Summary – 133
elaborate and enhance your points by writing in some depth
depends not just on reading more widely in the search for facts but
also on reading the sources at hand in more depth.
4
Summary
Drafting the middle of the essay is a test of a number of things:
r First it is a test of how well you have drafted your
introduction and of the usefulness of any outline of issues to
be covered you have made.
r Secondly, it is a test of your ability to conceptualise the
material in such a way that breadth of coverage is balanced
against the need to elaborate and enhance.
r Thirdly, it is a test of how well you are able to use the
common experience of grinding to a halt to rethink where a
line of argument is taking you or to ask new and relevant
questions about how to enhance the points you have already
made.
r Finally, it is a test of your willingness not to be wholly
imprisoned by the draft of your introduction or by the draft
of any part of the middle, and of your readiness to change
the emphasis in your answer. Only rarely should you feel
the need to change the fundamental thrust of your answer
and to re-write from the beginning. If this does happen,
remember that the new assurance with which you write will
compensate magnificently for the extra labour.
All these tests are ones you should try to set for yourself. The
comments of other students and your tutors are (or can be) invaluable aids in helping you to recognise where something needs to be
extended, elaborated or enhanced. But writing and re-writing the middle remains most importantly the opportunity to test out for yourself
the argument of the draft introduction with which you began.
elaborate and enhance your points by writing in some depth
depends not just on reading more widely in the search for facts but
also on reading the sources at hand in more depth.
4
Summary
Drafting the middle of the essay is a test of a number of things:
r First it is a test of how well you have drafted your
introduction and of the usefulness of any outline of issues to
be covered you have made.
r Secondly, it is a test of your ability to conceptualise the
material in such a way that breadth of coverage is balanced
against the need to elaborate and enhance.
r Thirdly, it is a test of how well you are able to use the
common experience of grinding to a halt to rethink where a
line of argument is taking you or to ask new and relevant
questions about how to enhance the points you have already
made.
r Finally, it is a test of your willingness not to be wholly
imprisoned by the draft of your introduction or by the draft
of any part of the middle, and of your readiness to change
the emphasis in your answer. Only rarely should you feel
the need to change the fundamental thrust of your answer
and to re-write from the beginning. If this does happen,
remember that the new assurance with which you write will
compensate magnificently for the extra labour.
All these tests are ones you should try to set for yourself. The
comments of other students and your tutors are (or can be) invaluable aids in helping you to recognise where something needs to be
extended, elaborated or enhanced. But writing and re-writing the middle remains most importantly the opportunity to test out for yourself
the argument of the draft introduction with which you began.