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A172 Start Writing Essays
I'm taking this course together with A171 (Writing for the Internet) in preparation for starting an Open University Arts degree with A300 Twentieth Century Literature: Texts and Debates, in 2005. The course is based around an Open University set book - the 'Arts Good Study Guide', which is supplied with the course material. There is also a course website, with electronic copies of the study guides and other material (it's worth knowing that printed copies of the two student toolkits used on the course can be requested from your regional centre), and an audio cd. I've enjoyed doing several Open University short courses before, but the format of these Arts faculty writing courses seem particularly effective because we have small tutor group conferences and a tutor to give feedback.
Course start date November 2004
Block One - Getting started
As soon as I opened the course website and started to browse through the course material I could see that this course would be challenging and useful to me - it has a good 'feel', and the level is pitched exactly as I hoped it would be. Block one starts with some personal reflection to help establish in our own mind what we each want from the course. I always find personal reflection difficult, but useful as a starting point. The course is based around some .pdf block guides, that direct us to various activities in the set book and two student tool kits ( booklets on the Effective Use of English and, Essay and Report writing Skills). The block also covers study schedules and introduces the stages of essay writing.
The seven stages of essay writing:
• Taking in the title
• Gathering material
• Generating ideas
•Planning
• First draft
• Reviewing
• Final draft
(Chambers and Northedge, 1997, p160)
The tutor group conferences have remained fairly quiet. Our first group activity involved compiling a set of guidelines for academic writing.
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Block Two - Research and planning
I've found block two quite difficult as I'm not used to planning essays - I normally plan as I go, but I can see the benefit of having a methodic approach to writing. I've learnt some useful techniques - carefully examine the keywords; paraphrase the title; write a naive paragraph; identify the instruction and content of the title.
Primary sources - 'objects' such as books, poems, paintings, etc.
Secondary sources - academic accounts that give analysis and interpretation,'about' objects.
Block two finished with our first assessment, which I initially found hard to get into, but eventually I enjoyed completing it. We had to choose an essay title from a selection of Victorian themes, and then analyse the title, pick two set texts, and write an essay plan.
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Block Three - Making a case
A lot of material was covered in block three as we started to put the first draft of our essay together. I think that the most important thing I've learnt is that you can't distill good essay writing into a simple formula. A good essay comes together with a combination of personal voice and style; good structure; correct use of grammar and punctuation; strong well thought out expositions and arguments; and experience.
Although my previous writing experience has been in a formal report writing style, I've never been one to analyse the technical aspects of writing. I rely on checking back to ensure that what I've written 'sounds' correct. However, on this course I've decided to read some books on English grammar - Rediscover grammar, and Making sense of grammar.
An important lesson I've learnt in this block is not to try and do a complete draft in one go - if you keep coming back over a period of time it's much easier to get a different perspective, and improve on what you've already done.
The course material also contains an audio CD with interviews from various acomplished writers. I particularly liked the advice from Brian Walden, who suggested an attention grabbing first sentence to intrigue the reader and get them interested. I intend to try this technique out.
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Block Four - Editing
I've finished my first draft and I certainly feel relieved that I have 1000 words down on paper, but I'm also anxious as to whether or not I've answered the question correctly. I've been editing to a certain extent as I go - essay writing is an iterative process and I've certainly been reading and re-reading each paragraph and making minor changes. I need to leave it for a while now and come back in a few days to do the final editing and polishing up.
Editing can involve four processes:
• commenting and annotating;
• revising;
• deleting;
• rewriting.
Editing introduction - ensure it: links to title and question; maps out parts to be discussed; initiates argument.
Editing conclusion - ensure it: summarises essay; gives final answer to question; doesn't introduce anything new.
Each time I return to my essay to edit it, I find a new word or phrase to change or something to correct. A key point made in this block is to allow enough time for editing the first draft - perhaps 20% available study time should be allocated to editing, and polishing the essay.
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Block Five - Improving your writing
Block five brings the course to an end by considering: reviewing, referencing, feedback and writing for different disciplines. After following the advice on improving my essay for this course, I concentrated on writing literature essays.
Writing about Literature:
• Be clear about your task;
• Beware of giving too much background information;
• Support every assertatiion with evidence;
• Give a source to every quotation or paraphrase;
• Never copy or paraphrase study aids;
• Show clearly what you are quoting and why.
A172 has definitely been a worthwhile course for me. I've enjoyed getting down to basics and examining the way I write. I've learnt what constitutes a good essay, and hopefully it should get easier for me to put into practice. I've particularly enjoyed working on the two assignments.
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References
Chambers, E. and Northedge, A. (1997) The Arts Good Study Guide Milton Keynes: The Open University (Set Book).
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