Ace that Essay: Structuring an Argument

Presented by: Dr Kimberley McMahon-Coleman Date: 29th July 2014

Presented by: Dr Kimberley McMahon-Coleman Date: 29th July 2014

• Advice on brainstorming and planning • Structure/Paragraphing • The process of developing and evaluating drafts • What academic markers are looking for

1. Brainstorming and Planning

http://summer-of-giles.livejournal.com/124008.html

In Maths, show your working out. When writing, hide it.

• We often start from an instinctual level (“gut feeling”) when choosing an assessment question or approach to an assessment question.

• Take the time to play with these ideas and figure out a structure.

• In the initial stages, it may be very messy

• You begin with an embryonic idea. • Sometimes when writing abstracts, we talk about

“strategic vagueness.” The actual piece of writing should not be at all vague.

• Do some research in order to flesh out your idea. This is generally a recursive process.

Your essay must have a body …

Thesis = spine

Your essay writing process should be recursive. Your

essay and paragraphs should not.

2. Structure/Paragraphing

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Your essay must have a body …

Thesis = spine

Topic sentences = vertebrae

Before you start writing, Plan.

Intro—Answer question; include thesis (argument) statement

T opic Sentence—the thesis or point of the paragraph. Tells your marker where you’re going and how it is related to your overall thesis. E xplanation—unpack/explain more fully the ideas from the topic sentence (may be longer than one sentence) E vidence—this is where you include evidence of all that fine research you’ve been doing. Whether you paraphrase or quote, you must cite. If the idea wasn’t yours, give credit where it’s due (and get credit for your research!). Remember: Your quotes don’t make the argument, you do. So set up your paragraph so that the quotations have a supporting role (may be longer than one sentence) L ink—your final sentence should tie your paragraph together. Ideally, it will also link to the next paragraph (but segues are notoriously difficult, so don’t be too harsh on yourself if it doesn’t come easily!)

Example: This is not the first paper to locate Buffy, the Vampire Slayer in relation to the global events of September 2001 and beyond. My analysis differs in that it focuses on the figure of Buffy’s hard-hitting and hard-loving British punk-rocker vampire Spike, his initial positioning as the evil “Big Bad” or chief villain of Season 2, his rehabilitation, inevitable slips and final profound sacrifice in the series finale. This is then compared with his contemporary counterpart, Damon Salvatore of television’s The Vampire Diaries, who has (so far) been a lurking evil presence, an uneasy ally, and a lovestruck protector, resigned to never actually getting the girl. The scope of the Buffy analysis will be limited to Seasons 6 and 7, as they aired in the period immediately after the September 11 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Analysis of the contemporary series The Vampire Diaries, which began airing in 2009, will include those episodes from the first three seasons which were available at the time of writing in early 2012.

Topic Sentence

Explanatory Sentences

Examples (or in this case, scope of

examples)

Summing up / Segue

Para 2—TEEL

Para 3—TEEL

Para 4—TEEL

Para 5—TEEL

Para 6—TEEL

Over to you ACTIVITY: Write a TEEL paragraph about something you have studied/are studying. NB: • When citing/using evidence, embed it into a sentence. Do not

fall into the trap of tacking it into a sentence at the end of the paragraph.

“This will not look good.” • Better to write: “the lecturer was adamant that ‘evidence

should be embedded into complete sentences.’”

What comes first in the sentence, takes the focus Fleming, in 1929, discovered penicillin after a bacterial plate he was culturing became contaminated with a spore of the fungus, Penicillium. The facts and ideas in this sentence are …?

1. the discoverer of penicillin; 2. the date of discovery; 3. the way it came to notice; 4. the name of the organism involved; 5. what it contaminated.

• If you wished to emphasise that it was Fleming who made the discovery, you would probably be happy with the sentence as it stands: ‘Fleming, in 1929, discovered penicillin after a bacterial plate he was culturing became contaminated with a spore of the fungus, Penicillium.

• If you were in the process of describing the various antibiotics, you would want the drug penicillin to be emphasised: ‘Penicillin was discovered in 1929 by Fleming after …’

• Sometimes, parts of the essay will be underdeveloped. In this case, go back to/through the research

3. Developing and Evaluating Drafts

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Having a Plan will help give your writing direction

• You will still need to write more than one draft, however. • When proofreading/editing/rewriting, first think about how the essay is

hanging together. Can you synthesise evidence? Can you make the writing “tighter” (ie use more nouns and get rid of some verbs—nominalisation: http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/academic/3b.html .

• Look to correct common grammatical errors (is every sentence in the same tense? Do singular nouns have singular verbs?)

• Look to correct common punctuation errors (are there any rogue apostrophes? Are your brackets in the right place?)

Version Control

(Because there can be lots of versions to control)

Editing takes time. It is not a sign of weakness or deficit; it is a means by which to create strong writing.

• When you think you’re done, reread the essay as a whole. • Are you happy with the sequencing? (Yes, you had a plan, but plans can

change).

(Sometimes you may need to cut and paste within paragraphs, too)

Where’s my lovely

subtitle?

Oh, well. At least I got to use it today!

4. What markers want

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• ANSWERS to the question they set

– Sounds obvious, but it bears repeating. If you hand in something

that doesn’t correlate with the marking rubric, the marks aren’t likely to be good.

– A clear answer should be evident in your introductory paragraph – Give equal care to equivalent parts of questions. Use the marking

guidelines as a road map. – Your ideas should be ordered. The last thing a tired marker wants

is to go “orienteering” – Follow conventions/guidelines for submission

• Points should be well-developed • Points should be supported by evidence • Points should be your own—not a pastiche of facts or

quotations from other people so that your own voice is drowned out

• Markers want clarity—do not go for overly long words you don’t understand or overly long sentences that are confused. If you stay here long enough, eventually your writing will sound like a journal article; don’t rush it!

QUESTIONS?

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To make appointments: Building 11, level 3 (take lift opposite UniShop) Phone: 4221 3977 (Leanne) kmc@uow.edu.au Workshops: Weeks 1 and 2. Register Online Writing Sessions: from Week 3. Register in person.

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@KMcMahon_Coleman