How_to_Write_an_Essay

 Referencing - it is important. If there wasn't sufficient referencing in your essays, you will have had some comments to that effect and some places where you might have put a reference will have been pointed out. Remember, someone has written their ideas down and they deserve credit for having those ideas. Note the format too, I will have given examples where appropriate.  When making a point in this essay, it was important to link it back to the materials - it was expected. So if you write about, say, traffic signs, you can mention the same in City Road ... and give the reference. That linkage is very important. In future essays, you will be linking points back to theories so it's a good idea to get used to it now.  Use the terminology. Quite a few described things that were recognisable as 'difference' or 'making and remaking' but didn't mention the term(s). Generally, where the terms weren't used the linkage didn't show up either. Both are important.  Be wary of 'going west' - leaving the context of the essay and striking out to pastures new. There's no marks there. Everything you write must be relevant to the question asked. For example, if you described items in a particular shop window, it wasn't relevant to 'differences and inequalities being made and remade'.  Writing to length ... I was surprised at how many pieces were short. The word count is set so that a good concise writer can get in all the relevant material/ideas in the space allowed. If you write, say, 80% of the words ... even if you are that good concise writer you are guaranteed to have missed something out and, thus, may have forfeited 20% of the marks before the essay even gets to me.  Then there are those who write in a less than concise manner. If you take twice as many words to say the same thing, you will also be forfeiting quite a few marks. So keep it short; keep it relevant.  No questions in essays - I can't stress how annoying these are. Generally speaking, the writer asks a question that effectively means "So what do I/we think of this'" and goes on to tell me what they think. It's rhetoric - pointless at the best of times. But consider this ... if you are asking me questions, you are not telling me anything ... and if you aren't telling me anything, you are not attracting marks.  Check your work. Write it, leave it a day or so and then re-read three times, if not more. That is how to produce good work.