♦ YouTube companion videos

There are now two introductory videos to this book available on YouTube. To view them, please click here. Below you'll see three sample screenshots.

The first is part of a demo of how to lay out the complete essay; the middle image is one of a series of tips on style and other pitfalls; and the third encourages you to take notes and where possible remember quotes which can be useful.

♦ What's in the book

The task of writing an essay falls into three stages:

1. Before
2. During and
3. After.

Sounds obvious, but far too many students charge straight into the actual writing without planning and structuring the work required.

♦ Before

First, the planning process, starting with reading the title of the essay, setting out a plan, and so forth. If there is a choice of essays, it's essential (a) that you select a topic which suits you and (b) you read the question very carefully. There are various types of essay which vary in the challenge they present to the student:

1. description
2. discussion
3. evaluation
4. comparison

Essays should not only be written to the length required, but they must take account of the potential reader(s). Quotations and bibliographical material should be included where appropriate and set out in the appropriate 'house style'.

And, of course, a prerequisite for any good essay is a sound knowledge of the subject.

♦ During

It's essential that your essay contains the following:

• introduction
• central section (with small points building up to the main point)
• conclusion

The introduction should match the conclusion in length, and (this sounds obvious but it's so often overlooked) the conclusion has to represent a resolution of the issues posed in the introduction. The guide offers a detailed analysis of how to use good English, style, clarity, punctuation, structure and so forth. The essay should have a cogent and well-organised structure and not consist of a random collection of thoughts thrown together.

♦ After

Finally, after the essay: an extended section on how to check that you have done your best, breaking the process down into individual tasks.
There's a chapter on writing your essay on the computer and another on how to cope with essay writing under exam conditions.

Each part of the guide contains samples culled from the pages of actual student essays.

To go to this book's Amazon page, where you can preview the text for free, or order and download a copy, go to www.amazon.co.uk and search for Making Sense of Essay Writing.