Essay Writing Guide 2024-2025

ARTS AND HUMANITIES STUDENTS’ COUNCIL

ESSAY WRITING GUIDE

PRESENTED BY AHSC ACADEMICS

2024 - 2025

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR A&H ESSAYS....................................1 Introduction Paragraph.......................2 Body Paragraphs................................2 Conclusion Paragraph.......................2 Thesis Statement................................3 PROFESSOR TIPS...........................4 AI Use..................................................6 STUDENT TIPS.................................7 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.........10 A NOTE FROM ACADEMICS.......12 WORKS CITED...............................13

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR ARTS & HUMANITIES ESSAYS 1

paragraph INTRODUCTION Your introduction should outline what your essay is about using a topic sentence and the argument the essay makes using a thesis statement.

paragraphs

BODY

Body paragraphs should generally include these five essential components (Writing Support Centre):

1) TOPIC SENTENCE: Tells your reader the key idea you will be focusing on throughout the paragraph. May also expand to include background information.

2) CONTEXT:

Provide context before introducing your evidence so as to not confuse the reader.

3) EVIDENCE:

May look like a quote or paraphrasing,

4) EXPLANATION:

Explain the significance of the evidence to your readers -- why does the evidence matter?

5) CONNECTION: Wrap up each paragraph by answering the question “How does the evidence prove your thesis?”

Remember--unless otherwise stated by your instructor, you can have as many body paragraphs as you need!

paragraph

CONCLUSION

Your conclusion should recapitulate your key points & thesis statement. Avoid being repetitive. It may go slightly beyond what has already been stated to comment on the subject from a real world perspective or provide recommendations for further action.

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statement THESIS WHAT DOES A GOOD THESIS STATEMENT LOOK LIKE? Argumentative, analytical, and focused (Writing Support Centre).

Specific to the text(s) or subject & debatable: it must be an idea that needs to be argued for. If your thesis is beyond debate, then you are stating the obvious and there is no need to persuade anyone of anything (Schuurman).

Sufficiently complex to sustain the required length of the essay. If you find that you tend to run out of things to say, your thesis is probably too simplistic. The solution to this problem is closer, deeper reading & thinking.

Does NOT list the three points that will form the topic sentences of your three body paragraphs. For one thing, you might not have three body paragraphs.

You might have four or seven or eleven, depending on the required length of your essay.

Sets out what the essay will argue as one integrated statement, rather than as a list of separate points. This integrated statement does not have to be contained in one sentence. If the paper is long & the thesis is highly complex, it may require several sentences to unpack fully.

Let your thesis determine the structure of your essay, not the other way around.

Do get started on writing by brainstorming ideas about the text(s); see how many different points you come up with & how they relate to one another.

Don’t begin with a set number of paragraphs (one intro, three body, one conclusion) & then try to force your ideas into this structure.

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PROFESSOR TIPS

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suksi AARA

Carefully read the assignment and to clarify any questions they have about it with the instructor.

It’s so important to start early & to sketch out a plan for the work–it always shows when an essay is written at the last minute.

Some instructors are willing to read a draft well before the due date & to offer feedback.

Avoid a lot of generalizing in the introduction.

Most first paragraphs we read could be deleted–get straight to the point with a very clear and focussed introduction.

faflak JOEL

Use a staggered schedule for writing assignments.

A more organic approach to the mechanical structure taught in high school.

Develop your own critical voice & let that dictate the structure & flow of an essay – not the other way around.

Read, read, read: gaining awareness of how others frame their ideas, effective or not .

Determine what’s effective phrasing, word choice, syntax, sentence structure, etc.

schuurman ANNE

In an English essay, the thesis is usually (but not always) interpretative. In other words, the thesis is usually an argument about what a text (or texts) means.

Avoid making claims about things that you can’t support with proof.

The only proof you have access to when you’re writing an English essay is what is in the text(s).

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ai usage AI USAGE

WHY USING AI WILL NOT HELP YOU TO WRITE A GOOD ESSAY & WILL NOT HELP YOU TO GET A BETTER GRADE (ACCORDING TO THE UNDERGRADUATE CHAIR OF ENGLISH AND WRITING STUDIES, ANNE SCHUURMAN): A strong essay is a performance in writing of good, careful, insightful READING. There is no generative AI model out there right now that can read in this way. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT can write in a way that sounds very much like human writing, but they cannot read in a way that even approximates human reading. What they do, instead, is find & predict patterns – patterns in the prompt you feed them & patterns in the data available on the internet.

Consequently, LLMs can perform a lot of writing tasks very well, but one thing they are hopelessly bad at is writing essays. Writing generated by LLMs for essays: Is full of inaccuracies; Is full of clichés; Lacks the kind of imaginative links & associations between texts & ideas that demonstrate excellence in human thinking and writing; Lacks the kind of nuance & perception of fine distinctions between words & ideas that demonstrate excellence in human thinking and writing; Lacks the close analysis of text that is the minimum for a passing grade in the Arts & Humanities, especially English.

Unless the assignment instructions tell you that you are supposed to use AI for some part of the assignment, the use of AI in Arts & Humanities courses is not allowed & will be treated as plagiarism. But, even more important, the use of AI robs you of the learning that happens when you struggle through a writing assignment, using your own brain & working through your own ideas.

