university of manchester essay writing guide

Essay writing guide

Introduction.

The subject of how to write a good essay is covered on many other sites and students are encouraged to read a sample of guides for a full understanding.

Recommended reading

• How to write an essay , University of Manchester, Faculty of Humanities Study Skills
• 3rd year project technical writing advice , University of Manchester, School of Computer Science
• William Strunk's elements of style

Examples of additional reading

• Essay writing & report writing , University of Wollongong
• Essay writing , Edinburgh Napier University

Academic essays and articles usually contain 'references'. These can range from a generalised bibliography or list for "further reading" to specific references for particular points in the text. In this last category references are normally indexed either by the first author's name and publication date, e.g. "[Smith97]" or simply numerically "[5]".

• Read how to reference properly and avoid plagiarism

Advice on the subject of plagiarism can be found under the assessments section of this website.

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Study resources

Get the most out of studying Philosophy at Manchester.

Access online philosophy resources, get help with writing essays and other study skills, and join relevant societies and groups.

Study guides

See Blackboard Programme Hub

Online resources

A vast number of philosophical texts are available online. Once you know where to look and how to access them, they are an amazing resource for finding out more about a topic, locating journal articles that you need for your tutorials or essays or exams, seeing how a particular debate has played out in the literature, etc. This page gives you some information about how to use the internet for these purposes effectively.

Internet for Philosophy tutorial

Go to the  University Library's Philosophy LibGuide . Click on the tabs along the top for lots of information about online journals and books, links to databases, etc. (You can also get to this site from the library home page by clicking on 'A-Z of subjects' under 'Academic Support' and searching for 'philosophy'. And you can download the guide onto your phone if you have a camera and bar code reader app.)

Now you've done both of those, you know pretty much everything you need to know about accessing philosophy resources on the internet! However, here are a few additional handy hints.

Accessing online philosophy articles

Library catalogue/Google Scholar

The vast majority of journal articles in philosophy can be accessed online through the University Library's subscriptions. The University Library's online catalogue includes journal articles, so you can search for a given article that way (you'll probably need to use 'advanced search' or you'll get too many hits). 

A third option is to use Google Scholar. Just type the name of the journal article (in double quotation marks) and hit 'search'. If the article is available anywhere online, it should be first in the list of hits. Note that there will often be 'cited by' and 'related articles' links as well; if you click on these you'll be able to follow up the ensuing debate.

How do I log in to the publisher's website?

Some articles are freely available (often from the author's own homepage). However, normally they are only available through the journal publisher's website, and are accessible only to institutions that subscribe to the journal. UoM has a very extensive portfolio of subscriptions, so it's very likely that we have one. If you're going through the University Library's A-Z list of e-journals, you should be able to get straight through to the pdf of the article. If you're using Google Scholar, click on the link to the article or look for a 'Find it at UML' link on the right; again, you should be able to get to the pdf.

However if you're not using a campus computer you may find that your only apparent option is to buy the article. If this happens, look for the 'institutional login' button (there should be one somewhere on the page). Click on this and search for 'University of Manchester'. You should then be able to login using your normal UoM username and password, and be taken back to the journal site. (Annoyingly, it might not have remembered what it was you were looking for, so you might have to search the site for it.) If you can't find an 'institutional login' button, look for the link to login options. If there is a 'log in via Shibboleth' option, that will work too.

Or, even easier …

Set your off-campus computer/laptop up so that it can connect to the UoM 'Virtual Private Network' (VPN), by following  the instructions . It's very easy! Once you've installed the VPN software, if you connect to the VPN your computer will act just like a campus computer, so you will automatically be logged in to publishers' journal sites and won't have to follow the institutional login procedure.

Top four online resources!

Well, it's a matter of subjective preference, but we can recommend:

• Philosophy Compass:  This is an online journal that publishes high-quality survey articles on philosophical topics, aimed at non-specialists.  Philosophy Compass  articles are a great way of finding your way around a particular debate and locating relevant texts to follow up.
• PhilPapers:  This is a huge database of philosophy books and journal articles. You can search for a particular item, browse the categories and sub-categories, and even make a personalised reading list or bibliography.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy : This is a really comprehensive online encyclopedia written by internationally recognised experts. It isn't written with undergraduates in particular in mind, but even if you don't understand everything you should be able to get a sense of the overall shape of the debate you're interested in, and there are lots of references for you to follow up. Please note that if you cite a SEP article in an essay, you need to cite and list it in your bibliography properly! Click on 'author and citation info' at the top of the article to find out how to cite it.
• Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy:  UoM library now has access to this encyclopedia, which has over 2,700 philosophy articles. It includes comprehensive cross-referencing and is fully searchable. Off-campus, you will need to access it through the  VPN .

Study skills and essay writing

Want to know how to write the perfect essay, how to deal with exam stress, or how to manage your study time more effectively? Then this is the page you need.

Philosophy study guide

You should already have this, but have you read it recently? It contains lots of useful and detailed information about how to write a good essay, how to prepare for exams, how to construct your bibliography and cite your sources, and lots of other things. A high proportion of students would get considerably better marks in their essays if they simply checked whether they were abiding by the Study Guide’s advice, so make sure you’re not one of them!

• Download the Philosophy study guide

In addition, you might buy or get from the library one or more of the following:

• Doing Philosophy , by C. Saunders, D. Lamb, D. Mossley and G. Macdonald Ross (ISBN 9781441173041, £14.99 or less; also available from the University Library) is a very helpful read, especially for new students. It’s a comprehensive guide to studying philosophy at university.
• The Basics of Essay Writing , by Nigel Warburton. This is a general guide to writing university-level essays, but it's written by a philosopher.

Bibliography and referencing guidance

From 2014-15, all students should consult  only  the guidelines contained in the Philosophy Study Guide when writing philosophy essays. In addition, we have adopted an official policy concerning how many marks should be deducted for various levels of failure to follow the guidelines. Read the student guidance on this policy .

More on essay writing

There's lots of additional advice online about how to write a good philosophy essay. Of course, philosophers across the planet don’t all agree with each other about exactly what makes for the perfect essay, and if you come across any advice that directly conflicts with the Study Guide, you should go with the Study Guide. But by and large we’re all looking for roughly the same thing, and one or more of these guides might be more helpful to you personally than our own Study Guide.

• Harvard Writing Centre’s  A Guide to Philosophical Writing
• Richard Price’s Tips on How to Write a Philosophy Essay
• Jim Pryor’s Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper
• Peter Lipton's advice on writing philosophy
• And last, but by no means least, there's  Jimmy Lenman's 'How to Write a Crap Philosophy Essay'

There are loads more as well; just do a Google search for ‘how to write a philosophy essay’!

Advice on exams

Again, there's lots in the Philosophy Study Guide, but here's a spot of online advice:

• David Bain's exam revision tips
• Nigel Warburton's 5 tips on preparing for philosophy exams .

One-to-one help with your written English

The University Centre for Academic English offers a one-to-one tutorial service aimed at improving your written English. You can submit a sample of work in advance and will then have a meeting of up to an hour to discuss how to improve. If you're an overseas student, you can make an appointment yourself. If you're a home (UK) student you have to be referred, so please speak to your academic advisor. Find out more .

Using internet resources

Having trouble locating philosophy texts online? See the  online resources section .

My Learning Essentials

The Library's award-winning skills programme contains lots of generic advice about managing your time, reflecting on your academic development, coping with exam stress, and so on. 

• My Learning Essentials - The University of Manchester Library

In response to student feedback, we are making available some past essays to help you get a better sense of the kinds of things that we're looking for when we mark them.

To start with, there are two essays from last year's first-year Philosophy & Social Science course; but we'll be adding to these in due course. Please note, however, that what we're looking for is pretty much the same across all courses and levels (except, of course, that the higher the level, the higher the standard required). So you should find these useful even if you're not taking that particular course, and indeed even if you are a 2nd- or 3rd-year.

