Using extracts
from student essays
as teaching materials.
Chris Nelson
INTO Newcastle University
Graduate Diploma programme.
2 semesters of 12 weeks each.
Mainly East Asian graduates, aiming to go
on to a Master’s programme.
The great majority at Newcastle University
Business School (NUBS).
Academic skills:
• Understanding a structure
• Understanding an argument
• Recognising depth
• Recognising strengths and weaknesses in texts
• Analysis
• Evaluation
• Synthesis
EAP sources & content (1):
Prescribed authentic journal articles.
• General corporate issues, eg the use
of SNSs in HR recruitment.
• Social / educational issues such as
international students’ culture shock.
EAP sources & content (2):
Extracts from students’ extended essays
which have been assessed as excellent.
• Typically, business topics such as
corporate strategies and their effect
on performance.
• Economic and social policies.
Learnt / taught content:
1 The students’ knowledge gleaned from their previous
undergraduate courses and, in a few cases, from work
experience.
2 Input from INTO academic courses:
• International Business Management
• Study & Research Skills
• Financial Data Analysis or International Relations
• Economics or Social & Cultural Studies
The Study & Research Skills extended
essay:
• 5,000 words
• Fully researched & referenced
• From week 3 of semester 1 to week 9 of
semester 2 (submission)
• Not assessed for language, but must show
clear evidence of criticality.
Title
Digitalisation and
record
labels’ bus.
models
China: the
media and
the
government
Supply
Chain
Management and
humanitarian aid
Internal
Layout
conflict in
strategies
multi-national in shops
enterprises
Main
features
Analysis &
evaluation
cautious
language;
citations
Analysis &
evaluation;
citations
Analysis &
evaluation;
citations &
synthesis;
cautious
language.
Mark
awarded
75
73
70
63
Evaluation
of research
limitations
73
e-commerce strategies: Burberry in China
The full title of this essay is “Re-evaluating the Success
of Luxury Fashion Brands’ E-commerce Strategies:
Applying the Revised 8C Framework to the Case Study
of Burberry in China.”
This is a framework which the student adapted from
Yang et al. (2008: 7) and Bjorn-Andersen and Hansen
(2011).
One of the 8 Cs, Connection, involves the use of Social
Network Sites:
Extract 3
Firstly, by utilizing these SNSs to share specific forms of brand information
…and respond to customers’ reactions immediately, Burberry’s
communication channels have been expanded, as characteristics
emphasized by the Community, the Communication and the Connection
elements. It can now make its advertisements, campaigns for newly
designed clothes, and corporate announcements more easily and quickly
accessed to a much larger quantity of audiences—the current and potential
customers. Thus customers’ awareness about brand related events is
hugely strengthened (Tynan et al., 2010: 1160).
• Highlight the vocabulary which refers to growth and change.
• Can you identify cause and effect in this extract?
• What is it about this extract that makes the writer sound confident?
Extract 4
However, Burberry has cancelled its 24/7 real-time chat and Call Me
Back services in China sub-sites. This may not only negatively affect the
Customization element as customers now find it difficult to obtain
personalized suggestions, but also may reduce the interactional points
with the brand. Thus the value co-creating process might be shrunk
without these direct communication channels (Tynan et al., 2010: 1160).
• Some of the verbs have been highlighted in red – which ones?
• In terms of language, how does this extract differ from the previous
one?
• Why might this be?
Most recent essay topics:
Marketing: An analysis of the implications of brand
communication through social media on brand equity.
Psychology: Female performance in maths and the
stereotype threat.
Industrial relations: To what extent is anti-sweatshop
movement in China successful?
In conclusion, these extended essay extracts are
intended to exemplify skills, content and language
which:
• are authentic (not written for ELT purposes);
• are relevant to, and engage, the students’
interests; and
• model the students’ target product.