Essays

Why do I need to write an essay?

I can write reports (I think). I can write computer code, and I know it works when it works. I can write letters and emails. They work because people write back to me. I write blogs (no-one reads them; I never get comments). But essays! Yeuch! It's an art form like a piece of poetry. It has to have a beginning, a middle and an end, but the bit in the middle has to be an argument, but I don't have an argument. I don't have a coherent logical flow to argue. Er, perhaps today's blog could be an essay on why I have to write essays. :(

Here's some advice I've been given on writing essays:

• show the content of the argument
• provide references for assertions (I have to realise that they are assertions first)
• contextualise the points within the broader argument
• add an evaluative dimension
• explore concepts in detail
• create narrative in the argument
• specify how the research question fits into previous research
• provide detail in theoretical account
• emphasise the interpretive nature of qualitative research
• spell out what the assumptions were that underpinned the idea I was discussing

I've searched and read. One useful book is Writing for Academic Success: A Postgraduate Guide. It covers general issues such as managing the writing environment as well as specific types of writing. However, it includes essays in with book reviews and exam papers. So I looked at a few web sites:

The Writing Center has extensive advice on a number of pages including several on writing essays, arguing, counter arguing and editing.

The ABC of Academic Writing has a set of guides in various hues and tones. It says:

"The word essay means an attempt. Like a single throw in a javelin competition, it should deal with one issue in a unified way."

and links to a discussion of argument in an essay.

Then there's the UNC Writing Center on argument.

And OU sites that I have to sign into, such as the OU Knowledge Network eWrite.
I think that the link to the PhD writing skills is most useful.

So you'd think I'd have enough advice ... :(