Included in each pdf is a short summary of the philosophical topic, a bunch of in-text comments, a summary of the essay's main strengths and weaknesses, and an indicative mark. Do please note that there is a lot more feedback on these essays than you can expect on the essays you submit! Our hope is that by providing very extensive feedback on a small sample of essays, you will be able to see how similar considerations might apply to your own work. Don't forget that if you want more feedback on an essay than the marker has provided on the essay itself, you can always go and see them in their office hours to ask for more advice on how to improve.

• 1st year sample essay 1 (Philosophy & Social Science) .
• 1st year sample essay 2 (Philosophy & Social Science) .

Societies and events

• The British Undergraduate Philosophy Society (BUPS)  runs an annual conference and an online journal –  The British Journal of Undergraduate Philosophy  – both aimed at and run by philosophy undergraduates. If you’ve written a stormingly good essay you might think about submitting a version of it to the journal, or presenting it at the annual conference. Or you might think about getting involved in the society. These will help you improve at philosophy and look great on your CV!
• The University of Manchester Philosophy Society  runs various events. Visit their  Facebook group page .
• Philosophy@Manchester  is the Facebook group for the Discipline Area. Take a look, and join up if you haven’t already!

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The Ultimate Guide to: Writing Essays

December might be my favourite month of the year. Festive cheer is everywhere, winter break is nearing and there are countless reasons for celebration.

For students, however, the turn of the month also marks something much less jolly: Essay season. Truthfully, spending my days glued to my laptop is seriously killing my Christmas spirit.

If you feel the same, take these essay writing tips as my gift to you. As a fourth-year humanities student, I’ve written countless essays and picked up a lot of wisdom along the way. From the resources you should be utilising to the writing processes you should be following, here’s everything you need to know to make deadline season a little bit merrier.

Decode first, write later

We’re starting with the obvious: make sure you have  understood , not just read, the essay instructions before you get started on your assignment.

Deadline season means your to-do list is probably endless, meaning the temptation to frantically jump from one task to the next is completely understandable. Misunderstanding a word or misreading the wordcount or deadline date, however, will set you back a lot more than taking five minutes to re-read the instructions would. A bit more time checking saves hours correcting mistakes!

Take this from me, who didn’t bother to double check the meaning of a word in my essay question recently, and only realised after writing the plan that I had completely misunderstood what it was asking. Don’t make my mistake!

Make use of the University’s resources

Luckily for us, UoM has a vast bank of online resources covering all aspects of the essay writing process. It’s worth just browsing the University website to make the most of what’s on offer, but I’ve selected a few that may be useful below:

As you may have heard over the ALGC speakers, UoM library is currently offering a series of face-to-face workshops as part of its My Learning Essentials Program. Topics covered include critical reading, essay structure and referencing, with the full program available here ( Workshops (MLE) (The University of Manchester Library) )

The University Centre of Academic English has a whole series of activities created to support you in developing your writing skills, covering themes such as summarising, paragraph structure and even writing dissertations. Check it out here ( Academic Writing – University Centre for Academic English – The University of Manchester ).

The University has also created an internationally recognised Academic Phrasebook that is designed to be a “general resource for academic writing.” This is great if you struggle with academic wording and would benefit from some prompts to structure your ideas. There is a free, 54 page sample document available here, ( Academic-Phrasebank-Sample-PDF-2018.pdf (phrasebankresearch.net) ), or a more extensive version available to purchase for £5. I can’t vouch for whether it’s a worthy investment myself, but I’ve seen a few TikToks made by other students recommending the guide.

Planning is key

We’ve been hearing this since school for a reason: A plan is essential to writing a good essay. This forms the building blocks of your ideas, makes the whole process more efficient and ensures you are answering the question effectively.

I would recommend starting by writing a thesis statement, which is a few sentences long and answers the question in brief, clear terms by outlining your argument. This forms the central thread of the rest of your essay.

I then divide my plan into points, summing up each point of my argument with a few, concise sentences. I also include any relevant examples or evidence, theories or quotes from scholars that I want to include in that paragraph. You could structure this in a table or mind map, if your mind works a little more visually.

I tend not to plan my conclusion, because I have my thesis statement to fall back on, but also because my ideas might shift slightly as I write the essay.

If possible, getting some formative feedback on your essay plan well ahead of the essay deadline is crucial. Your lecturer may have offered the opportunity to submit a formative plan to them, which you should try to treat as if it were mandatory. If not, use their office hour to get some verbal feedback. This is a great way to reassure yourself that you’re on the right track ahead of writing, or raises any potential issues with your plan that you can then address before you start.

Reference as you go along.

We’ve all been there- frantically writing the footnotes and bibliography in the hours before an essay deadline, adding some creative license to the page numbers and adding any remotely relevant source you can find to bulk out the bibliography.

However, this can seriously harm your grade and put you at risk of plagiarism. Instead, ensure that you complete your referencing as you go along to ensure it is accurate and prevent the last-minute panic. This means noting down the sources for any quotes or ideas in your plan, and keeping a folder or list of all the texts you use throughout the whole process.

If you’re struggling with how to reference, don’t panic as there are plenty of resources available to you. Start by reading your department referencing guide, which you should be able to find on Blackboard or by asking your tutor, this will explain which referencing style you need to use. Online websites such as Neil’s Toolbox and JSTOR offer help with citations, and the university library also runs drop-in referencing support sessions.

All these tips will become impossible if you don’t give yourself enough time to write the essay. I can’t tell you how much time you need to allocate, because every subject, person and essay is different, but this is something you will learn the more you write. 

I recommend putting all your deadlines into a calendar at the start of the semester and working backwards from there. For instance, allocate the three days before the deadline for editing work, the week before that for writing it and the week before that for planning. This does take some trial and error, so be generous with your timeline to allow for unexpected obstacles and changing personal circumstances.

I know how hard it is in the thick of deadline season, but you will produce your best work when you are calm, prepared and not in a rush. Be kind to yourself and try to be strict with your organization to make it easier in the longer term.

Academic writing

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Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Access to Document

• 10.4324/9781351026949-15

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• https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/c50ffaec-be18-3a18-9f85-f78a4aacd56b/

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• Academic Writing Arts and Humanities 100%
• Descriptive Arts and Humanities 33%
• Weave Arts and Humanities 33%
• authorial voice Arts and Humanities 33%
• Writing style Arts and Humanities 33%
• Form-content Arts and Humanities 33%
• Assignment Arts and Humanities 33%

T1 - Academic writing

AU - Firth, Miriam

PY - 2020/1/28

Y1 - 2020/1/28

N2 - Academic writing requires you to consider your understanding and position to publications on a topic. This is not simply regurgitating knowledge from reading sources, but offering your perspective on secondary material and an informed overview of current knowledge. Academic writing is unique in its content, form and structure. You may have written essays and reports at school or college which have previously been descriptive and fact based, but this chapter aims to develop your writing using the knowledge gained from academic sources and academic research. Using the previous chapters in academic development you should have found and read academic literature to develop your knowledge for an assignment. This chapter will appraise your ability to write about these sources and weave your authorial voice into the submission. Although this chapter focusses on academic styles of writing, it can also be used for professional and formal writing.

AB - Academic writing requires you to consider your understanding and position to publications on a topic. This is not simply regurgitating knowledge from reading sources, but offering your perspective on secondary material and an informed overview of current knowledge. Academic writing is unique in its content, form and structure. You may have written essays and reports at school or college which have previously been descriptive and fact based, but this chapter aims to develop your writing using the knowledge gained from academic sources and academic research. Using the previous chapters in academic development you should have found and read academic literature to develop your knowledge for an assignment. This chapter will appraise your ability to write about these sources and weave your authorial voice into the submission. Although this chapter focusses on academic styles of writing, it can also be used for professional and formal writing.

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/c50ffaec-be18-3a18-9f85-f78a4aacd56b/

U2 - 10.4324/9781351026949-15

DO - 10.4324/9781351026949-15

M3 - Chapter

BT - Employability and Skills Handbook for Tourism, Hospitality and Events Students

A2 - Firth, Miriam

PB - Routledge

FBMH 2021-22

Student Handbooks

Level 1 Student Tutorial Handbook

Please note that some links in this Handbook are to Blackboard sites that will not be available until 20/9/21.

