Essay Planning
Get your Essay off to the Right Start
Figuring out what an essay question is asking you to do and what tutors want to see in your finished work is fundamental to writing a good essay. With this foundation you can then plan your essay before you start writing, which makes writing essays much easier.
Word: Breaking down your Essay Question
The most common cause of lost essay marks stems from not answering the essay question in full. You can write a brilliant essay, but if it doesn’t answer the question, it won’t get many marks.
STUDY TIP
When working on your Essay, constantly refer to the Essay Question
- When you first approach your essay, pull the question apart. Define the terminology and/or concepts in the question and determine exactly what each part of the question is asking you to do. You may find that highlighting the key terms, as covered in the video above, is a good way to kick-start this process.
- Once you have done this, it is a great idea to put the essay question into your own words. If you can rephrase the question in your own words, it means you understand the question fully.
- At all stages of working on your essay, refer back to the question. You will benefit from re-reading the essay question whilst reading for the essay, planning the essay, writing and proofreading your essay. Every step of the way check that you are answering the question. Also if you have a course booklet that outlines what is expected from the essay, utilise this extra information.
Inspiration: Turn your ideas into a Mind Map
Once you have broken-down your essay question, you are well placed to start reading for your essay (see the Research & Note making page for research techniques and reading tips).
Use Inspiration to brainstorm your essay question. It is quick and easy to do as this video shows. Don’t worry too much about the structure of your ideas just yet, that comes next.
Inspiration: Structuring your Mind Map
Once you have the content of your mind map, it is a good idea to create a solid structure for your essay. This video shows how to rearrange your arguments and facts within Inspiration.
Inspiration: Adding Graphics
Making your map visually interesting is quick and easy. Adding graphics to your map will help to differentiate areas of your work, both on the page and in your mind.
Inspiration: Using Information from the Web & Exporting Essay Plans into Word
In this video we look at how to add information to your mind map from online sources, how to hyperlink your map to websites and finally how to export your Mind Map into Word.
Mind Manager: Turn your ideas into a Mind Map
Once you have broken-down your essay question, you are well placed to start reading for your essay (see the Research & Note making page for research techniques and reading tips).
Use Mind Manager to brainstorm your essay question. It is quick and easy to do as this video shows. Don’t worry too much about the structure of your ideas just yet, that comes next.
Mind Manager: Adding Graphics
Making your map visually interesting is quick and easy to do. Adding colour and images to your map will help to distinguish areas of your work and make them stand out: both on the page and in your mind. This video looks at how to achieve this.
Mind Manager: Adding Attachments
You can attach other documents to your map. In this video we add a PDF to a concept within the map, and then look at how to search for key words in that PDF. We also look at how to make research notes within your map.
Mind Manager: Restructuring your Mind Map and exporting to Word
Once you have the content of your mind map with various arguments and facts in place, it is a good idea to look again at the structure of your essay. This video shows how to re arrange your arguments and concepts within Mind Manager. We will also look how to export your mind map into Word so you can use start writing directly from your plan.
STUDY TIP
Breakdown your Essay into Sections before you start Writing
The best way to approach writing your essay is to first breakdown your required word count into sections i.e. paragraphs. The calculator below will help you do this by generating an approximate break down of paragraphs for you.
Using the Word Breakdown Calculator
If you plan your essay so each paragraph is a separate topic/argument which links to the next topic/argument in the following paragraph, you are on the right track. Get into the habit of approaching your essays in this way and you will a) save yourself time when writing and b) keep your answer on course. Moreover, breaking down your workload into manageable chunks, makes essays much simpler to write. For example, instead of being faced with a 2000 word essay, you can write one 240 word paragraph at a time which should then link to the next paragraph if possible.
Demo Version
This section is not included in the demonstration version. For a free trial of the extended functionality, or
to purchase the full version, please visit the Succeed website
Writing in Word
Referencing - Don't Lose Easy Marks
Many students miss out on marks because they do not reference their work correctly. They are simple marks, especially if you use Word’s referencing tool which makes referencing a doddle.
Word: Referencing Made Easy
Whenever you use information from a book/ journal/ website etc in your essay, it’s a good idea to input the reference information straight away into Word’s referencing library. That way if you return a book to the library or can’t find that website again, it’s okay because you already have the reference recorded. This video shows you how to input a reference into Word whilst writing an essay.
Word: Inserting a Bibliography
Once you have finished your essay, you’ll need to insert the Bibliography. If you have been entering references into Word's 'Citation Library' (see video above), Word's Bibliography tool will compile your entire Bibliography for you in the click of a button. This video shows how to add your bibliography to the end of your essay.
Using Software to Assist with Writing
If your creative flow is interrupted by difficult spellings, the following software can be a real help.
Dragon: Core Functions for dictating an Essay
Watch this video to see how Dragon can be used to dictate an essay. It also demonstrates how to make corrections when Dragon doesn’t transcribe what you said correctly.
Dragon: Editing and Navigating
In this video, we look at navigating around your document using Dragon, to allow you to edit and format text.
WordQ: Using Predictive Text
WordQ allows you to predict and check your work as you go. It’s a non invasive writing aid with functions that you can easily turn on and off as and when you need them. When you come to words you are unsure how to spell, use the prediction box and listen to predicted words, to make sure it is the word you intend.
