Writing Essays and Assignments

The Main Arguments (Middle)

For most students, this is the easy bit - you just write down everything you know, right?

Wrong. That's often where all those less than positive comments we covered at the start about lack of structure, etc. come from.

However, the middle is definitely the easier and more interesting bit of any essay or assignment.

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When it comes to the middle, you must stick to your plan. You have chosen the 3 - 5 main points to focus on to prove your argument and they are the only ones you will use, so don't get distracted! And don't feel the need to add one extra point the end, just in passing, to prove you know that too! Pick the best arguments and stick to them. If another pops into your head as you write and it's better than one of your original choices, then make a substitution - note it on your plan first and find the evidence, then use it.

As mentioned before, you need to check with your subject teachers as to what, exactly, you need to include in the main arguments of your essay, but as a general rule you should be following the amusingly named P E E system. You may remember this from GCSE, when it stood for Point, Evidence, Explanation? At A level it stands for:
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Point - the main arguments you chose in your plan are your points. Standard phrases might include: "One argument for... is...", or "An argument for the case that... is..."

Example or Evidence - you need to find this in your text books or from other credible sources; do not be tempted to make this up or use your own experience/opinion unless the essay specifically asks you to do this. At A level you should be researching answers and using provable evidence. Standard phrases here might include: "This can be shown/seen in/when..." or "An example of this is..." You can also link in quotes or statistics at this point.

Evaluation - how does your evidence prove your point? What does it show that backs up your point? why is it relevant to your point? Etc. The key word here is "because", and you should keep asking yourself how and why to really break down how and why the evidence backs up your point and answers the original question.

Some of you may have used P E E L at school, with the L standing for Link, i.e. link back to the original question. You should always re-read the original question whenever you finish making an argument to be sure it definitely links and, if necessary, don't be afraid to keep using the words from the question to make sure you points clearly link.

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As well as analysing the evidence that backs up your point, you may also need to increase your evaluation by providing counterarguments that strengthen your points. It's a good idea to plan these beforehand as well. I like to use the mnemonic C-A R to help me remember this process:

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Counter-Argument - come up with an exact counter point to the main point you have just made. You can use standard phrases such as "It could be argued that..." to help you start this. For example, if I wanted to argue against Hamlet being sane in his reasoning, I could say:

"It could be argued that, although Hamlet is capable of clearly expressing his thoughts and feelings, much of this is done in soliloquies (to an invisible audience) and therefore might be as seen as Hamlet talking to himself, which could be seen as a sign of madness..."

Return (to original point) - whenever you counter-argue, your counter-argument should hopefully be weaker than your main point (otherwise your conclusion will be flawed).

I cannot argue that Hamlet is not mad based on my three main points if the counter-arguments make more sense and have better evidence! In that case, I would need to change my conclusion and start all over again. (If this ever happens to you, don't worry - it's a good thing as it will teach you to look carefully at the evidence before making your case in future...)  

Again, you can use standard phrases to help you return to your main point, such as "However", "Nevertheless", etc.

"However, the soliloquy is a dramatic device used by characters that are not considered mad, so it is not in itself strong enough evidence to suggest that Hamlet is doing it because he is mad..."

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You should be able to repeat this for each of your arguments (so 3 - 5 times), and tick them off your plan as you complete them.

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Each argument should receive the same amount of effort and time, and therefore approximately the same amount of words - but don't force yourself to use the exact same amount! The best indicator is the length of the paragraphs - do they all look roughly the same length? If one is much shorter, or much longer, why is this? Often the first point ends up being quite long in the first draft, so make sure to read through it carefully and decide if it really needs to be that long. If it does, then what are your other points missing that you need to add in to make them that long too? If it doesn't, what can you cut?

For a 1,500 word essay, at least 1,000 of the words should be in the middle, so you may need to give around 300-350 words per argument to a three-point essay.

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Some subjects will require you to include evaluation of methodology (such as in Sociology or Psychology) or of sources (such as History courses). You may need to make sure to reference particular names, dates or concepts (e.g. government intervention vs. private business). You should find out what these are and try making your own mnemonics to help you meet the essay requirements each time.

At the end of this course you will find a template to help you lay out an essay. You can amend this to include all those elements you need to make sure you cover everything required of a subject essay.