A Student's Writing Guide: How to Plan and Write Successful Essays

by Gordon Taylor

Overview

Are you struggling to meet your coursework deadlines? Finding it hard to get to grips with your essay topics? Does your writing sometimes lack structure and style? Would you like to improve your grades? This text covers everything a student needs to know about writing essays and papers in the humanities and social sciences. Starting from the common difficulties students face, it gives practical examples of all the stages necessary to produce a good piece of academic work: • interpreting assignment topics • drawing on your own experience and background • reading analytically and taking efficient notes • developing your argument through introductions, middles and conclusions • evaluating and using online resources • understanding the conventions of academic culture • honing your ideas into clear, vigorous English. This book will provide you with all the tools and insights you need to write confident, convincing essays and coursework papers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521729796
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/07/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Gordon Taylor is Honorary Research Associate at Monash University, Victoria: before his retirement he was Associate Professor and Director of the Language and Learning Unit in the Faculty of Arts. He was a pioneer in the development of content and discipline specific writing programmes for students in higher education. His many publications include The Student's Writing Guide for the Arts and Social Sciences (1989).

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Introduction; Part I. Reflection and Research: 2. Reflection: asking questions and proposing answers; 3. Interpretation: reading and taking notes; Part II. The Dynamics of an Essay: 4. Introductions; 5. Middles; 6. Endings; Part III. Language: 7. You, your language and your material; 8. Analytical language 1: sentences; 9. Analytical language 2: rhetorical strategies; 10. Cohesion and texture; 11. Conventions of academic writing; Appendices; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'Gordon Taylor's guide provides students and academic language professionals with in-depth analytical strategies and well researched methods to handle a broad range of essay topics. Taylor's experience as a writer and as a teacher shines through every section of the book: a must for anyone interested in writing top grade essays.' Alex Barthel, President, Association for Academic Language & Learning, University of Technology, Sydney

'This is an engaging, highly relevant book that shows how effective academic writing emerges from the process of taking an active, questioning approach to studying … It provides much practical help to confront the real problems experienced by student writers as they grapple with new concepts and learn how to create meaning and understanding through language within their disciplines …The book itself is an exemplary illustration of the good writing and clear thinking it aims to develop in its readers.' Kathy Harrington, Director, Write Now Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, London Metropolitan University

'A wonderfully comprehensive guide to essay-writing, covering everything from the importance of initial reflection and research, to how to develop an effective argumentative style. The book itself is a model of clarity, and its friendly tone tells readers they are in very safe hands indeed.' Martin Crowley, Senior Lecturer, Department of French, University of Cambridge

From the Publisher