Essay Writingryerye in Health Sciences

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Essay Writing in Health Sciences

You will be expected to write essays ...

Site: Monash University

Unit: Pharmacy Library

Book: Essay Writing in Health Sciences

Printed by: Arash Saadati Fashtami

Date: Thursday, 24 September 2015, 2:01 AM

http://moodle.vle.monash.edu/


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Table of contents

1 What is expected in an academic essay?

2 Analyzing the assignment task

2.1 The MEASURE Assignment

3 Planning your essay

3.1 Developing an Argument

3.2 Developing Key Ideas

3.3 Example of a plan

4 Structuring an Essay

4.1 What makes a good introduction?

4.2 Example of an Introduction


5 How do I organize ideas in the body of the essay?

5.1 What makes a good paragraph?

5.2 What are supporting sentences?

5.3 The Paragraph Test

6 Connecting ideas in the body

7 What makes a good conclusion?

7.1 Example: The Illness Essay

8 Editing your work

8.1 Style of writing in Health Sciences

8.2 Pitfalls to avoid in your writing

8.3 Sticking to the word limit

9 Additional Resources

9.1 Use this checklist to edit

9.2 Feedback

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1 What is expected in an academic essay?

Your lecturers have similar expectations of all students, especially postgraduate students. Click here to hear a mini

lecture (3 mins) of the information on the slide.


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Here is how you might approach the MEASURE assignment in Wound Care using the strategies discussed earlier.

Remember to have a look at the accompanying rubrics if you have access to them. (This is a good habit to get into).

The recording lasts about 5 mins


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3 Planning your essay

It is vitally important to plan your writing before you begin. A well planned essay will flow logically and use evidence

effectively. There are many ways to plan an essay and you are free to develop your own technique that works for you.

Here are some basic principles to keep in mind.

This recording is approximately 2 mins long.


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3.1 Developing an Argument

A vital component of the planning stage is knowing what you want to say about the essay topic. This is called an

argument or a line of reasoning . It is a position or an attitude you have decided to take towards the topic being

explored. Planning your essay will help ensure that the line of reasoning is consistent throughout your work and that

you are not contradicting yourself!

Here is an example of a line of reasoning (an argument) for an essay in human behaviour. The recording lasts

approximately 6 mins.


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3.2 Developing Key Ideas

An argument has to be made up of key ideas. The more specific you are about each main point that you want to make,

the better your overall argument will be.

Click on the recording below to see how key ideas are developed using supporting evidence.

This recording lasts about 2 mins.


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3.3 Example of a plan

Here is a detailed plan of an essay. You may like to set out your plan in a different way, for instance you may prefer a

mind map, a flow chart or a table with columns, where you can list your key ideas and the supporting evidence you

plan to use. It doesn't matter which format you use, as long as you ensure the structure of the essay is sound.

Click on the recording below to hear more about how this plan works. The recording is about 3 mins long.


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4 Structuring an Essay

Good essays have a clear, linear structure. They always start with an introduction and finish with a conclusion. The part

in between is referred to as the 'body' of the text. In an academic essay, it is made up of the key points you want to

make about your assignment. Good essays are characterised by distinct paragraphs which flow well. There is a sense of

unity and completeness to the text.

Click here to hear more about how to structure an essay.

The recording lasts about 4 mins:


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4.1 What makes a good introduction?

A good introduction to an academic essay will follow certain key academic conventions.

Click on the icon to find out more.


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4.2 Example of an Introduction

Click on the recording to listen to an example of a good introduction.


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How could this introduction to the MEASURE Assignment be improved?


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5 How do I organize ideas in the body of the essay?

It is important to arrange your thoughts into clear and distinct paragraphs. Each paragraph will have a key or central

idea that it develops before moving on to the next paragraph with a related but different central or key idea. The

sentence that indicates this 'key idea' is called a topic sentence (each paragraph MUST contain a topic sentence).Click

on the icon to hear more. The recording lasts 1.5mins


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5.1 What makes a good paragraph?

