Scientific Essay Writing
You would all have written essays at some point in your lives and probably, most of you thought “phew, glad that’s over”. Yeah, about that…One good news is, yep the essays you’re used to writing are done with. Bad news is it’s time to learn a whole new way of essay writing. But don’t worry! We’ve got you!
Each essay consists of 3 core components: 1.Introduction, 2.Main body and 3.Conclusion. Click here for the info-graphic and click here for the video.
1.Introduction should do 2 things:
a.Define the key concepts the essays will talk about.
For example, if the essay title was “What is the role of the insula in decision-making?”, it’s important to set the scene by defining what the “insula” is and what “decision-making” is. This immediately tells the examiner that this person knows what they’re talking about.
b.Tell the reader in a sentence the main point of your essay and what key topics it will cover.
For example, your essay’s main point may be to say “the insula is vital for decision-making” and the key points may be things like “its role in emotion”, “converting subconscious changes to conscious feelings” etc. This automatically tells the examiner what to expect and allows them to form a good first impression.
2.Main body should cover 3 separate, well developed and discussed points. What does this mean? So say the 1st point is that “the insula is important for emotion”, your 1st sentence should say this. The 2nd sentence should develop this point and include scientific evidence for it from scientific papers you have read or information from the lectures. The 3rd sentence should offer critical analysis of the evidence. The 4th and last sentence should relate the point back to the essay question. Repeat this process for your other points. Use active subheadings, diagrams and figures where appropriate; often these are easier and quicker ways to convey information compared to writing full complex sentences.
3.Conclusion should summarise all the points made and reach a verdict.
Top tips: Take time to plan your essay first because a lot of marks comes from good essay structuring! Gain extra marks by showing the examiner “you get it”, do this by including the evolutionary impact or by linking to other subjects or lecture topics.
