How to write better essays

"When you write an essay you are making a case for the validity of a particular point of view, analysis, interpretation, or set of facts or procedures."
Dawson, J. (2007). The little blue writing book: essays. Bentley, Australia.

Standard Essay Model

Important steps in writing a essay

Introduction
Though many students make mistakes while writing introductions, Tim Squirrel a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh on Guardian says "Introductions are easiest things in the world to get right and nobody does it properly." According to him, “It should be ‘Here is the argument I am going to make, I am going to substantiate this with three or four strands of argumentation, drawing upon these theorists, who say these things, and I will conclude with some thoughts on this area and how it might clarify our understanding of this phenomenon. You should be able to encapsulate it in 100 words or so. That’s literally it.”

Analyse the question: Clearly you cannot write a great essay without understanding the question properly. Most students start writing without understanding the meaning of all the words in the question. Students should look for limiting words and phrases, content words and phrases, and directive words in the question to know the parameters of the task. 

It is important to understand the actual meanings of the directive verbs so that you clearly know what you should do. Here is a list of common directive verbs used in essay questions. This list is adapted from Cottrell, S 1999, The study skills handbook, MacMillan Press, London by Jane Mangano.

• account for - explain (reason)
• analyse - examine closely, examine in parts, show how the parts contribute to the whole.
• argue - present the case for and/ or against
• assess - decide the value of
• judge - measure the importance of
• compare - discuss two or more things in terms of their similarities and differences
  
• critically evaluate - weight arguments for and against something, assessing all evidence. Decide which opinions, theories, models or items are preferable
• define - explain, give full meaning(s), make clear what is meant by, use definition(s) to explore the concept of
• describe - give a detailed account of the features of something without interpreting the information
• discuss - present and give a judgement on the value of arguments for and against, consider all angles
• distinguish - bring out the differences between two possibly confusable items
• enumerate - an item-by-item account, such as all steps in a process
• evaluate - judge, criticise in terms of impact/significance, and investigate the implications
•  examine - make clear the details/ meaning of, look in particular at reasons causes and effects, account for, give reasons, justify, explore describe in detail, and note impact
• illustrate - use example to show a concept
• indicate - focus on specific areas (similar to illustrate)
• interpret - make clear the meaning of, consider implications
• narrate - concentrate on saying what happened telling a story
• outline - describe main features, a broad but thorough account, identify briefly the main features of
• prove - show by logical argument
• relate - show similarities and connection between two or more things
• review - describe chief features, criticise generally (important parts)
• to what extent - consider how far something is true or not true, consider how far something contributes to a final outcome
• trace - identify and describe the development or history of
• what is - describe

Knowing content words and delimiting words gives you a clear sense of direction about what to write. Content words tell you about the topic and the area of study you will be looking at. Similarly, delimiting words limit your research: to a particular place, time or demographic.

example. Critically evaluate two contemporary theories of nursing.
Critically evaluate- directive verbs; two contemporary- delimiting words; theories of nursing- content words.

To what extent does obesity impact upon the coronary health of middle age women.
To what extent- directive verbs; obesity - content words ; coronary health- content words ; middle age women - delimiting words ; 

Some common mistakes to avoid in an essay

• Failing to answer all or part of the question and writing copied or learned response rather than properly deconstructing essay question.
• Writing off-topic and giving inadequate evidence to support viewpoints expressed.
• Using overly casual and informal expressions.
• Writing essay having no paragraph divisions and no logical flow of thought and lacking proper shape and structure.
• Writing paragraphs which have no central or easily recognisable main idea. With no central idea, there is no essay, as there is no thesis and therefore nothing to prove.
• Writing paragraphs which fail to distinguish between a thesis statement, explanation, illustration and summary statement and diminishes the informative and persuasive communication of ideas.
• Ignoring the instructions regarding the essay type. For example, discursive and evaluative essays demand different arrangements of ideas and different choices of language selection.
• Using jargon poorly, thereby making the essay confusing or misusing jargon.
• Using quotations taken out of context. 
• Ignoring word limits, either writing over length or under-length. This is linked to failing to develop the skill of conciseness.
• Obscuring own argument by over-reliance upon the words of others.
• Plagiarism.
• Being too opinionated and not supporting views strongly.
• Cluttering the essay with verbose language.
• Not using referencing and citation properly.
  
• Failing to manage time effectively. 
• Failing to proofread.

Acknowledgement:
This blogpost partially draws from the powerpoint slides 'Success with Writing Online Workshop' prepared by Jane Mangano | University of Notre Dame Australia

Obtaining Tax Clearance Certificate and Pan Card correction from Inland Revenue Department (Antarik Rajaswo Bibhag)

Picture source:-newbusinessage.com

Recently I had visited Inland Revenue Department (Antarik Rajaswo Bibhag) Lazimpat in order to rectify  the date of birth in my PAN Card which was not consistent with my Citizenship Card and to get Tax Clearance Certificate of my salary for visa purposes.

