UNIVERSITY OF TAMPERE
School of Education 2016
Writing an essay
An essay can be used as an alternative or the only option for completing a course unit. The
literature related to a course unit must be directly incorporated into the essay, either with an
emphasis on some of the books or with equal emphasis on all of them. Always check with the
teacher in charge of the course unit for course-specific instructions on literature and essays. A
scientific essay always observes scientific writing practices, i.e. references and listing of
sources.
As a method of completing a course unit, a scientific essay can be completed as a short paper
or a concise, reflective composition. The topic of an essay should be addressed in a unique,
personal, argumentative and concise manner. The style of an essay observes the rules of
scientific writing: coherence, citations and appropriate use of language. In their essays,
students must demonstrate an understanding of the content and key concepts of the topic.
(Hirsjärvi, Remes & Sajavaara 2007, 268–269.)
Essays are not based on actual empirical data. Instead, their purpose in forming information is
based on a dialogue between thoughts and prior knowledge. An essay differs from studies and
research articles in that an essay does not have to be as firmly based on persuasiveness and
arguments as the compositions referred to above. This is also the reason why essays allow
and require originality and speculation on the topic and its perspectives. (Eskola 1995, 77–78.)
As a text, an essay is (adapted from Hirsjärvi et al. 2007, 269–270)
1. Coherent: the topic and text are consistent with the assigned title or instructions.
o Give your essay a title and address the question behind the title.
o Narrow the content of the topic down to the key issues you want to address in your essay.
2. Relevant: through the text, the writer demonstrates his/her ability for critical and
independent thinking.
o Address the small part of the topic you have selected in an argumentative and distinctive
manner.
o Consider what is relevant.
3. Demonstrating deep understanding: the aim of writing is to build knowledge in an adaptive,
reflective and evaluative manner.
o Convey information in your own words and provide examples.
o Demonstrate your own thinking by referencing and applying what you have learned from
others.
4. Structured: the writer demonstrates a logical train of thought in the essay.
o Structure the way items relate to each other in the text: hierarchy, causalities, context.
5. Scientific: the manner of writing may be personal, but it must also be objective.
o Provide believable arguments, i.e. be neutral and analytical.
o By providing arguments, you respect your reader.
o Avoid attacking people who do not support your own views.
6. Comprehensible: the writer observes the characteristic features of language.
o Aim to keep your essay comprehensible and to the point.
o Edit your essay carefully to make it easier for readers to follow the flow of your thoughts.
Solutions to structuring content (Hirsjärvi et al. 2007, 40–41)
1. Chronological order: write about the past, present and future. You may also combine this
with other methods of structuring your essay.
2. Spatial order: describe how things are here and how they are elsewhere, or on an axis from
near to far. You may also combine this with other methods of structuring your essay.
3. Arrange items from general to specific or in order of importance. You may also combine this
with other methods of structuring your essay.
4. Thematic order: write about the same theme from multiple perspectives.
5. From familiar to unfamiliar or from simple to complex: provide a general point of reference
and go into more depth from there.
6. Dialectic order based on juxtaposition, contrasts and comparison: the aim is to write about a
tension or interesting comparison by referring to researchers or phenomena. You have to be
systematic when comparing or contrasting, i.e. to proceed in a structured manner.
7. Cause and effect or a phenomenon and its cause: write about an occurrence or
phenomenon and its causes or effects.
8. Problems and solutions or questions and answers: identify and narrow down the problem. In
your essay, seek to understand the problem, set objectives, look for alternative solutions and
evaluate the effects of various choices. Finally, plan how you will carry out your chosen
solution.
The writing process for a scientific essay progresses on a step by step basis and is based on
the writer’s own style. You should always reserve time for writing your essays. When writing,
you can use a mind map to structure your essay or write it in parts, alternating between parts
and editing them. Each writer proceeds in his/her own style. Avoid writing one-sentence
paragraphs and chapters with only one paragraph. You should think the structure and title of
the essay through to make them appropriate and comprehensive.
Always read through your essay before submitting it to the teacher for checking and
evaluation. You can easily and quickly become blind to your own text and writing methods. For
example, an external reader can easily identify problems in the structure and a lack of clarity.
The form and structure of an essay
Essays have a rhetorical structure. The discussion pertains to a narrow topic and the writer
concludes the essay by tying his/her conclusions to the topic presented in the introduction.
The following section analyses the structure of an essay (adapted from Hirsjärvi et al. 2007,
270–272).
Introduction
o Must be concise and attract the reader’s interest.
o Describes the background of the topic and presents the question which the essay
discusses.
o Includes a main thought that builds the basic idea, purpose and perspective of the essay
and states how the topic is narrowed down.
o States the writer’s role in relation to the topic.
o Avoids unnecessary digression and straying from the topic, present your main thought and
give an example, for instance.
Body paragraphs
o Introduces interpretations of the topic, previous studies, controversies and realities.
o Discusses the values and valuation related to the topic and the reasons for this valuation.
o Assesses the opportunities or desirability of the actions.
o Requires evaluation, the writer’s own opinion, reflective thinking and analysis both for and
against the arguments on the topic.
Conclusion
o Provides arguments for the validity of the writer’s reasoning, criticism against the claims and
perspectives, as well as counter-arguments and differing perspectives.
o Summarises the main arguments that support the writer’s own conclusion.
o Indicates the writer’s own opinion on the topic.
o Indicates that the contemplation has reached its final conclusion and that the contemplation
responds to the question posed in the introduction.
Essays must be written in a clear font (such as Calibri), size 12 and with single line spacing.
