SPAIS PGT ESSAY WRITING
ESSAY FAQs
The FAQs and responses below were created by Dr Eric Herring for his POLIM1006 ‘International
Security’ students, but we found that there was excellent general advice here that could be applied
to Postgraduate Taught essay writing in SPAIS more generally. The adapted version of the FAQs and
responses below provides guidance on best practices in essay writing at a general level. For queries
on individual essay questions related to specific units, the best person to contact is of course the
relevant unit owner; but hopefully the advice below might pre-empt some of the more general
queries on essay writing that often come up.
HOW TO WRITE THE ESSAY
Q: What else should I read in thinking about how to write the essay?
A: Many of the issues discussed in this FAQ are dealt with in more depth and in an overall coherent
framework in
 the SPAIS Study Guide
 the SPAIS Postgraduate Taught Handbook (SPAIS PGT Handbook)
Please familiarise yourself with those resources and treat this FAQ as a supplement to them.
Q: Any other general suggestions about how to write the essay?
A: Different people work in different ways. But as a general guide, at first read widely and take full
bibliographical details (so you don’t have to try to track them down later) but only minimal notes at
this stage. Focus on what the readings have to say that is relevant to answer the question or parts
of it. Develop definitions of key concepts. Find out what the relevant debates are. Once you have a
sense of what your answer to the essay question might be, write a brief statement of your answer
to the question and how you might break it down into sections. You might want to run this essay
plan past your seminar tutor at this stage or once you have started writing some of the sections.
DRAFT ESSAYS AND ESSAY PLANS
Q Will staff comment on essay plans?
A: Yes. Staff do read and comment on essay plans, either emailed to us or shown to us in person
during an office hour (unit owners will have different preferences on whether they want to do this
via email or via office hours – consult your unit owner as to what their preference it). For these essay
plans to be of any value, these must be the equivalent of no more than one side of A4 excluding
bibliography; start with a statement of your answer to the question; set out a structure focused on
breaking the argument/answer down into its main sections; have a conclusion focused on the
implications of the answer; and be in note form (not in continuous prose as a mini essay).
Q: Will staff read and comment on draft essays or parts of draft essays?
A: No. Staff do not read and comment on draft essays. Aside from its logistical impracticality (staff
would have about 100 essays each to read if each of their students did one and these would have
to be turned around very quickly), it is the wrong stage at which to give advice. The right stage is at
the early, planning stage.
UNIVERSITY ESSAYS
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Q: What are the main things markers are looking for in an essay?
A: Independent judgement applied critically to different sources and communicated effectively. By
critically we mean not taking arguments at face value but identifying and assessing the assumptions
that underpin the specific arguments within a source. The best work involves sustained and creative
analysis. (For further details on marking criteria, see the relevant section of the SPAIS PGT
Handbook).
READING
Q: What should I read?
A: The bottom line is: don’t just ask what you should read: first, do some reading and say to staff:
‘This is what I have been reading and these are the things I am interested in: what do I read now?’
On each topic, the required and supplementary readings in the syllabus introduce you to a selection
of relevant readings for you to select from and combine creatively. On particular essay topics or
questions, you may be specifically directed towards classic pieces of work or particular authors.
Beyond that, the key thing is that, in asking unit owners for suggestions for further reading, you
need to be able to tell us what you have been reading and what sort of angle you are interested in,
and then we can point you to specific readings that speak to those interests.
Q: Is it okay to use material that is not on the reading list?
A: Yes. Looking beyond the reading is a good evidence of independent thinking.
Q: Is it okay to ignore the reading list and use for my essay only material that is not on it?
A: This is not a good idea. The reading lists are there to point you towards key ideas, issues and
debates.
Q: How do I find good material that is not on the reading list?
A: There are many good suggestions in the SPAIS Study Guide. Try:
 browsing the university’s electronic journals (see
http://www.bris.ac.uk/is/library/electronicjournals/ and for information on off-campus
access to electronic journals, see
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/library/collections/electronicinformation/externalresources.ht
ml;
 getting skilled at using Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/), including its advanced
search options; and
 browsing official websites (governments, international organisations and so on as and
where appropriate to your essay topic) and see for yourself what they have to say.
NUMBER OF SOURCES
Q: How many sources should we use?
A: We do not have a fixed figure. However, a reasonable rule of thumb range is 15-30 sources per
essay. The best essays usually have at least 15.
