Writing Effective Essay Plans and Introductions編寫有效的文章寫作計(jì)劃和介紹

Section 1: General第1部分：總則

Essay Plans and Introductions are professional tools for writing coherent, logical, carefully documented, persuasive arguments and therefore good academic essays.
文章寫作計(jì)劃和介紹需要具有連貫性，邏輯性，要有仔細(xì)的記錄，以及有說服力的論據(jù)，因此，良好的學(xué)術(shù)文筆寫作能力是寫作好文章的必備的條件。
These are transferable skills, suitable for many forms of academic questions and assignments, both at university and in the paid workforce. As a professional you will also seek supervision for projects and writing.

Essay plans and introductions are not done only once.文章的規(guī)劃方法和介紹不單單是一種的。 They need to be begun at the start, consulted over, and refined progressively as you go, probably several times. Both the Plan and the Introduction are rewritten at the end just before you submit the assignment. The kind of Introduction I am looking for is similar to an Abstract or Synopsis such as you will find in professional journals or a book chapter. See the third section.我期待的介紹是類似這樣的，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)在專業(yè)雜志或一本書中的第一章就是這種抽象的概要。可以參見第三部分。

Read the instructions and tips that precede and follow the Essay Q’s. I will model in the lectures how to write an essay plan and do an introduction. Later, there will be a chance to discuss the Essay Q’s in small groups. Find some friends to form a small study group and help each other. (B & X) It is wise to form a small study group for discussion, support and feedback. X: Post your approach to a specific Q onto the DSO site – in the Essay discussion strand.http://ukthesis.org/Essay_Writing/

The processes involved in writing and refining plans and introductions encourage you to consult with peers, colleagues or supervisors – such as a DSL tutor, your Study Group or Study Buddy, a tutor or teacher or the unit chair. Explain and get feedback on whether your plan or introduction is clear, logical, rounded, coherent, well-expressed, what’s working well and what might be missing, etc. Refine what you are doing. Allow adequate time for this: make a timeline. Start your essay about 4/5 weeks before it is due. Book meetings with Lynne and a DSL tutor ahead of time.

Ideally, from the teacher’s point of view supervision is not something best done on email, because it is a little clunky for effective tutoring, especially when you are just beginning. 

X students of course I will assist you at a distance online or by phone, or come in and visit if you are in Melbourne.  Listen to the lectures, and post your plan or Intro or questions to the DSO site, and then phone after you have posted.

B students we should consult face to face so I can respond to where you are up to. Please visit and do not hesitate to ask questions in the seminars. More than one person is fine. I will also explain elements of essays in lectures from week 3.  I am always in my office between 1-3 on a Monday and 3-4 on a Thursday (AEST) and some weeks times are extended – see DSO. Try to stick to these if at all possible or we can perhaps make another time. Contact me on email for a time. Don’t leave consulting until the week the essay is due!

1. Before consulting, review the assessment criteria in the unit guide.

2. Before consulting, make a timeline

3. Before consulting, choose an exact essay Q, and do as much as you can yourself following the instructions.

4. A good early step is to write about you and your relationship to the topic. Why are you choosing it? Work on your reflexivity. The process of thinking about this aspect is important.

If you follow the steps below the essay should be pretty straightforward to organise.

Section 2: Writing and using an effective plan編寫和使用有效的計(jì)劃書

1. Make a Question interpretation working from what you already know. Figure out what you think the Q might be asking you to do and sketch out what the obvious sections need to be in the answer.  If you feel confused or have no immediate ideas read some of the reading suggestions in brackets after the Q. Consult your study group.

 

2. Think again in more detail about your response to the Q.  What examples will you use as evidence? Follow the directions: not too few or too many examples, appropriate unit materials, and they need to be in English. Can you access the supporting arguments, theories, films, evidence you need? 

 

3.  Identify in an initial way which unit theorists offer ideas and concepts that you can use to analyze (explain) your examples/evidence. Read more widely than the obvious relevant week. Not every item is relevant, but some readings or films you might not immediately think of as relevant can be made so. For example, from week 1, the Sreberny (2002) reading, ‘Globalization and me …’, Phipps (2009) on ‘Globalization, indigeneity and performing culture’, Jeff Sisson’s (2005) explanation of ‘indigenism’, Robyn Wiegman’s, (2000) ‘Race, ethnicity, and film’, and Jan Van Dijk’s (2005) piece on ‘the digital divide’ are probably relevant to many questions and films. That’s potentially five references sown up before you get to the exact topic week. Easy to work in more!

4. Think carefully about which films might best illustrate the question and your argument, and why. There may be several possibilities. Check with friends, tutor and/or with Lynne if not sure.