The School of Biological Sciences Tutorial Programme

All Year 1 SBS students are enrolled in the tutorial unit BIOL10000. Tutorials will provide you with knowledge and expertise related to your degree programme as well as transferable skills. The tutorial programme includes small group tutorials and plenary sessions. In the first semester, tutorials are also linked an online unit (Writing and Referencing Skills (WRS); BIOL10741) that will help you to improve your written communication skills. Figure 1 shows the components of the Year 1 Tutorial Unit.

Figure 1 . Tutorials in Year 1 include small group and plenary sessions. The Writing and Referencing Skills (WRS ; BIOL10741 ) unit complements tutorial activities and must be passed in order to pass the tutorial unit.

Small group tutorials will take place with other students from your degree programme and your Academic Tutor. Please note that times for your small group tutorials will be arranged by your Academic Tutor. Tutorials should appear on your ‘myManchester’ timetable but there may be some exceptions to this so please consult with your Tutor if you are in any doubt about scheduling of small group tutorials.

Plenary sessions will be delivered by specialists to larger groups of students from multiple degree programmes. This format ensures consistent delivery of information to students, and the plenary sessions cover topics that are relevant to all SBS students. Attendance is compulsory and you should check the dates for plenary sessions on the tutorial Blackboard site (BIOL10000), where there will also be instructions on when and how to attend.  Some plenary sessions have associated pre-session work, which should be completed in advance of your timetabled session. Table 1 lists the Year 1 plenaries.

Table 1. Year 1 plenary sessions.  Timetabling information, descriptions of the sessions, ILOs, and instructions for pre-session work can be found in the relevant folder in the ‘Plenary Sessions’ area of the BIOL10000 Bb site .

The tutorial programme builds year-on-year and focuses on four major strands of skills: communication (written and oral); professional skills; experimental reporting; and employability, as shown in Figure 2.  Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) for the Level 1 tutorials are available here . The activities in Years 2 and 3 build on the skills you acquire in Year 1.

Figure 2. Summary of the topics you can expect to cover in small group tutorials (top) and plenary sessions (bottom). Your Tutor and Programme-Director may, at their discretion, alter the content of your tutorials.

What are the roles of your Academic Tutor and Academic Advisor?

Your Academic Tutor will arrange your small group tutorials and mark your tutorial assessments. Your Academic Tutor will help you to:

• Develop skills and knowledge relevant to your degree subject during tutorials. Your tutorial studies will help you to put the information given in lectures and practicals into the context of your degree programme.
• Enhance your employability by helping you acquire a range of transferable skills. These include skills in written and oral communication, organisation of information, personal interaction, teamwork and the use of information technology. Employers value these ‘transferable skills’. Tutorials will also help you learn to manage your time during your degree course and improve your revision and examination techniques. A detailed list of skills valued by employers and suggestions for how you can develop them is provided in Appendix 1.

Every student in the School is assigned an Academic Advisor. In Year 1, your Academic Tutor will also be your Academic Advisor. Your Academic Advisor is normally the same person throughout your course and is your main link to the School and the University. They can advise you on academic matters, personal problems (if needed), and can provide references when you are applying for jobs. Further information about Academic Advisors and One-to-One Academic Advisor Meetings is in the First Level Handbook .

Your tutorial assignments are listed in Table 2. These will be marked by your Academic Tutor and returned to you with feedback that will allow you to improve your work for the next assignment.

In order to pass the Tutorial Unit, three separate elements are required:

• You must have satisfactory attendance at small-group tutorial and plenary sessions.
• You have to obtain an average mark of at least 40% in your tutorial assignments.
• You must pass the Writing and Referencing Skills unit (BIOL10741).

Tutorials are an important part of the attendance requirements for your degree course and  compensation for partial failure of unit examinations is available only to students who have passed their tutorial unit. In addition, students who fail their tutorial unit due to poor marks or absences will be removed from Industrial/Professional Experience, Language or MSci programmes, and are required to complete an extended essay during the summer vacation. For further details see the First Level Handbook.

Failure of the Tutorial Unit

Level 1 students can fail the tutorial unit:

• by having more than one unexcused absence from small-group tutorials or plenary sessions, OR
• by getting a mark below 40% in tutorial assignments, averaged over the two semesters, OR
• by failing the Writing and Referencing Skills unit (BIOL10741).

Tutorial Assignment Deadlines

Table 2  shows the deadlines for tutorial assignments common to all degree programmes. Note that you may have additional, program specific, deadlines for assignments that will be set by your Academic Tutor.

Table 2. Year 1 tutorial assignments. Additional assignments may be specified by your Tutor. TBA = to be arranged; Bb = Blackboard. The BIOL10000 Bb site can be accessed here . Formative feedback: this is intended to highlight areas that you need to work on and any marks awarded are not included in the overall mark for BIOL10000. Summative feedback: also helps you to improve your work and marks awarded count towards the total for BIOL10000 or another unit. *Students enrolled in a Field course unit will be given instructions by their Tutors on an alternative experimental reporting activity in Semester 2.

Table 3 shows the deadlines for the Writing and Referencing Skills unit. The first module, ‘Academic Malpractice’ will be open from Welcome Week, with a deadline at the end of week 2. Gaining a score of 100% in this module is required to gain access to the other modules. The remaining modules can be completed any time after this date and before their respective deadlines.

Table 3. Writing and Referencing Skills unit (BIOL10741) deadlines. Weeks correspond to Semester 1 teaching weeks, where week 1 begins on Monday 27/9/2021.

Formatting of Tutorial Assignments

All written tutorial assessments apart from posters should be formatted in the following way: Arial 10pt font, 2.5cm margins, 1.5 line spacing. Page limit and referencing style for each assignment will be specified by your Academic Tutor.

How to submit tutorial assignments

Most assignments should be submitted via the Assessments area of the BIOL10000 unit Blackboard site, as outlined in Table 2. Your Academic Tutor will advise you how to submit any other tutorial assignments. Late submission (i.e., after the deadline without an agreed extension) of tutorial assessments will be penalised with a deduction of 10% of the marks per day (or part thereof, including weekends and holidays) beyond the deadline. Please note that formative assignments do NOT qualify for DASS-related automatic extensions. The submission area for each BIOL10000 assignment that is submitted via Blackboard specifies whether or not the assignment is eligible for an automatic extension. You may want to remind your tutor if you qualify for a DASS-related automatic extension.

Attendance at small group tutorials and plenary sessions is compulsory. More than one unexcused absence from either small-group tutorials or plenary sessions over the academic year will result in failure of the tutorial unit; exclusion from Four-Year (language, MSci and industrial placement) programmes; loss of compensation for exams; and a summer re-sit essay assignment. Additional unexcused absences from tutorials may lead to the issuing of a formal warning letter. Unexcused absences may have detrimental effects on decisions on progression to subsequent years of your degree programme, or even lead to exclusion from study in the Faculty. For further information on this and other related matters, please read the relevant sections of the First Level Handbook.

Small group tutorials

Attendance at small group tutorials will be monitored by your Academic Tutor. In the case of student-led tutorials, where students meet in the absence of their tutor, attendance is also compulsory and will be recorded by a person chosen in advance and passed on to the Academic Tutor. If you are absent from a tutorial or unable to complete a tutorial assignment due to illness, make sure that you follow the guidelines on ill health set out in the First Level Handbook . You must inform your Academic Tutor of an absence no later than the day and start time of your tutorial session AND submit a self-certification form to the Student Support Office no later than the day of the tutorial session that you will miss.  It is  your  responsibility to provide this information.

If you are unable to attend for any other good reason, you must supply documentary evidence to your Academic Tutor strongly supporting your reasons for absence.

Plenary sessions

Attendance at all plenary titles (see Table 1) is compulsory. Failure to attend a Plenary Session will count as a tutorial absence. It is your responsibility to regularly check the ‘Plenary Sessions’ Area on the BIOL10000 Blackboard site for information about timetabling and attendance, as this is subject to change during the year. Most plenary titles will have two identical sessions scheduled to accommodate all students. Both of these will display on your timetable but you only need to attend one session. However it MUST be the one timetabled for your degree programme or unit, as detailed on the BIOL10000 Blackboard site. If the session allocated to your degree programme clashes with a language or other unit, you may be permitted attend the other session but only by prior arrangement (at least one working day’s notice) with the student support office .

