TEACH ESSAY.CHECKLIST                             Aaron Sloman, Nov 1995

Here are some recommendations on writing essays. They are guidelines
only and you should use your judgement as to whether they fit the
particular essay you are writing. There are separate teach files on
writing project reports

    TEACH REPORTS
        This is suitable for first year and relatively simple second
        year project reports.

    TEACH PSTYLE
        Gives suggestions for more ambitious projects, e.g. third year
        undergraduate projects, or MSc summer term projects.


         CONTENTS - (Use <ENTER> g to access required sections)

 -- Introduction
 -- Structure of the essay
 -- -- On the desirability of section headings and numbers
 -- More detailed descriptions
 -- o Abstract
 -- o Introduction
 -- o Development
 -- o Discussion
 -- o Conclusion
 -- o References
 -- How the essay will be marked
 -- o Spelling and grammar.
 -- o Structure and content
 -- o Plagiarism
 -- o Collusion
 -- o Physical presentation
 -- A possible mark scheme for essays
 -- o Mark band 80-100 (High first class)
 -- o Mark band 70-80 (First class)
 -- o Mark band 60-70 (Upper second class)
 -- o Mark band 50-60 (Lower second class)
 -- o Mark band 40-50 (Third class)
 -- o Mark band 35-40 (Failed, but...)
 -- o Mark band: 0-34 (Failed)
 -- Essays written in poor English
 -- Marks within a band.

-- Introduction -------------------------------------------------------

In writing your essay you need to think about various requirements and
constraints, including the following:

    Length limits

    Whether topics have been specified or you are allowed to choose
        your own

    Relevance to the course

    Requirements regarding structure and organisation of the essay
        (e.g. must it contain a literature review and a bibliography?)

    Requirements regarding physical presentation
        (e.g. can it be hand written, must it have a cover sheet,
        how must it be bound?)

    How it will be marked -- i.e. what the examiners are looking for.

The following sections aim to give you some help on these topics.


-- Structure of the essay ---------------------------------------------

These are guidelines only. Use your judgement and vary the structure to
suit the topic you are writing about.

A first year essay should provide the following.

    Title   (one or two lines)

    Abstract (five to ten lines)

    Introduction

    Development

    Discussion

    Conclusion

    References

More advanced essays may have more main sections. The sections may be
broken down into subsections. Instead of these section titles, you may
use more specific titles. E.g. instead of "Development" and "Discussion"
you might have sections headed:

    What is wrong with current theories about X?

    A proposed alternative theory.

Make sure each section is clearly indicated with a section header. This
should be in bold or underlined, or in a larger font. Sub-sections
should also be clearly indicated.

You can decide whether it is appropriate to number sections and
subsections in your essay. Look at journal articles to find the variety
of styles used in the discipline and choose one that seems to be
consistent with a reputable journal.

-- -- On the desirability of section headings and numbers
Some teachers are opposed to the use of section headers, numbering
and the like, on the grounds that an essay should flow smoothly as you
read it.

I believe this is due to a romantic style of education which does not
take account of the needs of scientific writing, whose job is not merely
to enthrall or entertain but to communicate complex ideas and arguments.

For that purpose the reader requires as much help as possible from the
format as well as the text. In particular, a good scientific essay is
not just something you read once then throw away: it may be necessary to
go back and look for things in it. Good section headings are an aid to
this.

Numbering of sections also makes it easier to include cross references
from one part of the essay to another. Alternatively use page
references, but make sure the page numbering and section numbering is
consistent with the cross references: you may have added a section or a
page since introducing a cross reference.


-- More detailed descriptions -----------------------------------------

-- o Abstract

This should not attempt to summarise everything in the paper. It should
indicate clearly what the topic is and say enough to enable a reader to
decide whether he/she would wish to read it.

-- o Introduction

The introductory section should state the problem, explain what you take
the problem to be, and summarise what you think your essay will achieve.
The achievements may include things like:

    - finding faults in published theories or arguments
    - correcting those faults
    - producing arguments in favour of some conclusion
    - producing a design for a system that performs a task
    - presenting or establishing a new theory
    - identifying questions that require further research.
    - providing an overview or survey of what is known about
      some topic.

State clearly which you think your essay does.

The introduction could be as short as one paragraph, or may include
several paragraphs. In an advanced essay it could include several pages.

Whatever else you do make sure that by the end of the first paragraph
the reader knows what the problem is that you are addressing.

By the end of the introductory section the reader should know whether
you think you have solved the problem, or merely given an overview of
some arguments, or whether you have opened up a new kind of
investigation into the problem. The rest of the essay will fill in
details.

