Coming to grad school in the UK after a number of years out of school, the realization that 100% of my mark for each class would come from one single essay was terrifying. Don’t think right away that the same will be the case for you, I know for undergrad students assessment is based on both coursework and exams and for grad students it depends on the masters course – some have exams, some don’t, some have several pieces of coursework, some have only one. In my case, 7 out of 8 classes had one essay worth 100% of my mark... eep!
Whatever category you fall under, however, I do guarantee you that essay writing will be part of your student life in the UK! Though a few years out of education, I did at least come from a system where essay writing was taught in secondary school and an important part of our assessment in university. For some of my friends here, however, essay writing hadn’t been part of their previous education, or at least not in the same sense as in the UK. I also have the advantage of being a native English speaker, where most of my friends and fellow students are not. If the prospect of writing so many essays was scary for me... I can only imagine that it was even scarier for them...
Now, in the last week of second term, I have submitted six essays, and have another three due in the coming weeks. The time pressure for these final essays is weighing heavy, but I do feel much more confident in my ability to produce essays along the lines of what my tutors are looking for.
There was some trial and error involved though, and whatever confidence I have developed came from taking advantage of the resources I had available. In the linguistics department anyway, we had the choice to write what they called an ‘early assessment’. It was a short, optional essay on a topic covered in class, and though we didn’t receive a mark for it, we were able to meet with the tutor and discuss our writing. I felt so busy at that time, it was hard to make myself do a task that was optional, but I was really glad that I did in the end... I got constructive feedback from my tutor about my style of writing that I was able to then apply to my essays.
Even less formal than that, I knocked on my tutors’ doors over and over again. What I found out pretty quickly here is that if I had a question, my tutors were more than willing to help me in whatever way they could. The more I asked, the more clarity I found... Even over the vacation, I sent the introduction and first section of an essay to my tutor and she responded the next day with some advice that ended up drastically changing the second half of my essay. Though it created more work, as I had to rethink a little, I have no doubt that it improved my final mark. Really, the absolute best advice I can give after two terms at Essex... when in doubt, ASK!
On a random note, as I write, my friends have been laughing at the expressions on my face. After an intense week of essay writing and proof reading and writing and.... I have been finding it a little difficult to let go of the formal writing style and write less formally... for a blog!
Anyway, so now that I am writing this, I am looking a little further into what resources are available to students, and while I took advantage of my tutors, I am now realizing how many other services are available to support students with questions about their coursework. Of course, if you Google essay writing, you will find all kinds of sites telling you how to write an essay... but Essex has their own! If you want to know what they expect here... go to the source! This site has videos of students talking about essay writing and includes all kinds of tasks to help refine your essay writing skills. There is also info here on giving presentations, doing research....
This page is from Essex as well... it gives more of a general overview. It is definitely a good read and makes some excellent points that I can relate to oh so well...Point 5, for example, rings particularly true after spending this past weekend feeling like I was drowning in potential sources...
These two sites seem quite useful, too. The first is a brief overview and the second is incredibly detailed, giving advice on all possible aspects of essay writing...
Additionally, each department has their own version of academic support services. Instead of listing them all here, I’ll say - if you come to Essex... Ask! Each department has an office and the administrators there, or your tutors, will certainly be able to tell you what the department can do to help... Before you come, it might be a good idea to become familiar with your department’s website as well, as many of them have department specific guidelines on essay writing. It seems the first Essex site that I linked to above, has a page where all the departments will post their individual support services, but the information is not all there yet... coming soon perhaps?
For International students there are even more possibilities... There is a Skills Centre on campus run by the International Academy. You can find info on what services they offer here:
The International Academy offers in-sessional classes including some that help with writing skills:
In short (though this has been long!) don’t suffer in silence! There is loads of help available making the most of it can make your life and your workload so much easier....
Emily
