How to write a good essay

 Published: 31/12/2020

These are my top hints and tips for writing a good essay, which I have learned and developed over the course of my degree.

My process of researching and writing my assignment

Starting

• Read the assignment guidelines and questions
• Pick out the important information and use this to inform you research for your assignment

Research

• Use textbooks, primary literature (e.g. randomised control trials or other studies) to aid your understanding
• Write notes about each source in a word document (e.g. Textbook: title then notes below)
• It is best to write your notes in your own words or change the colour of the notes if you have copied and pasted a section

Planning

• This part is essential to creating a logical and flowing structure 
• Re-organise your research notes into logical sections in a separate word document
• Write your reference list and in-text citations aas you go along

Writing

• Use your plan to write your assignment
• Leave it for a day then come back and read the document and make any necessary changes
• Ask another person (perferably someone who has no knowledge of the topic) and ask them to tell you if they cannot understand a section or if the grammar etc is bad
• Keep re-visiting and re-writing remembering to periodically to look back at your assignment guidance to check you are satisfying all the criteria

To raise the percentage grade of your assignment

Demonstrate critical thinking skills by talking about the strengths and limitations of any research you have used. This could be flaws in the study design or the age groups used etc. Lectures love to have your thoughts on the sources. 

Do you have any tips or tricks you found helpful? Please put them in the comments section below