If you are ill on the day of a plenary session, you must contact the student support office prior to the start of the plenary session in order to obtain an excused absence. Contacting your Academic Tutor instead of the student support office will result in your absence being unexcused.

Small Group Tutorial Activities and Plenary Sessions

The content of small group tutorials will depend on your degree programme and your Academic Tutor, but you should expect to participate in most of the activities listed below.

Semester 1: Developing Communication Skills

Introduction and semester 1 tutorial schedule.

Your small group tutorials, the Writing and Referencing Skills Unit and the tutorial plenary sessions all work together in semester 1 to develop your skills in communicating science. Activities and assignments that are linked to small group tutorials, plenaries and/or the WRS unit are indicated by the appropriate logo, as per Figure 1. An outline schedule for Semester 1 is shown in Table 4. Tutorial activities and assignments, including plenaries, are often described by week number (e.g., Semester 1 week 3). These refer to teaching weeks , with week 1 of teaching starting on Monday September 27 th 2021 for Semester 1 and on Monday 7 th February 2022 for Semester 2.

Table 4. Semester 1 Outline Tutorial Schedule. Your Tutor or Programme Director may provide an alternative schedule at their discretion. Bb = Blackboard; TBA = to be arranged.

This schedule doesn’t contain the dates and times of your small group tutorial sessions, which will be arranged by your Academic Tutor. You should ensure that you record times of your tutorials and the assignment deadlines. More information about each plenary session, including details of pre-session work, will be available on the BIOL10000 Blackboard site in advance of the plenary.

BIOL10741 Writing and Referencing Skills (WRS) Unit

This compulsory online unit is available on Blackboard. It provides resources to help you with written communication, scientific referencing, and avoiding academic malpractice. These skills are essential for the year 1 tutorial assessments, including essays and lab reports and will form the basis for written assessments during your time at University. A PDF covering the writing skills content is available to download to help with future assignments.

Please ensure that you read the BIOL10741 course content pages on Blackboard for information on the running of the course. You MUST achieve 100% in the Academic Malpractice module AND achieve an average score of 70% or above for the seven WRS modules to pass BIOL10741 and therefore the tutorial unit. You will receive a mark for the WRS unit from the seven WRS assessments.

The ‘Academic Malpractice’ module will be available from Welcome Week and must be completed by 4 pm on Friday 16th October (week 2). The ‘Academic Malpractice’ module must be passed with a score of 100% to pass and gain access to the rest of the WRS course. The remaining WRS modules and assessments can then be completed at any time before their respective deadlines (Table 3). Submission deadlines are 4pm on the Fridays of weeks 4-10. Extensions are not permitted.

Queries about the BIOL10741 WRS unit should be directed to the Unit Coordinator, Lindsay MacDougall . Technical queries, including problems accessing the course, need to be reported to the eLearning team via the dedicated link on Blackboard (a tab, marked technical support, can be found in the menu on the left-hand side of the BIOL10741 Blackboard unit site). Queries on the library modules (5-7 on database searches and EndNote) should be addressed to [email protected] (for technical queries) or [email protected] (for queries on content).

Semester 1 Tutorial Activities and Plenary Sessions

Understanding university assessments plenary.

This plenary session will familiarise you with assessments at University, including marking schemes and feedback. Further information is available in the Plenary Sessions area of the BIOL10000 Bb site. There is pre-session work to complete in advance of this plenary. Please ensure that you attend the session specified for your degree programme and follow the instructions to record your attendance.

‘Avoiding Plagiarism’ Activity

Plagiarism is a type of Academic Malpractice that you need to understand and avoid. Plagiarism is the use (theft) of someone else’s work without proper acknowledgement, presenting the material as if it were one’s own. It is totally unacceptable in any form. The First Level Handbook gives further information on plagiarism, and the University’s guidance academic malpractice can be viewed here . It is important to note that ‘self-plagiarism’, where parts of your own previously submitted work are re-used, is also unacceptable.

In Semester 1, you will do an activity with your tutorial group on how to recognise and avoid plagiarism. The first module in the Writing and Referencing Skills unit will also teach you about plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice. An online resource with more information on plagiarism and how to avoid it is available via MLE.

Later in Semester 1 you will have to opportunity to use the University’s plagiarism detection software on an essay that you will submit.

Any first-year student found to have plagiarised work will have to attend an interview with a panel of academic staff. The panel will determine a suitable penalty, which may include a mark of zero for the assignment or for the course unit. Penalties for Academic Malpractice are increasingly severe in later years of the programme!

Scientific Summary Assignments and Frontiers of Science Plenary

Effective summarisation is essential for lecture note-taking, exam preparation, and written communication. In semester 1 you will write two summaries:

• Weeks 0/1: You will write a summary about a scientist related to your degree programme. Further guidance on this activity will be provided by your Academic Tutor.
• Weeks 3/4: You will write a summary of a plenary lecture given by a leading researcher from the Faculty. This is the ‘ Frontiers of Science’ plenary session , and it will be aimed at a general audience, so don’t worry if you know little about the subject before you attend. Following the lecture, you should summarize the content of the talk in less than 1 A4 page, following the general tutorial formatting guidelines and the assignment brief . Your summary should be submitted via the Assessments area of the BIOL10000 Blackboard site.  Your Academic Tutor will provide feedback on this summary, but his assignment does not count towards the tutorial unit mark.

Semester 1 Essay writing Assignment and ‘How to Write a Scientific Essay Plenary’

Success in every degree programme involves learning how to organise your thoughts and communicate an understanding of a topic. An essay is not simply a series of facts, but a structured presentation of a logical argument, backed up with evidence, to establish a point of view. Writing an essay therefore requires careful research and planning, which you will learn how to do through small group tutorial activities, the ‘ How to write a Scientific Essay’ plenary’ , and the Writing and Referencing Skills Unit. The WRS PDF also contains ‘A practical Guide to Writing Essays’, which you may find useful.

In Semester 1 you will complete a three-page essay on a topic selected by your Academic Tutor. Your Your essay, should be formatted according to the guidelines for tutorial work; references and figures are not included in the page count. To facilitate your understanding of plagiarism, how to detect and eliminate it from your work, a draft essay will be submitted in week 7 vi Blackboard and put through the University’s plagiarism detection software TurnItIn. Once the draft essay submission deadline has passed, you will be able to see the plagiarism report on your essay, which you should save as a PDF for future reference. If necessary, you should then edit your essay to eliminate plagiarised material. Even if no edits are needed, the final essay must nonetheless be re-submitted in week 9. The final version of your essay will also go through a plagiarism check, but this will only be for staff use and will be considered when your essay is marked. If you do not submit a draft of the essay in week 7 you may still submit a final version for assessment, but you will not be allowed to see the plagiarism report on your final version. The final essay will be marked by your Academic Tutor, who will provide feedback by week 12. Late (if not approved by your Tutor or the Student Support Office) or non-submission of the final essay will result in a Fail for this assignment. You should save a copy of your feedback comments for consideration when submitting your second tutorial essay in semester 2 and for other future assignments. Instructions for how to view feedback are available here .

You will find the submission site and instructions for submitting your essay in the Assessments area of the BIOL10000 Blackboard site. Should you have any technical difficulties uploading your file you should submit an eLearning enquiry through Blackboard (a tab can be found on the left-hand side of the tutorial unit site) or contact the Student Support Office.

Semester 1 Poster Assignment

Towards the end of Semester 1, you will choose a topic for a group poster in consultation with your Academic Tutor. As part of a group, you will research the topic, design, and prepare a digital poster for submission to your Tutor by an agreed deadline prior to Thursday of week 10. Further information and instructions are available from the BIOL10000 Blackboard site .

Semester 2: Developing Programme-specific Skills

Introduction and semester 2 tutorial schedule.

