Download the full PPT which includes the information on this page and more, about the structure of the essay and the expectations of the outline presented to supervisors by Year 12 students.
Supervisors aren’t a grammar check tool! Use Grammarly to assist you when writing as well as at the editing stage
No conjecture (I could investigate this or that..)
Look at what tense to use (e.g. methodology- past tense or present perfect (surveys and interviews were used/have been used etc)
Using I makes some students relax their tone, but the essay is not informal, cannot use contractions (I’ll, you’ve etc)
Use “I” over “we”, or else passive voice: instead of “we can see”> “it can be seen”
Passive voice sometimes more suitable e.g. Then you have automatically reduced the waste you have produced > The waste produced has been automatically reduced.
Only use quotation marks if it is a direct quote, otherwise use single quotation marks.
Check how to format figures. Correct to refer to the figure before showing it. E.g. as seen in Figure 1 below.
Introduction/methodology and conclusion aren’t numbered. The other sections can be.
Think about section titles
Share your writing with parents and peers, even other teachers. Let them know what specifically you would like them to comment on (grammar, flow of argument, analysis..)
