2. Paul Stocks. Centre for English Language & Academic Writing.
Concepts and Methods
Paul Stocks.
Centre for English Language & Academic Writing.

3. Concepts and Methods
Study Skills: Writing your long essay.

4. Concepts and Methods Word limit: 4000 words
Weighting: 75% of the final mark for
concepts + methods course
Deadline: 1pm, May 5th
Topics: Taken from the ‘Approaches’ section of
the course

5. Writing your long essay:
Discussion Question:
What’s different about writing a 4000-word essay, compared with the 2000-word ones you’ve written so far?

6. This is the longest essay you have written, so…
The whole process will take longer
Considering the question, researching, planning, writing, drafting and redrafting
There will be a lot more material for you to manage
Organisation and clarity will therefore be (even more) crucial
You will have more space to explore the issues in-depth
Summarising the approaches won’t be enough. You will need to engage critically with them

7. Key skills for this assignment:
Managing the process
Organising the material
In-depth exploration

8. Managing the process: Start early
Analyse the task carefully before you start
ensure you are clear about what exactly you are being asked to do
Allow time for thinking
you need to absorb and reflect on quite complex ideas in order to produce a considered response
Allow time for organising
how are you going to synthesise this mass or research data into a logical order that gives a coherent and convincing answer to the question?
Allow time for re-drafting and proof-reading
the easiest and most sure-fire way to improve your marks

9. Managing the process: Task analysis
Keep the title in front of you at all times and refer back
to it at frequent intervals:
are you still on-track, or are you wandering away from the central question?
are you quite clear about how what you have just written is relevant to the question, and how it helps move your answer forward?

10. Managing the process: Task analysis
Good questions to ask when analysing titles:
What exactly am I being asked to do?
What are ‘they’ looking for in a good answer?
What learning/understanding of historical approaches do I need to demonstrate?
What critical and evaluative skills do I need to demonstrate?
What actual period(s) of history would be suitable to discuss in my answer?
How many parts to the question?
What will I need to do in my conclusion?

11. Essay titles: remember that for all questions, you need to choose specific examples to illustrate your arguments.
Discuss at least two examples of how a gendered analysis have directly changed modern historians’ approach and understanding.
What are the connections and differences between 'black history' and postcolonial history
Does the use of other disciplines weaken history's claims to a unique understanding of the past, or does it enable us to look at the past in new ways? Use specific examples of historical analysis using at least 2 different disciplines.
What is the current impact of postmodernism on the discipline of history? Use examples of at least two specific post-modernist approaches and assess the criticisms of this approach.

12. Managing the process: redrafting and proof-reading
A vital stage that is often overlooked.
This ‘polishing’ of the ‘rough diamond’ of your first draft
doesn’t need to take days, but can give you a massive
return for a few hours’ investment.

13. Managing the process: redrafting and proof-reading
Don’t start editing and proof-reading immediately after you finish the draft: clear your head first
Print out your draft and proof-read the hard copy: it’s easier to spot mistakes, typos etc.
Read your draft aloud: it can help with punctuation, and also gives you a feel for how well you have developed the arguments
As you read, think about how well the sections flow from one to the next: is the progression logical? Are the links between sections clear and explicit?

14. Managing the process: redrafting and proof-reading
Re-read again, focusing on your coherence at sentence level: Are there any sentence fragments or non-sequiturs?
Are there any clumsy sentences or phrases that sound ‘chatty’ and conversational? Can you re-word them in a more suitable academic tone?
Carefully re-read the introduction, then consider the rest of the essay: Is there a good fit? Did you do everything that you said you were going to, or did the essay change as you wrote it? Make sure the intro fits with the finished essay

15. Managing the process: redrafting and proof-reading
Conversely, it’s always obvious when an essay hasn’t been properly proof-read: The essay will feel rushed, and like a first draft (which it is!) rather than a finished product
Little slips and typos will give the impression that you are careless, sloppy, slapdash and unconcerned with detail –really bad adjectives to be applied to a historian!
Un-proof-read work is more difficult to read, and will start to turn your reader against you, when you really want them to be on your side!

16. Organising the material: Introductions
It’s crucial to make your organisation clear and explicit from the outset
So the introduction should set out exactly which approaches to history you will focus on
Be clear if you are going to limit your examples to a certain time/place
Don’t put your conclusion in the intro! (although you may want to indicate your stance or line of argument)

17. Organising the material: Introductions
The introduction should answer the questions What? Why? and
How?
What is the essay about?
Why is it interesting/important? (background and context; how does it fit into the wider scheme of things?)
How is the essay going to be organised?
This is vital for orientating the reader and setting them up for the
detail in the main body
‘The intro should read like the contents page of a book’ (Goldsmiths history lecturer )

18. Organising the material: Main body
There also needs to be clear linking between paragraphs and
sections within the main body of the essay.
Use ‘signposting’ language to be clear about how the sections relate
to each other and the overall question
Does it flow logically?
Does it develop an argument?
Do the sections hang together properly?

19. Organising the material: paragraph level
Good organisation is crucial at paragraph level too:
Classic mistake 1: going round in circles
An idea is introduced, but not properly developed, just re-stated in different ways
Classic mistake 2: too many ideas
Several ideas are flagged up (mentioned), but none of them are developed or explained properly, they are just squashed together

20. Organising the material: paragraph level
Remedy both these issues by having one main idea per paragraph,
but properly explained and developed
the first (topic) sentence introduces the idea
the subsequent (supporting) sentences develop the idea with
explanation
detail
examples
support from source materials
NB This paragraph format will help you achieve the goal of
achieving a real in-depth discussion of the issues

21. In-depth exploration of ideas:
The extra word-count gives you the space to explore the issues in
much greater depth:
You have to show you have understood the approach
What is it saying? What is it’s vision of how to ‘do’ history?
You also need to put the approach into its historiographical context
Where did it come from? Who are/were its key practitioners? what was their starting point? Were they reacting against something? What did they see as being wrong with the ‘old’ approaches to doing history?

22. In-depth exploration of ideas:
Crucially, you also need to be critical and evaluative in your discussion of the approach
How valid is this approach?
What are it’s strengths? What does it do that other approaches don’t? What have its supporters said about it?
What are its limitations? What have its detractors said?
‘Can you take it apart, see if it works? Can you put it back together?
Does one piece of evidence contradict another?’
(Goldsmiths History lecturer)

23. In-depth exploration of ideas: conclusions
A chance to sum up what you’ve said:
A sentence for each key point
A chance to return to the original question in the title:
Based on all the research you’ve done, and all the views that you’ve taken into account, what’s your answer to it?
‘Don’t sit on the fence too much… therefore it is evident that…’
(Goldsmiths history lecturer)

24. Recap: Key areas to work on for the extended essay:
Managing the process
Organising the material
In-depth exploration

25. NB Exam revision workshops
Exam revision workshops will be running in the first
week of next term
Looking at past papers
Question spotting
Revision and preparation strategies
Dates tbc –check your goldsmiths accounts

26. Contact:
Centre for English Language and Academic Writing Goldsmiths, University of London New Cross London SE14 6NW
Tel: +44 (0) / 7763 Fax: +44 (0)