As in Semester 1, this schedule doesn’t contain the dates and times of your small group tutorial sessions, which will be arranged by your Academic Tutor.

Table 5. Semester 2 Suggested Tutorial Schedule. Your Tutor or Programme Director may provide an alternative schedule at their discretion. See Table 1 for details of which students should complete each of the Experimental Reporting plenaries. TBC = to be confirmed; Bb = Blackboard.

Semester 2 Tutorial Activities and Plenary Sessions

Semester 2 essay assignment.

In Semester 1 you were introduced to the basic process of essay writing through the ‘How to Write a Scientific Essay’ plenary, the Writing and Referencing Skills Unit, work in small group tutorials, and preparing the Semester 1 Essay. In Semester 2, you will extend and develop the skills you learnt in Semester 1 by researching and writing a three-page essay of relevance to your degree programme. Your Academic Tutor will provide details of the subject, length and assessment process. You will be expected to avoid plagiarism and to apply the principles taught in Semester 1 relating to references. You will not be given the chance to see the plagiarism report and make edits to this essay. The essay you submit must be the final version, which will then be electronically checked for plagiarism. Submission is via the Assessments area of the BIOL10000 Blackboard site.

Experimental Reporting

Lab poster or field course report assignment and plenaries.

In Semester 2, students enrolled on field course units will need to produce a field course report, and students enrolled on lab-based practical units (BIOL10412/10422) will produce a scientific poster. To help with these assignments, all students will take part in tutorial activities aimed at improving experimental reporting skills. Generic guidelines for writing lab reports can also be found in the WRS unit (BIOL10741) PDF .

Students enrolled on lab-based practical units (BIOL10412/10422) will work in small groups to produce a scientific poster in the form of a PowerPoint slide that describes an experiment from their practical unit. Students will then answer questions about the content of their poster during a question and answer tutorial session. There will be an  online  ‘ Experimental Reporting: Lab poster’  plenary available to help with preparing the poster.

Field course students will be provided with information regarding the format and length of their project report in the assessment area on the Blackboard of their field course unit. There will be a plenary session for Field Course students ( ‘ Experimental Reporting: Field Course Report ’ ) in Semester 2 week 8.

Professional Skills

Programme-specific assignments.

Your group will complete one of the following types of programme-specific assignments. Details will be provided by your Academic Tutor.

Data analysis/Problem Solving

These activities are designed to complement skills acquired in the Practical Module BIOL10401 and will focus on quantitative and analytical problem-solving tasks specific to your degree programme.

Group-based learning (GBL) sessions

GBL provides a means of developing team-working skills while exploring a topical issue relevant to your degree subject (see Appendix 2 for guidelines on running a GBL activity). Your group will choose or be allocated a subject for investigation, in consultation with your Academic Tutor. As a group, you then research the subject, deciding amongst yourselves who should do what and the approach that should be taken. On completion of your research, all members of the group should contribute to the final outcome, which could be an oral presentation, written article or poster. The performance of the group will be assessed by your Academic Tutor and this will contribute to your overall tutorial mark. Note that, if you are asked to give a short talk, the My Learning Essentials website has some excellent resources to help with preparing and delivering oral presentations.

Employability

What are employability skills.

Employability skills are the skills needed in working environments. Employability skills can be very specific and technical, like understanding HPLC or how to run a PCR; or they can be general, such as demonstrating effective communication skills.

Why are employability skills important in year 1?

Employability skills are always important and you will already have developed a range of skills from your experiences that have led you to The University of Manchester. If in year 1 you’re looking for a part-time job or summer internship, or plan to go on placement later on in your course, you will be asked to write about and discuss your employability skills during application and interview. The sooner you have the chance to build your range of skills and reflect on these – the better.

What skills will I get this year?

In year 1 the employability focus is about settling in and trying new things. You will experience a lot of new subjects, people and activities. We want to help you make the most of your time here and getting off to a good start is a key part of that. To help with this, there will be an Employability plenary session entitled ‘Make the most of your First Year’ in Week 7 of Semester 2. For a specific run-down of all the employability skills you can gain this year check out Appendix 1: Employability; your module descriptions also detail the skills you will have the chance to develop.

Keep a record of your employability skills

It’s worth thinking about how you can keep a record of the skills and new experiences you develop during the year. One way is to create a ‘living CV’ which acts like a list or summary of all the things you’ve done and what you’ve learnt. The benefit of this approach is when you come to write your CV to send out then you have all the evidence in one place. Typical headings would be education, jobs, volunteering, positions of responsibility and interests. More information on CVs can be found in the Careers Service CV guide .

The Careers Service

The Careers Service can help you with all your career needs.

Common queries from first year students are:

• How can I get work experience or a part-time job?
• I don’t like my course, what else can I do?
• How can I find out about career options?
• I don’t know what I want to do.

The Biology, Medicine and Health Careers Consultants are: Sarah Ashworth, Amanda Conway and Suzanne Creeber – you’ll most probably see Suzanne or Sarah as they are the linked consultants for School of Biological Sciences. We offer a personalised service with booked appointments with specialist advisers, an application advice service, a specialist information service, and 24-hour access to careers information and vacancies through the website. In addition, we run an extensive programme of events and online workshops throughout the year.

For full details of how the Careers Service can support you plus a wealth of help and information, visit the website . To find out about opportunities, events and other activities, visit CareerConnect .

Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellows

The Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellows are professional, published authors whose role is to help you strengthen your writing.

Sign up for a one-to-one tutorial to help you:

• Plan your study time.
• Focus your reading for essay writing.
• Express your ideas more clearly.
• Answer grammar and punctuation questions.
• Discover reading to improve your writing and editing skills.
• Increase your writing skills with the aim of improving your grades.
• Improve any academic writing.

Further information about the writers’ expertise, and instructions for appointment booking are available on the BIOL10000 Blackboard site.

Help with English Language Skills

Should you need help with English language skills, you can contact the University Language Centre .

The PASS Scheme

PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) is a peer support scheme designed to provide pastoral and academic support for all first-year students. PASS is run by students with the support of the School and a dedicated staff coordinator: Dr Maggy Fostier . The aim is to help 1st year students settle in their course and become independent learners by working together under the guidance of higher year students (PASS leaders and advisors). All information about PASS is on the SBS-PASS Blackboard site , which you can find by scrolling down to the Communities area on the page listing your courses.

PASS offers resources and support created by leaders for students.

On our SBS-PASS Blackboard site , you will find:

–        The PASS workshops material available after the sessions have taken place.

–        PeerWise: our peer-assisted MCQ database, created and curated by students. Test yourselves with questions created by others, but also benefit from creating your own questions (best way to learn) and entering model answers, which others can improve on.

–        Mentoring resources on various study skills, our pre-arrival guide for settling in Manchester and FAQs (frequently asked questions) for international students.

Student Feedback

In order to help us maximise the benefits that you gain from tutorials, we need feedback from you, both on the tutorial activities and on your Academic Tutor’s performance. For this purpose, you will be asked to complete a unit survey at the end of each semester. It is important for us to have your opinion, as these surveys will be used to determine how tutorials are constructed and conducted in future years. Details of how to access/complete the survey will be given to you each semester.

Appendix 1: Employability

This table outlines some transferable skills that employers seek and ideas for developing these so that you can use them for job applications and in interviews in the future.

For further help see http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/experience/skills/ The ‘Develop your skills’ section contains ideas on how to develop these skills beyond your degree (plus guidance on how recruiters assess for them).

The My Learning Essentials training programme offers careers advice through face–to-face workshops and online resources.

Appendix 2: Group Based Learning (GBL) Tutorials

What happens in a gbl tutorial.

These are general guidelines for GBL tutorials, which may be modified at the discretion of your Academic Tutor. GBL tutorials are run by students and the Academic Tutor is the facilitator and does not take part, other than to provide guidance if needed. Further guidance on group work is available on the My Learning Essentials website.

A specific topic, short article from a journal or a research paper is chosen. In the first session students decide on the primary learning objectives of the topic and how they are going to go about researching these. This should be done using a wide variety of information resources focused on the primary literature.

