Essays: How to Read (For an Essay)

People often don’t realise that the kind of reading you need to do for an essay is different from just, well, reading a book. It’s a lot more intensive and requires you to analyse the information that you’re reading to understand how it fits into your question, rather than just understanding what the writer is trying to say.

Before you pick up a book, it can often be helpful to write down everything you know about your topic - in a diagram, maybe - and all the things you need to find out. This can help you to understand where you should start.

Collecting information well is a skill that’s extremely important to get right, because it shows up in the final product. It’s a bit like making a meal and the ingredients not being cooked properly: your essay might look like lots of words on the outside, but if you haven’t read properly then it’s not going to be any use. This stage of the essay can seem daunting, especially at the start of university, or if you’re not working in your first language but, like everything else, there’s lots of things you can do to make the process easier. 

Why The Library Is Really Useful

Many universities have a similar library system, but it’s definitely worth going when you’ve got a bit of free time to understand how everything works. 

● Some departments include a library orientation as part of their program for new students, too, which is definitely worth using - everyone’s a bit confused in the beginning. Most universities have a library catalogue where you can search by author, title and keyword (which is really useful if you don’t quite know what you’re looking for), and once you’ve found the book, it will also give you its Dewey Decimal Classification - the long way of saying the code that will help you find the book on the shelf. 

● A lot of universities also give you the option of logging in from home and reserving the book before you get to the library. Lots of universities also have online access to journals though JStor and Athens, which is much easier than sitting in the library with huge journal volumes.

If your library often doesn’t have the books you need, it’s worth signing up for a SCONUL pass. It’s a free card that allows you to borrow books from other libraries - they have an online catalogue where you can check which libraries stock the book you need. I’ve also found this really useful when I’ve got home for the Christmas holidays and realised I forgot to pick up a vital book.

So, basically, it’s well worth looking at those kind of things before you start searching for books because they can speed up the process of finding the things you need.

The Difference Between Primary and Secondary Sources

When you’re looking for books, you need to keep the difference between primary and secondary sources in mind. You need a mixture of both to write a good essay.

A primary source is the work that the question is based upon. So if, for example, you’re writing an essay about the work of Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice might be one of your primary sources. It’s really important to read all of your primary sources, and to have an opinion on them, before you start your essay. You can’t write a good answer based off a Wikipedia plot summary! If English isn’t your first language - and even if it is, sometimes - it’s well worth taking the extra time to really understand everything. I did an Italian degree and spent a lot more time reading Italian primary sources, but it was worth it to produce a good essay.

Secondary (or critical) material is everything that other people have to say about something. So you might find something that talks about narrative structure in Pride and Prejudice, or the historical and political background to the French Revolution, or a feminist approach to translation. Obviously all these things can be invaluable to your essay, but you can’t - and aren’t expected to - read it all. Concentrate on the area closest to your essay, and ask your tutor if you feel there’s too much material - you may need to think about your question again.

“How Many Sources Do I Need?”

If I had a pound for every time I heard that question at university, I’d be very rich indeed! Unfortunately, there’s no magic number. It’s not really a bad thing, though, because it gives you the freedom to choose what you think is the most important information. Like many things, it becomes easier with practice to know how much information you need for a 2,000, 5,000 or 10,000 word essay. My biggest piece of advice to leave plenty of time to research your first few essays and then you won’t feel so much pressure. Also, remember that you don’t have to use every single piece of information that you find in your essay so it doesn’t matter if you find a few books with interesting titles that end up being useless.

How to Take Notes

Like I’ve mentioned, Wikipedia can’t replace reading critics’ opinions on your topic. But, of course, not every single thing that every single critic says about your topic is going to be relevant - or even correct. The markers are judging your ability to make your own points, that are backed up by the relevant theories and critics. So it’s important that you don’t just string other people’s ideas together without any of your own analysis. Note-taking is useful, though, and it can really speed up the essay writing process. 

Notes are important because they:

• are a summary of information that will shape your essay
   
• tell you where you’ve found information. This is especially important in giving others the appropriate credit for their ideas, otherwise your university may accuse you of plagiarism - passing other people’s ideas off as your own, even by accident. It’s important that any direct quotes or theories are referenced correctly. Different departments have different rules on how to create your references - most have a page on Blackboard or their homepage. 

There’s no right way to take notes, as long as you’ve got the necessary information for a reference: book, author, page number and quotation marks around passages directly from the book. Some people use index cards, or A4 paper - I tended to keep a Word document on my computer with everything in one place, so that I could slot ideas into my essay plan later.

Having well-organised notes will make planning your essay much easier, which is what we’ll be moving on to next time. As always, I hope you’ve found this useful and feel free to say hello in the comments. 

COMING NEXT WEEK: 

Essays: How to Structure Your Essay

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