Doing Essays and Assignments

Before his retirement, Pete Greasley was a Teaching Fellow in the Division of Health Research at Lancaster University.  He has been marking student assignments for more years than he would care to remember, and not particularly enjoying it.  He has conducted research and published academic articles in psychology, sociology, health, and education, and has also written an introductory book on quantitative data anal­ysis.His research and teaching interests include psychological and social issues relating to health, sceptical inquiry relating to pseudo-science and the para­normal, and how to help students avoid common mistakes when writing their assignments.  Prior to retiring, he spent much of his time supervising trainee clinical psychologists doing their research projects at Lancaster University.

This book is a no-nonsense, unique proposition for students who want to take an extra effort to improve their grades. It clearly demonstrates how to impress markers by demonstrating some crucial university-level skills, or what essay-writing has to do with eating an elephant. If you are a student or a parent of a student, this book is a small investment which can bring tangible results!′

• An insight into the marking processHow to impress and how to distress markersBefore you start, some rules of the gameGetting started . . . and getting finishedReading and researching the literatureIntroductions, conclusions, and structureWhat was the question again?Critical analysis, perspective and argumentThe greatest source of ′marker distress′: language, grammar and expressionReferencing - an academic fetish for the anally retentive?PlagiarismHow not to present graphs and chartsPresenting your assignment: first impressions countFeedback and feed-forwardWriting research/project reportsDoing a Systematic Literature ReviewPresentation: A fate worse than death?Group project work (or ′hell is other people′)