A thread about writing essays

Hi Fionah,

I'm loving everything about university so far. The course at Birmingham is great. At the moment it is divided into 'Literature Foundation' which is a broad overview of English Lit, 'Landmarks of European Literature' which is European texts in translation, 'Language Foundation' and 'Independent Study' (scary presentation-eek!)

You can choose whether to do LIT/lang (emphasis on lit- I chose this) or lit/lang (both lit and lang studied equally.)

There was no interview for Brum, but I had to get AAB minimum (got AAA.) I also applied to two other courses at Brum, York (rejected!), Warwick (rejected!!) and Lancaster was my insurance choice. I have no idea why I was rejected by York and Warwick but I suspect either my Personal Statement wasn't up to scratch or they saw that I applied to Birmingham three times!

Hi, I am new! I am studying English at Birmingham University and did English Lit, Psychology and Geography for my A-levels and Biology AS.

Before I registered, I was involved in a discussion about writing English Literature essays for A-level. I thought this was an interesting topic that could prove useful if it was turned into a separate thread. So...if you could give any advice to someone writing an essay for English, what would it be?

Here is mine concerning comparitave essays (the sort commonly required for the synoptic paper for A-level English):

I really enjoyed English Lit A-level but I suspect this may have been due to the fact that essay writing comes naturally to me.

To those who find essay writing difficult, some good advice is to follow a methodic plan. For example, if you are comparing three poems, it would be ideal to intertwine your comparison into the essay, constantly making comparitive points. However, if you find this difficult, you could analyse each poem separately and then add a couple of comparitive paragraphs at the end. You won't get an A or a B, but you are more likely to get a solid C than if you get totally confused and go off-topic.

Also, you could follow a set structure and compare aspects of the poem such as:

Genre of the extract
Historical context
Gender of the writer
Language
Form
Structure

You should ALWAYS make a short plan for your essay (this can be done in your head, but most people find it more productive to write one out underneight your title to refer back to.)

Always highlight key words in the title of the essay. This prevents you from getting distracted and keeps you focussed. Use phrases and words from the topic throughout the essay or synonyms for these words.

If you quote a line from a poem, always go on to analyse this line, do not just give it a full stop and make a new point. Analyse the rhythm, explain the rhyme, expand metaphors and comment on any poetic devices such as alliteration.

Anyone got anything to add/ comment on?