Reading homework help. Individual Main Essay (submit by 23:59, on 19th April 2020)
Topic; the Covid-19 emergency in China
The essay should include:
- • an introduction which sets out the issue briefly and explains the flow of the essay
- • a conclusion,
- • a description of the problem with some description of relevant evidence of the nature and / or significance of the problem. If this is done clearly and coherently a student should gain a passing grade.
- • The analysis is where marks separate passing form very high grades. Analysis can be of two forms – (1) different views of a problem. The world is flat (who argues this and what is their arguments) or the world is roundish (who says this and what is their argument) and then your reasons for your view. (2) analysis may also be causation – where one solution leads to another etc (e.g. resource constraints in Japan led to invasion of China, which was possible because of weekend China due to civil war, but invasion led to Chinese factions focusing on defeating Japanese aggression leading to a stronger China… ). A really great essay often analyses multiple positions or elements of both 1 and 2.
Some additional pointers
- a. Avoid using suggestions or recommendations. These will be self-evident (and thus redundant) in a good essay anyway.
- b. In choosing an essay topic, do not choose something which is already solved, choose a real problem or issue which is politically relevant.
- c. When being critical, (eg criticise a government policy) remember to ask why the thing you criticise has been done. Don’t assume it is an error or mistake, assume it is done for a purpose (which you explain) but ….
- d. You are not required to frame your essay in terms of the three or four ideologies or perspectives, but I would be surprised if reference to ideologies does not appear somewhere in your essay. Notions of individuality, duty, equality etc imply ideological framing and so stronger essays will usually make reference to one or more ideologies as apert of the analysis (particularly when explain your view on the position of different writers)
House rules for submission
- a. The formatting should follow the principle of being, clear, legible and minimise paper. Thus: a. No cover page, no large gaps between sections.
- b. Put date, ID number, course title, course code and essay title at start of essay. Do NOT put your name.
- c. Do not use a contents list but do have a separate bibliography of those sources referred to in the assignment.
- d. Use Harvard referencing style: http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills-referencing-harvard.
- e. The soft copy submission can only be done once, to avoid students making multiple submissions, so be careful to submit the correct version.
- b. Don’t plagiarise. I’ll simply fail you for any plagiarism whatsoever and you can make all the appeals and drag out the uncertainty if you so wish. Plagiarism includes improper referencing and citing, referring to articles you did not read and much more, not just failing to cite a quote properly. Turnitin percentage matching is not the main criteria I use to check for plagiarism. I do consider poor referencing as plagiarism, be warned. EVERY idea and EVERY piece of information comes from somewhere very precise, so reference exactly (including page number, exact web address or video clip time).
- c. Wherever possible, use exact page numbers, not just for direct quotes. If using web resources, similarly, be specific – refer to subheadings, line numbers or put specific terms that I can easily use ‘find’ to search to. If you don’t do this, I will consider the reference vague and give it no credit. Only refer to a whole txt when the whole text is about the issue you are discussing [e.g. Taylor (1999) argues marketizing rather than privatisation was the key catalyst to reform of employment practices in Chinas’ state sector in the 1980s and 1990s.)
- d. Never cite what you have not read or watched. If you refer to Marx, you better have read his work and if not, refer to the actual one you read, e.g. Li 1951 (as in Taylor and Li 2009: 3).
