Frequently Asked Questions about essays
There are so many books on [insert name of essay topic] in the library. Can you recommend which ones I should read?
No, I can't tell you which books to read I'm afraid. Finding good material is part of the learning exercise, so it's up to you to do your own research! (Hint: any books or other references suggested by the lecturer are always a good place to start!)
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I have chosen the title about [insert name of essay topic], but have found so much information that I could include in the essay. I was wondering if you could give me any help as to what I actually have to put in?
I can't really tell you what to include, because there is no one 'right' way to answer the question. Besides which, putting together a concise argument and being selective about what you discuss is part of the learning exercise!
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I am doing the essay on [insert name of essay topic] and the only reference given in the course handout is Gleitman et al. Is this all I need to read?
It's possible to write a fairly decent essay based only on the information given in the course textbook, but if you want to get a good mark you really need to show evidence of wider reading. Reading around the topic will help you get a better feel for the 'bigger picture', and should help you to develop a more interesting perspective on the question.
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What should I put in my introduction and conclusion?
The introduction is just a way of setting the scene. If you think the essay question could be interpreted in more than one way, you might use the introduction to explain the approach you are going to take, or the perspective you're coming from. Similarly, if you think there is too much information to fit into 1500-2000 words, you might use the introduction to narrow the title down a bit, and explain what aspects of the question you are going to focus on. You could also explain why you think this [whatever your essay is about] is an interesting area, or why it has an important place in psychology.
The conclusion is the place where you pull the different threads of your essay together. Yes, it's good to sum up the points you've made, and remind the reader about any important findings or implications. But you should also try to relate back to the original question -- this should help you say something about how the different bits of your essay fit together. Are there any questions that still couldn't be answered, or differences (between psychologists and their theories) that can't be resolved on the basis of the evidence? The conclusion might be a good place to mention these, and talk about how the field of psychology might move forward from here. Students often use the conclusion as a comfy place to sit on the fence (e.g. "it seems that genetic influences and environmental factors both have a part to play in intelligence"), and this is fine -- if a bit boring! It's also okay to express a stronger opinion one way or the other, but you must be able to justify it!
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If I read about a study 'second-hand' (e.g. in a textbook), how do I refer to it in my essay? Do I refer to the original source, or the book I got it from?
The received wisdom is that you should be honest about where you got the information by referencing both the original study and the book you found it in. For example, you might say something like:
Research suggests that eating vegetables raw is good for you (Brown, 1954, cited in Gleitman et al., 1999).
or Brown (1954, cited in Gleitman et al., 1999) suggests that eating vegetables raw is good for you.Then you need only put the Gleitman et al. book in the reference list at the end of your essay. But as far as I'm concerned, it's also perfectly acceptable to just give the original reference for the study you are talking about, like this:
Research suggests that eating vegetables raw is good for you (Brown, 1954).
At the end of the essay you would then need to give the full reference for the Brown (1954) source, which you can find by looking at the reference section at the back of Gleitman et al. (or whichever book you found the information in). If the original source is a journal article, it might look something like this:
Brown, R. (1954). The beneficial effects of raw vegetables. Journal of Food Research, 56(4), 1-28.
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In the reference section, should I list all my references in alphabetical order by the author's surname regardless of whether it is a book or an on-line (WWW) source, OR list book references in alphabetical order and then follow by on-line references in alphabetical order?
List all your references by alphabetical order, regardless of what kind of source they come from. Don't use sub-headings to split your reference list into sections.
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Do I need to include a word count?
You should be aiming to write between 1500 and 2000 words per essay. There's no penalty for writing more or less than this, so it's not absolutely necessary to include a word count. For your own interest, though, you might want to find out how much you've written. Being able to write an informative but concise essay is a really valuable skill to have, so if you find you've gone way over 2000 words, think about how you might make your story shorter. Is all the material you've included relevant to your argument? The questions set for Psychology 1 usually give plenty of scope for discussion, so if you're struggling to write as much as 1500 words, you probably haven't done enough reading and/or thinking about the title!
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Why shouldn't I use footnotes?
In a 1500 word essay, you've only got room to include material that's relevant to the essay question -- there's isn't space to go off on a tangent. If you think something is only worth mentioning in a footnote, it probably doesn't need to be in your essay at all. Besides which, footnotes tend to distract the reader's attention from the point at hand, and break the 'flow' of your argument. This is also why I ask you to put references in the body of your essay, not in footnotes.
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I'm worried that I won't be able to finish my psychology essay before the deadline. Can I have an extension?
You will only be able to get an extension to the essay deadline if you have a medical certificate, or if there are very good personal reasons why you should have extra time. If this is the case, you need to contact the Psychology 1 demonstrator, Chris Burns as soon as possible, and at least one working day before the deadline, explaining why you can't hand your work in on time.
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Last updated 20th October 2002