How to Write the Perfect Essay

8/7/2019 How to Write the Perfect Essay

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Some important stepsSome important steps

(1)Chooseatopicthatinterestsyou,and,potentially,raisessomeinterestingquestions.

Someexamples/suggestions:

E.g.:ifyouchoosetowriteonPyramids considerfocusonHOWtheywerebuilt involves thinkingaboutwhatkindofEgyptiantechnologywasavailable andallows outocontrastvarioustheories onhowthe actuallymanagedtobuildthathighup.

IfyouwriteonWomen,considercontrastingEgyptianwomensstatus asEgyptianwomenweregenerallybetteroffthanfemalesinotherancientsocieties(ortodebunkthistheory...)

IfyouwriteonFunerarybeliefs,youmaywanttooutlinetheirdevelopment overtime,orinvestigate whatfunerarypracticestellusaboutthebeliefsystem underlyingthem( e.g.thedeceasedisbelievedtostillbeincontactwithhisfamil or inversel howsuchabeliefsystem (asevincedin,forexample,mummification) translates into actual

cultic

practice

(

e.g.

offering

cult,

letters

to

the

dead)


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(2) Set up a Work Plan

Choosingthetopic isalreadyamajorstepinthisprocess!

Next,thinkaboutapotentialThesisstatement,oraparticularquestion

.

JotdownnotesonyourMethodology:howdoyouplantoapproachthetopic?

Areyougoingtoexaminebothsidesofadebatedissue,forexample,orpursueoneinterpretationthroughout, mentioningdivergingviews

onlyontheside?

ThisisessentiallyPart1ofyourFirstAssignment!ThisisessentiallyPart1ofyourFirstAssignment!Ti : it is ALWAYS useful to discuss diver in o inions of scholars

becauseit

a)Allowsyoutoviewtheevidencefromallsides,

b)Clarifiesyourownthoughts astowhatinterpretationyoufindmoreconv nc ng,an

c)Presentsyouasascholarwhoknowsherstufftothereader.


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(3) What are your(3) What are your primaryprimary(!) sources?(!) sources?

Therearemillionsofnonegyptologistsouttherewhoarefascinatedwith

Egypt theyarefreetopublishtheiropinionsontheweb(orinbooks),andmaybegetmoreofthesame Speculative,populardiscussions

ofE tianculture.

Asauniversitystudent,youshouldalwaysstrivetobackyourclaimsup

with facts

, .

!!!EssayswithalargeportionofEgyptianmaterialsciteddo

asagenera ru e e er an ose a ono


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(4) and secondary sources?(4) and secondary sources?

Compileyourbibliography,ofatleast5items otherthanthecoursenotes.

Generalentryarticlesinencyclopedias arefine,butyoushouldnotrely

onthementirely.

Asstatedbefore:exerciseextremecautionwithweb a es:ideall onl usetheminsupportofevidenceyouhavegleanedfromthebooks,andsparingly.

Only

use

web

pages

that

are

listed/have

links

in

one

of

the

web

sites

citedinyourcoursenotes. (btw:itisvery easytocheckwhetherparticularstatementshave

beencopieddirectlyfromawebsite!; Turnitin makesiteveneasier...)

Brieflyoutlinehowthedifferentitemsinyourbibliographyrelatetoyourtopic,i.e.insupportofwhichpointyouhopetouse eachindividualitem:thismayallowyoutonarrowdowntheitemsinyourlist,ortorealizethatyouneedmoreinaparticulararea.

This

is

part

2

of

your

First

AssignmentThis

is

part

2

of

your

First

Assignment


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(5) Citation format(5) Citation format

Youareexpectedtocreditallsourcesyouhaveutilizedinyourresarchunacknowledgeduse ofthewordsorideasofothersinanyformconstitutesplagiarism penalized

(

University

guide

lines

under

http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/adviceandinyourCourseNotes,pp.xxxiii)

Your al habeticall or anized biblio ra h shouldlooksomethin likethis:

Books:

Aldred,C.,EgyptianArt.London:ThamesandHudson,1980

Articlesineditedvolumes:

Allen,J.P.,ThenaturalphilosophyofAkhenaten,inW.K.Simpson(ed.),ReligionandPhilosophyinAncientEgypt,12835.

a e gypto og ca tu es . ew aven: a e n vers ty ress,JournalArticles:

Baines,J.,Practicalreligionandpiety,JournalofEgyptianArchaeology73(1987),7998


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Citation in body of textCitation in body of text

Generallyfollowthefollowingformat:

,

e.g. (Butzer,1976:15)

provides.1

Whencitingthesamesourcetwice,repeateitherthefullcitation,orgive

anabbreviatedversion:2

Whencitingwebpages,give

Author,siteaddress(includingpage),anddate whereavailable.

1 K.W.Butzer,EarlyHydraulicCivilization inEgypt(Chicago,1976),132

Butzer,EarlyHydraulicCivilization,15

KG1


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Slide 7

KG1 UofT user, 10/28/2005


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6 Other st le uestions6 Other st le uestions

Layout

910pages+atitlepage,bibliography,andillustrations

Mar ins:1inchoneitherside

Font:12point,doublespaced

(Sub)Headings ifyouwant

!!!TheEnglishmustbecomprehensible!!!

useyourcollegewritinglabs!


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(7) Structure(7) Structure

Titlepage (notcounted) Introduction

missionorthesisstatement,sourcesyouuse

Discussion

Conclusion

summingupyourprincipalpoints relatebacktointroduction.

Bibliography


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GradingCriteriaGradingCriteria

forNMC101YarebasedonthegradingstatementfromtheArtsandSciencescalendar

Anumberofspecificelements:

. . .wordsoftheoriginalexactly(inquotationmarks),andsummariesshouldbeprecise.

2.Research.Essaysshouldbebasedonreputableanduptodateacademicsourcessuchasscholarlybooksandarticlesfromscholarlyjournals.Studentsareexpectedtoconsulta

.

3.Primarysources.Studentsshouldalsotrytoworkdirectlyfromsuchprimarysourcesastranslationsofancienttexts,plansorrepresentationsofbuildings,andpicturesofreliefs,

statuaryetc.

4.Documentation.Essaysmustindicatethesourcesoftheirinformationandideas,usingastandardsystemoffootnotes,endnotesorparentheticalreferences.Allreferencesshouldincludepagenumbers.Undocumenteduseofthewordsorideasofothersconstitutesplagiarism.

5.Thesis.Theessayshouldhaveaclearlydefinedscopeandpurposeexplainedatthebeginningandcarriedoutthroughouttheessay.

6.Originality.Essaysshouldaimatanalysingthematerialclearlyandcogently,presentingitinanewordifferentwa brin in to etherdiver entmaterialfromdifferentsources elaboratingonthesourcespresented,andmakingdistinctionsbetweenvalidandnonvalidarguments.


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A cou le of eneral rules/hints:A cou le of eneral rules/hints:

journalarticles)

Backupallyourclaimsandimportantstatementswithcitationsofsources.

UseiWRITE at http://iwrite.utoronto.ca Useyourstudentnumberasloginandpasswordoncesetup

AlsorefertotheEssayinstructionsinyourCourseNotes,wheresomemore

Happy Draf t ing!Happy Draf t ing!

How to Write the Perfect Essay

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