Essay writing HELP needed :( (1 Viewer)

[antounbros]

Hey EVERYONE,

im in advanced English and am a current year 12 student. However i need your help.

I recently got back a essay and i achieved a 75% which isn't good enough.

The feedback was - better essay structure, greater analysis depth linked with techniques , use greater expression and its too cloudy (get too the meat and bone LOL)

How can i improve on all of these ? Are there any books in particular that improve all requirements in english (vocab,grammer etc?)

And does anyone know the perfect guide to writing a good essay ? maybe a handout, internet source ?

Thanks for your reply in advance, i really appreciate it
Joseph

 

[Queenroot]

Hey EVERYONE,

im in advanced English and am a current year 12 student. However i need your help.

I recently got back a essay and i achieved a 75% which isn't good enough.

The feedback was - better essay structure, greater analysis depth linked with techniques , use greater expression and its too cloudy (get too the meat and bone LOL)

How can i improve on all of these ? Are there any books in particular that improve all requirements in english (vocab,grammer etc?)

And does anyone know the perfect guide to writing a good essay ? maybe a handout, internet source ?

Thanks for your reply in advance, i really appreciate it
Joseph

Try improving how you normally write English in your day to day life.

 

[antounbros]

Thanks man this was perfect ..

Hey man, check this out: http://community.boredofstudies.org/4/english/257183/advanced-english-essay-writing-guide.html

 

[strawberrye]

One simple piece of advice I can give you is to answer the question and think about whether every single sentence you are putting into your essay answers the question directly or not, if they don't answer it directly, don't put it in. Furthermore, always avoid recounting the plot of the text you are analysing, analyse texts with RELEVANT QUOTES AND TECHNIQUES THAT ARE REVELANT TO THE THESIS POINTS YOU ARE DISCUSSING.

 

[yasminee96]

One simple piece of advice I can give you is to answer the question and think about whether every single sentence you are putting into your essay answers the question directly or not, if they don't answer it directly, don't put it in. Furthermore, always avoid recounting the plot of the text you are analysing, analyse texts with RELEVANT QUOTES AND TECHNIQUES THAT ARE REVELANT TO THE THESIS POINTS YOU ARE DISCUSSING.

+1000000

Everytime you start or finish a new point in your essays, read the question first. THE WHOLE QUESTION. ALWAYS answer the question. Linking back is one of the most important things in an essay. Tie those loose ends.

In terms of your expression, yeah you'll probably have to just practice. Reading any sort of informative books could probably help. Try reading other people's essays to understand how to express your ideas better. Sometimes you may have $50 million worth of ideas, but your expression drags you down because you simply can't put it on paper properly. read read read.

In terms of your structure, learn how to structure your essays so that your intro is done so well that it flows in a sense that the marker WANTS to read the rest of your essay. Your points should have a lead-in sentence, followed by your point and then smoothly tie it back to the question with words like "thus" and "therefore" and actually referring to the question haha. Make sure you include EVIDENCE and techniques and continuously refer back to the question throughout your paragraph. eg if it were a question about how belonging can be achieved via a familial connection, you would say something like "One can find themselves in a sense of ultimate belonging and connectedness simply by forming strong bonds with people around them that may be considered family, as they provide feelings of tranquility, elatedness and togetherness. A familial connection is achieved in 'insert text here' where 'rarara'. The familial connection here makes 'character' act in ways such as 'rarara'. This is demonstrated by 'blablabla'. Thus, in forming a familial connection, essentially characters may deem themselves in a state of ultimate belonging, as they achieve strong positive emotions as an impact of their connections with people they consider family, and hence a familial connection can form a strong sense of belonging."

In terms of greater analysis and techniques, don't only use similes and metaphors and stuff, use higher level techniques such as conceits (fancy word for metaphor tbh), en medias res, etc etc. Search around for more techniques you can use. Another tip is to not just analyse the main character, consider context (where the story is set, and also where the story was written, stuff about the author/playwright/poet and WHY he wrote the book), medium (type of text), and setting and analyse characters that no one usually analyses. Eg. I had a whole paragraph in my HSC for my belonging essay dedicated to Ms. Skiffins, a character who's around for about a page in Great Expectations haha. I had two whole pages that included stuff about the industrial revolution and the reasons why dickens wrote GE etc etc. That's where your deeper analysis comes through!

And make sure you practice writing many essays.
Good Luck