What is an essay?
SOAS Faculty of Arts & Humanities
Below are some notes to help you understand what’s required in an academic essay. For
detailed help and information try the following useful internet sites:
Links from the SOAS Learning & Teaching Unit website at http://www.soas.ac.uk/ltu
An example of a UK university essay help website: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Skills/pack/essay.html
The Internet Grammar of English http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/home.htm
For Internet information literacy and IT skills see The Virtual Training Suite http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/
- And visit (in person) the Learning Resources Area at Vernon Square which has a collection of books on
how to write essays, and other essential skills for students
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Sample essay: Is Mickey Mouse Dead?
by Astu Dent, BA Cross-Cultural Studies, Year 1 (write your name, programme and year on each page
in case the essay gets detached from the report sheet).
An essay begins with an introduction - here it starts with an arresting quotation, to support the introduction
in your own words which follows. The introduction tells the reader how you interpret the question and how
you intend to go about answering it.)
"The Mouse has not been seen for thirty years, and everyone in LA knows why." 1(numbered footnote
gives source of your quotation)
Claims that Mickey Mouse is dead have appeared in two recent books on modern cinema 2 (footnote to
substantiate your claim that these claims have appeared). The question 'is Mickey Mouse dead?' raises
two complex questions. Firstly, did Mickey Mouse ever live, and secondly, if so, is he now deceased? In
this essay I will address the question of whether Mickey Mouse ever lived, and then, if necessary,
confront the issue of whether he is now dead.
(The main part of the essay should then be your argument which fol1ows from the introduction. It should
bring together whatever facts are necessary to the argument; evidence in support of al1 sides of the
argument; and an evaluation of this evidence, with references to the debate so far in relevant books and
articles such as those recommended by your tutors. Above all, this part of the essay should show that you
have read thoroughly and thought deeply about the topic.)
Most scholars up to the mid-1990’s agreed with De Ville3 that Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character,
not a real animal … (footnote reference to De Ville to show where De Ville says this) however, the debate
has recently been re-ignited by reports from France, Japan and the USA that Mickey Mouse has been
seen ‘in the flesh’ embracing tourists (and so on…)
(After the argument. which should occupy 80-90% of the essay. comes your conclusion. This should review
what you’ve said, state the conclusions you have reached and perhaps suggest the wider implications of the
debate or the importance of the issues raised. E.g.:
In conclusion, the overwhelming weight of evidence reviewed here suggests that ‘Mickey Mouse’ refers
primarily to the cartoon character created by Walt Disney early in his career and only secondarily to
representations of that character by actors. Mickey Mouse, then, is not alive, but neither has he died.
This clearly has consequences for our understanding of other similar characters, Donald Duck and
Goofy for instance, and anticipates future discussion of their status.
(The Bibliography then lists the sources you have consulted in alphabetical order by author. Remember to
underline or italicise book titles and to include the publisher and year of publication. See the Guide to
Referencing in this handbook for examples of referencing styles and examples.
Bibliography:
De Ville, C Memoirs of a Dalmatian Childhood, Macmillan, 1975.
Hisker, W Scratchings on Film, Auteur Press, 1996
Skeard, I M 'Demise of a Rodent' in Newsmonth, Issue 465, July 2003, pp4-5
Trapp, M (ed.) Famouse* Cinema Characters, Cambridge University Press, 1999
