This week has been all about our research essays. I've been out of touch with my essay writing skills and I've definitely practised and learnt a lot. One of the most important things I've learnt about writing a research essay is the structure of an essay. After a fruitful peer assessment with Sharmaine, I realise that the biggest flaw in my essay was it's structure. It was confusing for Sharmaine as she has pointed out that I did not set a proper structure hence it isn't easy to point out topic sentences and understand the arguments that supported it. Sharmaine also pointed out that I've added too much unnecessary biographical information instead of producing my own opinions and arguments.
However, she saw a paragraph that had a proper structure and advised me to set that as the same structure for other paragraphs. Ms Abena also reminded me an essential part of the essay which is to keep it INTERESTING. I almost forgot about this element and was glad that it was brought up. I also need to avoid adding too many cliches in my essay as pointed out in the online paper rater, as suggested by Idura. Source of quotes also have to be recorded in MLA form or a uniformed manner.
I've practised recording all my sources when I carry out my research to keep track of it and they could also be future references. As I know that I would still be carrying out more research, I saved the links that I have yet to read thoroughly just in case I would ever need them. Basically, it has only hit me recently that a research essay is very different from a normal essay. A research essay is based so heavily on it's structure and that is what I'm lacking at the moment in my essay. With the help from Ms Abena and Ms. Sandra, my peers and online guides, I will take the initiative to use the help given as best as possible as help is pretty much a call away.
Glad to see you used paperrater and that it was actually useful.
ReplyDelete