ESSAY QUESTIONS
Q: Do we have to answer the questions exactly as worded or can we alter them or substitute our
own questions?
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A: You have to answer the question exactly as worded and can only answer the question provided.
The questions go through a validation process to check that they are ones that give you an
opportunity to write a properly analytical and creative essay as opposed to a merely descriptive
essay.
ANSWERS
Q: Do we have to give yes or no answers?
A: No. You can have a yes answer, a no answer or a qualified answer (e.g. 'Yes, but only if the
following criteria are met'). The answer you should give is whatever you actually think.
Q: Should my answer be one I think the member of staff will agree with?
A: Definitely not. We are not looking for a specific answer. We are genuinely interested in knowing
what you think and helping you develop your understanding. Call it as you see it. The essays are not
marked on your views or conclusions, but on the quality of the argument regardless of your views
or conclusions.
Q: The essay question seems to be steering me to a particular answer. Is that really the case?
A: No. We try not to ask questions that give that impression and such impressions are mistaken.
STRUCTURE
Q: Should an essay be written as separate parts?
A: No. The essay should be written as a single overall piece of text which you can break down into
sections e.g. introduction, section 1, section 2 up to as many as you think makes sense, then
conclusion.
Q: How should I structure my essay? Does the essay have to have a specific structure?
A: Essays should always have an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Beyond that, the structure
of the body of the essay should flow from your sense of how your argument (your answer to the
question) best breaks down into a set of sub-arguments/sections. Learning how to do this and the
various ways of doing this takes practice.
HEADINGS AND SUB-HEADINGS
Q: Am I allowed to use headings and sub-headings? Am I required to use them?
A: You are allowed to use headings and sub-headings but do not have to. They can be very useful
for sign-posting the structure of the essay. They can be passive (specifying a topic e.g. ‘Assessing the
Effectiveness of Sanctions’) or active (specifying the argument ‘Sanctions Usually Do Not Work Due
to Lack of Political Will’).
INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION
Q: Should I not mention what my answer to the question is until the conclusion? Or should I say at
the start what my answer/argument is?
A: You should always state in the introduction what your argument is (in other words, what your
answer to the question is). That way the member of staff can assess the essay from the start in
relation to whether or not you are making a persuasive argument.
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Q: What should be in the introduction?
A: The main things that it is useful to do in the introduction is show that you understand the
question; provide some context; state what your answer is to the question (this is vital); state what
the structure of your essay is (what the sections are); and explain why you have structured it that
way.
Q: Should the conclusion be a summary of the essay?
A: A concise summary of the essay is a useful thing to include in the conclusion, but it is rather
inadequate as conclusion by itself. Stronger conclusions add substantially to the analysis, e.g. by
weighting and relating the various sections of the essay or discussing the implications of the answer
to the question. It is easy to underestimate the importance of the conclusion: in fact, it is the payoff
of the entire analysis. Answer the ‘So what?’ question: i.e. why does the answer to the question
matter? It is generally best not to introduce new lines of argument and new sources in the
conclusion although that can be useful at times and as a small proportion of the conclusion. Look at
journal articles to see various examples of how to write a conclusion.
DEFINING KEY CONCEPTS
Q: Do I have to define any of the concepts I use?
A: Yes - you always have to define any key concepts.
PERSONAL OPINION
Q: Should I express my personal opinion? Aren’t essays meant to be objective?
A: It is vital that you do express an opinion in the sense of a position grounded in reason and
evidence that you set out for people. There will be an inevitably subjective aspect - your sense of
what is right and wrong, good and bad, what is important and unimportant, that will affect your
assessment, and it is good to show awareness of that. What we are not interested in is opinion in
the sense of mere assertion of belief. To put it another way, we want you to show not tell.
WRITING ‘I THINK’, ‘IN MY OPINION’
Q: Can I write ‘I think’ / ‘In my opinion’ / ‘I believe’?
A: You are not banned from using those phrases. However, there are two good reasons not to use
them. First, usually that language is redundant. You can simply write for example 'In the case of
Rwanda, the UN limited its involvement due to its concern that it may be damaged by another failure
like its mission to Somalia.' Nothing is gained by writing 'In the case of Rwanda, I think that/in my
opinion the UN limited its involvement due to its concern that it may be damaged by another failure
like its mission to Somalia'. Second, we are not interested in opinion in the sense of mere assertion
of belief as personal preference or faith, i.e. regardless of logic and evidence. In the essays your
approach should aim should be to persuade the reader by means of logic and evidence, not just
informing them of personal views with no reason as to why others should agree.