Paragraphs are separated with a blank line or by indenting the first line of a new paragraph by
one centimetre (no blank line with indentation). Justify the text, i.e. align to both left and right
margins. Page margins must be the same in all directions (such as 2 cm). You should check
the layout instructions for essays with your teacher.
Writers must always observe instructions provided on the length of essays. The instructions on
the length of a scientific essay refer to the number of pages covered by the main text, in
addition to which the essay must always include a cover page, a table of contents and a
bibliography. The cover page must include the essay’s title and basic information (school,
major, course unit or assignment, name, student number, date). The table of contents must be
titled ‘contents’ and the bibliography ‘references’.
References and bibliography
Literature used in the essay is cited using direct and indirect quotations. The writer may
rephrase another person’s thoughts or use a direct quote from that person’s text. A direct
quote must be indented and italicised if it is longer than two lines of text. If the quote pertains
to an entity shorter than one sentence or if something is left out, mark the omitted part with two
dashes (– –). Always surround quotes with quotation marks.
‘This is the correct form for a direct quote. – – here, a part of the quote has been omitted.’
A quote used in the text must always be detailed in the bibliography and vice versa. Sources
and citation practices are based on the requirement that grounds and arguments must be
provided for all information. The writer must indicate which parts of the information comprise
his/her own thoughts and which parts are cited. A reference directs readers to the origin of the
information via the bibliography, which provides readers with the opportunity to verify the
appropriateness of a reference and an interpretation. The number of references also indicates
which parts of the text comprise the writer’s own input and which were originally produced by
someone else. Sometimes, when browsing through literature, the writer may also read texts
that he/she will not refer to when writing his/her own text. Works like these will not be included
in the bibliography.
Writers from other disciplines or with varying backgrounds often apply a range of citation
practices. Always follow the instructions that are provided separately for each course unit.
Note, however, that you should always apply the same format in your references and
bibliography, i.e. be consistent in your own practices.
The citation practices and format of the bibliography in essays in education are determined
according to APA style (American Psychological Association). More information about the
APA style is available for example from the Purdue Online Writing Lab
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/). The following examples about using the
APA style are also copied from the above-mentioned website.
Citing
A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each
time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use
the ampersand in the parentheses.
Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports...
(Wegener & Petty, 1994)
A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the
first time you cite the source. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text
and use the ampersand in the parentheses.
(Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993)
In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal
phrase or in parentheses.
(Kernis et al., 1993)
Six or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in
parentheses.
Harris et al. (2001) argued...
(Harris et al., 2001)
Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two
or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz., alphabetically),
separated by a semi-colon. If there are authors with the same last name use first initials with
the last names to prevent confusion.
(Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983)
(E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998)
Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the
same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries
in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.
Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that...
Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal
phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized
or underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks.
A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using APA," 2001).
Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention
the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the
source.
According to the American Psychological Association (2000),...
Electronic Sources
If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the authordate style.
Kenneth (2000) explained...¨
Quotations
Short quotations: If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author,
year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the
quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of
publication in parentheses.
According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style,
especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).
Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what
implications does this have for teachers?
If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of
publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.
She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199),
but she did not offer an explanation as to why.
Long quotations: Place direct quotations that are 40 words, or longer, in a free-standing block
of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2
inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the
entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph
within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The
parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.
Jones's (1998) study found the following:
Students often had difficulty using APA style,especially when it was their first time
citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students
failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)
Reference list
Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information
necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper.
Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in
the reference list must be cited in your text. Reference list entries should be alphabetized by
the last name of the first author of each work. For multiple articles by the same author, or
authors listed in the same order, list the entries in chronological order, from earliest to most
recent.
Single authors or two authors: Last name first, followed by author initials. Use the ampersand
instead of "and."
Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current
Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 7-10.
Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Mood management across affective states:
The hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 66, 1034-1048.
Three to seven authors: list by last names and initials; commas separate author names, while
the last author name is preceded again by ampersand.
Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., Berry, A., Harlow, T., & Bach, J. S.
(1993). There's more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low: The
importance of stability of self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 65, 1190-1204.
More than seven authors: List by last names and initials; commas separate author names.
After the sixth author's name, use an ellipses in place of the author names. Then provide the
final author name. There should be no more than seven names.
Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J. A., Thomas, S.
T., . .. Rubin, L. H. (2009). Web site usability for the blind and low-vision user.
Technical Communication, 57, 323-335.
Two or more works by the same author in the same year: If you are using more than one
reference by the same author (or the same group of authors listed in the same order)
published in the same year, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the
article or chapter. Then assign letter suffixes to the year. Refer to these sources in your essay
as they appear in your reference list, e.g.: "Berdnt (1981a) makes similar claims..."
Berndt, T. J. (1981a). Age changes and changes over time in prosocial intentions
and behavior between friends. Developmental Psychology, 17, 408-416.
Berndt, T. J. (1981b). Effects of friendship on prosocial intentions and behavior.
Child Development, 52, 636-643.
References:
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A.
(2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ .
Eskola, J. (1995). Essee, lukupiiri, luentopäiväkirja, arvioiva selostus – kokemuksia
vaihtoehtoisista opiskelu- ja suoritusmuodoista. In Hakkarainen, P. & Lestinen, L. (eds.)
Kokeilemalla laatua opettamiseen. Kokemuksia pedagogisista vaihtoehdoista
korkeakoulutuksessa (pp.75–89). Jyväskylä: Kasvatustieteiden tutkimuslaitos.
Hirsjärvi, S., Remes, P. & Sajavaara, P. (2007). Tutki ja kirjoita. 13. painos. Helsinki: Tammi.