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Topic 1: Writing health essaysNext page
Task B: Essay paragraphsIndex page
Workshops indexTask A: From question to plan
Summary
Essay writing skills need to be learned and practised. Firstly, you need to learn how to analyse the question, gather the necessary information and construct an essay plan. This task will assist you to develop an understanding of these skills.
You will learn:
Analysing the question
Firstly, choose your question wisely. If you are given choices, consider what is relevant, what is of interest to you, and availability of reference materials.
Next, analyse the question. A common mistake made by students is not answering the question, or answering only part of the question, resulting in a loss of valuable marks. There are five steps you should follow when analysing a question.
Activity
Practise the five steps by analysing the following question (the full essay can be found in the writing samples section of this website):
Management of pain in elderly patients is sometimes inadequate. Discuss this statement with reference to recent nursing literature.
STEP 1
Read the whole question several times until you have a clear understanding of what is required.
STEP 2
Determine the instruction words. Write the instruction word from the above essay on your scratch pad, then check your answer.
STEP 3
Determine the topic words. Write the topic words from the above essay on your scratch pad, then check your answer.
STEP 4
Determine the restricting words. Write the restricting words from the above essay on your scratch pad, then check your answer.
STEP 5
Check your understanding. Try to rewrite the question in less than 25 words by completing the following sentence: The question is asking me to ....
More info
Pre-writing tasks
After analysing the question, you need to do some thinking and reading activities to help prepare you to develop a sound essay plan. These activities are:
- brainstorming your ideas
- preliminary reading on the topic
- researching for more information
- note making from your readings
- ordering your ideas.
Example
Here is an example of some ideas you might put into diagram form for our example question after you have done some basic preliminary reading.
Some people find it useful to get a pack of index cards and make one card for each main point. As you find examples, evidence and/or quotes to support those points, note them down (with the reference and page number) on the associated card. Then you can just arrange the cards in the order you want to present them in your essay.
Planning your essay
You are now ready to write your essay plan. This essential step ensures your essay is well-structured and avoids unnecessary repetition. Keep your plan to one page.
It may be appropriate to use headings in your essay. Check with your lecturer if you are unsure whether you can or not.
Here is a possible essay plan for our example question. You can see that the writer has identified FOUR issues that will be addressed in the body of the essay.
Introduction
Body
- Pain in elderly people
- Impact of pain on future health
- Communication problems
- Role of nursing staff