Researching an EssayIf you have studied a topic in classes or lectures, you should already have a good idea of what your essay will need to cover, but this awareness is not a substitute for thorough research, and you should be wary about going in with fixed ideas about what your essay will argue. Keep an open mind and be prepared to change your opinion.
An academic essay should draw on a wide range of resources, including journals, monographs, edited volumes and, where appropriate, online sources. In some cases, you may also be required to cite governmental documents, doctoral theses and other published materials. Part of the challenge is to find a good balance between these resources: you should not depend too heavily on any one type of resource. Where do I start? |
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If you're a student at college or university, your subject librarian will help you to find relevant materials, and your lecturers should be willing to assist you, too. If not, assistants at your local library will likely be happy to help. Often, your tutors will provide a reading list or bibliography which you can take away and look up. Each of the items within the reading list will have its own bibliography, too, so you can start a chain of interlinked texts and resources.
When you go into the library, be prepared to spend a good deal of time finding exactly the right materials. .Lots of students make the mistake of 'thinking past' their research; by this I mean that they tend to view the research an interruption or an obstacle to the 'real work' of drafting the essay. For these students, time in the library can become needlessly stressful. Eat a proper meal first, then go in and get comfortable. Take off your coat, put down your bag and find a space to work in peace. If you need to carry lots of books home, a cotton 'bag for life' can be a great way of keeping extra bag space handy.
When you go into the library, be prepared to spend a good deal of time finding exactly the right materials. .Lots of students make the mistake of 'thinking past' their research; by this I mean that they tend to view the research an interruption or an obstacle to the 'real work' of drafting the essay. For these students, time in the library can become needlessly stressful. Eat a proper meal first, then go in and get comfortable. Take off your coat, put down your bag and find a space to work in peace. If you need to carry lots of books home, a cotton 'bag for life' can be a great way of keeping extra bag space handy.
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• When choosing your resources, think quality not quantity.
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How many resources do I need?Your resources should be about quality, not quantity. You should reference each resource listed in your bibliography, and you should have a clear idea what stance each resource takes, i.e. you shouldn't just grab choice quotations within knowing their context.
Whether you are agreeing with it or challenging it, any given reference should be relevant and should relate clearly to your argument. |
Disclaimer: the following are very crude numbers intended as a very rough guide only!
Although quality is king, you still need to have several supporting texts. The bibliography for a 2,000-word assignment should have a minimum of five entries, and at least one more text should be added for every further 500 words.So, a 2,500-word essay should have at least six entries; 3,000 words make for at least seven, and so on. Essays which are shorter than 2,000 words should still have a minimum of five entries in their bibliography.
Although quality is king, you still need to have several supporting texts. The bibliography for a 2,000-word assignment should have a minimum of five entries, and at least one more text should be added for every further 500 words.So, a 2,500-word essay should have at least six entries; 3,000 words make for at least seven, and so on. Essays which are shorter than 2,000 words should still have a minimum of five entries in their bibliography.
How many references should I include in my essay?
This again is hard to say with any degree of accuracy but, as a very rough guide, you should aim for one reference every 100-200 words. A reference could take the form of a quotation, a paraphrase, a citation or a 'namedrop'. Name-dropping is much less compelling than a really good quotation.
