in a few short, clear sentences (no more). Tell the reader (a) what you are going to argue, or (b) where you are headed or (c) what you intend to show or achieve. This can be particularly helpful; it give you a strong spine around which to construct the essay.

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Body of the Essay: Basically, two parts to this: 1. Exegesis. Clear explanation of all this issues/topics/subjects raised. You should regards the reader as intelligent but uninformed, so that you have to explain what you mean (but only once). Critical analysis. This is where you pick on one or more issues which you wish to examine critically. The golden rule her, and it is important, is that you show that you can appreciate more than one angle or interpretation. No polemic. So, when you raise a critical point, try to consider what someone who disagreed with you might argue (you dont have to do this for every point you raise; see point 1 above). Method: you do not have to do all your exegesis at first, followed by all your critical analysis; ideally you will weave them together a little so that the essay flows smoothly. However, the golden rule is that all critical analysis on any given subject must come after exegesis; you cant comment on something that remains a mystery to your reader. Conclusion: this should be brief and to the point, rarely more than a paragraph long. You should try to summarize your essay by gathering the most important of the arguments/conclusions you have presented. This brief summary then can be used to justify your conclusion (your position on the subject) or, indeed, to illustrate why you dont have one. You need not argue firmly for or against one thing; your conclusion can be non-committal, as long as its based on clear exegesis and coherent critical analysis throughout your essay. You can end by saying that you dont know, or that youre not sure, as long as you can say why you feel thus. Tip: If you think of the main features of an essay as described above, the following remarks may help you structure your essay when youre drafting it. Using different coloured pens, assign a separate colour to (a) the thesis the central theme or argument in your essay (the essays spine; see notes on the Introduction above), (b) the exegesis, (iii) critical analysis and (iv) counter-arguments against the points you raise. Go through your draft, marking the margin with appropriate colour every time there is a reference to your central theme, or exegesis, etc. If you find a page with no colours in the margin, then you should ask why this is (there may be good reasons for this being so, but you should be clear about what they are). This technique will help you maintain a clear, tight and coherent structure. Make no mistake: if you tighten up your essays structure, your analysis will be deepened and clarified. PS: Dont forget to double space the essay, and include a bibliography and word count.

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Dr H Weeks and Dr J Spangler