Knowing how to properly write an academic essay is a skill every university student needs to have. It's a skill that you will use many, many times throughout your degree, and even throughout your life if you plan on pursuing an academic career. Even if you don't, your ability to write analytically and persuasively will serve you well in a wide range of other jobs and careers.
There are endless guides and how-to's for writing an academic essay that you can find online, including a great guide in the student forum that we recommend you go through, so here we will provide you with a checklist of sorts that you can use to make sure you don't forget anything. Scroll to the bottom for a summarised version you can save!
We'll start with the more technical parts:
1. Read and re-read all instructions carefully.
Be sure to send an email to the relevant person if you have any doubts.
2. Know the formatting requirements.
This varies for each institution, but for Imperium University all typed assignments need to be 1.5-spaced and written in 11-point Calibri.
3. Make sure you know what citation style is required and how to follow it.
Again, this will depend on the institution. In Imperium's case you will always use the Harvard Referencing style.
4. When doing your research, be sure to use reliable, reputable and if possible up-to-date sources.
Avoid user-edited websites and popular publications. Wikipedia might seem tempting, but it is not an acceptable source. That being said, the references section on Wikipedia can be a good starting point to find more reliable sources when beginning your research.
5. Evaluate your sources carefully and critically.
As reliable as a source might seem, you should never take anything at face-value and should always do some extra research to verify your sources and the sources of your sources. Using primary sources will also help you draw conclusions for yourself from the evidence.
A primary source is first-hand data and evidence about a topic, whereas a secondary source is data interpreted through someone else's perspective. Examples of a primary source could be a video or audio recording of an event, a historical document, an eyewitness report, data from a scientific experiment etc.; secondary sources would be scientific papers and news articles, i.e. data interpreted by someone else from their perspective.
Now let's get to the actual essay writing:
6. Come up with a clear thesis statement.
7. Create an outline of everything you want to touch on to help organise your thoughts.
8. Make sure your essay has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
9. Use transition sentences between paragraphs.
10. Support all your statements with analysis, examples, and evidence.
11. Address counterarguments for your thesis statement you may have come across in your research.
12. Cite all your sources properly, in-text AND in a bibliography at the end.
13. Proofread your essay. Check for errors and make sure the language and tone is appropriate.
14. Have someone else read your essay. A fresh pair of eyes will help spot things you missed.
15. Add an index and page numbers. Bonus points if the index has hyperlinks that take you directly to the respective pages.
And there you go. It might sound intimidating, but it'll get easier every time you do it. You'll soon be an academic writing master! Feel free to save the checklist below and even print it out to use for future reference.
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