-- o Development

The main part of your essay should develop the points that you
summarised in the introduction. Each paragraph should make one clear
point, presenting arguments in support of it, and indicating any
difficulties or objections that you think need to be overcome.

If a topic is too large for a paragraph, it is often helpful to make it
a separate subsection with a heading that can be used to identify it.
The subsection should be clearly related to the rest of the text. If you
do this for one point, then some other portions will probably also need
to be in subsections.

-- o Discussion

This should present any arguments that might be made against the points
you have made in the development section, and show how you would rebut
the arguments. If you think the arguments are inconclusive, say so.

Your discussion can also include ideas on the implications of what you
have written. For example may include examples to show how to apply your
ideas to solving practical problems, or examples of new phenomena that
your theory explains, or new research areas that it opens up.

Add any points that you think are needed to qualify your arguments.
Identify loose ends left over from the main development and deal with
them. If you cannot solve the residual problems say so clearly, and if
possible indicate further types of investigation that might shed light
on them, e.g. empirical studies, philosophical analysis, or
computational experiments.

Like the development section the discussion section can be divided into
subsections.

Another possibility is to interleave development and discussion
sections.

-- o Conclusion

The concluding section should reiterate the position you stated in the
introduction, summarise the arguments you presented in the main part of
the essay, and state clearly what you think has been established and
what you think remains as an open topic for further research. If some or
all of the problems are still unsolved say so clearly.

-- o References

All the sources you have used should be clearly listed in the sort of
format that you find at the end of journal articles or books. For each
item in the list of references give:

    (a) name(s) and initials of author(s),

    (b) date of publication,

    (c) title of book or article (in italics or underlined if it is a book
    title),

    (d) if it is an article state where the article was published -- i.e.
    the journal or book containing it.
    (If it is in a journal, give volume number and issue number. If it
    is in a book give full publication details of the book),

    (e) if it is an article in a book or journal give page numbers, e.g.
    ``223-245.''

    (f) if it is a book give name and location of publisher.

Remember, in order to clearly distinguish article titles from book or
journal titles, you should put book or journal titles in italics or
underlined. If you are using a word processor that does not do that, you
can underline them with a pen and ruler before handing in the final
version. (See HELP * RNO for information on a simple text formatting
program that you can use from VED. TEACH * PRINTING gives you
information about how you can print things.)

Some journals prefer references to give the date of publication at the
end. You may follow that style if you prefer.

When you refer to an item in your text, there are two main styles. One
is to number every item in the bibliography and refer to it by number,
e.g. in square brackets. (In [23] it is shown that ....) The other main
style is to indiciate author and year, possibly with a suffix if that
author has more than one publication in the year in your list. (E.g. In
(Minsky 1989a) it is shown that....)

I prefer the latter form as often the name and date enable me to realise
what is being referred to whereas something like [23] is pretty
meaningless unless I turn to the list of reference, which wastes a busy
reader's time. But some publishers insist on this form. You will find
other formats also.

-- How the essay will be marked ---------------------------------------

Marks will be awarded for the content of your essay, its structure, and
its presentation. Detailed marking schemes will differ from one course
to another and from one examiner to another. Marking of essays is
inherently a subjective process. What follows is one person's ideas of
how student essays could be graded, but not all essays fit neatly into
this scheme, and not all examiners will agree with the details of the
scheme. The main differences between examiners will usually concern how
much weight to attach to different dimensions of assessment. E.g. some
will want to penalise bad grammar and spelling very heavily, while
others will be more tolerant.

Subject to those qualifications here are some points to remember when
writing (and proof-reading) your essay.

-- o Spelling and grammar.

Marks will be deducted for bad grammar and spelling (See HELP VED_SPELL
for information on how to check spelling in a VED file. See "man spell"
and "man ispell" for information on Unix spelling checkers. The former
is used by ved_spell.

-- o Structure and content

Marks will be awarded for

o Having a good, clear structure, and clear exposition.

o Making relevant points stated explicitly.

o Presence of clear and relevant supporting arguments. (The examiners
  do not need to agree with your conclusions in order to give high
  marks, as long as you produce good arguments.)

o Absence of irrelevant points.

o Absence of `padding' to fill up space.

Marks will not be awarded for mere statements of opinion without
supporting arguments, regardless of whether the opinions are right or
wrong in the judgement of the examiner.

Marks will be deducted if it is not clear what points you are making:
e.g. what you are arguing for, or how you think the arguments are
relevant, or if your essay does not give any indication that you have
learnt things from the course. You cannot expect to gain high marks for
writing an essay that any intelligent person might have written merely
on the basis of information that is commonly available in newspapers and
television.

