Читать книгу How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays - Paul Dickerson - Страница 34

It’s all very well feeling that we should start our essay, but where – and how? Do we start at the beginning and push through to the conclusion, or perhaps start reading first, or writing a plan – or should we stop until everything seems a little bit clearer? The best idea is to start doing whatever it is we can do without any delay – for example, without having to find notes and references, or read and understand an idea and …, we will do that once we have started. If we delay at the start, we might never start.

It may be useful to think this through with some examples. Below, two essay titles are given, followed by an initial outline of ideas using both speech bubbles and notes, and including an identification of gaps in knowledge. Each of these examples imagines a different sort of gap in knowledge on the part of the student having a first thought about their essay. Note how, despite these gaps, something can be usefully started and the gaps can be better specified as a result.