Provide an overview of the session and the learning objectives

This unit will look at how to decode an essay question and develop an essay plan which is relevant.

By the end of this week they should be able to understand:

• How to decode an essay question

• How to structure their essay

• How to develop an essay plan

You might want to start off by gauging:

• How much experience they have with writing essays for psychology (they should all have written essays but perhaps not psychology),

• How confident they feel writing essays (they will likely be nervous)

You could get them to discuss these points amongst themselves if you wish, or do this as a whole group activity or use a poll and ask them to rate their confidence. They will probably speak a little more in their own groups though.

Once you have discussed these points, it is worth confirming what the purpose of an essay is and what it assesses:

• Ability to present a logical and reasonable argument

• Identify and evaluate credible evidence to support arguments,

• Write coherently and in a scholarly manner

• Explain, describe and analyse theories

• Address a specific question and display knowledge of the topic

It is also worth reminding them that the first essay is a good opportunity to get some practice and feedback and not too put too much pressure on themselves. Some will be very nervous about the essay, so highlighting it as a learning opportunity, especially at this early stage, may put their mind at ease.

The first thing you may want to go over is the assignment requirements.

You can note that regardless of what the assessment is they will always want to start off by finding out what the assignment requirements are. That is, what they need to do and when they need to do it by. Some key points they will want to be mindful of are noted below:

• When it is due in? 

• What their word count is?

• What referencing style they are using? 

• How much of the module mark it is worth?

Also, important to tell them to check the marking criteria to see the different areas they will be judged against. 

Once they have found out what they need to do, they will next need to decode their essay title and determine what it is asking them to do.

You can then note that one of the key skills they will need to master when completing an assignment such as an essay is to determine what the assignment is asking them to do. You can note that broadly speaking all essay titles will consist of two key types of words “instruction” words and “content” words and go over what these are:

• Instruction words tell you what need to do in the essay (e.g., discuss, outline, evaluate, assess, explain etc.)

Content words provide information about the ideas you will be required to write about (e.g., factors that affect sleep)

You might wish to go over an example first to show what them what this looks like in practice (see box below). 

Example for mentor to run through: Decoding an essay title:

The title: “Discuss the extent to which personality traits contribute to unhealthy eating habits?”

Instruction words: Discuss the extent – these types of questions (also “to what extent”) require an account of the evidence for and against a particular topic

Content (or “topic”) words: Personality traits contribute to unhealthy eating habits – the topic in question is personality traits and how they contribute to overeating, so this is the area which the essay is looking at

Rephrasing title: “Provide an account of the evidence for and against the role of personality traits on eating unhealthily.”

So, rephrasing the title is all about making sure it is clear in their mind so they can put in their own language, this can be informal or formal.

Once they have worked out what they already know and what they need to find out, they need to start thinking about what evidence and resources they will need to locate and where might be sensible places to start looking for these. For example: 

• Lecture materials

• Journal databases (iFind, Google Scholar)

• Textbooks 

• University Librarians

They should certainly be aware of scholarly databases now given previous sessions and some of them will likely be using these already for their essay. As such, they can also start thinking about search terms they could use/have been using. You could get them to discuss what types of resources they can/have been using and what they have found useful or not so useful (e.g., iFind, Google Scholar).

It is worth reminding them of the importance of peer-review sources and the CRAAP method. 

You can note that once they have performed an appropriate literature search and found relevant evidence and theories, they can then start developing a plan and drafting the structure of the essay. Some useful tips to remind them in helping think about the structure of their essay include the rule of three and the PEEL technique.

• The rule of three (intro, main body, conclusion):

It’s important they have a clear three act structure which includes an introduction, a main body and a conclusion. They should make sure they tell the reader what they are going to write about, write about it, and the tell the reader what they have written about and the conclusion they have reached.

• In the introduction they should introduce the topic, define key terms and signpost the direction of the essay (what will be discussed).

In the main body they should start addressing the question with each paragraph containing a point which addresses the question. The number of paragraphs and points will vary dependent on the essay topic and requirements.

• In the conclusion they should summarise the main points put forth in the essay and remind the reader of the position they have come to and how they have answered the question.

Worth reminding them to keep similar points together and to make sure they have a reference page which contains all their sources referenced according to the APA or their relevant referencing system. 

• The PEEL technique  

A technique which some of them may be familiar with when writing paragraphs in the main body is the PEEL (or PEE/PEAL) technique (there are lots of different variants). You could briefly go over this, but if not, there is information on Canvas for this week about this. If you have another method you wish to cover, feel free to.

In short, PEEL is an acronym to help them structure their paragraphs:

·       Point – they should start the paragraph by making a clearly explained and relevant point

·       Evidence – they should provide evidence to support their point

·       Explain – they should explain and evaluate how the evidence supports their point

·       Link – they should link this back to the essay question and how this addresses the essay question.

If you have example of essays with feedback that you can share this would be very helpful and could be some homework for them (or a separate session). 

We are currently looking to get permission to share essays with feedback on this site, so watch this space. 

• By the end of this unit students should be able to understand:

  • How to decode an essay question

  • How to structure their essay

  • How to develop an essay plan