Recommendations for Writing: Essays

Recommendations for Writing: Essays


General requirements for the content and length of an essay


An essay is a type of written work that expresses the author's individual impressions and considerations on a particular topic, problem or issue.
In the process of writing an essay, it is important to demonstrate the ability to comprehend a particular problem and formulate a certain position regarding it, namely:

  •      the ability to independently conduct a literature search on a particular topic (including in foreign languages);
  •      the ability to analyze a concrete situation on the basis of the read material on a concrete problem
  •      The ability to argue their position on a particular issue;
  •      the culture of citation and references to literature.

The average volume of the essay is 7-8 pages (including the title page and the list of references). 
The essay must be designed in accordance with the requirements stated in the program of the discipline,the instructor and the general requirements of the unit and the NIU as a whole.

Essay Structure. The essay does not have a rigidly set structure, since it depends on the specifics of a particular topic and the author's preferences. However, in general, the essay should contain several logical parts:

1. title page (see the sample on the website).
2. Table of Contents.
3. Introduction. The introduction briefly states the essence of the problem, justifying its choice, relevance and significance. Here also formulates the purpose of this work, formulates the question, the answer to which the author intends to present during the writing of the essay. The volume of the introduction is usually 1 page.
4.The main part. This section occupies the main volume of the essay. Here the customwritings is consistently disclosed. The main part may be presented in the form of a whole text or may be divided into several parts that have their own subheading. Usually sections (having their own subheading) are allocated according to a principle "one section - one thesis, a thought".
5. Conclusion. The Conclusion presents conclusions arising from the examination of the main issue, summarizes the author's position on the issue under study. The volume of the conclusion is usually 1 page.
6. List of references. This element of the structure is mandatory for the essay and is included in its structure only if it is determined by the teacher. Here bibliographic descriptions are given only of those literary sources to which there is a reference in the text. Bibliographic descriptions of all sources referred to in the text should be specified in the paper writing services. Educational literature (textbooks, educational and teaching aids) should be used to a minimum extent when writing the essay. When preparing an essay as literary sources it is necessary to use mainly monographs, journal articles. The reference list should be designed according to the requirements.

Style of presentation. The essay should be written competently, in accordance with the norms of the Russian literary and professional language. It is necessary to follow the accuracy of the wording and the correctness of the terms and concepts used. It is not necessary to use as terms borrowed from foreign languages, if there are equivalent concepts in Russian. Before the work is handed in, the text should be checked for errors. All spelling, punctuation, stylistic errors, as well as typos should be checked. The presence of grammatical, spelling, and stylistic errors is unacceptable.

Recommendations for the formulation of essay topics. Essay topics should be formulated in such a way that the title reflects the main question that the essay is to answer. Any essay topic should be worded in a problematic way.

Essay evaluation criteria

When evaluating the essay, the instructor may be guided by the following criteria:

- correspondence of the text content to the chosen topic;
- presence of a clear and logical text structure;
- presence of the author's position on the problem under consideration;
- the validity, argumentation, evidence of the stated provisions and conclusions of the author;
- absence of spelling, punctuation, stylistic and factual errors;
- the compliance of the work design with the requirements;
- the deadline for submitting the essay;

Taking into account the above-mentioned basic criteria for evaluating the essay, the teacher evaluates this type of work on a 10-point system. If the essay is not submitted within the deadline, the grade for it is reduced based on the conditions set by the teacher.