Excellent essays

Make a plan

Often, if you don’t know what to write, it’s because you need to spend more time thinking about it. The best way to do this is to use a planning strategy. There are many out there, from bullet points to mind maps and flow charts. Visit our Skills for Learning website for lots of planning tips and useful templates, and you can also get some ideas about how to structure different sections of your essay from the Essay X-Ray tool.

Understand the title

It’s wise to take some time to really think about what your essay title means. Try to identify the keywords so you know what you need to focus on. For example, if your question was ‘Examine the impact of global warming on the environment’, then you would highlight ‘Examine’, ‘impact’ ‘global warming’ and ‘environment’. You would need to cover all these areas to ensure you were answering the question.

Top tip! Attend a Skills for Learning Essay Writing workshop to learn more about how to interpret your question.

Consult your reading list

Every university essay will involve a certain amount of background research. Luckily, your lecturers will have made it easy to get started by providing you with a course reading list. Access yours via your modules in MyBeckett.

Stop procrastinating

The thought of doing your essay is guaranteed to be worse than the process of actually getting on with it. Once you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), you will feel better about the whole process.

But how will you know what to write? Let go of the notion that every word has to be meaningful. Just get used to the process of writing.

Top tip! Why not try freewriting? Spend five minutes writing non-stop. Write about anything – write down the first thing that comes into your head, even if it’s ‘I don’t know what to write’. This will help you overcome the fear of getting started.

Tackle Referencing

You’ll find a certain percentage of your marks for each assignment is allocated to referencing. It’s a good idea to conquer referencing to avoid losing unnecessary marks. Referencing is an academic convention which ensures you’re completing work in an honest manner. Quote Unquote provides examples of how to cite the different sources you’ll be likely to use within your assignments, as well as providing guidance on the ethical and appropriate use of generative artificial intelligence tools at university. Our Academic Integrity module also outlines what constitutes good academic practice at university.

Get some support

Writing your first essay can be scary, but you’re not alone. Use the support available to you from your module lecturers and the university more widely. If your lecturer has offered to discuss your assignment with you, take them up on the offer. If you have the chance to do a practice assignment (sometimes called a ‘formative assessment’), then take advantage of this as you will get useful feedback before your actual assignment deadline.

There is lots of additional support available to you from the Library, too. Why not consult your Subject Guide on the Library website and access the resources on the Skills for Learning website?

Top tip: If you have a specific issue related to academic skills that you want to discuss, you can book a 1-1 appointment. Use the ‘Get Help’ form to request an appointment with a member of Library staff.

Originally published October 2021; updated October 2023.