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THE LINGUISTICS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK 178
plan may not be on paper, it may be in your head. However, as you go further
from 1,500-word essay to 3,000-word essay to 6,000-word project to research
paper to Masters thesis to PhD to book, the time will come when you really do
need a plan, one written down on paper. You may still not write it all down carefully
before you begin writing, but you will need to know what is happening
where in your work, if only so that you do not presuppose at point p 1 something
which is not introduced until a later point p 2 .Ifyou ever get to the stage of writing
books, your publishers will not accept a book project from you without a fairly
detailed plan. So at some stage you will need to get used to writing a plan, even
if it is no more than a few scribbled points on the back of a cinema ticket. Even
fairly basic essays can be improved by having the right plan. The right plan is
• one that means you do not have to repeat yourself;
• one where you introduce theoretical notions before you need them;
• one that puts the most similar points close to each other;
• one that gives you a small number of headings under which all the
things you need to say will fit;
• one that allows parallel treatment of parallel aspects of your data or
argument;
• one that guarantees you will answer the question you have been asked
to answer;
• one that does not let you wander off into irrelevancies.
With the right plan, your essay is half written before you begin.
Style sheet
Your teachers will almost certainly have a style sheet for use in the programme
of which you are a member. Read it through, and use it. Some of the points it
mentions will be discussed here as well. Where there is a conflict between your
local style sheet and what is said here, you will gain more kudos by following
your local advice.
The style sheet will tell you to provide a reference list and to provide bibliographical
entries in a standard format. Detailed help on such matters is provided
in the sections 34 and 35, and nothing further will be added here. If your
local style sheet is more narrowly prescriptive than the advice here, follow the
local advice for maximum advantage.
Sections and numbered paragraphs
One of the differences between an essay in linguistics and one in a more literary
subject is that in linguistics you are often encouraged to provide headings