Explore the Stages of Producing a Good Essay Essay

In this essay I will be discussing the different stages involved in producing a good college essay from start to finish. I will describe exactly what an essay is, how to break down and understand an essay title, how to prepare to write an essay, the key stages in essay development and the role of self reflection on the development of your essay writing skills. An essay is a major part of formal education and is used to access a student’s performance and show that they have researched and understood a particular subject or issue. It is a piece of writing with a particular structure and layout. â€Å"A short piece of writing on a particular subject, especially one done by students as part of the work for a course† (Cambridge Dictionary, 2009). â€Å"Usually it is written in a formal, academic style: the language is different from the way you speak†¦.it is not conversational† (Cottrell 2008:175). An essay title is given and this is used as a ‘question’ which must be ultimately answered throughout the essay. You are expected to stick to exactly what the essay title is asking for. Before starting an essay you need to make sure that you understand what it is asking you to do. â€Å"Every question has key words, and identifying them will help you decide what the assignment is about and what you have to doâ €  (The Open University 2007). Once you have a clear idea of what the essay title is asking for you can then look more closely at the resources available to you, such as books, articles, class notes, the internet, television and newspapers. You need to weigh up the relevance of the information you find and be selective. You need to ask yourself ‘Do I need the information?’ and ‘How will I use this information?’ (Cottrell 2008:176). It is important to record which recourses you found your information in to avoid plagiarism. All recourses used in the essay needs to be listed in a reference list at the end of the essay and allows the reader to refer back to these sources for themselves. Next you need to organise and plan your essay. â€Å"The Structure and organisation of your work is just as important as the content. What matters is not just what you know but the way that you organise it† (Cottrell 2008:182). The hard part is getting the information and ideas that you have gathered i nto a well organised and coherent state and then start the actual writing. Arrange the information that you have already sourced into topics, a spider diagram can be handy for this. Make a plan for the main parts of your essay, and note down the key ideas and information for each part. An action plan is good way of preparing your ideas and will help you map out your essay. A good essay flows logically from one point to another, preparing an action plan can aid this. It gives you the chance to plan out what you may put in your introduction and conclusion, what your main points will be and what you will focus on in each paragraph in the main body of your essay. An action plan can help you to develop your argument but also keeps you on track. â€Å"If you simply start writing, with your pile of notes at your side, and you haven’t given any thought to the organisation of the ideas and information, then you are very likely to end up with an essay that rambles and has no clear sense of direction† (Edinburgh Napier University, 2009). A first draft is a chance to quickly jot down your ideas using your plan. This is not a final version of your essay. â€Å"Don’t expect to write perfect text at the first go, you will need to spend time going back over and rewriting or reorganising your paragraphs† (The Open University 2007). Don’t worry about spelling or punctuation at this stage; this is just a chance to get your ideas down on paper. Sometimes after writing your first draft your ideas may have developed from those which you put in your initial action plan. This means that you would have to revise your action plan â€Å"If necessary, rework your outline plan as you proceed. You may rework your plan several times as your thinking becomes more sophisticated. This is part of the process of understanding a subject† (Cottrell 2008:186). At this point you should have a good picture of what you want in your final essay. You should check that the information you have is grouped and in a good logical order, then begin to write your final draft. You need to make sure that your final draft makes sense, reading it aloud can help with this. Ensure that you have used enough evidence and examples to back up your argument and make certain that your references are written correctly and that the source of your information is made clear. Check for punctuation, spelling and grammar mistakes, getting this right can help improve your marks. Finally check that it is neat and well presented. It is important as a student to be able to reflect on how you learn best; this can help you improve your essay writing skills. Cottrell believes that you should make constructive use of the feedback that you receive from your tutors but it is also of great benefit to be able to work out for yourself what is it you do well and what you need to improve. This is also called self-reflection. Your performance as a student is likely to improve if you set time aside to reflect on how you learn. In conclusion, to produce a good college essay you must always keep focused on what the essay title is asking for, present your ideas and information in a well structured, coherent way, ensuring that it flows logically from the introduction to the conclusion. Support your ideas or arguments with good relevant evidence and make sure that this is properly referenced. Lastly always present your essays appropriately in good written English.

Tasha’s Case Write Up

Case 1: Tashas, Franchising the Boutique Cafe Experience 1. Why did Natasha Sideris succeed with her first â€Å"Tashas† cafe and with her initial expansion? I think the main reason behind her success is her passion for this job. She is clearly loving every moment of owning a restaurant. She was also able to communicate this passion to the customers as well as the staff. She was very focused on the service side of the business, and saw it as the main driver. The way she insists on customers’ not waiting more than 20 minutes for the food, which is cooked right after they ordered it. The location of the restaurant is another key driver of her success. Opening up a store in a very rich business district’s shopping center is a very good investment. And finally access to financing was very important as well. The initial expansion was a success because she was able to differentiate the new store from the first one. The new store was designed to cater the needs of the customers of that specific area. . Evaluate Sideris’ expansion plans. What advice would you give her at the time of the case? I personally believe that having 15-20 stores in the same country is not a good idea. It may be a financially viable idea, as it seems from the case, but there is a great risk of diluting the brand. Taking into consideration the population of South Africa as well as the number of people who actually have enough money to go to cafes and restaurants, having 20 Tashas Cafes doesn’t seem reasonable to me. Coming from Turkey, which is showing similar economic trends with South Africa for the recent years and facing similar income distribution problems, I have been observing boutique cafes and restaurants expand to never more than 10 restaurants nationwide. Sideris offers high-end products at high-end locations and her customer base is not very big. I think she has to be more conservative about her approach to expanding, and she should look into decreasing the risk of cannibalizing and diluting the brand.

