Essay topics

A university essay can be thought of as an extended answer to a quite specific question that has been posed by your lecturer. A key consideration for lecturers when they mark students' work is whether the essay before them is relevant; that is whether it does in fact provide an answer to the question being posed.

For this reason it is important when you prepare to work on an essay that you spend a reasonable amount of time reading and mulling over the essay topic so that you understand precisely what is being asked. This involves identifying and thinking about key words in the topic, among other things.

This tutorial on essay writing is based on the following topic:

In the last 20 years, rates of divorce have risen significantly in Western countries. Critically analyse some of the different explanations given for this phenomenon. In your discussion you should consider what implications these explanations might have for social policy.

Download a printable version of this page (.doc ~10kb)
Problems? Questions? Comments? Please provide us feedback.

PreviousNext