Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements Your essay should achieve the standards expected at this level. In addition to being analytical as opposed to descriptive the essay must (a) answer the question based on a (b) logically developed argument that can only be presented in a (c) clear structured manner. You must further (d) appropriately acknowledge and reference your sources.In any distribution of essay quality, the better essays systematically possess most of the following characteristics:1. The essay answers the question directly and completely.2. The essay distinguishes the essential from the superficial aspects of the question.3. The essay presents or defends an argument from a certain angle.4. The argument is analytically laid out in an organised discussion.5. The essay is structured, i.e., it has an introduction, a development and a conclusion. 6. The introduction sets the stage in a clear way.7. The structure is clearly announced in the introduction.8. The essay follows this structure.9. The essay is well written, e.g., sentences are properly structured, each paragraph has a point, there are transitions between parts where necessary, the reader is not left to second-guess the meaning, etc.10. The essay contains few (if any) spelling or grammatical mistakes.1 It goes without saying that you should study the lecture notes, the textbook(s) and the seminar materials, just as it is clear that you should do some additional readings. The quality of the essay depends on this preliminary work.211. The discussion uses the key set of terms that have to appear in the essay given the topic, or most of them.2 12. The essay does not contain any series of definitions.13. The key terms are used and defined only when useful. 14. The essay contains interesting information and original or penetrating insights/interpretations.15. The essay is well researched, evidencing wide but relevant readings. 16. The essay shows that the readings were well understood, rather than simply mentioned in passing or merely summarised.17. The essay is does not merely paraphrase.18. No parts of the essay are plagiarised.19. There are no repetitions or redundancies.20. There is no economic nonsense (e.g. ‘higher interest rates lead to greater demand for loans’).21. The essay is properly referenced both within the text and in the reference list.22. The reference list includes only the sources actually used in the text.23. Harvard referencing is used throughout.24. The reference list is not ‘too good to be true’.25. The essay stands out from the rest.
