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Lost my confidence after essay

Hey all,

I'm doing a History MA and I recently submitted my first piece of work (a short article review) and I was really disappointed with the mark. I understand all the feedback and it was mostly about structure, not the content or analysis.

I did well in my undergraduate degree and I know the leap in level is different and this is my first piece of work - I can rationalise getting a low mark, however disappointing haha BUT I have found that my confidence has totally disappeared for my next essay for this module!

Weirdly, for my other modules I am tackling my essays fine and confidently and feel good about them but for this one module I am totally paranoid about the essay and I'm questioning everything I do.

I know I can't change the mark and I can use the feedback, but any tips for overcoming this? Thanks!
Reply 1
Avatar for agrew
agrew
14
Hey,

During my master I used to prepare drafts with rough structures, main key points, primary theories to use and etc, and then I showed those to my lectures, and in addition I asked all questions I had about a coursework. Keep in mind that your lecturers are also your primary markers and while they follow the marking scheme, they still have their own views on how the work should be done. Pretty often they are clear with what they want to see, e.g. a particular theory to be mention. So by discussing your early work with them, you can get an idea of what they want to see in the final version.

Hope it helps.
Talk to an academic on your course and embrace the feedback. Generally speaking, good structure and referencing are key to a good masters essay.

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