At the second session (usually student-led; the Academic Tutor is not present) the group have a full detailed discussion of the topic, focusing on the primary learning objectives. During this session one of the students should act as chairperson. Students should also decide on how the material will be presented the following week to their Tutor. The final session is either a formal presentation of the topic to the Academic Tutor or a discussion of the topic between the Academic Tutor and students.

Attendance at all sessions is compulsory as a primary aim of GBL is to develop an awareness of teamwork skills and increase the knowledge base of the whole group. Non-attendance jeopardises the learning of all other group members as individuals. For this reason, recordings of attendance and minutes of meetings in the absence of the Academic Tutor must be taken and be open to review by the Academic Tutor at any time.

Guidelines for the running of GBL tutorials

• A chairperson must be appointed at the beginning of each GBL to control the running of the discussion. Attendance must also be recorded.
• Another student is appointed as secretary and should record the agreed learning objectives and email these to all members of the group.
• All students should make a record of the agreed topics to be researched.
• Group communication is essential and everyone in the group should have input (this is strongly dependent on the chairperson).
• The sessions should cover set one-hour time periods. This helps to focus the group and develops time and resource management.
• The research information should come from a range of sources (for example, primary literature, textbooks, internet, reviews, personal experience etc.).

Useful links

Explore the following websites for additional resources to aid in your learning.

JCU study skills online

This site takes you through the process of writing from analysing a question to final editing. It also provides very useful sample essays with criteria for assessment and lecturers' comments.

• How to write essay guides  

The Royal Literary Fund

Essay writing: A guide for undergraduates. A useful and comprehensive guide to many different aspects of academic writing at this level.

• Writing essays: A guide

Victoria University of Wellington

A series of interactive exercises that focus on paragraph structure in academic writing.

• Writing exercises for self-directed study

Using English for academic purposes: A guide for international students

Comprehensive advice, materials and exercises on the four skills. Produced by Andy Gillett, Department of Modern Languages, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield.

• View the guide

Hong Kong Polytechnic University

This link to the Honk Kong Polytechnic University takes you firstly to a list of skills and functions associated with 'Essay Writing'. These include Explanation of Functions, Describing Trends, Cause and Effect for Developing Academic Writing Skills, and more. There are further useful categories such as Participating in Academic Discussions and Giving Oral Presentations. Follow this exercises link if you want to do some practice work on many of these.

• English for academic purposes

Randall's cyber listening lab

Go down the page and try some of the 'Listening quizzes for academic purposes'.

• Listening quizzes

Academic Phrasebank

Referring to sources.

• GENERAL LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS
• Being cautious
• Being critical
• Classifying and listing
• Compare and contrast
• Defining terms
• Describing trends
• Describing quantities
• Explaining causality
• Giving examples
• Signalling transition
• Writing about the past

One of the distinguishing features of academic writing is that it is informed by what is already known, what work has been done before, and/or what ideas and models have already been developed. Thus, in academic texts, writers frequently make reference to other studies and to the work of other authors. It is important that writers guide their readers through this literature. This section of  Academic Phrasebank  lists some of the phrases that writers may use for this purpose.

A note on the literature review: It is the purpose of the literature review section of a paper or dissertation to show the reader, in a systematic way, what is already known about the research topic as a whole, and to outline the key ideas and theories that help us to understand this. As well as being systematic, the review should be evaluative and critical of the studies or ideas which are relevant to the current work. For example, you may think a particular study did not investigate some important aspect of the area you are researching, that the author(s) failed to notice a weakness in their methods, or that their conclusion is not well-supported (refer to  Being Critical ).

A note on referencing style: The way a writer refers to other sources varies somewhat across different disciplines. In some cases, where the individual author is important, the author’s name will be the main subject of the sentence; in other cases, the author’s name may only be mentioned in brackets ( … ) or via a number notation system (e.g. footnotes and endnotes). The ‘author as subject’ style is less common in the empirical disciplines (sciences) and more commonly used in the humanities. Different referencing systems are used in different disciplines. In the majority of the examples given here, the Harvard in-text referencing system has been used.

A note on verb tenses: For general reference to the literature, the present perfect tense (have/has + verb participle) tends to be used. For reference to specific studies carried out in the past, the simple past tense is most commonly used. This is normally the case where a specific date or point in time in the past forms a part of the sentence. When referring to the words or ideas of writers, the present tense is often used if the ideas are still relevant, even if the author is no longer alive. The examples given below reflect these general patterns, but these are by no means rigid.

General comments on the relevant literature

The literature on X has highlighted several … Different theories exist in the literature regarding … More recent attention has focused on the provision of … There are relatively few historical studies in the area of … A large and growing body of literature has investigated … Much of the literature since the mid-1990s emphasises the … Much of the current literature on X pays particular attention to … There is a large volume of published studies describing the role of … The existing literature on X is extensive and focuses particularly on … There is a relatively small body of literature that is concerned with … The generalisability of much published research on this issue is problematic. A considerable amount of literature has been published on X. These studies … The academic literature on X has revealed the emergence of several contrasting themes. Previous research findings into X have been inconsistent and contradictory (Smith, 1996; …).

Previous research: a historical perspective

Research into X has a long history. For many years, this phenomenon was surprisingly neglected by … Only in the past ten years have studies of X directly addressed how … Prior to the work of Smith (1983), the role of X was largely unknown. Over the past decade, most research in X has emphasized the use of … In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on … Early examples of research into X include … (Smith, 1962; Jones, 1974). During the past 30 years, much more information has become available on … The first serious discussions and analyses of X emerged during the 1970s with … Over the past two decades, major advances in molecular biology have allowed … Historically, research investigating the factors associated with X has focused on … It is only since the work of Smith (2001) that the study of X has gained momentum. The construct of X was first articulated by Smith (1977) and popularised in his book: … Around the early 1960s, small-scale research and case studies began to emerge linking … It was not until the late 1960s that historians considered X worthy of scholarly attention. Awareness of X is not recent, having possibly first been described in the 5th century BCE by …

Previous research: methodological approaches taken

Most research on X has been carried out in … Most researchers investigating X have utilised … Using this approach, researchers have been able to … Several systematic reviews of X have been undertaken. The vast majority of studies on X have been quantitative. What we know about X is largely based on observational studies. There are a number of large cross-sectional studies which suggest … Much of the previous research on X has been exploratory in nature. Much of the X research has focused on identifying and evaluating the … What we know about X is largely based upon empirical studies that investigate … Publications that concentrate on X more frequently adopt a historical or chronological approach …

Previous research: area investigated

To date, several studies have investigated … A number of studies have begun to examine … Various studies have assessed the efficacy of … Researchers attempted to evaluate the impact of … A great deal of previous research into X has focused on … Several studies have used longitudinal data to examine … Previous studies have explored the relationships between X and Y. Twenty cohort study analyses have examined the relationship between … A number of authors have considered the effects of … (Smith, 2003; Jones, 2004). At least 120 case-control studies worldwide have examined the relationship between … Numerous studies have attempted to explain … (for example, Smith, 1996; Jones, 1998; …).

Previous research: what has been established or proposed

Several lines of evidence suggest that … Previous research has established that … Data from several studies suggest that … Recent evidence suggests that … (Smith, 2020; …). It is now well established from a variety of studies that … New findings amongst X provides further evidence that …

A number of studies have postulated a convergence between … Recently, considerable evidence has accumulated to show that … Surveys such as that conducted by Smith (2015) have shown that … Many recent studies (e.g. Smith, 2019; Jones, 2020) have shown that … Traditionally, it has been argued that … (e.g. Smith, 1960; Jones, 1972). Several biographies of Brown have been published. Smith (2016) presents …

In previous studies on X, different variables have been found to be related to … Many historians have argued that … (e.g. Jones, 1997; Brown, 1999; Smith, 2019). There is a consensus among social scientists that … (e.g. Smith, 2019; Jones, 2020; … Data from several sources have identified the increased X and Y associated with obesity. Recently, in vitro studies have shown that X can … (Smith et al. , 2018; Jones et al. , 2021). It has been demonstrated that a high intake of X results in damage to … (Smith, 2015; …).

