- YES – descriptions of her appearance
- AND – other people’s attitudes towards her
- BUT – her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to advantage
Don’t worry if you can’t locate all of these literary devices in the work you’re analysing – you can also discuss more obvious effects, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. It’s not a problem if you can’t remember all the long names – it’s far more important to explain the effect of the literary techniques and their relevance to the question than to use the correct terminology.
For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question as follows:
Think about this while you are planning. Your essay is like an argument or a speech – it needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question. Start with the basics: it is best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you will be under time pressure. Organise your points in a pattern of YES (agreement with the question) – AND (another ‘YES’ point) – BUT (disagreement or complication) if you agree with the question overall, or YES – BUT – AND if you disagree. This will ensure that you are always focused on your argument and don’t stray too far from the question.
2. Have a clear structure
Y ou can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you won’t have time to make such a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful just to sketch a brief one, including a few key words, so that you don’t panic and go off topic when writing your essay. If you don’t like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.
The rhetorical question “An’ what am I doin’?” signifies that Curley’s wife is very insecure
‘To what extent is Curley’s wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men?’
Writing a formal essay can be scary! It requires a lot more work and research than other assignments, and there are many rules to follow when writing it. It’s difficult to know where to start, and even the thought of writing it can be stressful.
- Don’t force yourself to write your essay in order—start by writing the body of your essay first. Your introduction and conclusion should not be written until the main points of the body are completed first.
- Don’t plagiarize. Plagiarism is taking other people’s ideas, thoughts, or work and presenting it as your own (or not citing your sources correctly). Always give credit where it is due.
- There is no such thing as starting too early! Get a head start and prioritize writing your essay so you have plenty of time to review and edit well before the due date.
- Keep your writing objective. Objective language helps convince your reader the facts you are presenting are strong and factual.
Example: “Golden Retrievers as therapy dogs” is too broad of a topic. A topic that is narrower, such as, “Golden retrievers as therapy dogs for residents in nursing homes” keeps your research and ideas focused.
If possible, ask another person to review your essay for spelling, grammar, and clarity. A second set of eyes is helpful to catch small errors you may have missed.
Before You Start Writing The Essay
Writing an essay can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! Give yourself plenty of time to pick your topic, find your sources, and preparing your outline. Once you are happy with your ideas, just start writing! If you begin your essay well before the due date, you will have lots of time to edit and rework your essay. This way you can be confident in your work when it comes time to hand it in.
The introduction of an essay is one paragraph that introduces your topic and gives an overview of what will be discussed in the body of the paper.
Unless your teacher has given you a very specific topic, you will need to pick one. If possible, choose a topic that interests you. Once you have a topic in mind, narrow it down to make your paper more specific. You want to be able to prove a point with your chosen topic.
Context and common sense usually determine the best style to apply and whether it is needed. Complex texts may need a combination of word/apostrophe choices.
Unless you are quoting subject matter for bibliographic or semantic reasons, the use of quotation marks in conjunction with other punctuation marks is down to a text making sense (at least in the UK’s use of English). Although punctuation rules are too long to fully describe, the sensible thing is not to do anything that alters a quotation’s meaning or makes it too confusing for readers.
When there are differences between what the quotation marks and the primary sentence require, the more emphatic mark should be used. The following examples show how question marks overtake the weakest complete point:
Where the last punctuation mark of a quotation and that of the primary sentence have different purposes that are equally important and valid, both marks can be used. Example:
Guide to the Oxford Writing Style
Also known as, ‘inverted’ commas, quotation marks come in double and single types. Practice in Britain is usually to place quoted material within quotation marks of the single variety, and to place quotes within quotes within double quotation marks. For example:
Quotation marks should be used to encase unfamiliar words and/or phrases, or ones that are used in a technical capacity. This practice is the same as using italics to highlight a word or phrase. Example:
Quotation marks, as well as roman (rather than italic) typeface should be used for noting the titles of short pieces of poetry and for the titles of radio and television programs. This rule also applies to book chapters and periodical articles. For example:
Context and common sense usually determine the best style to apply and whether it is needed. Complex texts may need a combination of word/apostrophe choices.
Unless you are quoting subject matter for bibliographic or semantic reasons, the use of quotation marks in conjunction with other punctuation marks is down to a text making sense (at least in the UK’s use of English). Although punctuation rules are too long to fully describe, the sensible thing is not to do anything that alters a quotation’s meaning or makes it too confusing for readers.
When there are differences between what the quotation marks and the primary sentence require, the more emphatic mark should be used. The following examples show how question marks overtake the weakest complete point:
Where the last punctuation mark of a quotation and that of the primary sentence have different purposes that are equally important and valid, both marks can be used. Example:
Guide to the Oxford Writing Style
Also known as, ‘inverted’ commas, quotation marks come in double and single types. Practice in Britain is usually to place quoted material within quotation marks of the single variety, and to place quotes within quotes within double quotation marks. For example:
Quotation marks should be used to encase unfamiliar words and/or phrases, or ones that are used in a technical capacity. This practice is the same as using italics to highlight a word or phrase. Example:
Quotation marks, as well as roman (rather than italic) typeface should be used for noting the titles of short pieces of poetry and for the titles of radio and television programs. This rule also applies to book chapters and periodical articles. For example:
They're always tied to the broader aims of the subject. Even in my argumentative Economics essays I don't lay out premises and conclusions because there's not as close a focus on arguments as a Philosophy essay.
The way you structure your PPE essay, analyse the question, and even how much you write will come down to your efforts to meet what the question demands. Everything you do is simply a means to answer the question as best possible. Getting to grips with this idea is essential, and totally different from A-Level.
So if there's no universal way of doing things, how exactly do I know what I need to do? The best start is your subject. All those soft-skills and buzzwords that are on the subject page on the course website? They matter.
There is no universal formula. There are no universal rules. The most important difference is that there's no such thing as the "perfect way to write an essay." Writing a good university essay begins with changing your mindset from, "how do I write a good essay?" to "how do I write this essay well?"
5. Even the Tutor Can Matter
That ended up being entirely true. My first Oxford essay was poor. I had no idea what I was doing. But I quickly learned all of the above. With every piece of feedback you get, you get better at knowing how to approach every specific question.The support you do get is on developing those subject skills in the first place, and it's in developing these skills you write better essays.
This applies to everything. From structure, to number of points, to how many counterarguments to include – these things only matter if they help effectively answer the question. There's no such thing as a universal "model Oxford PPE essay structure". Understanding this is the first step to writing a great university essay.
And I just couldn't find any of these. That's when I realised I needed to completely change the way I thought about essay-writing.
I remember getting my first Oxford PPE essay, "Does Descartes’s “evil demon” thought experiment show we cannot know anything about the external world?"