You must
learn to write essays from an excess of knowledge. Go to lectures,
read up on the subject in the library, look up the latest academic
papers and thoroughly immerse yourself in the essay subject
before writing. Without this work to find out the information,
you cannot write an essay with authority and command of your
essay subject matter. Here are some tips to help you when you
gather this information.
Collect
more information than you will use
Although
your research will give you a mass of information, you must
use only the information that answers the question set. You
will probably collect a hundred facts, read a dozen opinions
and review three or four of the most recent academic discussions
of the subject. However, to answer the question set, you must
cut this information down to the key facts, most pertinent opinions
and perhaps refer to only the most relevant discussion papers.
Read
primary sources first
If
you were writing an essay on the Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Juliet, you could not write a good one without first reading
the play. Too often, students ignore the primary source of material.
If you are writing an essay on Rousseau’s philosophy, there’s
no excuse for not reading the original source contract rather
than a critique of Rousseau’s writings. Studying the primary
sources of information let you assess other information written
on the subject.
Use
a systematic way of taking notes
You
need to have a method of note-taking. No matter how you record
the information, cards, notebook or in a computer database,
bear the following in mind.