Stating what is currently known about the topic

X increases when … (Smith, 2015) X is able to affect Y (Smith, 2015; Jones, 2020). X is positively related to Y (Smith, 2015; Jones, 2020). X is proportional to Y as expressed by the… (Smith, 2015). X is one of the most important … (Smith, 2015; Jones, 2020). X is one of the most intense reactions following Y (Jones, 2020). A relationship exists between X and Y (Smith, 2015; Jones, 2020). X is a principal determining factor of Y (Smith, 2015; Jones, 2020). There is an unambiguous relationship between X and Y (Smith, 2015). X is significantly reduced during the first months of … (Smith, 2015; Jones, 2020). X has been found to oppose the anti-inflammatory actions of Y on Z (Smith, 2020).

Reference to a previous investigation: researcher prominent

Smith’s comparative study (2017) found that … Jones’s comprehensive review concluded that … Brown’s (1998) model of X assumes three main … Smith’s cross-country analysis (2017) showed that … Jones’s (2010) review of the literature concluded that … Brown’s (2022) recent analysis of X provides a strong critique of …

Reference to a previous investigation: time prominent

In 1959, a seminal article was published entitled … Following this period, Smith actively searched for X. In the 1950s, Smith pointed to some of the ways in which … Thirty years later, Smith (1974) reported three cases of X which … Almost 20 years ago, Jones (1995) formulated his X theory, centred around …

Reference to a previous investigation: investigation prominent

One longitudinal study found that … A seminal study in this area is the work of … One study by Smith (2014) examined the trend in … A recent study by Smith and Jones (2012) involved … A qualitative study by Smith (2003) described how … A recent systematic literature review concluded that … Preliminary work on X was undertaken by Jones (1992). A longitudinal study of X by Smith (2012) reports that … A key study comparing X and Y is that of Smith (2010), in which … The first systematic study of X was reported by Smith  et al.  in 1986. Detailed examination of X by Smith and Jones (1961) showed that … Analysis of the genes involved in X was first carried out by Smith  et al.  (1983). A significant analysis and discussion on the subject was presented by Smith (1988). The study of the structural behaviour of X was first carried out by Jones  et al.  (1986). A small scale study by Smith (2015) reached different conclusions, finding no increase in … The study by Jones (1990) offers probably the most comprehensive empirical analysis of …

Reference to a previous investigation: topic prominent

To determine the effects of X, Jones  et al . (2005) compared … X was originally isolated from Y in a soil sample from … (Jones  et al. , 1952). The electronic spectroscopy of X was first studied by Smith and Jones in 1970. X formed the central focus of a study by Smith (2002) in which the author found … To better understand the mechanisms of X and its effects, Jones (2013) analysed the … X was first demonstrated experimentally by Pavlov (Smith, 2002). In his seminal study … The acid-catalyzed condensation reaction between X and Y was first reported by Smith in 1872. The way in which X is regulated was studied extensively by Smith and colleagues (Smith  et al.  1995 and 1998).

Reference to what other writers do in their published work

In Chapter 2, Smith provides us with a number of important … In the subsequent chapter, Smith examines the extent to which … By drawing on the concept of X, Smith has been able to show that … Some analysts (e.g. Smith, 2015) have attempted to draw fine distinctions between … Drawing on an extensive range of sources, the authors set out the different ways in which … Other authors (see Smith, 2010; Jones, 2014) question the usefulness of such an approach.  

Reference to another writer's idea or position

As noted by Smith (2003) X is far more cost effective, and therefore … According to Smith (2003), preventative medicine is far more cost effective, and therefore … 

Synthesising material: supporting evidence or ideas

Similarly, Jones (2015) found that X … This is consistent with the data obtained by … Smith (1995) makes a similar point in his study of X … In the same vein, Smith (1995) in his book XYZ notes This view is supported by Jones (2015) who writes that Along the same lines, Smith (1995) subsequently argued that … Smith argues that her data support Jones’s (1995) view that Jones’s (1986) work on X is complemented by Smith’s (2009) study of Almost every paper that has been written on X includes a section relating to A broadly similar point has also recently been made by Johnson (2019), who …

Synthesising material: contrasting evidence or ideas

Other writers have argued that … Other studies have concluded that … Unlike Smith, Jones (2013) argues that In contrast to Smith, Jones (2013) argues that Smith (2010) presents an X account, whilst Jones (2011) While Smith (2008) focuses on X, Jones (2009) is more concerned with A broader perspective has been adopted by Smith (213) who argues that Contrary to previously published studies, Jones et al. demonstrated the efficacy of… This result conflicts with Smith’s (1965) previously mentioned study which found that … Conversely, Smith (2010) reported no significant difference in mortality between X and Y.

Some ways of introducing quotations

Commenting on X, Smith (2003) argues: ‘… …’ As Smith (2004: 215) states: ‘there are many good reasons to be sceptical’. As Smith argues: ‘In the past, the purpose of education was to …’ (Smith, 2000:150). In the final part of the  Theses on Feuerbach , Marx writes: ‘Philosophers have hitherto only …’ Smith concludes: ‘The idea of development stands today like a ruin in …’ (Smith, 1992: 156).

Summarising the review or parts of the review

Together, these studies indicate that … Overall, these studies highlight the need for … Considering all of this evidence, it seems that … Collectively, these studies outline a critical role for… In all the studies reviewed here, X is recognised as … The evidence presented in this section suggests that … The studies presented thus far provide evidence that … Taken together, these studies support the notion that … Overall, there seems to be some evidence to indicate that … Together these studies provide important insights into the … All of the studies reviewed here support the hypothesis that … Two important themes emerge from the studies discussed so far: However, such studies remain narrow in focus dealing only with … The evidence reviewed here seems to suggest a pertinent role for … These studies clearly indicate that there is a relationship between … In view of all that has been mentioned so far, one may suppose that … There remain several aspects of X about which relatively little is known.

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Tips and tools for writing a first-class essay

• Wednesday, January 13, 2021
• Undergraduate
• United Kingdom
• minute read

First of all, happy New Year to everyone! Although 2020 wasn’t the best year, I am sure that we are all going to prosper in an amazing 2021!

As the year commences full of exams and deadlines, I feel it is time to share some useful tips and tools that help to write a first-class essay：

Understanding the marking criteria:

This somehow sounds quite straightforward, but it is surprising the number of students who still haven’t had a look at it. The marking criteria often outline various aspects of the essay, such as understanding of the topic, a wide range of readings, structure and coherence, etc. Understanding where are the “score points” is essential to achieve a first-class grade.

For some essays, professors and lecturers might have special requirements, just don’t hesitate to send an email to ask their expectations for a 70+ essay! You cannot imagine how well this strategy works!

Take simple notes while reading academic papers:

One of the most important marking criteria for a first-class essay is to draw on an exceptionally wide range of sources and appropriate examples. When reading a large number of academic papers, taking notes helps to better organise them into different strands of literature and facilitates the later referencing.

I usually download every relevant academic paper or journal and tag them with a simple note of their core argument or empirical finding. This saves a substantial amount of time when I need to go back to finding the paper to reference it in my essay. By tagging each paper with its core ideas also helps me to better understand the topic and come up with better-developed arguments.

Highlight your main arguments:

To write a coherent and comprehensive essay, your arguments must be organized in a logical way. However, sometimes when we expand our explanations or discussions, we might miss the logical flow of our arguments. One tip is to highlight the main arguments of each paragraph, which would quickly show you the whole argument flow of your essay and makes the reading and structuring of the essay really simple.

PS: do not forget to remove the highlight when submitting your final document!

The citation function:

Sometimes is really time-consuming to manually type each reference. Apart from those ‘Cite This For Me’ websites, Google Scholar has a very convenient function: The citation function:

The University of Manchester library also has this function:

And one last tip... Don’t procrastinate

Just throw yourself and start writing the essay. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

These are some of my useful tips that I wanted to share with you, I hope they will help you to fly through your essays :) All the best!

I am Mingli Xu, follow my blogs for an insight into life as an Undergraduate student at Alliance MBS.