All good paragraphs in academic writing have a topic sentence followed by supporting sentences that develop the key

idea or argument discussed in that paragraph. It is important that paragraphs focus on only one idea/issue and that the

supporting sentences do the job of convincing the reader of this key point. Click here to see what I mean. This

recording lasts approximately 3 mins.


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5.2 What are supporting sentences?

Each paragraph consists of evidence to support the central idea (i.e. the topic sentence). These sentences are often

referred to as 'supporting sentences'. Below are a list of the most common type of supporting sentences in academic

writing. You will be able to recognise many of them.

Click on the recording below to hear an explanation of the slide.

This section lasts about 4 mins.


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5.3 The Paragraph Test

Here are some tips to help you ensure that you are writing solid, cohesive paragraphs.


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7 What makes a good conclusion?

Conclusions follow conventions of academic writing, just as introductions do.

Click here to listen to some of these.


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7.1 Example: The Illness Essay

Here is an example of a conclusion to an academic essay. Note the following features:

The opening line with keywords

The summary of the key ideas (refer to 3.3)

Lack of referencing


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8 Editing your work

It is important to set time aside to proofread and edit your work before you submit it. The next section of this tutorial

will look at hints and tips for drafting and editing your work. As with all things, practice makes 'purrrfect' so don't be

put off by the attention required to detail.


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8.1 Style of writing in Health Sciences

Every academic discipline has its own 'style'. One of the best ways to pick this up is by reading widely in your field.

Click on the recording to see what some of the main features of writing in the health sciences are. This recording lasts

about 2.5 mins


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8.2 Pitfalls to avoid in your writing

Here are some common writing pitfalls to avoid when creating complex texts and expressing complex ideas.

Click here to hear more

The 1st recording lasts 2 mins and the 2nd goes for 5 mins.

Note: If you find a description of the grammar useful refer to these key texts:

Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, Oxford University Press

Geoffrey Leech, A-Z of English Grammar and Usage, Longman Press


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8.3 Sticking to the word limit

It is important to keep to the word limit. Often there is a 10% rule that allows a writer to either be 10% under or over

the word limit. Always check with your lecturer that this is the case!

Here are some suggestions to help you keep to the word limit. This recording lasts 1.5 mins.


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9 Additional Resources

Here are links to useful resources available to you online. It is strongly recommended that you consult some of these

when you need to.

http://www.newcastle.edu.au/current-students/learning/study-skills/develop-your-skills/essay-writing

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/learning_guides/learningGuide_writingEssays.pdf

http://latrobe.libguides.com/content.php?pid=333007&sid=2723888

http://www.student.uwa.edu.au/learning/studysmarter/getsmart/guides/jump-start/essays

https://academicskills.anu.edu.au/taxonomy/term/100

https://academicskills.anu.edu.au/taxonomy/term/100http://www.student.uwa.edu.au/learning/studysmarter/getsmart/guides/jump-start/essayshttp://latrobe.libguides.com/content.php?pid=333007&sid=2723888http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/learning_guides/learningGuide_writingEssays.pdfhttp://www.newcastle.edu.au/current-students/learning/study-skills/develop-your-skills/essay-writing


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9.1 Use this checklist to edit

Here is a checklist that may be useful to use when editing your work. It is also a good idea to develop your own

checklist that addresses the weaknesses in your writing (we all have them!).

http://www.monash.edu/library/skills/resources/quick-refs/


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9.2 Feedback

Please complete this very short feedback survey so that we can improve the module.

https://docs.google.com/a/monash.edu/forms/d/1MzwDk1ZeuwtrxgQKCWLomhafESC78XGREhZY7HtZ3kA/viewform

Thanks!
https://docs.google.com/a/monash.edu/forms/d/1MzwDk1ZeuwtrxgQKCWLomhafESC78XGREhZY7HtZ3kA/viewform

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