仔細(xì)考慮哪些好的電影可能說明你的觀點(diǎn)和問題，以及選擇他們的原因。可能的幾種可能性。如果不能確定，請(qǐng)與朋友，導(dǎo)師和或者Lynne商量。

5. Now write a first draft essay plan. OK to use bullet points and numbers to help you organise stuff. So far you are mainly working on what is called yourheuristics – the initial hunches you have, the unit reading you have done so far, and ideas that appeal to you from training, personal experience, commonsense (hegemonic or counter-hegemonic ideas for example).

6. Organise your plan in content terms to begin with:

• Topic, central aspects/themes you will focus on, films, key theorists, their important ideas, steps in the argument, evidence and conclusions. At the start you probably don’t know all of these. They get added as you read and think and write. In the plan, ok to use bullet points and no’s to organise the materials but include the in-text refs in Harvard style (author, date, p.) from the beginning.

• Then, divide the above content into standard essay sections, such as Introduction, reflexive introduction, literature review/analytic framework, analysis, conclusion. (See Section 3 Introduction)

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8. Once you have done this coherently the structure is established and the  ‘theme sentences’ approach can be used in the essay proper to insert and expand on content.

9. About this stage write the first draft of your Introduction. Drop the bullet points and numbers and write sentences that link the ideas and content together. Focus on the arguments. Overview the essay, make it like an abstract with all important elements in a nutshell: aka the ‘roadmap’. Edit hard! Properly done, this will be succinct, clear, about two paragraphs, and having read it the reader will be oriented to your essay, know what to expect, and not get lost.

10. If this is hard, read the two DSL Study skills links on ‘writing academic essays’ and ‘writing critically, and then see the DSL tutors for help, or see Lynne. Please bring in what you’ve done.

EXPANDING the plan and writing the essay

As you do the next steps the plan and the essay are being written in parallel forms.

11. Now turn again to unit authors and lectures. Identify at least 5 relevant unit writers. Focus on the ideas you will draw on and apply. READ, READ, VIEW, VIEW ….. Take reading notes and expand your glossary. Build your reference list using correct Harvard style from the start. As you read and take notes read everything in terms of the essay Q. How can this reading be of use to explain something? Make your notes link to the essay. What is their relevance? Refine the plan.

12. Work again on refining the relevant concepts and ideas and the steps in your argument and what you think your conclusion might be. Review your Weekly readings carefully ranging both outside and within of the obvious directly relevant topic week. Do more of the recommended readings. Look to see your analytic model or framework has all the relevant details it needs. Review the Question. Does your framework allow you to answer the Q, or is any part missing?This is a good time to check that you are on track with teacher/supervisor/ Lynne.

14. Write the detailed analysis. If you are explaining a film remember to include scene analyses, filmic language, player counter numbers and audiences!

15. From now on you continuously refine what you are doing. Write and rewrite, consult. Talk with your study group or study buddy. Don t leave it late and don’t try and do it alone.

16. Before you submit, review the question and the assessment criteria in the unit guide.

Section 3: Writing a professional introduction 撰寫一個(gè)專業(yè)性的介紹

Every essay should start with a brief clear summary overview or ‘road map’ (about 1-2 paragraphs) to orient the reader.
每一篇文章開始需要有一個(gè)簡短的應(yīng)有清晰的簡要概述或“路線圖”（約1-2段）給初始的讀者。
It should look like an abstract in a professional journal article. The introduction introduces the topic, main theorists, the argument, evidence and conclusion, providing a succinct overview of the essay. Having read it the reader knows whether they want to read on.

There is some flexibility in style. You need to find your own voice. The five examples below are all different.

 Avoid rambling, waffly, badly expressed, vague and general introductions, e.g. don’t trace something back to ‘the cavemen’ (sic), don’t start with a quoted definition, repeat the question, generalise about huge groups such as ‘Africans’ or ‘Maori men’. Refer to authors by name, give dates and link them to major concepts. Get the argument clear. Aim to inform and familiarize the reader with your approach and topic.

EXAMPLES:例子

In your READER these two items have acceptable Introductions. They are for book chapters, so longer that you will write for a short essay:在你的dissertation中，這兩個(gè)項(xiàng)目的介紹有可以接受通過的。他們也是同樣適用于書籍的章節(jié)，所以，你的文章將不再只是一篇短文：

Louw, E P 2005, ‘National identity and communication’, in The media and political process, Sage Publications, London, pp. 95–117. Reader

Wayne, M 2001, Two excerpts, ‘Introduction’, and ‘Third cinema as political practice’, in Political film: the dialectics of Third cinema, Pluto Press, London, pp. 1 and 5-8. Reader

From your E/R list see:

Mushengyezi, A 2004, ‘Reimaging Gender and African tradition? Ousmane Sembène's Xala Revisited’, Africa Today, vol. 51, no. 1, (Fall) pp. 47-62.