Society and Culture
Assessment 1 week 3
Sarah Sneesby

Writing an essay for the social sciences can be daunting. There are many aspects one must consider in order to produce a successful social science essay. The aspects of academic language, structuring an essay and the importance of research will be explored throughout this essay.

When writing an essay for the social sciences it is important to address the aspect of academic language and writing. Academic writing means to use formal language instead of colloquial language or slang. (germov) Emotive language also needs to be avoided, as one is no longer speaking in the first person with their opinion but instead finding evidence from author’s to support the argument the individual is trying to prove. (germov) An example of the use of colloquial versus formal language in essay writing is if one were to say, “to write an essay on social sciences you gotta do this.” It is obvious why this type of slang is not acceptable at a university level of writing as it is both informal and grammatically incorrect. Instead the formal version of “when writing an essay on the social sciences one must take the following steps” should be used, as this is a more professional and acceptable style of writing. The use of emotive language such as “I believe” or “I feel” is also not acceptable as ones opinion is no longer valid. Instead the individual need to ensure only factual information is being used and there is evidence to support it. Through exploring the aspects of academic language it becomes evident why it is a crucial part of writing an essay for social sciences.

The Structure of an essay could be argued as one of the most important aspects of essay writing in general. Not just for the social sciences. In the Public Society book by John Germov an essay is defined as a well-established technique of communicating your knowledge and understanding about a topic within a given time frame and word limit (germov). The basic structure of an essay includes an introduction, 3-5 body paragraphs, depending on how many points one is trying to prove, a conclusion and a reference list. The introduction needs to include an orientation where the topic is introduced, the Thesis in which the essay question is answered and an overview of ideas where the points that will be discussed through out the essay are made. Each body paragraph needs to include a statement where the point is linked to the topic that is being explored. An expansion of this sentence, in which one should go into more detail about the point. Two examples that prove why the point being made is relevant and an ending where the whole paragraph is summed up and linked back to the topic sentence. The conclusion is a short summary of what has been explored through out the essay, it should be no longer than a paragraph and no new information should be introduced. It should finish with linking back to the essay question.
At the end of the essay a reference list needs to be inserted which allows markers to find out where the individual got the information from and to ensure there has been no plagiarism. This structure is needed to create a successful essay as without the information will be hard to understand.

Another aspect of how to write an