-- o Plagiarism

This will be severely penalised, i.e. copying text word-for-word from
other sources (including work of other students) except where a short
quotation is explicitly used and acknowledged (with a page reference to
the source).

It is also unacceptable to present somebody else's argument in your own
words without giving an acknowledgement in a footnote or parenthesis
(and an entry for the source document in your bibliography.)

There is nothing wrong with including other people's ideas in your
essays as long as you do not give the impression that it is all your own
work. Make sure the reader knows where "borrowed" ideas have come from.
If you don't make that clear, a knowledgeable reader may think you are
being dishonest and claiming to be the inventor of the ideas, even if
that was not your intention.

-- o Collusion

Sometimes two people work together, or one knowingly provides another
with information, and the work is then presented as if each had done it
all alone. Examiners who detect the occurrence of such collusion may
assume that it was a deliberate attempt to deceive, and deduct marks.

If you do collaborate with another student, then make sure that the fact
of the collaboration is stated very clearly, for example at the end of
the introduction. At the end of the essay in the acknowledgements
section you should say exactly what form the collaboration took, and who
did what. Moreover, all the essay should be in your own words, apart
from any sections which are explicitly quoted with references given to
the original author.

-- o Physical presentation

(1) Make sure that your report is submitted in a form that is convenient
to read.

Do NOT hand in fan-folded pages direct from the printer: separate the
pages, trim them (i.e. remove sprocket holes), and staple them together
in a convenient format (with the cover sheet on top). Do not use a clip
that easily comes off.

Make sure that pages can be turned easily and that the examiner will not
have to take the essay apart, or remove it from a folder in order to
read it.

Do not bind your essay in some kind of package that has to be undone for
the reader to be able to turn the pages and read the text: you will
simply irritate your examiners by doing that, even if the package looks
impressive from outside. In particular, do not use a bulky folder, with
thick hard sides. The examiner has to carry away a large pile of essays
and if everyone uses bulky folders the examiners work is made more
difficult.

Make sure that your stapling or binding does not cause some bits of the
text to be unreadable because they are too close to the margin.

(2) The essay should not be hand written. If you don't have your own
word-processor, learn to use our machines to prepare a printed version.

You can use HELP RNO and HELP VED_RNO to obtain help regarding
formatting the text, getting pages automatically numbered, etc.

If you have learnt how to use LaTeX, see HELP VED_LATEX for preparation
of LaTeX files in VED. (At present (November 1995) latex does not work
on our solaris machines, i.e. gromit and mother, but does work on mungo,
which is running SunOS.)

(3) Do not leave tiny margins or use tiny print. The font should be 11
or 12 point size, and the minimal margin size should be about 1 inch,
i.e. 2.5cm, all round. If you use ENTER psprint, or the a2ps program,
make sure that you use the portrait mode which prints one page per
sheet, not two pages per sheet. (See HELP VED_PSPRINT)

(4) Use single or 1.5 spacing, NOT double spacing. Double makes the
essay too bulky and is not easy to read. If you use double spacing for
drafts so that you can easily mark corrections between lines, you should
change the spacing for the final version.

(5) Make sure the first page has the following information:

    Student's Name:

    Degree for which registered:

    Course code and name:

    Submission Date:

    Approximate number of words in main text:
        (Excluding bibliography and appendices)

    Title of your essay:

    Abstract

(6) For formal assessments you should always attach a ``cover sheet''
available from the school, and sign the declaration.



-- A possible mark scheme for essays ----------------------------------

In order to indicate the sort of thinking that goes into marking an
essay, here is a possible mark scheme. Be warned that not all examiners
will agree with this.

-- o Mark band 80-100 (High first class)

    For a well-presented, well organised essay, clearly written, with
excellent spelling and grammar, with a clearly stated main problem or
topic, everything in the essay relevant to the topic, good clear
arguments with assumptions and reasoning clearly indicated, no rhetoric
disguised as argument, good evidence of ability to use literature,
proper citations of the views of others, good summaries or expositions
of the views of others, strong presentation of opposing views before
trying to knock them down (i.e. no attacks on straw men), clear
indication of questions that have been unresolved or arguments that are
inconclusive, good clear conclusions or reasons for lack of conclusions,
including indications of research that is still needed. No major errors,
omissions or confusions. If the student is also able to produce novel
arguments or ideas, or good new ways of classifying arguments or
concepts, and explain them well, then the mark should be in the 90s,
e.g. if there's clear ability to take a hard problem, worry away at it,
unpick it, and come out with a good solution, and then write well about
it.

