Where the hell do I start? (1 Viewer)

[glycerine]

I want to start on a draft sometime after NYE, but I don't even know how to begin :s

 

[MissSavage29]

Good idea to start early

there are probably two ways to approach ur first essay - you can get right into the historigraphy of your topic - that is write an essay based purly on historigraphy (your debating schoolies etc) straight away

this is a good idea because that is what u will eventually have to submit anyway.

but
what i did was write a general essay regarding my topic. It had references to historigraphy and i attempted to work bits into it - but the focus of the essay was on events so forth.

So insteed of writing about about the two sides of the debate regarding my topic i wrote about hte various events that were invovled in it. If that makes sence.

i found this method of starting reallly really helpful because it gave me some background knowledge about my topic - as i hadn't studied anything like it in modern or anicent before -

the 2nd draft i completly revised my essay and changed alot of it - took a little bit of extra work but in the end it was worth it as i understood my topic better and was able to write a more consise essay

 

[Mm_cookies]

i have to agree with miss savage,
however where my teacher told me to start was the body and to screw the introduction!
dont sit aimlessly at your comp trying to writ an intro, your not gunna end up using anyway!
also when you first write it! dont read it over as you go! just keep writing and then reread! this helps pick up your faults more and you get thte idea of how ur exam teqnique is!

 

[katie_tully]

My teacher was a spastic and really I've just gone by previous students and the syllabus.
Once you've written your draft proposal you should just concentrate on the main body, then go back and write the synopsis. It'd be easier that way, mainly because you'll know what your essay is about and you can write your synposis correctly.
Then it's all go from there.

 

[tWiStEdD]

i did the same as miss savage, more or less.
first of all i read. i read and read and read until my eyes bled. i noted that in all my reading they tended to argue a certain point or that a certain point was discussed often.
in my case, was Hitler a totalitarian ruler?

It got so dreadfully convolluted, but it was well worth the time and the effort. writing about philosophy isnt the easiest thing ever

THEN i essayed it up, hated my draft.... and redid the entire thing. i found i needed 10% leway.... but that depends on your teacher.

Good luck, glyc.
did you like my praise?

 

[glycerine]

Haha, I'm so considering dropping. I've read like two chapters of one book and I just dunno if I can be fucked. Thanks for the advice everyone.

twisted - praise? wha?

 

[ptitsa]

unfortunately, you do need to read shitloads (whilst taking notes) to do reasonably well (or at least give the illusion that you have read well ;p). If you do the reading your understanding of the topic will deepen and once you get into the rhythm of your draft it will alllll flowww (ideally).

Personally, I think writing a general essay first is a waste of time. Why would you write a narrative when your essay is supposed to be driven by historical debate, yeh? And if you put effort into doing this general thing, you'll be inclined towards using parts of it in your submitted work, which aint good. If you still find writing the draft difficult, summarising the different debates helps. for instance, one or two paragraphs per debate. Then from there you could integrate it all (that last step I missed out when I did my work. it;s so important though! I read my essay now and it makes me cringe with its putrid structure, hahah)

Glycerine, you did 4unit eng, right? Believe me, once you get into the exthist major work, you'll find it far far easier than 4unit. There arent many tricks to it

 

[tamster1]

Yea don't worry bout the intro. Do it almost last. Pointer NEVER forget to take all that referencing crap cause it saves trouble and then get your info checked that you're doing it right. Oh and don't waffle cause when it comes down to the words...you're scarce. I managed with 2 words over the max and that was AFTER I cut out two major paragraphs. It helped with me to take my essay while I was writing it, to about 3 english teachers and 2 history teachers to make sure it was prime:, grammar, sense and that sort of thing. They helped a bunch!

 

[glycerine]

haha thanks everyone

i just started doing actual work. first draft due next week. ahhh!

