The constituents of an essay – 93
them will be introduced. The relations between the elements in this
list can be quite complex, so do not try to oversimplify them:
r an interpretation of the question if you find it ambiguous,
vague in some respect or rather open-ended; and, where
relevant, such introductory material as a clarification of the
meaning and significance of any important terms or
‘background’ necessary to establishing your proposition;
r a proposition (or a series of propositions) with whatever
qualifications and conditions you deem necessary to defend
it, which formulates your ‘best’ answer in language as clear,
precise and economical as you can muster;
r an account of the evidence and interpretations on which you
have chosen to base your proposition: evidence may consist
of facts, primary data, descriptions or generally accepted
definitions; interpretations will consist of the connections
(explanations, theories) to be made between them;
r an account of the evidence which ‘best’ tells against some
aspect or aspects of your argument, conceding its force
where necessary, criticising it where you can, and
interpreting it in such a way that your original
proposition is left substantially intact;
r an evaluation of the strengths of your argument and
evidence (and the counterarguments and counterevidence)
by reference to appropriate criteria;
r a demonstration of how your chosen approach has been
relevant to the question with which you began – for the essay
as a whole, for some section of it, or for some paragraph;
r a concluding reflection on some aspect of your answer.
If all this is going to work well, we shall need to pay particular
attention to the writing of our introduction since it is there that the
‘golden thread’ which makes our argument relevant and coherent is
crafted. So we shall now take up the first and second of the elements
above.
them will be introduced. The relations between the elements in this
list can be quite complex, so do not try to oversimplify them:
r an interpretation of the question if you find it ambiguous,
vague in some respect or rather open-ended; and, where
relevant, such introductory material as a clarification of the
meaning and significance of any important terms or
‘background’ necessary to establishing your proposition;
r a proposition (or a series of propositions) with whatever
qualifications and conditions you deem necessary to defend
it, which formulates your ‘best’ answer in language as clear,
precise and economical as you can muster;
r an account of the evidence and interpretations on which you
have chosen to base your proposition: evidence may consist
of facts, primary data, descriptions or generally accepted
definitions; interpretations will consist of the connections
(explanations, theories) to be made between them;
r an account of the evidence which ‘best’ tells against some
aspect or aspects of your argument, conceding its force
where necessary, criticising it where you can, and
interpreting it in such a way that your original
proposition is left substantially intact;
r an evaluation of the strengths of your argument and
evidence (and the counterarguments and counterevidence)
by reference to appropriate criteria;
r a demonstration of how your chosen approach has been
relevant to the question with which you began – for the essay
as a whole, for some section of it, or for some paragraph;
r a concluding reflection on some aspect of your answer.
If all this is going to work well, we shall need to pay particular
attention to the writing of our introduction since it is there that the
‘golden thread’ which makes our argument relevant and coherent is
crafted. So we shall now take up the first and second of the elements
above.