*before submitting your essay, proof read for mistakes and mis-spellings!
1
I M Skeard 'Demise of a Rodent' p.4.
M Trapp Famouse Cinema Characters p.56; W Hisker Scratchings on Film p.4
3
See for example Cruella De Ville’s Memoirs of a Dalmatian Childhood p.101
2
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SOAS Faculty of Arts & Humanities
ESSAY CHECKLIST
Use this list of strengths/weaknesses as a checklist while planning, writing and before submitting your essay.
Strengths
Content
[ ] Answers the question set
[ ] More analysis than description
[ ] Questioning, critical approach
[ ] Covers main points adequately
[ ] Arguments/points clearly made
[ ] Arguments/assertions supported by evidence/examples/quotations
[ ] Full references given (in-text OR as footnotes OR as endnotes)
[ ] Appropriate bibliography
[ ] Interesting/original thinking
Structure
[ ] Well planned/ structured answer
Presentation
[ ] Word-processed or typed/legible writing
[ ] Report sheets and essay easily separable
[ ] Accurate spelling, good punctuation
[ ] Right length
[ ] Wide margins and space between lines for tutor’s comments
[ ] Typed/written an one side of the paper only
[ ] Bibliography correctly set out (alphabetically, by author + title, publisher, date)
===================================================================================
Weaknesses
Content
[ ] Does not answer the question set
[ ] Non-questioning, uncritical approach
[ ] Little evidence of reading/research
[ ] Arguments/points unclear
[ ] More description than analysis
[ ] Misses out important points.
[ ] Lack of evidence/examples/quotations to support your arguments
[ ] Quotations/examples given, but they do not support your arguments
[ ] Lacking or inappropriate footnotes/endnotes/references
[ ] Lacking or inappropriate bibliography
[ ] Failure to acknowledge the words and ideas of others (plagiarism?)
[ ] Some factual inaccuracies
Structure
[ ] Little or no apparent plan/structure
[ ] Too much 'padding' (discussion/description which is not essential to your argument)
Presentation
[ ] Several spelling errors
[ ] Punctuation errors
[ ] Incomplete sentences
[ ] Writing difficult to read
[ ] Answer too short/too long
[ ] Inadequate margin for markers comments
[ ] Written on both sides of paper
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SOAS Faculty of Arts & Humanities – Guide to referencing essays
There are hundreds of different styles of referencing – most journals and book publishers have their own
preferred styles, most of which are variants of the two ‘basic’ systems described below. Use whichever style
you prefer in your essay, or as advised by your tutor, but having chosen a style stick to it for that essay - do
not mix styles!
1. THE ‘HARVARD’ SYSTEM
The Harvard system is widely used in social sciences like anthropology, sociology and economics but
increasingly elsewhere. In this system, references to secondary sources are made by showing AUTHOR,
date of publication : page number (if necessary), in brackets in the main body of the text. The full title of the
work referenced is then listed once in the bibliography at the end. Where an author has published more than
one work cited in the same year, the convention is to add lower case letters to the date, 1999a, 1999b etc.
For example, a Harvard-referenced text might read:
While there is general agreement that there was a reduction in economic activity after the 1965 crisis (Byng 1999b: 145),
the political causes of economic stagnation are more controversial (Joshi and Little 1987: 371-8).
THE ‘HARVARD’ BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works should be listed alphabetically by surname of author, then date, as follows. The examples below cover most of
the types of publication you are likely to encounter. Use italics for titles of works, and single quote marks for titles of
articles or chapters within works.
Anonymous (n.d., 1976?) Economic Stagnation! You all are responsible!
(Pamphlet, 13pp.) Calcutta: Free Radicals Collective

