Geography

Guidelines: Planning and Drafting the Critical Essay An essay is a carefully organised answer to a question. If your topic is not a question, rethink it so that it is. There have developed a number of accepted conventions about what an essay should look like. They provide a useful framework for presenting ideas.

The conventions of the essay Conventions about structure • It has an introductory paragraph, which shows the focus of the essay and indicates the main points to be covered. • The body of the essay consists of a number of paragraphs, each of which: - deals with one main point about the text - has a topic sentence. It has a concluding paragraph Conventions about language • Language is generally formal • Full paragraphs and sentences are used rather than numbered points and headings. • Although formal, the essay should be interesting to read. Conventions about references and quotations • Titles of full length works, such as films or novels are underlined or placed in italics. • Titles of shorter works such as articles, stories and chapters are placed in ‘quotation’ marks. • Authors are referred to by their full name or surname. • Where words, phrases or sentences from the text are used in analysis, they are placed in quotation marks. Reference with the page number in brackets.

Structure • Helps you organise your thoughts in a logical manner • Makes it easier for the reader to follow your essay. The Introduction The introduction is more than just a beginning. Just because a paragraph starts an essay does not mean that it is an effective introduction. The point of the introduction is to tell your reader: • Where you are coming from • Where you are going How shall I do this? 1. Briefly introduce the text you are writing about, including the title and writer 2. State the focus/ point of view of your answer to the question. This is the controlling idea of the essay. Your sentence may use some words from the essay question; better still use your own words. 3....