Education Need a bit of help with my essay layout

I have to write an essay, about 1000 words, on any topic related to what I've covered. I've decided on genetic engineering but I need some help. Im splitting it up into an intro, main body and conclusion but Im not sure what sort of stuff I should write for each section.
The conclusion's basically for my views, and the main body is where i discuss most of the science and ethics i guess. So what should go in the intro? I'm thinking of defining genetic engineering, giving a brief overview of its history, and stating that there are advantages and controversies surrounding it (though I'll leave the details for the main body).
Would that be ok?
Thanks in advance

 

Do you need a specifis thesis, or point of view, to take? For example, is this paper like a "this is what genetic engineering is" or "I think genetic engineering is wrong"? If the assignment tells you to take a side and develop a thesis, then you should state your stance in the intro - otherwise your teacher may penalize you for that.

Otherwise, if this is just explanatory, then your idea for an intro sounds good. Tip: If you don't like what you originally come up with, then just write the body of the paper first then write a summarizing concluding paragraph. Then take that paragraph and move it to the beginning. That helps me when I start writing a paper but have a hard time coming up with an effective intro.

 

Sounds fine, include sources however.

 

Usually if ive got an essay to do i use the word count to help me . For example i usually split the intro to about 10% of word count , conclusion 15 % and the rest for the body . I would usually just use to introduction to briefly introduce the subjects and various areas you are looking to cover. Also its best not to just dictate whats in the text book but look to challenge thoughts , general opinions etc. anyway hope it helps.

 

Immediate fail.

Any article I read which opens with "Before we look at X, we must ask ourselves what is X?" or "Webster defines X as XX, YY and ZZ" or whatever gets an immediate meeting with the red biro of doom. My stylistics and corpus linguistics tutors at University would fail the opening of any essay on the same basis.

To clarify what your exact meaning or focus is is fine, but if you have to open with a definition then you're yelling one of a few things. Either you don't have a clear aim for your document, you don't have a fluent way of saying what you want to say (in which case, why should anyone read it), you personally don't understand your topic, or you don't think your audience would understand even your most basic jargon (in which case you're writing for the wrong audience or your style needs a total overhaul.)

Personally, and off the top of my head, I'd open with an expanded version of this:

"Genetic engineering is one of the youngest and most exciting fields of modern science, but an unfortunate side-effect of that combination is an undeniable immaturity and misrepresentation of the facts. Many people outside of the immediate field have an erroneous or incomplete understanding of what genetic engineering is and what it has to offer, while those within the field are arguably a chaotic collection of brilliant individuals who are still struggling to find a constant, correct and agreeable ethical approach to their specialty. Over the course of this essay it is my aim to provide a basic introduction to the issues surrounding genetic sciences for both the professionals involved and the more casual observer who is interesting in establishing a groundwork for further investigation. To this end, I shall be looking at the ethics, practices, controversies and history of the field in it's broadest sense."

Is that all correct? Probably not and I've not even spell checked it, but it makes a hell of a more professional sounding and useful introduction than "The Oxford English Dictionary defines genetics as XXXX, but this is..."

Oh, and if you copy that then I'm telling your teacher.

 

Th most important ting when writing is to keep your heading. Plan what you are going to write. Maybe set up a question you want to answer with the text. For example: "What is the main concerns with genetic engineering?" If the texts starts wandering in a different direction, it will be hard and uninteresting to read. The paragraphs should always be linked together. imagine that each paragraph ends with the question "...but what does this mean, or what does this lead to?" The next paragraph should then answer this question. Another method is to first write a skeleton. Just write short sentences that each explains a new thing. When you have done a few of these, you start filling out each sentence to form a paragraph. (And please remember to keep ONE idea/moment per paragraph!)


The intro should tell the reader what the text is about, but not reveal everything (that's what the conclusion is for).

Think about the reader. Reading something you have a bit knowledge about is easier than jumping straight into the middle of a text. The intro should therefore give the reader some sort of general overview of what the text is about.

The conclusion will contain, as you say, your own opinions, and a summary of what you have said earlier in the text. Also check that your summary answers your question.

 

For forensics, I used an outline which really made writing a speech quite easy. The outline [for a speech] is:

Introduction
A. Attention Getter
B. Transition to thesis
C. Thesis statement
D. Social Significance
E. Preview of main points

Transition to main point 1
"Lets look at *main point 1*"
Main point 1
sub points and stuff. . .

Transition to main point 2
"Now that we have looked at *main point 1*, lets look at *main point 2*"
Main point 2...

Conclusion
A. Review of main points ("Now that we have looked at *blah*, *blah*, and *blah*. . .")
B. Restatement of social significance
C. Restatement of Thesis Statement
D. Transition to closing
E. Closing statement

I for one love this outline, and it's permanently etched into my brain these days. This outline is for a speech, so it has a bit more repetition to help the audience remember everything, like the transitions follow the form of "Tell them what you told them (previous main point), tell them what your about to tell them, then give them information." So to transfer this to an essay form, you might want to shorten the transitions and cut out the "tell them what you told them" part. For the introduction and conclusion- I always hated writing these parts of a speech- my best advice is just try to put about 2 sentences under each point. Don't try to a lot of the information in the into/conclusion- a little bit is good to get the audiences attention, but the main paints have a purpose.

To transfer what you already have to this format - I think the idea of a main point about advantages, and another main point about disadvantages is a great idea. Three main points is kinda the standard for a forensic speech, so I guess that would be a good number to follow in an essay (yes, I did skip a 3rd point in that outline, 'cause it woulda looked identical to main point 2). For your third main point, I think a short history lesson would be a cool idea, or maybe you want to talk a little about the future of genetic engineering.

If you follow this outline, I think you should find yourself hitting 1,000 words in not time.

*disclaimer - if you follow my advice and fail your essay, well, sorry dude.

 

I have a quick question to ask.
One thing which i need to include are references, at least one of which must be from a magazine/journal. So I found some info at wikipedia which references a PDF article from the 'Nature' website. Would I be right in assuming that it is a digital form of the journal which is physically printed as I've been having a hard time getting references anywhere else.

 

depends on the definition of "published".

PDF documents are published as well. The references will be the same, only you put up the website instead of a publishing firm. Including the URL in the reference might be a good idea. Do a quick Google for the Harvard format of references.

 

Well i need a reference which is a physical magazine/journal but found this on the website. What I'm asking if anyone knows this is a PDF of an article which was physically printed because if it is then i can use it as the reference I need.

 

I'm so glad the longest thing I have to write these days are my forum posts.

90% of my emails to Users aren't even this long.