WRITING ‘IT COULD BE ARGUED’
Q: Is it okay to write ‘it could be argued’?
A: It is not banned but it is rather a lame phrase. Yes, something could be argued but much more
interesting is whether (a) someone has argued it and (b) even more importantly whether or not you
are arguing it.
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ABBREVIATIONS
Q: Can I use my own abbreviations (such as MHI for military humanitarian intervention) if I explain
each abbreviation the first time I use it?
A: Yes, but only do this sparingly, as an essay that is full of unfamiliar abbreviations is hard to follow.
CONTENTS AND SUBMISSION OF THE BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES
Q: Should I put everything I have read in the bibliography? Or only those things I have referred to
directly in the essay?
A: Only those things referred to directly in the essay.
Q: Does it matter if I call it ‘Bibliography’ or ‘References’?
A: No.
Q: When I submit the essay on Blackboard, should I submit the bibliography in a separate file?
A: No. Submit the essay with its bibliography in a single file.
REFERENCING
Q: Are we meant to use a particular form of referencing?
A: As an MSc student you can choose to use Harvard referencing or a footnoting system of citation
(but don’t mix the two). The School preference is that students use the Harvard referencing system,
which is explained in detail in the SPAIS Study Guide. See the SPAIS Study Guide
Q: Do I have to provide a citation even if I have put the material in my own words (i.e. it is not a
quote)?
A: Yes. You have to provide a citation for all facts and ideas that are not common knowledge. If
you are in doubt about what is common knowledge, provide a citation. See the relevant section of
the SPAIS Study Guide for details and examples.
Q: Why does referencing matter so much to academics?
A: Because we as scholars (including students) are meant to be persuading on the basis of
(theoretical and empirical) evidence rather merely asserting personal belief, and that means those
reading our work need to be able to check our sources for themselves. All professions have
standards and methods for indicating the evidentiary basis of what they do. Once you get into the
habit of referencing properly it is not a burden.
Q: If we have provided citations in the body of the essay, when we mention the ideas again in the
conclusion do we have to provide the citations again?
A: No.
PLAGIARISM
Q: I am worried that I will plagiarise by accident and be penalised for it. What should I do to avoid
that happening?
A: If you are trying to follow the guidance in the Study Guide, Handbook and syllabus and you are
trying not to plagiarise, it is very unlikely that you will accidentally plagiarise. If you are still
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worried, show a sample passage to a member of staff to check that your referencing and
paraphrasing techniques are correct.
MATERIAL IN LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH
Q: Can we use material in languages other than English in preparing out essays? If, so how do we
reference it?
A: Yes, however all the material in the introduction, body and conclusion of essay must be in English.
You can use sources that are not in English as long as you translate any material quoted in the essay
and translate the title of the material in the bibliography. You simply follow your translated material
with this: '[own translation]'.
WORD LIMITS AND WORD COUNTS
Q: What is counted in the word limit?
A: Everything in the essay itself (i.e. your answer to the essay question) except the bibliography.
Q: Do the candidate number, unit title, unit number, essay question and your indication of the word
count get included in the word count?
A: No. Only the essay itself (i.e. your answer to the essay question), excluding the bibliography, is
included in the word count. For further details on this, see Part 3 of the SPAIS Postgraduate Taught
Handbook on ‘Assessment’, which contains full details of the rules in relation to word counts.
Q: I know I am recommended to use Harvard rather than footnotes for citations, but can I put
additional comments that are not citations in footnotes? And will this be part of the word count?
A: Yes to both questions. On the former, try to do this as little as possible, as part of the exercise is
writing in a flowing way. On the latter, yes it will count, otherwise footnotes could be used to get
round the word limit.
Q: Can my essay have an appendix with extra material in it?
A: No – unless your essay assignment specifically asks for or allows you to so (check the unit guide,
or with the unit owner). The aim of the exercise is for you to write a free-standing essay within the
word limit not supported by outside material.
Q: Is there a 10% leeway on the word limit? In other words, can I go up to 10% over without penalty?
A: No. The word limit is an exact limit. If you go over it by a single word (if the essay is 4,001 words
and the word limit is 4,000 words), you will be penalised.
Q: Isn’t it the case that the word limit is so small that I can’t answer the question in a meaningful
way?
