​​Essay
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​​Purpose ​🎯​ 

​​Essays are major form of assessment at university. Through essays you develop your understanding of discipline specific content, strengthen your critical thinking, and your ability to translate that thinking into a persuasive written form. 
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​​Essay Prompt ​✏️​ 

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  • ​​Write the essay prompt here
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​​In your essay, you must: 
  • ​​Outline any additional requirements
  • ​​e.g. Refer to relevant case studies discussed in the lecture
  • ​​e.g. Use at least 5 academic sources to support your arguments
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​​Additional Information ​đź“š​ 

​​To help you complete this task successfully, the following resources are provided:
  • ​​Marking Rubric — refer to this to understand how you will be assessed 
  • ​​Checklist: How to write an Essay — use this to help you complete the task
  • ​​Example: Essay — review this to see a completed example of the task
  • ​​Library Search Tips — use this guide to search for resources
  • ​​List any additional resources and how students should use them here
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​​Checklist: How to write an Essay ​âś…​ 

​​Copy and paste this checklist into your Notes. Check off each step as you complete it.
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​​Step 1: Task Understanding
  • ​​Read the Instructions and Checklist carefully using the Glossary
  • ​​Read the Guide: Rubrics and then your Marking Rubric 
  • ​​Analyse the essay question, ie. content, term, and directive terms
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​​Step 2: Topic Research
  • ​​Reading the Library Search Tips guide
  • ​​Identify a set of potentially useful resources
  • ​​Survey, skim, and scan to find the relevant articles, and parts of articles
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​​Step 3: Critical Reading
  • ​​As you read each resource, jot down notes using this framework (adapted from Marshall and Rowland (2006)):
  • ​​The author’s purpose: why has the author written the material? Are these purposes explicitly stated? Are these implicitly stated?
  • ​​The author’s approach: what are the author’s underlying assumptions? Are these explicitly stated? Is there any proof of bias? 
  • ​​Content: what is the author’s thesis? How do they develop the thesis? What evidence, examples, or explanations are used?
  • ​​TIP: as you read, make reference notes of any sources
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​​Step 4: Essay Plan 
  • ​​Use this structure to plan your essay:
  • ​​Introduction:
  • ​​Clarify how you intend to interpret or limit the question
  • ​​Provide an overview of your argument and the supporting points
  • ​​Clarify how you are defining key terms in the question
  • ​​Body: Add a paragraph for each argument, including:
  • ​​Topic sentence stating the main pointsÂ