5 Tips to Effectively Signposting your Essays

Reference & EducationCollege & University

  • Author Nick Sanders
  • Published September 20, 2008
  • Word count 441

When you are a student in academia chances are you have to write lots of different essays and papers for submission that are persuasive, show evidence of gathering data and have some analytical thinking behind your writing. However, you will also want to link your writing for your readers so that they can follow your cohesive argument throughout your essay or paper, not doing so can cause confusion to the reader and influence them to become uninterested in your work and your arguments.

Tip 1 – Keep it Simple

There is no point confusing your reader in your introduction with what you will be talking about in your conclusion and listing nearly every point that you want to discuss in your paper. This will just cause more confusion. You will want to direct your reader through the essay allowing them to become aware of your train of thought and direction.

Tip 2 – Introduce each area

Introducing what you are going to be talking about in each key area of your work is crucial, as you will need to acknowledge to the reader that it is something that they will want to read in that particular section. It also ‘sets the scene’ for what the reader is about to learn and read during the next section of your work.

Tip 3 – Evaluate sections

Reviewing what you have just written about allows your reader to understand the information you have just put before them. It also allows you to get the reader ready for the next step of your argument in the paper which is vital – linking your paper together is what makes a great and well structured argumentative essay.

Tip 4 – Piece together theories you have previously mentioned

Referring to a previously mentioned theory in your paper is a clear sign to the reader that you have concentrated heavily on the research and writing of your paper. It shows that you understand not only the research topic, but your paper as a whole and bring cohesion and understanding.

Tip 5 – Always remind and guide your reader

Readers forget things as quickly as they have read them, unless you actually point something of importance out to them. You will need to remind a reader throughout your paper about a certain theory or train of though by referring back to instances, or examples that extrapolate your meaning and aids reader understanding.

The main things to remember when making sure your work is leading from one area/section to the next is that your reader is prepare for what they are about to read. Of course, you should always get an experienced person or peer to check over your work too.

Nick Sanders is the owner and founder of Supaproofread.com, a proofreading and editing services company, specialising in dissertation proofreading and editing. You should visit them if you are looking for editing proofreading.

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