Writing Guide

We recommend the use of the digital writing tool 'Grammarly'. Guidelines on how to install and use this resource are found here: https://login.ru.ac.za/to/grammarly .

• The first step of writing any essay is understanding the question and analysing what it is asking you to do. Identify keywords and then refer to your lecture notes, scan recommended course texts and ask your lecturer or classmates for clarification.

• Read and understand your sources. It is often useful to scan sources before reading them to understand their argument and its structure or the information they provide.

• Plan your essay. Structure the essay to fit the question. Know what you are saying.

• Make sure that you take note of all the instructions. If the question says 'critically discuss', then you must do so. Take note of these if they prescribe a length, certain sources of information or a certain number of sources. Incorporate these elements into your planning.

• Compile your Reference List before you begin writing to help write the essay, cite in-text and ensure you do not forget any sources. Once you have finished, you also need to check that all the references on the list have been cited in the essay. Delete any that have not been used.

• Start planning early and tackle the task in small 'chunks'. 

Almost all writing should have a basic structure with a narrative (i.e., a thread to the writing that can be followed by the reader). While headings are not expected in all submissions, each submission should have an introduction, a body and a conclusion.

Introduction

• This section introduces the essay: it highlights the purpose of the essay and its central claim as well as indicating how you will proceed.

• Often it is useful to begin an introduction with a sentence or two which situates the essay within its greater context. This provides the reader with an idea of where your essay fits within its overarching issues and tells them why they want to read it.

• Provide an idea of the structure of the essay and the argument will follow. Tell the reader about your essay; the question; your answer; its conclusion and how you will reach it. It may be useful to mention your main sources at this point.

Body

• The body of an essay contains one's argument (answer to the question) and the information necessary to support it and lead the reader to its conclusion.

• Maintain the structure of your essay and make the structure obvious. Ensure that the ideas and sentences flow. This provides the reader with clarity with regard to your position or argument. Use separate paragraphs for different ideas, signposts (which position an idea within the argument and tell your reader what you are trying to do) and connective words to link ideas. The reader wants to read your essay step-by-step to understand how you argue your conclusion.

• Be concise. Say exactly what you mean and say only what you need to. Only include ideas and information that contribute directly towards answering the question.

• Use simple language. Do not create misunderstanding by complicating your sentences or using too many unfamiliar words.

• Explain your ideas fully. Ensure that the reader understands them. Use examples, illustrations and provide definitions in your explanations.

• Use quotations sparingly. Only quote if the passage/sentence is particularly apt. Often paraphrasing offers a better understanding. Remember: when you quote, you must still explain the meaning or significance of the quotation in your own words.

• Refer to the figures you used to illustrate your ideas in the text e.g. "In Figure 3 the city of Rome is illustrated, and you can see the features just discussed" or use the normal in-text referencing style as you e.g. "Makhanda has a bimodal rainfall distribution (Fig. 3)."

• Make it clear when your ideas are incorporated. If you have a point to make, let the reader hear your voice.

Conclusion

• This section should provide a summary of your essay.

• A summary is a review of the essay: the question and your answer: its conclusion and how you reached the conclusion.

• Do not introduce any new ideas or information at this point in the essay.

General

• Remember that an essay is judged on the clarity of the argument that is made. Whether you use headings or not depends on whether they improve the clarity of the argument being made.

• Cite sources as you incorporate the information in your essay. This ensures that you do not forget any sources.

• The text should be in Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Times New Roman or Times Roman 11-point at 1½ (1.5) line spacing.

• Justify the text to the margins; i.e. Full Justification to both margins.

• Leave margins of normal size, approx. 2 - 2.5 cm.

• Title in the font you use in the essay with 12-point bold.

• A Reference List at the end of the essay using the conventions detailed in the referencing section below.

• Captions for tables should be above the table and presented in the form:

Table no.: Title (Source).

An example of a table caption is:

Table 3: Sediment loads in selected African Rivers (Barnes, 2003: 42).

• Captions for figures should be below the figure and presented in the form:

Figure no.: Title (Source).

An example of a figure caption is:

Figure 5: Map of Grahamstown (Adapted from Phillips, 2005: 51).