Requirements: Academic Essay
–
Be clear about your
intentions in the opening paragraph. Do not dwell at length on biographical
details unless these are directly relevant to your argument.
–
Your introduction should
make clear the focus of your essay and its parameters (for example which texts,
and which artists/authors if multiple; and which themes/issues/concepts).
–
The intro should get us
straight to the purpose of the essay. However, avoid merely describing what you
are going to do – use the introduction to launch the argument and analysis.
Tell us what you are going to do, how you plan to do it and why it is significant.
–
Avoid generalisations (i.e.
‘Postmodernists thought …’ [which Postmoderinsts, and did they think of
themselves as Postmodernists?]; ‘Late-twentieth-century society’ [which parts
of society? Who exactly?] etc.)
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Make sure that there is a
logical progression to the points you make in the essay.
–
Be careful to strike a
balance between contextual and/or theoretical discussion and close analysis.
Always support your observations about a text using textual evidence.
–
Never simply gloss over or
ignore a lengthy quotation from a primary text. Contextualise it and offer
detailed analysis.
–
Avoid opening or closing a
paragraph with a quotation.
Secondary Criticism
–
Do not simply assimilate a
critic’s ideas.
–
Avoid paraphrasing a
critic’s argument.
–
Always directly engage with a critic’s point
(i.e. state areas of agreement or dissent) or else show how you are applying
his/her observation/s in your own interpretation of a specific text or excerpt.
–
Avoid relying too much on
one critic’s ideas.
–
Make sure that all
footnotes and bibliography entries are consistent with the MHRA format
–
Use single inverted commas
for the titles of individual songs, essays and short stories, but italicise the
titles of book publications, movies and albums.
–
Footnote superscripts
should always be positioned AFTER the punctuation, not before it (i.e. end.3
NOT end3.)
– You should only have ONE footnote per sentence,
no matter how many quotations you cite. Simply give the reference details in
the order quoted, separated by semi-colons