INSTRUCTIONS CRIME AND JUSTICE Writing your essay Your 3000 word essay will demonstrate knowledge, understanding and critical engagement with material from the module and your own independent research. It will be written in accordance with academic conventions – You are allowed up to 10 % over or under the word count. Academic Conventions: Essays will be intellectually informed, critically engaged, evidenced-based and appropriately and accurately referenced (see the Harvard Referencing Guide on StudySpace). Writing a good social science essay: Essays should be argumentative. A good argument states a position and supports it with evidence in a clear and logical fashion. Evidence can include theories, observations, facts, and figures – you will accumulate this material through your extensive reading in preparation for the essay. Ensure that the evidence you use supports the argument that you are trying to make. Make sure it is clear to the reader how your evidence relates to the argument you wish to make. Stay focussed on the essay question and show the reader why an argument is important. Essays will be logically organised with an introduction, main body and a conclusion. Your introduction will provide a general introduction to the context of the essay question/essay statement. The introduction will hint at the arguments (e.g. arguments X,Y, and Z) that you will be making in the main body of the essay, and let the reader know the structure of the essay. You main body will lay out your arguments/evidence and should be in the order that you hinted at in your introduction. So, for example, in your introduction you identified that ‘X’ came first. Therefore, the first part of your main body will contain material relevant to the argument of ‘X’. Make sure it is clear to the reader how the argument you are making is relevant to the essay statement/question – this will help you stay focussed on the essay question/statement at hand. It may be that there are a series of sub points to be made relevant to ‘X’ (sub points 1,2, and 3). Here you introduce ‘X’ indicate the sub points of 1,2, and 3 and then expand on sub point 1,2, and 3.You would then repeat the process for the arguments of ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ and any sub points that pertain to them. Following this format as best you can will help the essay to be structured in a coherent and logical fashion. Your conclusion will tie together what you have said in the main body of the essay. It will be a summary of what you have said without sounding repetitive. It will provide a re-statement of the argument based on the evidence that you have discussed in the main body. Your introduction will not contain any new material. A list of references will be provided at the end (a 3000 essay should have at least a minimum of 15 – 20 separate academic sources, this is why you will read extensively in preparation for the essay) Essays will be written in formal English with good attention to spelling and grammar.