Is British Foreign Policy mainly conducted by the Prime Minister Essay

Is British Foreign Policy mainly conducted by the Prime Minister - Essay Example Ideally, the foreign policies are supposed to protect the interests of the citizens of a particular nation. This has not always been the case. According to Steiner (2004, p. 21) the state has collective representation on different fronts. These include, Heads of state, Prime Ministers, Presidents, commissioners and ambassadors among others. It becomes a bit difficult in understanding that realy plays the leading role in foreighn policies. According to Williams (2004, p. 910) the British foreign policy is not a product of political vacuum but rather a product of domestic factors such as the current public opinion on certain issues, pressure from global emerging issues like technology, interactive, activities from regional organization like the European Union and other transnational forces like the NGOs and other lobby groups. Ideally speaking, the ministers, government officials and other outsiders who are experienced and informed on particular issues are the ones who are supposed to formulate policies. This is on the basis of informed talks of any possible alternatives and putting into considerations relevant historical background and presidents. They also put into account the positions of any involved institutions and the legality of the proposed policy. After the formulation, the policy is interpreted by officials who later implement in order for it to attain the objective intended for. During the whole process, th ere are other interested parties that need to go through the policy. These are both in UK and abroad. In general the process of policy making in UK is made up of the following steps; Formulation, Interpretation, Implementation and Presentation. The process of policy making in the UK at some point seems to be very wide and may involve all government officials and a huge number of outsiders from both foreign states and NGOs. Despite that is said that this remains to

Rhetorical Analysis ESSAY Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Rhetorical Analysis - Essay Example Generally, he opts for a circular route, and reaches home with his quest fulfilled. During the process of conquest, he faces different types of dangerous characters, precarious circumstances and challenges death often, to finally emerge victorious. Suspense and situations that create anxiety are part of the journey plot. Even with the full knowledge of the culmination of the plot that the protagonist will emerge victorious, the reader enjoys his encounters with different atmospheres and how he challenges the unfamiliar characters who often threaten with dire consequences. Escaping death becomes the kindergarten stuff to the protagonist. The divide in gender in Norse society to which â€Å"The Hobbit† by J. R. R. Tolkien related was not based so much on sex as it was on power. The ability to shift between genders was part of the magic. Seià °r was measured to be ‘women’s magic’, and the exercise was related with taking the role of the penetrated partner in sex – something considered ‘unmanly’ by the Norse. Even with the seemingly authentic historical background created by the authors, the various features of the fantasy plot depend entirely on author’s intentions and final objectives and his attitudes towards gender in the society. As such the authors return to history to choose a specific time period, figures and events and the mainstay of fantasy is in the creation of larger than life heroes capable of extraordinary feats and the roles of the female gender were less important, but crucial to the turning points in the story. In the examination of historical background of a literary creation of fantasy, magic woven with female gender escapades have an important role to play. Magic acts as the springboard for grand ideas to show their intrinsic strength and social implications. To achieve the purpose in view, the authors draw from their fertile world of imagination; make intelligent use of male and female characters, besides taking cues from

Decisions In Paradise Part 1 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Decisions In Paradise Part 1 - Research Paper Example Our organization would be establish a greater presence in Kava and contribute towards its socio-economic development through creating employment opportunities and become proactive participant in community development. There is a huge problem of unemployment as the government seems to lack necessary financial resources to establish industries and infrastructure. Despite having the support of state and military, terrorism is active from within and outside the region which is creating unstable environment for global businesses and adversely impacting the local economy. It is often seen that fast urbanization and the technological advancements have been responsible for global climate change which may have contributed to the increased frequency of natural calamities, throughout the world. Kava too is prone to natural disasters and at the same time external factors like terrorism and internal strife, has produced many securities among the local population. Hence, one needs to apply the technique of decision making that would help to decide on the projects that are best suited to benefit both Kava people and our organization. The strategy would need to take the following salient points into consideration: ‘Decision matrices are most effective where you have a number of good alternatives and many factors to take into account’ (grid analysis, internet). Decision Matrix Analysis would facilitate us to reach to the right decision because it incorporates a huge range of factors for the various projects that can be started here. The organization would be using the local raw material and would be providing employment to the local population which has diverse socio-cultural ideology. The multicultural workforce with conflicting ideologies may pose serious problems for the management and may have adverse impact on the business outcome. The natural disasters and terrorism from within and outside the country is another

