Struggling to get a 1st class grade for your essay? Here are 8 things students forget to do that most often lose them marks for their essays. Get a 1st for your next essay!

1. By the clever people at
http://www.essay.uk.com
to get a first For your next essay

2. Things that are tough: Getting 70%+
“I felt like I worked really hard for that assignment. But in the
end I got 62%. No matter how hard I work, I never quite hit a
1st. What am I doing wrong?”
WeThere are so many students are in this boat.
getcha.
Pushing your mark from a 2:1 grade to 1st class
is about finding those extra points of excellence.
If, no matter how hard you work, you‟re never
quite hitting 70%, why not look back over your
past essays and ask yourself honestly if you‟re
doing all of these things:

3. 1. Make sure you understand the question
There are two main ways students
commonly misunderstand the
question set for them.
First, you can go
wrong by simply not As a result, students
reading the question tend to…:
properly.
Pay no attention to any
restrictions on the scope of
Write everything they know the question (for
about the topic rather than example, time
answering the question. periods, jurisdiction or other
specifics)

4. An example:
ESSAY TITLE
„Has Radmacher v Granatino affected the enforceability of pre nup agreements in
the UK? Discuss'.
WHAT SHOULD GO IN YOUR ESSAY LIMITATION OF SCOPE
Brief explanation of what is meant by a pre nup Jurisdiction: the question does not call for any detail on pre nups
agreement in other countries beyond a brief mention such as „unlike the
Brief explanation of their unenforceability Netherlands where pre nups are binding…‟.
Key points from the case
How these key points have affected the law as it Affect on enforceability: Only mention specific areas where there is
stood previously a change between the old position and the new post-Radmacher
How the area is undergoing reform position.

5. More clues
“ELEMENTARY, my dear Watson…”
Other clues on what is expected of you come from the wording of the question – for example, if your
tutor asks you to discuss an issue, you are expected to explain the issue, then give two or more
sides of the issue and any implications. You can find out more about common words used in essay
questions on this page (scroll down to the lower half) : http://www.essay.uk.com/types-of-essay/
…then give two or
more sides of the //and any implications
issue…
It‟s asking me to
discuss…
„blah‟ Secondly, there are many
different essay types and each
require different things. If you
I need to explain the
issue…
miss something that‟s required
by the type of essay you‟ll lose
marks. Use the „Types of
essay‟ guide to understand

6. 2. Use your marking scheme
Pay attention.
Most unis issue a marking scheme with each assignment. This is a recipe for how to get a
higher mark so scrutinise it carefully before you start and then review your essay against
the scheme after you‟re done. There is usually an assessment handbook too, which
contains more general advice on achieving the different grade bands.
I know what my It‟s all in the marking
tutor is looking scheme
for This is easy.
Time for a beer…
Okay, maybe I overdid
it…

7. 3. Avoid going off on a tangent
There will be no irrelevant material in a first class essay.
The way to avoid this is, as you‟re writing, constantly revisit the question
and ask yourself why you need each sentence to answer it. Make sure you
spell out to the reader exactly how each part of your essay answers the
question.
“So this example
You do this by illustrates that….
(some point relevant to
tying the point answering the essay
back to the question)”
question.
Explain how each point you
make is relevant to the essay
“Gulp…”
question. “Clever stuff”

8. 4. Be original and don‟t use too many quotes
The mark of first class work is originality.
This means ideas of your own that are outside of the material you‟ve been asked to read.
You need to support these with strong arguments or citations to the material that led you to
these conclusions, though – your opinion on its own doesn‟t count for much!.
TIP: TIP: Take the topic and
CUBING
follow these steps:
Cubing can
You won‟t get a higher sometimes be useful • describe the
grade if all you do is to help generate new
quote other peoples‟ ideas around a topic
words and particular topic. • compare the
material, especially if topic to other
your quoting (or things or topics
paraphrasing) is • associate the
particularly excessive
and comes over as a topic
regurgitation of your • analyse the topic
reading material. • apply the topic;
and
• argue the topic.

9. 5. Get your referencing right
Go through this referencing checklist and make sure you‟re ticking off every
re, point. not just talking about citations.
we're
• STYLE: Have you used the correct style specified for your course? For
example, Harvard, Oxford, OSCOLA, APA…
• FORMATTING: Have you formatted the referencing in the essay and
bibliography properly? Check your university guide – there are many
variations of the most common styles, especially Harvard.
• QUALITY: Have you used quality sources that are considered reliable such
as journals and leading text books? For law assignments, have you used
primary sources as authority when they are available?
• QUANTITY: Have you used a good number of references within your
essay to support your arguments? For most essays, relying on just 1 or 2
sources won‟t be enough and high standard essays demonstrate that the
student has conducted plenty of research.

10. 5. Get your referencing right (continued)
re• to check on your referencing….references up to date? For
RECENCY: Where appropriate, are your
example, don‟t use the 2004 edition of a text book if there‟s a 2012 edition
out!
• AUTHENTICITY: Are your references authentic? For example, if you find a
reference to a journal within one of your textbooks, don‟t cite that journal as
if you have a copy. Instead, refer to the journal as being cited in the book
(each referencing style has a way to present this so check your referencing
guide).
• AUTHORITY: Have you provided adequate authority for all of the
arguments you have presented? Even if they are original and your own
opinion, you need to provide citations to material that helped you reach a
particular conclusion.

11. 6. Avoid generalities
Sweeping generalities are clear signs that you don‟t
know your stuff, and they really irritate lecturers.
Avoid using statements like this:
“Most people think that…” “It is commonly thought that…”
For statements like: „It has been established that…‟, you can only
use them if you back them up with a credible source that
genuinely shows that a particular point has been established. If
you can‟t find such a source, try and use something such as „one

12. 7. Makethe question is
For example, if sure you‟ve explicitly answered
“Do we value only whatthe question.
we
struggle for?”, you can present So many students do a fantastic job of presenting
all the evidence you like for very strong arguments , conclusive evidence and ove
how we do and don‟t only a really impressive essay – but they don‟t tie what they
value what we struggle for but written back to the question.
unless you reach a
conclusion, you‟ve not
answered the question.
Make sure you‟ve got a
paragraph that starts
something like, “In
conclusion, it seems we do
? Spell it
tend to only
value what we struggle for out!
because (summarise the
strongest arguments or
evidence)”.

13. 8. Present your work impeccably
It counts for more than you might think…

14. Perfectpunctuation, choice of
Presentation includes spelling, grammar,
presentation
words, tone, flow, signposting, a cover sheet and index where you
have been asked to provide one, and often referencing. There are
three points here.
• First, your university will usually reserve a certain amount of PRESENTATION = BETTER MARKS
marks for presentation, often about 5%. These are the easiest
marks out of your whole assignment to pick up, so take extra care
not to lose them. “The marking scheme we were provided
with to grade our students‟ essays
included a note on the final grade to
• Secondly, the reality is that your presentation often influences far award. Did the essay feel like a 2:1 or a
your grade far beyond the 5% allocated. A lot of the „feel‟ of the 1st? If a student‟s paper was a few marks
off a grade band, up or down, we were
paper comes from presentation. To get the best grades, your entitled to move that essay into the grade
presentation needs to be impeccable. band where we felt it should sit”
– Associate Lecturer.
• Third, you might have the best arguments in the world, but it‟s
possible your presentation could be weakening them. Punctuation
and word choice are two examples that can make an enormous
difference to the strength of your writing. If in doubt, consider

15. THAT‟S ALL FOLKS…
FOR WATCHING.
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