Читать книгу How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays - Paul Dickerson - Страница 112

‘Statement of intent’ is an unusual term, with a somewhat legalistic ring to it. The statement of intent is the programme guide, street map, menu or orientating briefing for your essay. A clear statement of intent improves the reader’s experience of your essay and that really is important. With a statement of intent, your reader will know what is coming next and so the essay starts to feel well structured. If your statement of intent is really good, then the reader can see the rationale for what you have included and for the order in which you are addressing different ideas in your essay. A strong statement of intent can even help to convey a sense of critical thinking as it can highlight what you identify as some of the key points of discussion and debate that are relevant for the essay topic.

Ace your assignment Think about your reader’s experience – from the beginning

Tables 3.1 and 3.2 present a weaker and a stronger example of some introductory paragraphs and how a reader might interpret them. Look at each example first and pause to think how it made you feel before checking the reader’s reactions.

Table 3.1

Table 3.2

A strong statement of intent can tick so many boxes, conveying an understanding of the relevant literature, a sense of clear structure and some critical awareness, but a typical statement of intent falls short of this. Many essays do not have a statement of intent or have something so generic that it is neither sign-posting a rationale nor demonstrating evaluative thinking. To get a clearer grasp of this, let’s return to the sample essay title used above and see how a statement of intent could be written.