Student Handbook - The School of Language, Linguistics and Film

number as well, in the edition you are using, which you will have listed in your
bibliography.
Films: give a very brief description of the point in the film at which the image, scene or
sequence occurs.
All these references may be given in brackets after the quotation. Giving references will
help the reader to check if necessary and aid your revision when the time comes.
(For clear guidance on all the subtler points of referencing, consult Chapter 15 (‘References
and Notes’) of: Ritter, R.M. (ed. & comp.) (2002), The Oxford Manual of Style (Oxford:
Oxford University Press) pp. 504-576.)
Note what is said under Planning the essay about avoiding telling the story. As the reader
knows the text, you should never do this or otherwise paraphrase the plot. The purpose of
your essay is to argue points and persuade the reader, not to tell the reader what s/he
already knows.
Use the present tense, not the past, to talk about events and characters: ‘Andromaque is a
captive...’ not ‘[...] was [...]’.
Presentation
How you present your essay matters greatly. Effective presentation should be thought of not
just as something useful for writing essays, but as a life-skill. But remember, presentation is
not a question of using fancy fonts and bindings, but about ensuring that your work is clear
to read and to mark.
Word-processing: You will normally be expected to word-process your essays in order to
submit an electronic copy through QMPlus.
• Ensure that your text is double-spaced and has margins of at least 2.5 cm. This is the
universal convention for academic writing, and it ensures that there is enough space for
your tutor’s comments and corrections.
• Ensure that the pages are numbered, and correctly stapled together.
• In word-processed text it is easy to put in any notes as footnotes, which puts them closer
to their point of reference.
• Be careful when you move text within your essay. This may lead to the need for
adjustments to surrounding paragraphs (both in the place where you moved the text
from, and in the place where you moved it to), and you should carefully re-read and
amend your essay after any such reshaping.
If your coursework is hand-written, the pages still need to be numbered, and you should
allow plenty of margin space on both sides of the page for comments and corrections. Notes
are best placed at the end of the text as this gives you flexibility while writing.
Checking: Teachers, and examiners, give much weight to the technical accuracy of the
essay. Check very carefully for spelling mistakes, wrong quotations and typing errors.
Ensure that the footnote numbers correspond with those in the text.
Assessed coursework cover-sheets: You must submit assessed coursework with a
coversheet. Make sure you have included all the information asked for, particularly the title
of the essay, and the teacher’s name. Do not include your name anywhere on the work.
Writing in examinations
Almost all of what has been said above applies equally to examination essays. Obviously
you should omit footnotes and references, and the crutch of a spell checker is no longer
there. But the main components of essay-writing are as important as ever: analyse the
question, plan the essay, write it methodically, and check grammar, spelling and accuracy.
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