Guide to spelling, punctuation and grammar

P
RACTICE
Look over some past essays you have written. How could the continuity of
these essays have been improved by the use of linking words and phrases?
Use linking words and phrases at the beginning of
paragraphs to help your reader follow the development
of your essay.
THE USE OF CLOSE REFERENCES
In writing essays on literature, it is essential you back up the assertions
you make in analysing a literary text by using appropriate close
references. ‘Close references’ can be the mentioning of key incidents in
a novel or a play, things that key characters have done, said or thought,
or the author’s own comment on the narrative and characters. Close
references are your way of supplying the ‘evidence’ for analytical
statements you have made. They are not the same thing as ‘telling the
story in your own words’ or paraphrasing the narrative. That you must
avoid doing. Close references must be chosen carefully to illustrate any
particular point you are making.
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H
OW TO WRITE ESSAYS

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Consider this assignment on Jane Austen’s novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’: 
What justification has Elizabeth for considering Darcy to be proud
and snobbish?
Here is a sample paragraph from an essay answer:
Elizabeth has considerable evidence on which to
base her assumption that Darcy is a proud, haughty
and supercilious individual. Firstly, there is the
occasion of the ball when he spurns the opportunity
to dance with her implying that she is not attractive
or interesting enough to warrant his attentions.
Then there is his general air of superiority and his
obvious disdain for Mrs Bennett, whom Elizabeth
herself realises is a silly woman, but she still resents
Darcy’s lack of charity towards her mother. Most
importantly, perhaps, there is the evidence of his
marriage proposal to her when he seems to imply he
has had to overcome considerable misgivings before
he could approach her, given her comparatively
lowly social position and the vulgarity of her
relatives. Darcy has, indeed, provided Elizabeth with
plenty of ammunition with which to shoot him down
as an unacceptable suitor for her hand in
marriage.
The first sentence is the key sentence of the paragraph. It makes an
assertion about Darcy that needs backing up. If the assertion is made
without close references to the novel, then it remains a mere assertion.
Having made the assertion about Darcy, that assertion must be backed
up by evidence from the novel.
Thus, the next three sentences of the paragraph allude to three instances
when Darcy has behaved in a haughty manner. These are examples of
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3 – T
HE BODY OF THE ESSAY

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close references to particular incidents in the novel. Note that brief
references are enough; you do not have to go into great detail by telling
the story of these incidents in great detail. You are not retelling the story
for your reader, but using references to narrative incidents to illustrate a
point you have made. 
Therefore, the key point of the paragraph has been ‘fleshed out’ by
evidence in the form of close references to the text.
Consider this politics assignment:
What factors led to the landslide victory for the British Labour