Wicked Problems in Design Thinking Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Wicked Problems in Design Thinking - Article Example The target persons for this project are contractors because they are in-charge of construction project on-site. The contractor does not to hire many laborers because inflation and deflation of these model needs just about one person to do it unlike wood formwork construction which needs a large labor force. Moreover, this model is flexible in shape preferences of concrete and the contractor does not have to come with the specific models on-site. The two variables of this model are the construction environment and the technical knowhow to operate then flexible pneumatic formwork. The conditions of every construction site are different. Technical knowledge is therefore required for this variability. In the meantime, the contractor can offer clinics for the operator to understand different site environments. This construction design model is a wicked problem. It has all the element s of indeterminacy1. This is implies that the pneumatic formwork does not have a definite method that can solve design problems on-site according to the prevailing conditions. Every site has specific design formulations to follow and that designers should understand the uniqueness of every construction

How have ideas of realism been conceptualized and put into practice by Essay

How have ideas of realism been conceptualized and put into practice by filmakers - Essay Example Not much thought is put on the location and angle of the cameras taking the shots but instead the filming is more or less left to run its course with the cameras just there to capture and take shots . At times which is mostly most of the time, the shots taken end up being not crispy or fine, but this is the intension since it encourages the audience a more involved mental participation since it allows them to explore and appreciate the full complexity and richness of the shots. Another important thing to note in realist films is the simplicity of its editing which is as much as possible kept to the minimal side this is because it is believed that too much editing influences the audiences interpretation in only one way since a lot of the choices and decisions tend to be made at the editing stage. Good examples of films which are more or less realist in style are documentaries. This is due to the fact that they showcase events that have occurred in the past and they tend to bring out these events in a manner that is understandable by the viewer with minimal if any manipulation in terms of the story line or the artistic part of the film. In this article we are majorly concerned with the Italian and British realism and how their ideas were used in filmmaking. First of all we can define Italia realism as a kind of organization that had a national impact in terms of the films they produced and told to its audience such that they were majorly concerned with what was happening in the society be it the poor and working class relationships, to their day to day life not forgetting the things that affected them as poverty, social injustice just but to name a few. In the British realism case it was more of a movement of rebellion rather that an organization whose main concern was to cut off completely the effects that foreign filmmakers like Hollywood was having on its filmmaking industry. To them it was a means to a cause where they envisioned a time where local concerned and styles would be addressed in filmmaking rather than the normal procedures and styles that the likes of Hollywood had brought out as the order of event. We shall take a look at the various characteristics and properties that entailed neorealism films with the issues such as on location filming instead of studio setups coming up, making of films in a documentary kind of style, use of social content when it came to writing film scripts among other issues like the use of non-professional actors. These are just but a few of the points that shall guide us in the analysis of the same. Also to take note is that in the Italian realism analysis we shall use our case study film as the Bicycle thieves film

Role of government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Role of government - Essay Example In the 19th century, the government had little concern about the economy of the country. The government only ensured that its people had sufficient food and basic necessities (Zeckhauser and Leebaert 84). However, current governments are concerned with the improvement of the economy. The government takes the responsibility of funding projects that will benefit the citizens an also generate income to the nation. Unlike the olden governments, the current government also invests in other nations so that the country has a larger income. The government facilitates international trade that has an economic benefit for the nation. The changes have come as a result of the economic competition between countries and the desire for development. The government protects the rights of all people regardless of their race or gender. Current governments are focused on gender and race equalities and hence the laws that are developed and enforced have a lot of respect for gender and race equality. This has come up as a result of modernization and evolvement of cultures. The government plays a vital role in enforcing rights and freedoms of its citizens. The governments of the 19th century favored the natives, but the situation has long changed due to the pressures for equality. The modern governments are very helpful in preparation for disasters and offer a lot of help when natural disasters hit (Zeckhauser and Leebaert 171). The current governments have implemented programs and set up departments that deal with natural disasters. Through such departments, the government is able to help its people during disasters. The situation was different during the 19 century since technology levels were low, and the government roles were not well defined. Programs such as the FEMA have been developed specifically to ply for the needs of the citizens during disasters. The government has made an improvement in its role in the medical and education sectors. In the past, the role

Safety training Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Safety training - Essay Example Although Pro's Choice conducted safety and health training program for its employees using videos, posters, and pamphlets, safety and health practices may not have been seriously implemented by both management and employees. It may also be that the training methods chosen were not suited for those being trained, thereby little learning was achieved and implementation of supposedly learned practices failed. Another reason would be that the working environment at Pro's Choice has also not been provided as free from hazards as evidenced by the OSHA citations and fine for a serious infraction. This is indicative of Pro's Choice lack of commitment to safety and health for its employees, which may be the reason why supervisor safety warnings are joked about as a band-aid procedure. Firstly, management commitment to occupational safety and health should be established, especially since there are government laws that companies have to comply with. Moreover, the lack of management commitment will eventually be costly for the company as it may result in additional medical costs for injured employees, government sanctions for violations and infractions, and deterioration of company image as a good place to work.