# Welcome to SMIRK Unit
6 - Planning your work

- Why plan?
- Selecting your evidence
- Structuring your work
- Essay structure
- The main body (video)
- The main body
- Paragraphs
- The conclusion
- Report structure
- Writing a report (video)
- Back to main index

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Why plan?

Throughout your life you will need to write e-mails, letters, web pages, blogs, essays and reports. Your written communication method and degree of fomality will depend on who you are writing to, and why. Your Learning Development Centre can give you additonal infomation with examples.

Essays and reports

What are essays? Essays are "a short literary composition on a single subject”. ###### (Collins New English Dictionary (1997). London : HarperCollins, p. 253)
What are reports? Reports "give an account of the results of an investigation”. ###### (Collins New English Dictionary (1997). London : HarperCollins, p. 655)

Essays and reports are formal methods of communication and require attention to detail and a good writing style. The guidance given in this section is general and not subject specific. You should always check the guidelines in your module handbook for detailed specifications for your subject. You'll find them on GCULearn.

There are 5 stages in preparing written assignments:

1. interpreting the task (for a refresher see Understanding the question)
2. finding information (for a refresher see Finding Information)
3. planning and structuring your work
4. writing
5. proof reading and revision

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Selecting your evidence

Once you have worked out what you are being asked to do and have found relevant and good quality information, you will need to make sense of all the data. Go through all the material and be brutal in rejecting unnecessary or irrelevant information.
Only select the data that will help you answer the question. It can be disappointing to discard material you have gathered, but your lecturer only wants you to include material that is relevant. Pick out the central themes and concentrate on these.

This video from Dr Jane McKay, HLS LDC will help get you started.

Hint: Go through your notes and highlight relevant material in green. Highlight in red any material that can be discarded and highlight in yellow anything you are unsure of. Now you have a clearer idea of what you should include.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Structuring your work

Essays and reports are designed to inform the reader about a certain topic. So you need to make sure that you don't confuse your reader by not having a logical structure.
Remember that your work should have an introduction, middle and conclusion. Your essay or report should flow from section to section. There should be logical links between each paragraph or section. Therefore plan your structure carefully. Put your arguments in order and consider if they make sense. There are lots of different ways to do this:

- bullet points or linear lists with headings and sub headings
- mind maps showing how topics link together
- key points on index cards so that they can be shuffled easily.

If your order fails to flow then re-order the points. The following pages will give you some suggestions.

Top tip: If the suggestions on the following pages don't work for your topic, then consider using the frameworks created by Stella Cottrell. These act as an excellent outline for what you should consider for an argumentative essay and a compare and contrast essay.

###### Cottrell, S., 2008. The study skills handbook. 3rd ed. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, p. 187 and p. 190 - level 3 of the Saltire Centre shelved at 378.170281 COT.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Essay structure

Essays are a piece of discursive work and often have no formal layout in terms of heading and sub-headings. However, this does not mean that essays should not have a logical structure. The format for an essay can vary by school, so always check your module guide! (It is on GCULearn).

Before you start, watch this vidcast by Angela Shapiro, ADT EBE.
EBE also have some pages on structuring and planning your assignment. As with reports, you need an introduction, middle and conclusion:

A good introduction:

- sets the scene for the main body of the assignment. This means that it introduces the question, your assigment answers, defines important concepts and terms, provides a background and contextual information and often justifies why a topic is worthy of attention and discussion.
- provides an outline of the essay. This should not simply be a list of topics you will discuss, but should explain why you will discuss the topics, how they help you answer the question and how the individual sections are connected to each other.
- Approximately 10% of the word count of an assignment should allow you to cover these points well.
- This is a very important part of your essay. Some people prefer to write this last, once they know what they have written in the main body.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# The main body

Here is a helpful video from Dr Jane McKay, HLS LDC.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# The main body

The main body builds on your argument and should contain evidence and examples that support your ideas.

- Write a paragraph for each main point. Essays written in English are divided into paragraphs. The University of Essex has a good explanation of paragraphs and their structure. One of the most important characteristics of paragraphs is that they tend to centre on one topic. This is usually introduced in the first sentence, also called the topic sentence. The University of Ottawa has examples of topic sentences on their website.
- After introducing the main topic in the topic sentence, paragraphs can be expanded in a variety of different ways. You could:
  - give a more detailed definition
  - give a fuller explanation of specific aspects of the topic
  - provide an example
  - make a critical comment
  - refer to evidence to support an opinion
  - refer to evidence to criticise this opinion
  - finally link to the next paragraph
- Watch our video on paragraphs on the next page
- EBE have examples of typical paragraphs from Engineering and BNE in their subject-specific writing section.
- Develop arguments coherently and logically and relate one idea to another - don't simply produce a string of unconnected points.
- Make sure your essay is balanced - don't spend too long on one idea or too little on another.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Paragraphs

Here is a helpful video on paragraphs from Dr Jane McKay. HLS LDC.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# The conclusion

Good conclusions:

- summarise the main points made in the text. This does not mean that you repeat the topic sentences - instead try to draw the material together.
- refer back to the question and explain what your text has contributed towards answering it. This does not mean that you repeat the question, either. Instead, point out which insights the essay has given you into the matter.
- point out new questions that have arisen from your discussion, where appropriate, and suggest what kind of further research could answer them.
- relate your conclusion to the introduction.

References: You should provide a list of all the authors you have cited in your essay.

More help is available from your Learning Development Centre.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Report structure

Reports are designed to be read quickly and easily. Often only parts of a report are read in detail. Reports vary from essays as they have a more formal layout and normally use numbering, headings and sub-headings to indicate sections. The format for a report can vary by school, so always check your module guide! (It is on GCULearn). Reports often include:

- Title page This is brief but explicit. Include your name, date, module, course and for whom the report is written.
- List of contents with section and page numbers. If there are charts, diagrams or tables included in your report, these should be listed separately under a title such as List of Illustrations together with the page numbers on which they appear.
- Acknowledgements should only be included if appropriate.
- Summary or abstract This can also be called an executive summary. This is very important and is often the only section of a report read in detail. It is normally written when the report is finished. This should be a short paragraph summarising the main contents. It should include a short statement of the main task, the methods used, conclusions reached and any recommendations to be made.
- Introduction This sets the scene and includes the aims and objectives of the report. It also defines the limits of the report, outlines the method of enquiry, gives a brief general background to the subject of the report and indicates the proposed development.
- Main body This illustrates how a project was undertaken. It normally includes a literature review, explanation of methodology used, discussion and analysis of findings. Like an essay it should be ordered logically with each section being clearly linked. It should include evidence and where appropriate, graphs and illustrations.
- Conclusion This draws out the implications from the report and normally recommends a course of action. It should link back to the introduction.
- References You should provide a list of all the authors you have cited in your report.
- Appendices These contain supporting information, such as transcripts of interviews, results of surveys, a glossary and results from experiments.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/

# Writing a report

This vidcast has been created by Angela Shapiro, EBE LDC. Is describes how to write a final year technical report. Bear in mind that any examples will refer to EBE courses.

Want to know more? - we have more detailed pages on technical writing later in this section. More help is available from your Learning Development Centre.

Now that you have a structure, read our section on writing your assignment to make sure that you fill it with the best quality content.

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SMIRK by Imperial College, Loughborough University and the University of Worcester, modified by Marion Kelt Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.gcu.ac.uk/library/SMILE/