Tips for Writing Essays and Dissertations Efficiently

Introduction

• Initial Strategy: Avoid extensive online research initially. Instead, focus on crafting a clear introduction that covers basic concepts and your hypothesis.
• Simplifying Language: Use simple language to make it easier for the examiner to understand your essay's purpose and structure.
• Time Management: Spend about 20 minutes on the introduction, prioritizing clarity and structure over detailed referencing at this stage.

Main Body

• Structuring Content:

  • Organize the main body into key points, evidence, critical analysis, and relation to the essay title.
  • Begin with foundational questions for each section to guide your research and writing.

• Research Tips:

  • Use tools like Elicit AI for quick research summaries or refer to review papers to find relevant studies.
  • Avoid random Google searches; be strategic in finding sources.

• Writing Tips:

  • Follow your institution's mark scheme to ensure you meet required criteria.
  • Keep the main body concise with a clear structure: Point, Evidence, Explanation, Critical Analysis.
  • Use existing publications for inspiration, especially for critical analysis and suggested improvements.

• Use of Diagrams:

  • Include diagrams to break text monotony, aid comprehension, and potentially impress examiners.
  • Diagrams can convey complex ideas more effectively than text.

Referencing

• Strategic Referencing:
  • Include multiple sources to show thorough research, even if one source suffices.
  • Use the bibliography of your primary sources to find additional references.
  • Incorporate references once the main content is complete.

Conclusion

• Crafting the Conclusion:

  • Summarize findings, detail evidence, suggest improvements, and discuss potential future research directions.
  • Use recent publications to inform suggestions for future research.

• Bibliography Creation:

  • Use citation generators to efficiently create a bibliography.

Time Management

• Efficient Work Process:
  • Total writing time should be around 3 hours, with a brief period for proofreading.

Additional Tips

• Reading Efficiency:

  • Minimize research time but expect substantial reading.
  • Consider techniques to increase reading speed to save time.

• Proofreading:

  • Allocate time for proofreading within the 3-hour window to ensure clarity and coherence.

Conclusion

These strategies aim to maximize efficiency and effectiveness when writing essays and dissertations, allowing more time to focus on other interests.