The Essay The essay writing process Once you

The Essay

The essay writing process Once you have done your reading, come up with an essay plan (how your essay will be structured) Tell a logical story about the topic and support with evidence (writer controls the discussion) Show that you understand the debates about the topic by paraphrasing and summarising what other people are saying (and quoting when appropriate) Demonstrate that you are critically thinking about the issues by interpreting, evaluating and assessing what this means to you, your practice, your discipline, the context, etc. Use the Uni. SA Harvard Referencing Guide to cite the sources Revise your draft a few times to produce high quality writing 2

The essay structure Introduction Introduce the topic Highlight key issues/problems State the aim and your proposition Present the scope Body Introduce the topic sentence Write the supporting statements (evidence & justification) Demonstrate critical thinking Provide example Conclusion Restate thesis statement (main message) Interpreting key ideas Write concluding statement

The introduction: Example General statement about the topic Issues/challenges /gaps related to the topic Aim of essay/paper Scope The Australian government operates within a federal system, meaning that power is divided between national and state governments. Federalism was seen as the best option for Australia as it allowed the colonies to retain their independence, while also unifying them as a nation. Unforeseen changes have altered the nature of federalism, leading to debates regarding its effectiveness in Australian politics. This essay will examine the advantages of federalism, and argue that the changes stated above have in fact undermined the fundamental advantages of this system. The essay will begin with a brief discussion about the federal system. The discussion will then continue with a focus on identifying the advantages and disadvantages of a federal system of government. Examples will be employed in the discussion to highlight the changing nature of Federalism over the past 100 years. The essay will conclude…

The body: Example Topic sentence (writer’s critical voice) Expansion of the main point with supporting statements (evidence & justification) Writer’s critical voice interpreting the debate Traditionally, the federal system in Australia was characterised by the distinct division of powers of the federal and state governments, with each responsible for their own governmental functions. This was referred to as ‘dual federalism’ (Jaensch 1994, p. 294). This ideal structure of dual federalism assumes that each level of government exists independently of each other, with each state responsible for making and implementing their own decisions (Saunders 2002, p. 70). The ideal structure of dual federalism assumes that each level of government exists independent of each other with each state making and implementing their own decisions. It was perceived that this would allow efficient and appropriate service delivery to each state and territory. However, over time this structure has altered.

The Conclusion: Example Restating thesis statement Interpreting and recapping main ideas Concluding statement As a system of government, federalism was chosen for Australia because it promised to allow the states to retain their autonomy, while also uniting the country under one national government. Over time however, this has changed. The balance of power between the national and state governments has fluctuated over the past one hundred years since federation; causing tensions between the levels of government. From examining the shift in power, which has occurred as a result of various factors including changes in leadership, fiscal power and judicial interpretation, it can be argued that the advantages of a federal system for Australia has been undermined. The promise of autonomy for the states has diminished over time as the governments in power have enacted different forms of federalism, ranging from coercive to cooperative. … This essay has argued that the advantages of a federal system in Australia have been undermined by the shift in power towards the federal government, and away from the states, suggesting that a federal system is no longer the most appropriate system for Australia. https: //lo. unisa. edu. au/mod/resource/view. php? id=309305 https: //lo. unisa. edu. au/mod/resource/view. php? id=299198

Demonstrate critical thinking in your writing • Simply regurgitating what others are saying demonstrates that you are not practising critical thinking. • Your tutors want to see that you are interpreting, evaluating, assessing and examining the debates/discussions in your field. • Interpret the findings with regard to what it means to you, your practice, your discipline, society, current context, etc. • Be critical about the information: • identify bias, currency, relevance. • be selective and only integrate evidence that supports your argument. https: //lo. unisa. edu. au/mod/resource/view. php? id=311738

Integrating evidence • • • Your tutors want to see that you have understood the topic & the discussions. Replacing one/two words from the original source can result in high similarity index. Copying chunks from the original, results in descriptive writing. Using thesaurus to change word for word can result in miscommunication. As much as possible try to paraphrase and summarise evidence. 1. Read and understand the text 2. Highlight key points 3. Take notes 6. Reference the source 5. Check against the original 4. Put the text away and write the ideas in your words http: //lrs. unisa. edu. au/ess/echo/presentation/698 a 7 b 68 -8929 -4336 -98 db-33 da 5 e 232 c 04