The Research Essay, Academic Way

The Research Essay
One of the most common forms of assessment at university is a written essay. This page focuses on the academic research essay.
In research essays, you are expected to present a particular point of view or 'argument' which is: focused on the essay question or topic, and based on information you have researched.
You are also required to organise your ideas in a logical and coherent way and to express your ideas grammatically using an academic style of writing.

Conceptualising the task
Successful writers generally go through a series of steps conceptualising and planning their assignments before starting to write.
Before you begin, re-read the course description and objectives to be clear about what you're expected to do. Make sure you address the subject's key concepts and objectives.
The time you take to understand the essay question and brainstorm ideas about your topic will help you plan your literature search, reading, and note-taking. Developing an argument and planning your essay are critical in helping you structure your writing. Editing and proof-reading allow you to present a polished piece of work.

Understanding the essay question and brainstorming
Writing an essay usually involves answering an essay question or responding to a statement proposed for discussion. Your lecturer/tutor may give you: a list of essay questions/topics to choose from. In general, choose an essay topic that interests you and for which you can find resources. the freedom to develop your own essay question. Your chosen question needs to be related to the subject, specific, and to allow for the analysis of an issue, event or concept rather than simply its description.
Once you have chosen your essay question/topic, make sure you understand the assessment task. Read the instructions carefully and identify 'content', 'limiting' and 'directional' terms.
Content, or Subject: Tells you what the general area is.
Limiting words: Tells you what part of the subject you should focus on.
Directional words: Tells you what to do (discuss, describe, analyse etc).
For instance, consider the following essay topic:

Assess the contribution of the naval arms race among European nations to the deepening of conflict in World War I.

The content term is 'the deepening of conflict in World War I'. The limiting terms are 'the naval arms race' and 'among European nations', while the directional term is 'assess.
So you should write about World War I, but only about 'the deepening of conflict', and only in relation to 'the naval arms race' 'among European nations'. No other aspects of World War I are relevant. You should 'assess' (estimate the significance of the contribution) rather than simply 'describe' or 'explain'.
After analysing the essay question, start 'brainstorming'. Generate questions to direct how you will tackle your task. This may include noting: questions you need to answer in order to address the task, possible lines of thought or research, any supporting evidence you are aware of, and words you must define.

Researching your essay
Research is an important part of the process of writing an academic essay. It helps you develop your ideas about a topic and provides supporting evidence for these ideas.
This process needs careful planning as the amount of scholarly literature can be daunting. You need to learn effective strategies for: conducting literature searches, using reading lists and library resources, deciding when to skim read (to get a general overview or to see if a source is relevant) and when to closely analyse a text, and taking useful notes.

Developing an argument
Once you have conducted sufficient research, look again at the position you are taking in relation to your essay question — the main 'argument' or 'thesis' of your essay.
Check your argument answers the essay question.
If your essay topic is phrased as a statement, turn it into a question in order to answer it.
Your argument needs to be stated explicitly in a sentence or two (a thesis statement), usually stated in your introduction.

Planning your essay
Your argument needs to be supported by the evidence you have gathered during your research.

Presenting this evidence in an organised way is crucial to the overall quality of your essay. You need to: use information which is relevant to your thesis statement, and classify the evidence you have found into logical categories.
To do that, ask questions like:
What are the key concepts, contexts, and relationships in each of the articles I read?
What are areas of agreement and disagreement? Why do they agree or disagree?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the sources I have found?
Which overall argument/s will I make use of in my essay? Why?
These questions should help you develop a plan for your text. There are different ways to create this plan. You could use: a flow-chart, a mind map, or an outline.
You need a plan to structure your essay. All three ways of planning your essay are useful, and so you should choose the one you personally find most helpful.
Classifying evidence into categories will help you: state your thesis more clearly, and form the sections or paragraphs of the body of the essay.
The following diagram gives you a visual representation of a typical essay plan.