• What can you learn by writing essays?
• How much time and effort should you invest in writing an essay?
• What are the benefits and hazards of working in groups?
Your essay is almost due and all you have is an essay topic with a few brief instructions. If you're lucky, you may have had a tutorial on some basic essay techniques, but that's it! No-one has really told you what's expected, what you lose and gain marks on, and how much effort or time you are expected to put in. This chapter will help to clarify all of these matters.
Into the great unknown: What is an essay, anyway?
Many students are often ill-prepared for writing tertiary-level essays and experience a great shock when their first essay is returned with a lower than expected mark. There is a jump in the standard of work required when you move from secondary school to a tertiary institution. Often, this great leap forward is into the unknown, because few teachers spend much time telling their students what's expected of them and how to go about meeting those expectations. Students are expected either to have essay skills or to be able to acquire them miraculously in a very short time. The tertiary essay differs from what you may have written in secondary school in a number of ways:

• You are expected to read widely and to critically review the field of literature on a topic. Relying on a single book is unacceptable.
• You are expected to write analytical essays that attempt to explain issues.
• You are expected to give evidence to support what you say.
• You are expected to source the content of your essay by some form of referencing system which shows where you got the information.
Essays aren't an easy assessment task, but they are one of the few tasks that allow you significant control over the way you organise, research and answer the assessment question. At the undergraduate level, an essay usually isn't based on original research and you're not expected to solve the world's problems in 2000 words, especially when numerous books have been written on the topic. Essays are a document of your learning; they show proof of your research effort, your understanding of the topic, and your ability to communicate that understanding convincingly and effectively. The tertiary essay is based on the following skills:

• independent thinking (meaning no-one tells you what to do or what to write)
• finding, selecting, organising and referencing information
• analysing information from competing explanations and sources
• answering a question in a given time frame and word limit.
Essay writing skills will serve you well beyond the walls of the education system. Contrary to popular belief, essays aren't some form of perverse initiation ritual designed to make life hard for students. Many jobs require you to write letters, memos, information sheets and reports, all of which, to a greater or lesser degree, require skills in research, analysis, writing and referencing. The tertiary essay is therefore the training ground for future life and employment skills. It is a tool for communicating your knowledge and your understanding. Most importantly, essay writing teaches you to analyse a topic systematically and to communicate your ‘thinking’ about the topic in a logical way.
Essays as detective work
You see, but you do not observe.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1892/1993) ‘A scandal in Bohemia’, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 8
Essays involve a lot of detective work. Think of yourself as an academic detective who has to solve the puzzle of the essay topic that confronts you. You are to find the relevant facts, motives and logical explanations of the topic under investigation. In your quest for understanding and explanation, you have to put aside any personal views you may have about a topic, and leave no stones unturned. In the course of your investigation of an essay topic you will uncover much information and often conflicting explanations or theories. Being an academic detective means that you look upon the evidence gathered with a ‘critical eye’ and accept nothing on blind faith. To ensure that you take nothing for granted and properly evaluate the information you uncover, do as Sherlock Holmes would do, and keep the following detective questions in mind:

• Is the information you have found relevant to the topic?
• Is your information up to date?
• Do you have supporting evidence for any claims made?
• What explanations support the evidence collected?
• Do alternative or conflicting explanations and evidence exist?
The work of an academic detective is something you learn by doing, but you can also learn basic skills and tips from those who have gone before you. So, let this book be your guide to the secret methods of the academic detective; your ‘sidekick’ that helps your investigation along by clarifying how to find, analyse and organise the information you need to answer an essay question.