Academic skills-2

Essay writing techniques and Limitations 1

According to Sharwood-Smith (1972), writing is essentially communication. In these
days, If we compare with past, assignment and essay writing become more and
more important in the education field. We can write these in many ways, but there
are some limitations to write it. So in this assignment I am going to explain about my
assignment writing techniques.

Plan:
Firstly, I would not just start writing. I think that first we have to understand that what
the question actually want to say and start writing essay with making proper plan and
with developing ideas and arguments before the process of writing. I would also like
to plan whole thing then start writing my essay or assignment. I would start planning
as I given below:

So I would start with list the points which I intend to cover and then try to group them
according to some common factor. The second thing I would do is to summarise my
answer to the question in one line, then make list of the evidence I have for that
conclusion according to strangeness. After this I would start writing and see what
new things develop my topic. Then I try to make short each intended paragraph in
one or two line, and see how effectively relate to the question. Completing all these
things I would write a number of subdivided paragraphs, each on a separate piece of
paper, and then try to order them and depth thinking on each of them. I leave the
introduction and conclusion until I've written the rest of the essay.

In my opinion, other related things and researches, examples which I need in

support my statement/answer are more important. According to Flower (1981) cited
in Chenoweth (1987), unskilled writers fail to consider the problems that readers
might experience in understanding their text. A lot of essays lose marks for covering
material that is simply irrelevant. So first I make sure that I read the assignment
thoroughly and I am sure about what it asks for before I start the reading for the
essay. Whenever I read, determine in mind what kind of material I am looking for in
order to report the assigned topic. Although I do emanate through a lot of fascinating
material when researching for my essay, But I always be selective. On the other
hand, I would like to say that there are some common mistakes and difficulties which
I always found during writing about new topic, for example academic writing and
grammar/spelling mistake and sometime I can’t think how to start writing and from
where I can get material and related current examples, journals. And to deal with this
mistakes and difficulty, I always prefer to use MS office which helps me to avoid
grammar and spelling mistake with good academic writing, and I would always like to
stay connected with my friends and library, for some tips and material
(Hennessy,2005).

Structure
The second thing is structure, I think that how to structure assignment or essay is a
most important skill of writing. I would like to structure my assignment in to three
main parts,

Firstly, the introduction groups the prospect of the essay and places the question in
framework and this will provide the framework upon which we will build the essay. In
my introduction, I would like to write three points in my essay or assignment, which
are, what the essay is about? What material I intended to cover? And what argument
I intended to follow? And finally I would like to make it clear at the end of my
introduction and the rest of the part starts.
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Essay writing techniques and Limitations 2
Secondly, body part of the assignment is the main part, we can say as “heart‟ of the
assignment. According to me a well-structured essay should contain number of
paragraphs which logically connected through the sequence of points that we intend
to cover, for example in the essay of agree/disagree I would start from the opposite
points which I am not going to support in the first paragraph of the body part, and
provide enough research and then, in next paragraph I come to the point in which I
am agree with more effective argument and example with lots of research and then I
suggest my own opinion in last paragraph of the body part. One of my tutors always
likes to say that, “always remembers that good essays don't just give evidence for
their point of view, but also demonstrate why opposing views are flawed.” And I
always follow his instruction in my every assignment. So my structure should be
based on what my argument is. The other thing in the main body is how to arrange
paragraphs in the sequences with proper sign posting and I would like to use
different types of signposting in my assignments which creates and keep interest of
the checker and get good points.

Finally, the conclusion will be our final paragraph. In my point of view, essay should
have a definite ending, in the form of a conclusion. A good concluding paragraph
should include a summary of your main points. It may also include the author’s
opinion. It should not introduce any new ideas. A good concluding paragraph often
leaves an impression on the reader. It may make the reader think more deeply about
the topic. In this part I summarise that I have said in our essay, stating what my
answer to the question is and why. Often, there is no simple answer, so I should
state what the complexities of the issue are. When I conclude my assignment I
always fill that I am repeating myself, as the body of my essay I would always like to
make my argument clear already, but the reader will appreciate a good summary
(Ezinearticles.com, 2010).

Limitation:
Apart of these entire things, I think that there are many other things toward which we
have to be careful for example, referencing with proper requirement of the tutor,
especially using Harvard referencing system (Harvard.edu, 2010). Originality is the
hardest thing to achieve in an essay, but any effort we make at being original will be
noticed by the marker. I would always like to achieve originality in a number of
smaller ways, such as making up my own examples rather than using ones straight
from books, relating popular examples to my own experience, or perhaps trying to
make new connections between particular viewpoints. The use of examples is
essential to a good essay. I would always put one or two effective and related
example to support my arguments. I am explicit in stating why this example is good
evidence of my argument. Often we will be given a word limit or suggested length for
an essay and time limit. I deal with these by managing how much I have to write in
each of the topics and how much time I have to spend behind each of it. Proper table
of contain with page number and table of charts are also very important part of the
essay/assignment (Taylor, 2003).

To sum up, there are some other limitations for using techniques like, in my thinking,
research, and time management. So to deal with this limitation, I use to be in contact
with my friends and library which provide me enough research and provide me some
hints to improve thinking ability. And about time management I would like to make
schedule of my work to deal with it.
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Essay writing techniques and Limitations 3

Referencing:

Chenoweth, N. A.,1987. “The need to teach rewriting”, ELT Journal Volume 41/1 ©
U.K, Oxford University Press.

Ezinearticles.com, 2010. Essay writing technique – 7 simple steps [Online] Available

at: http://ezinearticles.com/?Essay-Writing-Technique---7-Simple-Steps&id=544581
[Accessed 21st JULY 2010]

Harvard.edu, 2010. How to write a comparative analysis [Online] Available at:

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/CompAnalysis.html [Accessed 21st
JULY 2010]

Hennessy, R.,(2005). Writing an essay, simple techniques to transform your

coursework and examinations [e-book], How to Books Ltd publications Available at:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?
id=6boU3cZ2fmcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=essay+writing+techniques&hl=en&ei=0
KxRTPzZOMOLOMShxdkE&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDY
Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 24th JULY 2010]

Sharwood-Smith, M. A., 1972. Teaching Written English: Problems and Principles.

U.S., TESOL Quarterly.

Taylor, M. E., 2003. “Using collateral material to improve writing performance” ELT
Journal Volume 57/2 © U.K., Oxford University Press.