How to Write Better Essays

at this stage you just need to mark the passage so that you can come

back to it later.

After the cooling off period, then, read it through for reassurance.

But as you read through, tolerate your mistakes. Don’t stop and start

working on them. Just jot down notes on mistakes and weak areas that

you must look at later.

Revising the Structure 263

Practice exercise 22

First revision

Take the essay you completed in the last assignment. First, read it

through to yourself, then get a friend to read it to you. As he or she reads

it, note those passages where your talk in print breaks down, where it’s

difficult to continue to read fluently with the right emphasis and rhythm.

Remember, your ear can often pick up awkward passages much more

effectively than your eye.

Although you’ll pick up other problems as you go through each sub-

sequent revision, this lays down clear markers that these are problem

passages and you will have to look at them.

Second revision – the larger questions

In the second revision your main concern is with the larger structural

features of your essay – the introduction, the conclusion, the logical

structure of the essay, the relevance of your arguments and the

evidence you use.

With this in mind, as you work through your essay concern yourself

just with the following things.

Introduction

Check that you’ve interpreted the implications of the question clearly

and haven’t missed anything. Your examiners will want to assure them-

selves that you have thought this through thoroughly and that you

haven’t begged questions, taking some things for granted that you

shouldn’t have. Then, having done this, check that you’ve outlined the

structure, the map of the essay, clearly, so the reader knows not just

what you’re going to do, but why.

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