{"id":5919,"date":"2025-01-21T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/?p=5919"},"modified":"2025-01-23T10:55:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T10:55:31","slug":"a-comprehensive-essay-writing-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/2025\/01\/21\/a-comprehensive-essay-writing-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"A Comprehensive Essay writing guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"lead\">Worried about what&#8217;s expected of you once you get to university? We got you &#8211; Alice is here to share the info about essay-writing at uni. Still worried? We run essay bootcamps! No need to book, students can just turn up for extra help.<\/p>\n<p>As a university student, navigating and learning the core academic skills needed for essay writing can seem like a challenge, regardless of where you are in your academic journey.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s definitely a skill that may take time to master &#8211; and like most skills, the more you do it the easier it becomes!<\/p>\n<p>I went to a workshop, completely free and open to anyone, so I thought I&#8217;d share what I learnt. The workshop dissected essay structures so that it feels less overwhelming and more approachable, and gave me the ability to independently research and collate this information in a way that helps me put my point across in essays.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the purpose of an essay?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Figuring out why we&#8217;re writing an essay and its purpose is important <strong>otherwise it can feel pointless setting out to write one, without understanding the intention! <\/strong>Essay writing is about combining lecture info with your own research to form solid arguments and answer the main question.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The essay writing process:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In the workshop, we learned how to break down the essay writing process into manageable stages &#8211; I found this particularly helpful as starting an essay can often seem daunting. To make things easier, I&#8217;ve outlined each stage and the order they should be tackled, along with a rough estimate of how much time to spend on each part. I find that breaking an essay down, and doing it in stages can be really helpful especially when you are still developing and refining the skill.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Stage 1 &#8211; Considering the question (5-10%):<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Accurately answering the question is VITAL. Take note of the command words in the question &#8211; what is it actually asking you? Is it an argument? If so it requires for and against paragraphs! Does it ask you to talk about a point specifically?<\/li>\n<li>Pull the essay question apart, I like to do this using highlighters. I make notes on what the question is asking me and research the definitions on any words I may be unsure on, making sure I understand them in the context<\/li>\n<li>Ensure every component is addressed<\/li>\n<li>Look for instruction words (e.g discuss or identity)<\/li>\n<li>This stage can also include making a rough essay plan, creating an outline with themed paragraphs (this does not have to be detailed at all and this is something that can be tweaked throughout the process)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Stage 2 &#8211; Research and Note-Taking (40%):<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>This is a where a big chunk of your time should be spent &#8211; a good essay shows extensive research<\/li>\n<li>Be strategic and selective in your research<\/li>\n<li>Use lecture notes, the module bibliography, library resources, and credible online sources such as Google Scholar<\/li>\n<li>Create clear, concise, and organised notes that align with your essay plan and are easy to refer to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Stage 3 &#8211; Writing and Revising (40%):<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Start drafting using an essay structure: introduction, body and conclusion<\/li>\n<li>Each body paragraph should address a specific aspect, supported by evidence and critical analysis<\/li>\n<li>Revise for clarity and ensure a logical progression of ideas.<\/li>\n<li>Analyse Sources: Determine whether they support or challenge your perspective.<\/li>\n<li>Develop Paragraphs: For each aspect, outline your main points and support them with evidence.<\/li>\n<li>At this point, it&#8217;s totally ok to tweak your drafts &#8211; changing the structure to find which works best for the title of the essay! A bit of trial and error is normal<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Introduction: <\/strong>Set the context, introduce the main idea, and define any key words in the title<\/li>\n<li><strong>Body (200-400 words each):<\/strong> Begin with a topic sentence, provide evidence, conduct critical analysis, and conclude with what this shows regarding the essay question.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conclusion: <\/strong>Reiterate the purpose, summarize findings, and provide closure<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Stage 4 &#8211; Checking (5-10%):<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Sometimes it can be helpful to complete this stage a couple of days after you have finished your last essay draft. That way you can look at the words with a fresh mind which can make it easier to make adjustments and spot mistakes.<\/li>\n<li>Proofread your essay for grammar, punctuation, and adherence to the essay question.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure every paragraph contributes to answering the main question.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully this quick guide can prove helpful to all University students, regardless how far along your degree you are, the essay process is the same. Use this as a recourse to support your studies and don&#8217;t forget your lecturers are always on end for further support. Keep an eye out for more workshops like this one provided by your department or uni student support service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Worried about what&#8217;s expected of you once you get to university? We got you &#8211; Alice is here to share the info about essay-writing at &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/2025\/01\/21\/a-comprehensive-essay-writing-guide\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84049,"featured_media":5921,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[872,86146],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84049"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5920,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919\/revisions\/5920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}