Byng, Howard (1998) ‘The political causes of economic
stagnation’ in Joshi and Little (1998) pp.340-360

Byng, Howard (1999a) ‘Crisis Economics’ in Smith (1999)
Vol.3, p.322

Byng, Howard (1999b) Reappraising Economics London:
Macmillan

Byng, Howard (2000) ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’
http://www.berkeley.econ-info.discuss.byng08.html (contribution to on-line
forum, dated 21 January, consulted 5 Nov 2003)

Joshi, Vijay and Dirk Little, (1987) ‘Indian Macroeconomics Policies’
Economic and Political Monthly 15:4, pp.368-380

Joshi, Vijay and Dirk Little, eds. (1998) The Causes of Economic
Stagnation, Auckland: Kiwi Press

Marr, Kurt (1988) The Coming Economic Crisis London: Highgate Press
(1893)

Smith, Harold, ed. (1999) Encyclopedia of Economics, New York: Paladin

Undated anonymous
pamphlet – give all
available details
Chapter in edited work –
pagination shown here, but
see Joshi and Little 1998 for
publication details
Article by Byng in
Encyclopedia edited by
Smith (see below)
Single-author Book
E-text (include as much
detail as necessary to
pinpoint the date and
context)
Journal article
Edited book. Included here
because of Byng (1998)
above
Republished work (original
publication date shown in
brackets)
Encyclopedia. Included here
because of Byng (1999a)
above
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2. THE ‘HUMANITIES’ STYLE
The ‘humanities’ style of referencing shown here is common in History, Religion, Art etc., books and journals.
It puts all the reference information, including full publication details when a work is first mentioned, in
numbered footnotes (at the foot of the page) or endnotes (at the end of the text). If noted again, a work is
generally referred to by an abbreviated title of your choosing. Use footnotes or endnotes, but not both. A
Humanities style bibliography is similar to the ‘Harvard’ style bibliography except that the date normally goes
at the end of the reference, is not in brackets and no letters are added to the date to distinguish different
works by an author in the same year. E.g.:
Harvard style: Byng, Howard (1999b) Reappraising World Music, London: Macmillan
Humanities style: Byng, Howard, Reappraising World Music, London: Macmillan, 1999
In essays etc. submitted to the Arts & Humanities Faculty you must always include a standard bibliography at
the end, whether or not you have provided full publication details elsewhere in a footnote/endnote.
Sample Endnotes or footnotes (Humanities style)
1. James A. Beckford, ‘The restoration of “power” to the sociology of religion’, in Thomas Robbins
(ed.), Church-State Relations, New York: Transaction Publishers 1987, pp.13-37.
2. The use of ideal types in this context is of course problematic. I hope to address this issue in a
separate publication.
3. Allan G. Grapard, ‘Problematic representations in the study of Japanese Religions’, Religion 21:4
(1991) pp.389-96.
4. Beckford, ‘Restoration’, p.21.
5. Ibid., p.23.
6. Akiko Yoshimoto, Religious Uprisings, Princeton: Princeton University Press 1998
7. Grapard ‘Problematic representations’, p.392.
8. Yoshimoto Uprisings, p.302.
Comments on the sample endnotes.
n.1: This is the first mention in the notes of the work by Beckford, so full publication details are given.
The title of the article is shown in single quote marks; “power” therefore gets double quote marks, even
if originally it only had single quote marks. The book title is shown in italics (or underlined if you’re
handwriting or can’t type italics). The full details of authors/editors, place, publisher and publication
date (followed by the page nos.) are given. Note the use of commas and colons to separate different
elements. (Sample endnotes 4 and 5 show how the same article is referred to subsequently.)
n.2: This kind of note is an aside; something the writer wants to tell the reader which does not fit in the
text (probably because it adds little to the argument). As a rule, avoid such notes. If something is
important, put it in the main text, if it is not important, leave it out!
n.3: In this case the work in which the article appears is a journal so the journal title is shown in italics.
‘21:4’ means ‘Volume 21, issue (or number) 4’.
n.4: Even though only one work by Beckford has been cited, more of Beckford’s publications may be
cited later, so an abbreviated reference: Beckford ‘Restoration’ is used here to avoid any confusion. It
is up to you to abbreviate so that the reference is recognisable and unambiguous, but keep it minimal.
Don’t repeat the full publication details except in the Bibliography at the end.
n.5: If two successive notes refer to exactly the same work you can use ‘ ibid.’ (meaning ‘same as
previous’) in the second work. Avoid using ‘op. cit.’ (‘the work cited [earlier]’) in notes as this often
leads to confusion.
n.6: A straightforward book reference (so the book title is in italics).
n.7: An abbreviated reference to an article cited earlier.
n.8: An abbreviated reference to a book mentioned earlier (so the book title is in italics).
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Plagiarism
Students are reminded that all work submitted as part of the requirements for any examination of the
University of London must be expressed in your own words and incorporate your own ideas and judgements.
Also, you must not submit the same work for assessment more than once. Plagiarism - that is the
presentation of another person's thoughts or words as though they were your own - must be avoided, with
particular care taken in course-work and essays and reports written in your own time. Direct quotations from
the published or unpublished work of others must always be clearly identified as such by being placed inside
quotation marks, and a full reference to their source must be provided in the proper form. Remember that a
series of short quotations from several different sources, if not clearly identified as such, constitutes
plagiarism just as much as a single unacknowledged long quotation from a single source. Equally, if you
summarise another person's ideas or judgements, you must refer to that person in your text, and include the
work in your bibliography. You are also committing plagiarism if you employ or use another person to write
work for you - in whole or part - which you then pass off as your own. Failure to observe these rules may
result in an allegation of cheating. You should therefore consult your tutor if you are in any doubt about what
is permissible. School Regulations state that plagiarism constitutes an examination offence. The penalties
for plagiarism can be very severe.
Faculty of Arts & Humanities, September 2003
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