Course Instructor: Prof (Dr) AK Chatterjee

Jindal Global Law School

OP Jindal Global University

COST Model
Academic Essay and Thesis Writing

The COST model for academic essay and thesis writing is

based on four key particulars—concept, originality, structure
and thesis—and subparticulars, designed for scholars as a
ready reckoner to focus attention on all principal
components relevant to the exercise.

PARTICULARS SUBPARTICULARS WEIGHTAGE %

IDEA 8
CONCEPT THEMATICS 8 24
RELATIVE RELEVANCE 8

RELATIVE ORIGINALITY 8
ORIGINALITY DIMENSIONALITY 8 24
COMPLEXITY 8

STYLE & STRUCTURE 8

STRUCTURE GRAMMAR 8 24
CITATION 8

THESIS STATEMENT 8
THESIS LOGICAL PROFICIENCY 8 24
DIALECTICAL QUOTIENT 8

TOTAL ACADEMIC ESSAY 96

4% of the total marks for the academic essay are allocated to

the format.
 Course Instructor: Prof (Dr) AK Chatterjee
Jindal Global Law School
OP Jindal Global University

Key to the Cost Model

Idea
This implies what is the central idea of the essay (for e.g. an
essay titled ‘Dress Codes of Nineteenth-century American
Presidents’ has American presidents in the nineteenth
century and dressing culture as its central idea).

Thematics
Themes are those cornerstones on which any work of
expression is founded and which pervades a text (for e.g. in
the aforesaid essay, dressing culture and dress codes are the
themes).

Relative Relevance
This implies not only how relevant the work of research is to
contemporary concerns but more importantly what relevant
impact it has on its own discipline (for e.g. in the aforesaid
essay, the dressing culture of nineteenth-century American
presidents may or may not have an impact on
contemporary dress codes but it does build knowledge
about some visible aspects of professional attitudes of
American presidents, in general).

Relative Originality
This implies how original the idea is on its own and how
well does the originality compare with that of peers
(classmates and the larger academic community).

Dimensionality
This implies the specificity of the dimensions in which the
scholar is performing the study (for e.g. in the essay titled
‘Dress Codes of Nineteenth-century American Presidents’
the scholar performs the study in fewer dimensions than the
essay titled ‘Dress Codes of Nineteenth-century American
Presidents: Correlations Between Dressing and Speech
Etiquettes.’ In the latter, the new dimension of speech
 Course Instructor: Prof (Dr) AK Chatterjee
Jindal Global Law School
OP Jindal Global University

etiquettes has been added. Dimensions can imply historical,

geographical, behavioral and other frameworks that make
an idea more specific).

Complexity
The presence of greater dimensionality (or greater
definition) in a work of research gives it greater complexity
(for e.g., the simple premises that i) American presidents
followed an implicit dress code in the nineteenth century,
and that, ii) American presidents followed an implicit
speech etiquette in the nineteenth century, adds into the
complex premise that American presidents followed
implicit speech and dressing etiquettes in the nineteenth
century). Those interested in better understanding
complexity, an elementary overview of Benoit Mandelbrot’s
simple equation zn+1 = zn2 + c (where ‘c’ stands for
complexity) is recommended.

Style & Structure

How well the essay is organized and how well the sentences
and paragraphs flow into each other.

Grammar
English grammar and diction.

Citation
In-text citations, indented citations, bibliography, footnotes
(according to MLA style).

Thesis statement
The key central complex argument of the essay.
(Recommended that scholars explicitly follow objectives and
guidelines stated in the respective handouts and academic
resources from the Harvard Writing Centre).

Logical and dialectical proficiencies

These imply how logical the paper is and how many
dialectical questions or points it raises. (Recommended that
 Course Instructor: Prof (Dr) AK Chatterjee
Jindal Global Law School
OP Jindal Global University

scholars explicitly follow objectives and guidelines discussed

in class presentations and lectures).

Plagiarism
Plagiarism can mean i) the unacknowledged verbatim
reproduction of material that is under copyright, for e.g.
three words or more, phrases, sentences, passages, or, ii) the
unacknowledged reproduction of paraphrased ideas from
material that is under copyright, for e.g. thesis statements,
premises, observations, research findings, data, etc.
Any evidence of plagiarism found in the submission
disqualifies the paper from further evaluation. It is highly
recommended that scholars observe citation guidelines and
objectives discussed in lectures and use citation tools
wherever appropriate.