Читать книгу How to Write Brilliant Psychology Essays - Paul Dickerson - Страница 97

Academics often make the mistake of treating good academic writing as synonymous with good writing. There is much that is common across different forms of writing, especially if we narrow down to non-fiction writing. But it can be helpful to be aware of the special case of academic essay writing. A well-written newspaper article and an opening statement in an academic debate may share some similarities with a well-written student academic essay, but you will notice differences. We can think about the different audiences that they are addressing and the different formats they take. Crucially, though, they each do a different job. Until we get a really sharp, clear sense of the specific thing a good essay should do, we are quite likely to misfire, producing essays that, from the first paragraph, look journalistic or opinionated when what we are really aiming for is scholarly.

 Newspaper article – The first paragraph is shaped around a title and byline (or strap line), which is usually composed by the journalist and will summarise the key points – the who, what, where, why and how questions – relating to the article. It needs to both present a summary and hook the reader so that they will want to read more. A good introduction to an academic essay can be similar – in that it indicates the key issues that the essay will address. However, the academic essay is typically more formal in tone and focuses on clearly showing the reader the ideas and debates at the heart of the issues identified in the essay title.

 An opening statement in a debate – In order to be effective, an opening statement in a debate will identify some of the questions and issues that will be addressed in the subsequent debate. Furthermore, it will demonstrate an awareness that the motion being considered can be seen from different perspectives. Both of these features – identifying key issues and awareness of different perspectives – are present in good academic essay introductions. However, an academic essay does not declare a position and then marshal the evidence – it investigates the evidence and the issues and draws out the often subtle and complex implications.

 Student academic essay – The first paragraph usually orientates to a title that the essay writer has not composed themselves. The essay has to demonstrate a scholarly understanding of the key issues relating directly to a given academic essay title. The first paragraph has to show an awareness of the relevance of the title and outline the sensible, well-reasoned, thoughtful approach that the essay adopts in addressing it.

The comparison above perhaps sets the scene that student academic essays are special – it is quite a niche type of writing, although the skills you learn in doing it are incredibly helpful. In particular, the careful planning and execution of an evidence-based argument can be very helpful, even if you never write an actual ‘academic essay’ again for the rest of your life. Being able to write in that way means that you can think, talk and read in that way, bringing a critical, evaluative eye to evidence, half-truths and mis-truths, a skill that has perhaps never been more important than now.