Week 11: Writing an essay

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By Shaun Buzza, 06/05/2010

Personally essay writing is one of the most difficult forms of assessment in University. It requires strict coherence to the rules and regulations of not only the area of study, but the essay structure and writing in general. During my experiences the major problem I encounter is referencing.

Referencing is essential as it provides a backing source to any arguments or information you produce in an essay, and acts as a verification of source, ideas and understanding. Good referencing begins with good source material. Irrelevant or unreliable information can result in clumsy arguments and can be difficult to verify (if the information has no author or additional features such as dates and publication location). Academic resources provide a foundation for accessible and reliable information, and therefore the basis of a strong essay and less difficulty citing sources.

This becomes more of an issue when using the internet, as information being readily distributed it is harder to verify decent resources. Sites such as the obvious example “Wikipedia” can cause an issue if used in writing an essay. The information provided by open source sites quite commonly contains unreliable information with no verification of its origin. At best these sites should be used as a starting point for branching out to academic and professional material.

The Murdoch University provides some valid points when considering source information:

“reading with a questioning mind - not accepting that something is true simply because it is published and not expecting that there is any single correct answer to complex questions;

reading in order to understand both the meaning of each individual sentence and its relationship to the developing structure of the argument;

evaluating continuously what you are reading by testing the opinions and judgments of the writer against the evidence she/he provides and against the opinions and judgments of other writers (and maybe against your own experience) and then by deciding whether this material is relevant to the purpose of your essay.”

References

Marshall, L & Rodgers, K. (2004). A Guide to Essay Writing. Murdoch University.
http://help-online.murdoch.edu.au/students/studyhelp/es_write.html