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Our Library's 'My Learning Essentials' programme  has lots of online resources to support your academic life.

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Referencing guide at the University of Manchester: Home

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• Last Updated: Jul 30, 2024 9:57 AM
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• Book of the Day

James Baldwin in a time of riots

A century after the writer’s birth, the return of divisive racial politics has given his work renewed urgency.

By David Olusoga

One key detail that tends to be left out of the history of the US civil rights movement, as told today in documentaries and classrooms, is that in the minds of many of its leaders and supporters, it failed. Despite the passing of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act there was, in the 1960s and 1970s, a view that “the dream”, as articulated by Martin Luther King Jr, had been overwhelmed by a torrent of American nativism and racism.

By the start of the 1970s, both King Jr and Malcolm X had been assassinated and the non-violent, moral pressure strategies of civil rights had been largely abandoned by the young, in favour of the militant and militarised cult of self-reliance embodied in the Black Panther Party. The great chronicler of those years of betrayal, grief and radicalised anger was James Baldwin.

Baldwin was born as the eldest of nine children in New York City’s Harlem in 1924. Raised in relative poverty by his mother and his stepfather, a Baptist minister, Baldwin credited his school French teacher, the Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen, as an early literary mentor. Baldwin was 24 when he left the US for Europe, where he wrote many of his works.

No Name in the Street , published in 1972, is one of Baldwin’s lesser-known books. Two years before publication, struggling to breathe life into the early drafts, Baldwin described it as “a long essay on the life and death of what we call the civil rights movement”. Overshadowed by the brilliance of his novels Go Tell It on the Mountain , Giovanni’s Room and If Beale Street Could Talk , it is among a number of Baldwin’s works now being republished to mark the centenary of his birth.

In his latter years, Baldwin was, at times, dismissed as yesterday’s man. The New York Times ’ 1972 review of No Name in the Street concluded that the book substantiated the growing sense that Baldwin was “an anachronism”. Such reductive mischaracterisations were misguided even then; half a century later, they are demonstrably preposterous. The writer described in the 20th century as “the poet of the revolution” has, in the 21st century, become both prophet and educator to generations of black people engaged in new struggles for racial justice.

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Morning call.

The centenary of an author’s birth is a “hook” deployed by publishers to get books on their backlists back on to the shelves and into the hands of new generations of readers. Baldwin’s centenary sees a rare convergence of events. This marketing gimmick coincides with a genuine and organic upsurge in interest in the man and his works. Here in Britain, Baldwin’s centenary arrived in a week when far-right mobs were attacking black and brown people on the streets – which hints at why his words are still relevant.

Baldwin, who died in 1987, is today a celebrated, widely read and even fashionable figure. One of his most famous quotes – “Ignorance allied with power is the most ferocious enemy of justice” – has been graffitied on to walls, printed on T-shirts and posted on social media, especially since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. And Baldwin might soon be more fashionable still. Earlier this year, the Baldwin estate struck a deal with the media production group Fremantle North America to adapt his books for television and cinema. More Baldwin films and documentaries are on their way, following Raoul Peck’s Oscar- and Bafta-nominated 2016 documentary I Am Not Your Negro , which was based on Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript, Remember This House .

Yet even if every one of the nearly 7,000 pages of prose Baldwin published were out of print today, he might still have been rediscovered by 21st-century readers. As much as his writing, Baldwin’s oratory – the compelling power of his voice and the moral conviction of his arguments – makes him a potent figure. Infused with rhythms, phrases and references accrued during his years as a child preacher in Harlem, Baldwin’s speeches are, in their own way, as sermonic and mesmeric as those of his friend Martin Luther King Jr.

In the language of YouTube and TikTok, Baldwin is “clippable”, and it is through those platforms and others that his powerful eloquence has been rediscovered. What circulates online, far more than any learned lecture about his books, are clips of Baldwin’s many appearances on long-forgotten TV chat shows. Those short bursts of rhetorical brilliance, scraped from the archives of the once-mighty US networks, have enabled Baldwin to morph into a social media phenomenon. Clips from the BBC’s recording of his 1965 Cambridge Union debate, in which he defeated the conservative William F Buckley are also constantly shared.

But Baldwin’s growing relevance is also a reflection of the fact that the racial politics and the political instability of the 2020s are horribly redolent of the late 1960s, as many commentators have noted. The current campaign to demonise Black Lives Matter and critical race theory mirrors the rejection of the more substantive demands of the civil rights movement by Richard Nixon’s America. The ongoing ideological war against affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is not an isolated contemporary aberration, but part of a continuum. Just as the civil rights movement forced America to confront historic truths and live injustices, the Obama presidency and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement pushed contemporary racism in America back on to the political agenda. Like the late 1960s, the mid-2020s is an era of backlash. Who better to help us navigate such a moment than Baldwin?

No Name in the Street , though not strictly an autobiography, is a strikingly personal book. Structured across two essays, it is an account of Baldwin’s journey through trauma as well as an assessment of where the traumatic events of the late 1960s left Americans, both white and black. The most vivid biographical passages reach back into Baldwin’s unhappy Harlem upbringing, and to his time as an emerging young writer in Paris in the 1950s.

Always an international figure, Baldwin recounts his exile in France in the 1940s and 1950s, which saw him seeking sanctuary from the racism he encountered in America. While romantic about his Parisian life he is distinctly unromantic about France, recognising that as an African American, he was exoticised and tolerated in ways that Algerians – the marginalised and mistrusted subjects of a French empire then in revolt – were not. He writes chillingly that the Algerians were being murdered “by my hosts”. Snapshots of other times and places end just as abruptly, as the needle of Baldwin’s prose snaps to the fraught present in which the book was written.

Baldwin’s attempts to process the violence and hopelessness of late-1960s America are set alongside his experiences with members of the younger black generation, who had marched for the civil rights movement, putting their liberty at stake and their bodies on the line. Baldwin recounts how they had been left enraged and despondent at the depth of their nation’s hostility.

In the first of his two essays, Baldwin recounts how the assassination of King Jr broke his – and the movement’s – spirit. He concludes the second essay by tracing how the death of “the dream” inevitably led to the emergence of the Black Panther Party, with all its watchful scepticism. As Baldwin was writing, the FBI was busy methodically destroying the Panthers.

As Colm Tóibín writes in his new book On James Baldwin , “Baldwin was fascinated with eloquence itself, the soaring phrase, the rhythm pushed hard, the sharp and glorious ring of a sentence, as much as with the plain, declarative line.” Baldwin’s prose style is as striking in No Name in the Street as in many of his other essays. The rhythms of the black church are reinforced through ceaseless repetition of key words. He builds long sentences out of great flocks of short words, and slides between personal anecdote and broad social analysis . No Name in the Street is also, at times, an insight into the inner sanctums of the civil rights movement and the Black Panthers. Although repeatedly embarrassed by his own celebrity, Baldwin paints a picture of the rarefied world in which he circulated; populated by political giants and Hollywood royalty. He pens sketches of his encounters with King Jr, Malcolm X and Black Panthers Huey Newton, Bobby Seale and Eldridge Cleaver. Marlon Brando’s energetic fundraising for the civil rights cause is delivered almost as a passing detail.

On the final pages of No Name in the Street, Baldwin describes how the racism he was subjected to in America continued to operate, how it relentlessly functioned and the business models at work behind it: the insurance companies and banks that profited from the ghettoisation of African Americans. Drawing parallels with the then-ongoing Vietnam War, he explains how the police patrolled the ghetto streets as if they were a colonial gendarmerie: “the concept of policework,” he wrote, “is to cow the natives.” As Baldwin explains, No Name in the Street “was delayed by trials, assassinations, funerals, and despair”. So deep was that despair that, in 1969, Baldwin attempted suicide. The intensity of the moment in which the book was written has faded. What was social commentary then is history now, yet Baldwin’s words still burn on the page.

David Olusoga is a historian, broadcaster and author

No Name in the Street James Baldwin Penguin Classics, 160pp, £9.99

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[See also: How Kathleen Hanna brought women to the forefront of punk ]

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