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STUDENT TIPS

FROM YOUR ARTS & HUMANITIES SOPH TEAM, DEPARTMENT REPRESENTATIVES, & AHSC EXECUTIVES

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SAY! S E R U O Y G RE WRITIN FOR EACH PART O F E B S T IN “OUTLINE POFT BY JOTTING NOTESTE DOC COPY AND A START A DRAY, THEN ON A SEPARAYOU GO THROUGH OF THE ESSNTO THE FINAL BUT AS CES. ADD YOUR PASTE IT O E IT INTO FULL SENTEN SE IS NEEDED.” ER EL V CHANG E T A H W & S QUOTATION

“FORM A COHESIVE THESIS BEFORE YOU SO MUCH AS BEGIN WRITING YOUR ACTUAL ES SAY – IT DOES NEED TO BE SPECIFIC ENOUGH TO NARROW DOWN THE EXTENT OF YOUR RESEARCH, ARGUMENTS, & DIRECTNESS.”

HELP N A C O H MEONE W OK FOR SOME O S D IN F , STUCK S, CAN LO “IF YOU’REE VERY LEAST, YOU K PROFESSORS, TALP YOU. IN THEADING. YOU CAN ASCES, & MORE TO HE PROOF R S, LIBRARY RESOURR YOU NEED.” MENTOR OU OUT WHENEVE Y

“INCORPORATE YOUR R ESOURCES INTO SENTENCES! + DO A ROUGH DRAFT. IT WANTS TO DO IT. YET, YSUCKS; NO ONE OU HAVE TO.”

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TO BE S D E E N Y A S Y YOUR ES E, PASSIVE, A W H IC H W SIV ND “UNDERSTATEN: WILL IT BE PERSUAG ‘VOICE’ THAT YOU WRIT A WRITIN ENTIRE PAPER.” K IC P ?

E IV T A ARGUMENTK TO THROUGHOUT THE CAN STIC

“IF YOU’RE A PERFECTIONIST... DON'T BE MAKING YOUR FIRST DRAFT PERFECT. HUNG UP ON YOUR THOUGHT, KEEP GOING, & MAKEJOT DOWN IT SOUND FANCY LATER!”

RDS ON THE T, O W Y E K R U O RY, SEARCH YS THAT ARE SEMI-RELEVANT A R IB L E H T O “GET T DOZEN BOOKOWN QUOTES. HAVING THA A D IN F , E IT S LIBRARY ATE, WRITE DE HELPS SO MUCH TO FIND AT T O N N A .

Y Z A RIAL TH T OF M & GO CR E N T O A R M F O IN T K N O IO O PHYSICAL B TERIAL, TO GIVE ATTENT O FIND ONLINE.” T MA MEANINGFULIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE YOU M

“USE A VARIETY OF SENTENCE TYPE BE AFRAID TO USE A BIT OF TONE, YOS, & DON’T EMOTIONLESS. AVOID CONTRACTIOU AREN’T NS, BE SPECIFIC IN YOUR EXAMPLES, & RE MEMBER TO CITE YOUR SOURCES!”

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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resources ADDITIONAL THE WRITING SUPPORT CENTRE AT WESTERN LIBRARIES Hand outs cover topics such as English & French Grammar Style, as well as citation styles.

Gives feedback on written work through 50-minute one-on-one appointments with a writing advisor.

Hosts writing seminars.

CITATIONS Check out several Style Guides on Purdue OWL. PLAGIARISM Get advice on how to avoid plagiarism.

RESEARCH SUPPORT Get help with research with Western Libraries!

EMAIL ETIQUETTE Learn how to write a professional email!

CREATIVE WRITING Get in-touch with your student writer-in-residence for advice.

PUBLICATIONS Share your work with one of our departmental committees: the Coterie, Iconoclast, or the Gender Studies Student Collective.

Get your creative & academic work published by submitting to AHSC publications!

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from academics

A NOTE

DEAR ARTS & HUMANITIES STUDENTS,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING OUR GUIDE ON ESSAY WRITING! FIRST OF ALL, WE WANT TO THANK THE STUDENTS OF A&H WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THIS GUIDE: THE 2024-2025 A&H SOPH TEAM, THE AHSC EXECUTIVE TEAM, & THE DEPARTMENT REPRESENTATIVES. WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO EXTEND OUR GRATITUDE TO THE PROFESSORS WHO CONTRIBUTED: ANNE SCHUURMAN, JOEL FAFLAK, & AARA SUKSI. WE COULD NOT HAVE CREATED THIS WITHOUT YOUR HELP! SECOND, WE WANT TO REMIND YOU: EVERY INSTRUCTOR WILL HAVE THEIR OWN EXPECTATIONS! THIS GUIDE IS A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF WHAT AN ACADEMIC PAPER MAY LOOK LIKE AT THE UNIVERSITY-LEVEL, BUT THE EXPECTATIONS & DIRECTIONS OF YOUR PROFESSOR ARE WHAT ULTIMATELY IMPACT YOUR SUCCESS. BEST OF LUCK ON YOUR ESSAYS; YOU’VE GOT THIS! CHEERS,

Jadyn Smith VP ACADEMICS

Tunajjina Mahboob AVP ACADEMICS

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cited WORKS

“Essays: General Structure.” Western Writing Support Centre.

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