Writing Tips for Short Essay

 Assignment Number 1, 2 or 8 (veriguide) with file name is

yuchichung.doc

 Header: Yu Chi Chung AT01 115510000 Question No.

 Please print your essay in a more environmental friendly way!

What is a Theme?
 For Introduction
 No introduction in the essay, please remember, it is an academic
writing, not causal one! Academic writing or thesis should have
“introduction, body (content) and conclusion”

 No theme(s) or weak theme(s) in the introduction, remember, you

need to introduce the content of your essay to me by “themes”, not
by telling me what you will do in the essay! For example, students
like to say “I will express my view/opinion/reason …,” what is the
theme of your view/opinion/reason?
 Not good to have question as the last sentence of introduction,
remember, the function of introduction is to introduce, not to
question!

 Don’t waste your number of words to say something very general

in the introduction (or elsewhere indeed!)! For example, Plato or
Confucius is the greatest and the most influential philosopher of the
West or the East!

 Don’t begin your introduction with sentence like this “I don’t agree
with what Zhuangzi suggests in his book.” How can you say this as
your very first sentence without telling me what Zhuangzi suggests
before! Remember, your essay is a complete and independent
writing!
 For Content
 Please keep your writing in an objective tone and to have supporting
evidence to what you say (e.g. according to Ming Pao)

 Too much non-selected textbook content, for example, for Analects, our
textbook selection is only chapters 1 and 12, but students like to write on
chapters 5, 7, 15 and so on! It may lead to an interpretation out of context!
This is a serious problem especially in the Bible! (I don’t mean you
cannot use non-selected textbook content, but only secondary, for
example, if you have 6 citations, it is ok to have 2 citations of non-
selected textbook content!)
 The content is very descriptive (just a repetition of the textbook
content without any input of your idea or analysis), or even
repetitive (two paragraphs discuss the same theme)! Sometime, the
content is general or unclear, so I don’t understand your main point!

 One point with analysis is better than many points without

elaboration.
 Classify the texts that you use into different categories.
 Be Creative : Use your own life experience and observation.
 Be Fair and Open-minded.
 Think the Text Deep into Your Own Particular Theme,
Problem and Situation

 (1) Better comparison among the texts

 (2) Better applications in the modern context
 No fact checked of the text! The understanding of the text is
simply wrong! If you have any “new understanding”, please
provide supporting evidence in the form of citation (followed by
works-cited at the end of the essay)!

 「普世的愛」是單純為別人肉體上的好 , 「友愛」是為自己精
神上的好… (unclear in meaning, need supporting citation and
further explanation)

 Many point-form-like paragraphs (1-3 sentences as one

paragraph) are not good at all in academic writing!
 The body should be well-structured, in other words, the relationship
among paragraphs should be clear! For a structured essay, specific or
designated theme(s) for discussion is (are) very crucial, if you don’t
have it (them), you cannot structure all paragraphs of your essay in
relation to this (these) theme(s) and so your essay structure may be
loosed.

 Irrelevant sentence, paragraph or example!

 Term’s definition (e.g. carefree) and its usage (e.g. flexibility or being
natural) not consistent Irrelevant (not explain clearly) sentence,
paragraph or example!
 When I read the essay I know the author (or you, student!)
starts his or her arguments by referring to a specific scholar’s
writing first and then find the supporting evidence back to the
classics! I am not saying it is wrong but I will say your
argument or analysis should begin with the classics first and
then it is supported by some other scholar’s writing, I think it
will lead you to have your own view or your creativity more
easily!

 不要以結論代替推論
 For Conclusion
 No new idea or unexplained term in the conclusion!

 I accept “question” to be asked in the section of conclusion but it functions as an

inspiration or direction for further reflection and investigation.

 Sam as introduction, it is not allowed to have no conclusion in an academic writing

and I will not assume your last few sentences as the conclusion of the whole essay
(since it may be the sub-conclusion of the last paragraph), you must have a
separated paragraph (i.e. new paragraph) for the conclusion.
 Citation and Works-cited
 https://
www.oge.cuhk.edu.hk/index.php/en/zh-best-essay-award/3rd-ge-students-best-work-award
 You can see the samples for writing the works-cited and citations!

 All our writings are academic writings, citation and works-cited are needed!
 Citation (or quotation or footnote) is different from Works-cited (or reference or bibliography),
don’t mix them up!
 Wrong citation! For Analects, you should cite (1.1) or (12.5), not page number while for
Zhuangzi, it should be page number! Please use the special number system or pagination first if
the text has one, for example, Symposium, Analects, the Bible, the Quran, they all have their
own pagination! Please use it! Others use page number!
 Use 《 XXX 》 for Chinese books ( 書名號 )

 Please use your judgment to make a reasonable number of citation, don’t over-cite or
under-cite!

 The information or format of works-cited and citation should be complete!

 The access date is the date you visit the website, not the date uploading or renewal of the
website information.

 Don’t list books or references in your Works-cited but without using them! Don’t give me
an impression that you just “show off”! It is the same to the citation, i.e. over-citation!