What makes a good A Level essay?

The word essay comes from the verb essay which means to attempt, test or try something. This means that good essays should be exploratory.

An essay has to have a purpose; you should be trying to make the best possible case for an original idea (your thesis) you have arrived following your reading and research. Your essay should contain ideas, explanations, evidence, referencing, and relevant examples.

To produce a good essay, you need to demonstrate your ability to:

• understand the exact task set by the title
• identify appropriate material to read
• understand and evaluate that material
• select the most relevant material to refer to in your essay
• construct an effective argument which is logically organised
• be interesting and engaging
• use an appropriate academic style of writing
• arrive at a well-supported conclusion.

Common weaknesses that teachers observe with students’ essays are that they:

• do not keep to the title set.
• have a poor structure.
• are too descriptive.
• do not have enough critical writing.

Therefore, you should prioritise these things when writing essays:

1. attend closely to the title
2. establish a relevant structure that will help you show the development of your argument
3. use critical writing as much as possible – keeping descriptive writing to a minimum.

Teachers will be reading and marking many essays. If you make your argument hard to follow, so that they need to re-read a paragraph (or more) to try to make sense of what you have written, you will make their job slower. It is possible that they may even decide not to make that effort. It is your task to present your argument in a way that your audience can follow.

Teachers are not necessarily looking for the perfect essay; they would be very happy to read a reasonably well-planned, well-argued and well-written essay. They do not want to pull your essay to pieces – they want to enjoy reading it and be able to follow your argument.