 

[launcher169]

Yea don't worry bout the intro. Do it almost last. Pointer NEVER forget to take all that referencing crap cause it saves trouble and then get your info checked that you're doing it right. Oh and don't waffle cause when it comes down to the words...you're scarce. I managed with 2 words over the max and that was AFTER I cut out two major paragraphs. It helped with me to take my essay while I was writing it, to about 3 english teachers and 2 history teachers to make sure it was prime:, grammar, sense and that sort of thing. They helped a bunch!

i have to agree with everything you said....yeah i had to totally revamp my essay so i could both answer the question effectively and stick to the word limit....you initially think that 2500 words is really hard to achieve....but u find out that you are sadly mistaken

 

[a8o]

i have to agree with everything you said....yeah i had to totally revamp my essay so i could both answer the question effectively and stick to the word limit....you initially think that 2500 words is really hard to achieve....but u find out that you are sadly mistaken

not really for me. ive got 2200 and am not just making sure my citations are rock solid (changing a few to make it look like ive read widely - i find after while if you read widely enough people just all use the same figures from the same sources...I've noticed a LOT of plagurism going on from all sorts of professional writers/historians/journalists) and writing a conclusion and introductiuon. My essay is pretty much complete, but since its due on friday i dont think ill be able to leave it alone.

sigh. almost htere.

 

[jdrockefeller]

My project is due in a week, just starting a draft today, then probably redo it Sunday or Monday. Edit it Tuesday and Wednesday, hand it in the day before my trials. Tight schedule.

I've been lucky in my project in that I haven't had to read a shitload. My main sources have been newspaper articles and speeches rather then huge tomes of books, and I was also lucky that the Eureka 150th Anniversary was last year, so that stirred up a lot of debate (obviously my project is on the Eureka Stockade )

 

[freaked!]

i think that perhaps i'm very lucky....mines not due till the seventh of september...i just went through intense trials though so i still have masses of work to do and not that much time to do it in....out interest what are other peoples topics

 

[bonniejjj]

My MP was due first day back of term, but my topic is;

"How did the imperial coronation of Charlemagne affect the old power structure that existed between the Roman papacy, the Frankish King in the West, and the Byzantine Emperor in the East?"

 

[hopey989]

well since im in the middle of trials, and my project is due next friday, im sure there'll be a few all nighters at some point next week, but ive been lucky in that i can get most of my information from reviews of books, rather than the actual books

My question is 'who is to blmae for the fall of Singapore?' or something along those lines, i havent decided the final wording yet, but because its focus is on blame, there's no need to read hundreds of books, all i need is opinions and a couple of quotes, plus a few official histories from governments and the like

Obviously im going to recommend this method, because, doing 12 units, my schedule is pretty booked out, and its cut down on my research time amazingly.

So guys, use secondary sources as mucha s you can!

 

[silvermoon]

i dont understand why asking who was to blame for the fall of Singapore wouldn't require a lot of reading? surely it would need as much reading as anything else - ESPECIALLY as it is about 'blame' and not about contentious events. well, thats just my opinion anyway

 

[hopey989]

maybe i should clarify that, i did a lot of reading, just that the other guys in my class did more

Because the question is only concerned with the blame passed on Churchill, or at least the British government at the time, its concerned mainly with resources sent to the far east, or not sent as was the case, and whether that was the determining factor in the fall of Singapore

Anyway, the point was that i didnt have to read through sopious amounts of readings, because the gist of them was in the reviews i read, the only need to go back to the original texts is for quotes or clarification of certain points

 

[silvermoon]

nice work on your topic then. our teachers wanted us to have the focus of our essays being on some question on history (as opposed to something that happened in history - ie. straying in2 questions of what is history territory *groan*) so i ended up doing my work on ned kelly as an example of the creation of heroes and villains in history (well, that was the general gist anyway). had to do heaps of reading (which was hard as started 2 wks before due )

 

[samuelblayden]

at the beginging

 

[silvermoon]

lol, have been waiting for some1 2 write that.