A STUDENT'S GUIDE TO WRITING SOCIAL SCIENCE ESSAYS, Lecture notes of Geography

Download A STUDENT'S GUIDE TO WRITING SOCIAL SCIENCE ESSAYS and more Lecture notes Geography in PDF only on Docsity! A STUDENT’S GUIDE TO WRITING SOCIAL SCIENCE ESSAYS Writing essays is one of the ways in which we are required to communicate our knowledge and understanding of the things we learn. It is an important skill in Social Science. Getting Started • Read the question/task carefully. Make sure that you understand what you are required to do. If it is a seen topic make sure you listen carefully in class on the day it is issued and ask questions of your teacher if you are still unclear. • Underline the key words. These key words often give you a clear direction as to the approach you should follow. Key terms that commonly appear in geography essays include: Analyse: Recognise similarities/differences, to make deductions, consider the relevant importance of, draw inferences from, to draw conclusion from. Assess: Determine the value or worth of something. Compare: Identify the similarities. Contrast: Identify the differences. Criticise: Give judgements about the merit of theories or opinions or about the truth of facts, and back your judgement by a discussion of the evidence. Describe: Give a detailed and graphic account. Discuss: Outline the various opinions on the subject, giving reasons for and against these opinions. Evaluate: Assess the reliability of information, to determine viewpoints, assess the validity/worth of conclusions that have been reached. Examine: Break the subject into parts and analyse each one. Explain: Give the reasons, interpret and to make plain. Illustrate: Use a figure, diagram, example or even a description to explain or clarify, thus giving a visual impression. Justify: Support a conclusion or hypothesis by making reference to available evidence/resources and providing a reasoned argument. Provide sound reasons or evidence to support this. Outline: Give the main features or general principles of a subject, omitting minor detail. Synthesise: Draw information from a variety of sources, put this information together into a coherent whole to form an argument or prove/disprove a hypothesis. These key words can be placed in two categories: Describing: describe, illustrate, outline. With essays such as these, you are asked to find the main and supporting ideas and write them down in logical order giving examples where necessary. Analysing: analyse, assess, compare, contrast, criticise, discuss, evaluate, examine, explain, justify, synthesise. With essays that have these key words in their topic, you will be expected to do more than present information. You will need to look critically at the topic and present an argument of your own. 2 Doing the Preparation/Research The information on which your essay is to be based can be obtained from a number of sources – textbooks, class notes, reference books, internet, videos, CD ROM etc. Your preparation is as vital for an essay as it is for any report or assignment. If the topic is given before the essay writing day, order your information into a logical sequence and structure (see Planning and Writing the Essay). Remember very few of us are able to write an essay before an exam and reproduce that essay in that same form on the day of the essay exam. Most of us will however benefit from writing a practice essay as a way of organising our thoughts prior to the exam. If the essay topic is unseen it is unwise to prepare an essay prior to the exam as your anticipated response is more than likely not to match the set topic. Instead you should prepare for an essay by collecting and organising information and recording this information in a logical way that you will remember. Planning and Writing the Essay Always plan your essay, even if only briefly. A plan helps give your essay structure, recall information and avoid repetition. It should include a list of the points you wish to discuss in an essay. Even within a one hour exam period, you should be able to spend the first 5-10 minutes writing up your essay plan prior to writing the essay. Essays typically have three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. Introductions have these three parts, not necessarily in this order: • Introduces or defines the question or hypothesis, including key words • Introduces the reader to the main areas or topics which will be included • Indicates the answer to the question or the response to the hypothesis Body of essay has: • paragraphs • valid generalisations (topic sentences) which introduce the reader to the topic and its relation to the question or hypothesis; will use key words • summary sentence at the end of the paragraph; clarifies the main point or argument contained in the paragraph • links (where logical) to the topic in the next paragraph Conclusions have three parts, not necessarily in this order: • restates the question or hypothesis, including key words • restates the main areas or topics which were included • finally states the answer to the question or response to the hypothesis