Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Are you struggling to meet your coursework deadlines? Finding it hard to get to grips with your essay topics? Does your writing sometimes lack structure and style? Would you like to improve your grades? This text covers everything a student needs to know about writing essays and papers in the humanities and social sciences. Starting from the common difficulties students face, it gives practical examples of all the stages necessary to produce a good piece of academic work: * interpreting assignment topics * drawing on your own experience and background * reading analytically and taking efficient notes * developing your argument through introductions, middles and conclusions * evaluating and using online resources * understanding the conventions of academic culture * honing your ideas into clear, vigorous English. This book will provide you with all the tools and insights you need to write confident, convincing essays and coursework papers.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. xi)
• Sources of extracts used in the text (p. xv)
• 1 Introduction (p. 1)
• 1 The main elements in academic writing (p. 2)
• 2 You and your writing task (p. 4)
• 3 You and your subject matter (p. 7)
• 4 You and your reader (p. 12)
• 5 Your language: form and structure (p. 15)
• Part I Reflection and Research (p. 19)
• 2 Reflection: asking questions and proposing answers (p. 21)
• 1 Speculative thinking and writing (p. 22)
• 2 Choosing a topic (p. 24)
• 3 Kinds of question (p. 27)
• 4 Coming to terms with an essay topic (p. 35)
• 5 Summary (p. 51)
• 3 Interpretation: reading and taking notes (p. 53)
• 1 The 'problem' of reading (p. 54)
• 2 Evidence, interpretation and fact (p. 57)
• 3 What an author does (p. 65)
• 4 An author's major motives (p. 69)
• 5 Modes of analysis (p. 77)
• 6 An author's structural intentions (p. 79)
• 7 Interpreting a difficult text (p. 82)
• Part II The Dynamics of an Essay (p. 89)
• 4 Introductions (p. 91)
• 1 The constituents of an essay (p. 92)
• 2 The constituents of an introduction (p. 94)
• 3 The use and misuse of introductory material (p. 95)
• 4 Setting out your case (p. 98)
• 5 Writing an introduction to a research paper (p. 107)
• 5 Middles (p. 111)
• 1 Some common problems (p. 112)
• 2 The uses of outlines (p. 116)
• 3 Expanding a case (p. 117)
• 4 Summary (p. 133)
• 6 Endings (p. 134)
• 1 Recapitulation (p. 134)
• 2 Mood: suggestion and implication (p. 136)
• 3 Variations on a theme (p. 140)
• Part III Language (p. 145)
• 7 You, your language and your material (p. 147)
• 1 Subjective and objective: the uses of 'I' and 'we' (p. 148)
• 2 Confusing yourself with your material (p. 151)
• 3 Quoting - and not quoting (p. 161)
• 4 Some verbs of enquiry: how to use them (p. 163)
• 8 Analytical language 1: sentences (p. 167)
• 1 Discrimination and confusion (p. 168)
• 2 Elements of sentence structure (p. 169)
• 3 Participants, processes and circumstances (p. 177)
• 9 Analytical language 2: rhetorical strategies (p. 194)
• 1 Analysing versus describing (p. 194)
• 2 Defining (p. 199)
• 3 Comparing and contrasting (p. 207)
• 10 Cohesion and texture (p. 215)
• 1 Determinants of cohesion and texture (p. 215)
• 2 Revising and improving text (p. 221)
• 11 Conventions of academic writing (p. 230)
• 1 Academic culture (p. 230)
• 2 A skeleton key to stylistic conventions (p. 232)
• Appendices
• 1 Writing book reviews (p. 240)
• 2 Sample analyses of essay topics (p. 243)
• 3 A revised manuscript (p. 252)
• Index (p. 257)