-- o Mark band 70-80 (First class)

    For a well-presented, well organised essay, clearly written, with
good spelling and grammar, with a clearly stated main problem or topic,
few irrelevancies, good clear arguments, fairly good use of literature
or evidence, with few inaccuracies of reporting, proper citations, good
summaries or expositions of the views of others, clear indication of
questions that have been unresolved or arguments that are inconclusive,
good clear conclusions or reasons for lack of conclusions, including
indications of research that is still needed. Some evidence of
creativity, insight, or the ability to synthesise ideas and solve hard
problems. No serious confusions or errors.

-- o Mark band 60-70 (Upper second class)

    For a well-presented, well organised essay, clearly written, with
good spelling and grammar, with a clearly stated main problem or topic,
fairly good use of literature with few inaccuracies of reporting, proper
citations, good summaries or expositions of the views of others, clear
indication of questions that have been unresolved or arguments that are
inconclusive, good clear conclusions or reasons for lack of conclusions.
Few or no serious muddles or errors. Clear evidence of having learnt the
main concepts of the course and the ability to expound things
accurately. Evidence of problem solving ability. Evidence that the
writer could be trusted to explain things well to other students.

-- o Mark band 50-60 (Lower second class)

    Essay mostly good in respect of organisation, content, clarity,
spelling, and grammar, though possibly with some unclear, inaccurate, or
confused portions, and some omissions. Citations and bibliography OK,
and fairly good use made of the literature. Sufficient material of a
quality to show that the student has learnt enough about the content of
the course to have a basis for continuing to study the subject (e.g. at
MSc level).

Able to explain things, but liable to get some details wrong, or leave
out important points (Could become a science journalist!). Has clearly
learnt what most of the course is about.

-- o Mark band 40-50 (Third class)

    Essay tolerable, though perhaps far from perfect, in respect of
organisation, content, clarity, spelling, and grammar, and possibly with
some unclear or confused portions, or serious omissions. Sufficient
material to show that the student has learnt enough about the content of
the course to have a basis for continuing to study the subject, though
may not be able to cope with more than about 50%-60% of the following
year's course, on account of slow learning or other deficiencies. It
might be someone with much higher potential who has not done enough work
and therefore simply does not know things he or she could otherwise have
coped with had more work been done.

Can summarise what he or she has read, but liable to get some details
wrong, or leave out important points. Has clearly learnt something about
the course. This sort of mark could also be given to someone who shows
high ability, but clearly has not done enough work on the course or the
essay and therefore has produced too little. Or it could be given to
someone who would merit a higher grade on content but has presented a
shoddy piece of work, with sloppy spelling and grammar, or very poor
physical presentation.


-- o Mark band 35-40 (Failed, but...)

    Doesn't meet the above criteria but shows some evidence that if
allowed to work a bit more and have another go could re-do the essay and
get a mark over 40. This could be someone who just isn't very able, but
is highly motivated and needs more time, or it could be someone who
is clearly clever enough to do the course but who has been loafing.

-- o Mark band: 0-34 (Failed)

No work handed in, or work of such poor quality that it doesn't meet any
of the above sets of criteria.

-- Essays written in poor English -------------------------------------

If a student's work has content that is adequate for a particular mark
band, but English is very poor the mark should be reduced by half a band
(which could produce borderline cases requiring further thought). If in
addition the presentation is very scruffy, the reduction could be a full
band.

People whose native language is not English should make sure that they
get a lot of practice in order to improve their English while here. If
possible, pay a native English speaker to read your drafts and point out
errors of spelling, syntax, or vocabulary. Spend a lot of time talking
to native English speakers in order to develop your fluence. Read novels
by good English authors (e.g. including Jane Austen, George Eliot, ...)

-- Marks within a band.

Within a band assign marks will be assigned so as to respect relative
merit. Where in doubt, examiners may put things in the middle of the
band.

An examiner who thinks another examiner might have good reason for
raising the class, and who would not object strongly, might assign a
mark near the top of a band.

Note that however much examiners try to remove arbitrariness and
subjectivity by having clear marking schemes, there will always be an
element of judgement in marking, and experts can sometimes disagree
about the relative weight to attach to various strengths and weaknesses
in a student's performance. It is impossible to eliminate this kind of
thing in an educational system that goes beyond teaching trivial factual
material and attempts to produce students who can think for themselves.

--- $poplocal/local/teach/essay.checklist
--- The University of Birmingham 1995.  --------------------------------