The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

Essay help

Hi, I'm currently studying psychology and I've just completed my 2nd year.
I averaged around 65% and my general feedback was that I need to construct the essay better and write in a more academic language, which would help bump my grade up alot.
I also struggle with the essay questions aswell, in relation to doing specifically what it wants.
Ie, I might start of on the right track and then I go off on a tangent or add information that isn't relevant to that specific paragraph rather than keeping to the topic.
I'm dyslexic, so that is a big issue for me, actually understanding what is being asked of me.
Can I get some advice on this, as I really want to end my degree with at least a 2.1 otherwise all this hard work is for nothing. Thank you 😊💓 xx
Reply 1
Avatar for NJA
NJA
20
Perhaps a definition of the word essay from its etymology will help you stay on track:

(late 15th century) as a verb in the sense ‘test the quality of’: alteration of assay, by association with Old French essayer, based on late Latin exagium ‘weighing’, from the base of exigere ‘ascertain, weigh’; the noun (late 16th century) is from Old French essai ‘trial’.
I'm dyslexic too and what's helped with my uni grades is starting early so I can finish and read through it all before submitting. Using the text to speach in word is really helpful (and quicker!) to see where the lanuage seems off or if there's a bit where the essay seems disjointed. Also, use the synomym feature in word to help find more academic words. Hope this helps!
Original post by hazisgolden
I'm dyslexic too and what's helped with my uni grades is starting early so I can finish and read through it all before submitting. Using the text to speach in word is really helpful (and quicker!) to see where the lanuage seems off or if there's a bit where the essay seems disjointed. Also, use the synomym feature in word to help find more academic words. Hope this helps!

Hi thank you, this is really helpful 😊 xx
Hi,

I'm a third year university student and I would suggest looking at what they have told you to do and then re word it and break down the words to help understand what you have to do.

-Write a plan for each section of your essay and I write what I need to do in a list. I put mine into a table on a Microsoft word document
-Define key terms in your essay
-Maybe use the voice reading option on Microsoft word
-Write a few drafts
-Look at example layouts- your lecturer may give you examples of past student's work
-Get someone to proof read your work
-And I always use the thesaurus in Microsoft Word to look up a word- especially if I feel I use one word often.

I hope this helps, and good luck!

Demi :smile:
Original post by Chloe-louise1997
Hi, I'm currently studying psychology and I've just completed my 2nd year.
I averaged around 65% and my general feedback was that I need to construct the essay better and write in a more academic language, which would help bump my grade up alot.
I also struggle with the essay questions aswell, in relation to doing specifically what it wants.
Ie, I might start of on the right track and then I go off on a tangent or add information that isn't relevant to that specific paragraph rather than keeping to the topic.
I'm dyslexic, so that is a big issue for me, actually understanding what is being asked of me.
Can I get some advice on this, as I really want to end my degree with at least a 2.1 otherwise all this hard work is for nothing. Thank you 😊💓 xx

As a starting point, your average grade does equate to a 2.1, which means you are on the right track and so be proud of that and give yourself a pat on the back.

For improving your essay writing, my main advice would be to read lots of academic articles/essay papers. They don't necessarily need to be in your subject field, although it would help and increase both your interest and knowledge on the course, but just read anything that is written in an academic style. This is the best way to familiarise yourself with academic terminology as well as get a grasp on how to structure and have a flow in your essays.

Also, inform your tutors about your dyslexia, if you haven't so already, and how it affects your ability to produce good quality essays so that they can offer you further help and support in essay writing, comprehension, academic skills, extensions etc. Take full advantage of any resources and support you can get at University.

Lastly, to keep the content relevant to the essay question, make a thorough and detailed plan for your essay instead of just writing it all off the top of your head. You need to make this very specific. For example, write in bullet points about how you'll start the introduction, which references are you going to use, how are you going to link those references to the point you're making. Then move onto the main body and write out every argument you're going to use, and so on. Then, edit this out and remove the parts that are not relevant. Ask someone else to also look through it so that they can help in finding any other extra bits that you might not have picked up. This way, the planning should take the most time and then, you would only need to write and elaborate whatever is in the essay plan, without adding anything else.

Hope this helps!

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you