SpeakQ: Dictation
Getting stuck trying to spell words can be really frustrating. It interrupts your creative flow and takes up time. You can try typing the word into Google which can sometimes give you a suggested spelling. Alternatively, as this video shows, you can turn on the Mic button and just say the word. It works particularly well for long, complex terms, which are often tricky to spell. Some people use this feature to dictate sentences of text, but for professional dictation software, Dragon is a more complete package.
STUDY TIP
General Dragon Tips
- Plan what you are going to say before you dictate using Dragon. You may find that writing a list of points that you then dictate is useful. You can even use Dragon to make the list!
- Pronounce each word clearly
- Try to speak in complete phrases or sentences
- Use inflection whilst dictating and try to avoid monotone speech
General Commands
- “Go to Sleep” puts the microphone into Hibernation
- “Wake up” makes the microphone active again
- “Display Sample Commands”
- “What can I Say”
Formatting:
- Capitalize that; Cap that
- All caps on
- All caps off
- Bold that
- Underline that
Undoing and Deleting & Correcting:
- Scratch that
- Undo that
- Correct that – to correct the last word
- Correct <say misspelt word>
Inserting Graphics into Word
By including graphs, tables or pictures in your essay you can present visual information in an appropriate format and often gain extra marks.
Word: Inserting a Picture
A picture’s worth a thousand words, so the saying goes. In the right context, a picture can show things that a written description couldn't convey by itself. It is very simple to insert an image into your essay. This video shows you how to insert a picture into an essay and then wrap the text around the image. We also look at how you can label your picture within an essay.
Word: Inserting a Table
Tables can be used to present all sorts of information, especially numerical data. This video shows you how to quickly and easily insert a table into your essay.
Word: Formatting a Table
In this video, we look at how to format your table so it is clear and looks good within an essay.
Word: Creating a Graph
If you have some data to include in your essay, why not present it in a graph? Data presented in a graph is much easier to analyse and tends to look impressive. This video shows you how to make a simple graph from within Word.
Word: Inserting your Graph into an Essay
This video shows you how to wrap text around the graph, position it within your essay and how to label your graph in your essay.
Formatting and Finishing your Work
Well formatted work looks professional and normally gains you a few more marks. When you graduate, presentation of work becomes even more important so it’s good to get into the right habit now.
Word: Checking your Word Count
This video shows you how to check your word count, plus how to find out the number of words in a selection of text, which can be useful if you want to check the length of a particular section of your essay.
Word: Changing Line Spacing
Most tutors will want you to submit your essay with double or 1.5 spacing. This video shows you how you do it.
Word: Inserting a Header and Page Numbers
Here we look at how to insert a header into a Word document. Headers will show up at the top of every page in your document, but you only need to insert text into one of the headers for this to work. We also look at how to insert page numbers in your document.
Proofreading
If you want to get Top Marks, Polish your Work before Handing it in
When it comes to proofreading essays you’re always told to put it aside for a week, and only then read it again. By leaving your work for a while you get a fresh take on your writing and spot the mistakes you’d have missed a week before. Great! Well the reality is, we often leave things to the last minute and don’t have the time to let our work sit around for a week. Here are some alternative ways to proof your work.
WordQ: Proofreading
WordQ can replicate that week’s break by adding a new sensory element to proofreading - listening. In this video we’ll look at how to have an essay read back to you and how to change the voice settings. If you listen to your work whilst you follow the text onscreen you are much more likely to pickup mistakes.
ClaroRead: Proofreading & Adjusting Voice Settings
ClaroRead can replicate that week’s break by adding a new sensory element to proofreading - listening. In this video we’ll look at how to have an essay read back to you and how to change the voice settings. If you listen to your work whilst following the text on screen you are much more likely to pickup mistakes.
ClaroRead: Checking for Homophones
Using Claroread you can check for 'homophones'. What are homophones? Homophones are words that sound the same as another word. For example 'air' and 'heir' sound the same when spoken as does 'there', 'their' and 'they’re'. These words won’t show up as misspelt when using Claroread to proofread because they sound exactly the same. So the homophone checker will catch these words instead.
TextHelp: Proofreading & Adjusting Voice Settings
TextHelp can replicate that week’s break by adding a new sensory element to proofreading - listening. In this video we’ll look at how to have an essay read back to you and how to change the voice settings. If you listen to your work whilst following the text on screen you are much more likely to pickup mistakes.
TextHelp: Checking for Homophones
Using TextHelp you can check for 'homophones'. What are homophones? Homophones are words that sound the same as another word. For example 'air' and 'heir' sound the same when spoken as does 'there', 'their' and 'they’re'. These words won’t show up as misspelt when using TextHelp to proofread because they sound exactly the same. So the homophone checker will catch these words instead.
Word: Synonyms
Instead of repeating a word you have just used, which makes your written work seem less interesting, try using Word’s inbuilt Thesaurus to find alternative words. Sometimes you can’t think of the exact word you need, so you can use the Thesaurus to look up a similar word and find a more appropriate word. Check this video out to see how it’s done.
Customising Word
Take Control of Word
Whilst writing essays, you will inevitably use Microsoft Word a great deal. In 5 minutes you can setup Word to your own particular preferences.
Word: Customising Word
You can customise Word so that the layout suits you and the things you use most are readily available. Click play to see a demonstration.
