Many colleges will provide you with an MA or Masters dissertation handbook which will cover all the basic tools and facilities you need to be aware of in order to complete your MA. What sort of information should you expect to receive?

The basics – There should be full information about who to contact within your subject department. This will range from email addresses and webpages to check through to “old school” methods of contact – for example, if the department has post trays for each postgraduate student.

It’s sensible to spend time on an essay plan. A well-structured essay makes it easier for the marker to understand your arguments. It also shows that you have a clear and logical mind if you’ve set out your essay in an ordered fashion. Plan the essay before you even start the reading.

For essay writing at A’level and beyond, it becomes important to learn how to reference correctly. There are a range of different referencing systems named after the universities that popularize the method.

The Chicago referencing system provides two ways of referencing – in text or using footnotes or endnotes. The method using notes and bibliography is used in the humanities and the in text method (using only author name and date in text) is preferred for science subjects.

The reason you want to present your text in the best light possible is that you want to help the reader understanding your meaning. The reader, in this case, is your tutor and you don’t want them to misunderstand your meaning and mark you down. You also want to check that you haven’t made any silly mistakes that would be embarrassing.

This mistake is the one you want to avoid above all others, and making this error can cost you your place at university. Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work as if it is your own. The universities see it as stealing. Unfortunately, with the rise of cut-and-paste technology, this is becoming more common and the sad thing is that most people who plagiarise didn’t mean to do it. But this is not seen as a defence. Be very careful to put everything in your own words.

Think ahead clearly, before you begin, about how you want to put your essay together, what you want to say, and the nature of the relevant material. Strict deadlines can tempt you to put something on the page as soon as possible, but thorough planning will save you time by making the writing phase that much smoother.

A solid 2.1 grade requires the ability to keep on topic and make all of the text of your essay ultimately relevant to the question. Context and background information is often an important part of academic writing, but should not be detailed at the expense of focus. Limit even the most interesting digressions.

A solid 2.1 grade requires the ability to keep on topic and make all of the text of your essay ultimately relevant to the question. Context and background information is often an important part of academic writing, but should not be detailed at the expense of focus. Limit even the most interesting digressions.

Specifications. Understand your departmental specifications for writing a dissertation to ensure that you fully understand what is expected of you. Such specifications should be seen as an aid rather than a hindrance. This is likely the most challenging piece of work you have attempted, so make it manageable by considering each aspect of the specification […]