Writing a student essay

15
Writing Student essays: A Quick Guide Andrés Gua damuz

description

Short musings on how to avoid common mistakes.

Transcript of Writing a student essay

Page 1: Writing a student essay

Writ

ing S

tuden

t ess

ays:

A

Quick G

uide

Andrés G

uadam

uz

Page 2: Writing a student essay

What

mak

es a

Goo

d ess

ay?

"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it”Potter Stewart, Jacobellis v. Ohio

Don’t

ask

me,

I ju

st w

ork

here!

Page 3: Writing a student essay

Answer

the

Questio

n

It’s

ther

e fo

r a re

ason

Page 4: Writing a student essay

Para

graphs a

re y

our f

riends

And use

sec

tion h

eader

s to

o!

Page 5: Writing a student essay

Have

a poi

nt, an

d get

to it

If yo

u mis

s th

e poi

nt, yo

u mis

s th

e m

ark.

Page 6: Writing a student essay

Struct

ure

Regula

tion b

y ar

chite

cture

is a

nic

e co

ncept

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The

mor

e yo

u read

, the

mor

e

you ca

n say

It’s

never

bee

n eas

ier t

o re

sear

ch

Page 8: Writing a student essay

Citatio

n, Cita

tion, C

itatio

n

Did I

men

tion c

itatio

n?

Page 9: Writing a student essay

The

Inte

rnet

has

chan

ged

ever

ythin

g!

Avoid

com

mon

place

s an

d unsu

pporte

d sta

tem

ents

Page 10: Writing a student essay

Quick checklist

Bibliography.

Word count.

Formatting matters (it may show you didn’t have time).

If possible, have someone else read the work.

Poor capitalization, grammar and punctuation may get in the way of your idea.

Cite everything!

Page 11: Writing a student essay

How to cite (Original)

Alvin Kernan, The Playwright as Magician. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. pp. 102–103.

“From time to time this submerged or latent theater in becomes almost overt. It is close to the surface in Hamlet’s pretense of madness, the “antic disposition” he puts on to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from plucking out the heart of his mystery. It is even closer to the surface when Hamlet enters his mother’s room and holds up, side by side, the pictures of the two kings, Old Hamlet and Claudius, and proceeds to describe for her the true nature of the choice she has made, presenting truth by means of a show. Similarly, when he leaps into the open grave at Ophelia’s funeral, ranting in high heroic terms, he is acting out for Laertes, and perhaps for himself as well, the folly of excessive, melodramatic expressions of grief.”

http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/integrity/08/plagiarism/

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Verbatim Unacknowledged plagiarism

Almost all of Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be understood as a play about acting and the theater. For example, there is Hamlet’s pretense of madness, the “antic disposition” that he puts on to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from plucking out the heart of his mystery. When Hamlet enters his mother’s room, he holds up, side by side, the pictures of the two kings, Old Hamlet and Claudius, and proceeds to describe for her the true nature of the choice she has made, presenting truth by means of a show. Similarly, when he leaps into the open grave at Ophelia’s funeral, ranting in high heroic terms, he is acting out for Laertes, and perhaps for himself as well, the folly of excessive, melodramatic expressions of grief.

Page 13: Writing a student essay

Selected passages unacknowledged

“Almost all of Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be understood as a play about acting and the theater. For example, in Act 1, Hamlet adopts a pretense of madness that he uses to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from discovering his mission to revenge his father’s murder. He also presents truth by means of a show when he compares the portraits of Gertrude’s two husbands in order to describe for her the true nature of the choice she has made. And when he leaps in Ophelia’s open grave ranting in high heroic terms, Hamlet is acting out the folly of excessive, melodramatic expressions of grief.”

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Proper citation

Kernan [Insert Footnote] believes that almost all of Shakespeare’s Hamlet can be understood as a play about acting and the theater. He says:

“From time to time this submerged or latent theater in becomes almost overt. It is close to the surface in Hamlet’s pretense of madness, the “antic disposition” he puts on to protect himself and prevent his antagonists from plucking out the heart of his mystery.” [You can also insert footnote here]

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Have fun and Good luck