A: No: essays of this length often contain impressively sustained and creative analysis. The word
limit is valuable for getting you to prioritise.
Q: Will I be penalised if the essay is just over the minimum word limit or below it?
A: No. However, if you don’t use the full word allowance you are making it harder for yourself to do
well.
TIME LIMITS
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Q: Will I be penalised if my essay is slightly late?
A: Yes. You will be penalised if the essay is even one minute late. If the deadline is 11.00 am then an
essay submitted at 11.01 am as measured by the time stamp on Blackboard will be penalised. This
is a good reason to not leave it until the last minute (indeed last day) to submit. The only exceptions
are if you are granted an extension (e.g. due to illness) or if there is a technical problem with
Blackboard that is not your fault. If Blackboard is functioning properly and the instructions are clear
and your essay is late because you have misunderstood or not followed the instructions, you will be
penalised.
LAYOUT: FONT, FONT SIZE, SPACING
Q: Do I have to use a particular font, font size and spacing (double or single spaced)?
A: No. However, please use an easy-to-read font (e.g. Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman) in a
reasonable font size (11 or 12). Text in obscure and/or tiny font is hard work for staff to read. Use
1.5 or double spacing, unless your unit guide or unit owner specifies otherwise.
FEEDBACK
Q: Why does it take up to three weeks (and occasionally longer) to get feedback to us?
A: It takes that long because it is a massive task and we take it seriously. When marking arrives on
top of this full load, academic staff routinely work evenings and weekends – on top of their other
work commitments - to try to hit the three week target (and in some instances the sheer volume of
marking may unfortunately mean that it may take staff slightly longer to mark and moderate the
volume of scripts, in which case the PGT office keeps the affected students updated on hand-back
dates). We work these long hours because we are committed to your studies. The process is:
 After you have submitted the essays on Blackboard, the support staff go through them all and
check them for plagiarism. This means going through the Turnitin automated plagiarism report
for every one of the many hundreds of essays across all years in the school (MSc as well as
undergraduate) and in consultation with academic staff come to a view on whether any essays
need to be investigated further. Meanwhile, the essays are printed and distributed.
 Each academic has up to 100 and sometimes more essays to mark, and these are usually 4,000
words long (excluding bibliography) for final year and MSc essays. Depending on length and how
straightforward it is, it takes 20 to 30 minutes and sometimes longer to read each essay and type
up the feedback.
 When the initial marking of all script is completed, at least 10% of the essays and feedback go
to another academic (called the moderator) to check whether or not they agree with the
feedback and marks. Every moderator has to fill out a form summarising their moderation. The
academic who has just done the initial marking will do the same for another colleague.
 Once this is done, there is a round of discussion between the pairs of academics (marker and
moderator). Any disputed marks go to a third member academic within the school and if
necessary to an external examiner outside the university.
 The marker then emails all the feedback sheets to the support staff who go through all of the
feedback sheets, recording the marks, checking word counts and time stamps and applying any
penalties for excessive length, lateness or plagiarism. The support staff then print out any
adjusted feedback sheets, attach them to the essays and get them ready for collection.
 Finally, you are notified that the essays are ready for collection.
 While marking, staff still have to continue all their usual seminars; lectures; PhD supervision;
office hours; school, faculty and university administration and meetings; research-related
commitments such as editing journals or meeting publication deadlines; and answering dozens
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of emails every day in relation to all of these things. Similarly, support staff have all their normal
commitments of organisation, meetings, and so on.
Q: What kind of feedback will we get?
A: See the feedback sheet below. You will get Xs in the relevant boxes and around 150 words of
written feedback, including suggestions for improvement.
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University of Bristol
MSc Essay Feedback Form
Candidate Number:
Tutor’s Name:
MARK:
Unit code:
Unit title:
(Adjustments- for office use only)
NB: THE MARK REMAINS PROVISIONAL UNTIL CONFIRMED BY THE SUMMER EXAMINATION BOARD
CRITERIA
Distinction
Merit
Pass
Coherent structure and argument
Understanding of key concepts
Range of material employed
Integration of evidence and argument
Analysis
Satisfactory
Partially satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Writing - clarity and fluency
Writing - spelling and grammar
Referencing and citation
Format of bibliography
NB: THE MARKER DOES NOT WEIGHT EACH OF THESE CATEGORIES EQUALLY WHEN FINALISING THE MARK
General comments and suggestions for improvement:
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Fail