Researching an essay

An introduction to this album.

Open University tutors Tim Baugh and Lesley Hoose discuss essay titles, research and schedules with OU student Beth Lewis.

John Humphrys stresses how important it is to know your subject and know your position in the argument.

There is a fine line between good and pretentious writing, John Pilger knows that getting your grammar right is essential.

Professor Richard Dawkins describes his tone as simple as possible but not simpler. Don’t spell out every tiny detail.

Baroness Helena Kennedy’s cure for writers block is to go to the meat of the argument, then come back to the start later.

Student Beth Lewis explains how she re-reads all her course notes, this helps her to adjusts and add to her research.

Brian Waldens approach is to research a variety of different points, if it is boring then he picks away at it until the process of elimination is complete.

Using a subtle but powerful approach when writing an introduction will grab the reader’s attention.

It is important to write with the mindset that the reader is intelligent but misinformed.