Please note that, though PAN card of, either you or your sponsor, is (almost?) always required to send tuition fees abroad. Tax Clearance Certificate is required only in the case of some countries and in certain cases, and you need to produce it when the embassy specifically asks for it. For example, if you have applied for the residence permit to Finland, and to fulfill the means of support requirement, you have shown your or your sponsors' (who work in Nepal) salary, Finnish Immigration Service usually asks for the Tax Clearance Certificate from Inland Revenue Department. If it is not required for the country you are applying to, do not let it puzzle you.

In order to correct the date of birth on my PAN Card, I had to write an application in Nepali on a piece of paper, and submit there. You will find IRD staff there to assist customers and can consult them about what to do in your specific case. After submitting the application and waiting in the waiting area (which has a fair amount of sofa for you to sit) for almost an hour, I received a new and corrected PAN card. To get that, I did not have to fill out the application form all over again. The PAN number was the same as before on the new card and they even used the same photograph I had initially submitted for my first PAN card.

Now, for the Tax Clearance Certificate of your salary, first you need to make sure that your taxes have been regularly paid from your salary. Sometimes your employer might not have paid your taxes for the fiscal year, and nothing will be shown on the Tax Clearance Certificate. In that case, you need to first contact the person responsible for paying the taxes, in your office, probably the accountant, and make sure if the applicable taxes have been paid. If those have not been paid, request the accountant to pay it so that the amount of taxes paid will be shown in your Tax Clearance Report from Inland Revenue Department(IRD). IRD will issue the document in Nepali, and you can have it translated into English from any registered notary public office. I had mine translated at NPR 300, but the charges may vary; also you can bargain to see if you can bring the price down.

How to obtain a Bank Statement if the owner of the account is not in Nepal?

Photo by: Robert Bye -Unsplash

 This is a somewhat unique case, but it can happen to students whose sponsors are abroad, and own bank accounts in Nepal. And, students need to show the bank statement of their sponsors for visa purposes of different countries.

Ideally, a bank statement is only provided to the respective account owner, by the bank, after showing valid ID card and affixing his/her authorised signature to the application form, due to the sensitive nature of the document.

But now, as many Nepali nationals are abroad for the purpose of foreign employment; if a student wishes to show someone residing and working abroad as his/her sponsor, they need to show their bank statement of either their foreign bank or their bank in Nepali if applicable.

It is possible to get the bank statement no matter where you are via email by filling out the bank statement request form, downloading it from bank's official website and sending it to bank's email in the case of many Nepali banks. It could take a few days to receive the statement through this method. Machhapuchchhre Bank Limited had taken almost 5 days to send the document through email request.

However, if you need the statement more urgently and if you want to visit the bank yourself and receive the statement on behalf of your sponsor, you can do the following.

I am sharing my experience of a similar case here. This approach might not work in all banks because each bank has their own set of policies that govern them. You need to understand with your sponsor's bank about their requirements.

In order to obtain the bank statement in the aforementioned case, you need to request your sponsor who's abroad to write an application (either in English or in Nepali) and send it to the bank's email, either customer service email or branch manager's email of a specific branch. Also request your sponsor to include their account number, authorised signature and define your relationship with him/her. In addition, the application should include your citizenship card number so the bank will be sure that you are the authorised recipient of the document.

It is better to visit the bank before the application is sent by your sponsor and ask the bank if they require any other details and have your sponsor send the application fulfilling the requirement laid out by their bank.

I had obtained the bank statement following the above-mentioned procedure at Machhapuchchhre Bank Limited's head office Lazimpat, Kathmandu. However, Machhapuchchhre Bank had told me that if the email is received from the bank owner's authorised email registered in Machhapuchchhre Bank's system, the signature of the account owner may not be needed. But if the owner does not have his email registered in MBL's system, the owner's signature is a must with the email application. It does not hurt in any case though, to affix a signature of the account owner.

 I hope this blogpost will be helpful if you are in a similar situation and are wondering what to do.

Bank Statement and Bank Balance Certificate for abroad study purposes

A bank statement by definition is the summary of financial transactions, which typically shows your deposits and withdrawals, during a specific period of time.

Bank Balance Certificate is a document issued by the bank that shows that an individual has a certain amount of money in this account.

Bank Statement and Bank Balance Certificate are required, to apply for a student visa of different countries. In order to obtain them, you need to visit the bank where you own your bank account. Depending on your bank, you might need to fill out a small Bank Statement and Bank Balance Certificate form. So, as you enter the bank, ask if you are required to fill out a form, to obtain those.

Fill out the form and then wait in a queue. In most banks, both Bank Statement and Bank balance certificate are issued at customer service department or reception of the bank. Some banks might have a separate department for Bank Balance Certificate and Bank Statement. For example, at NIC Asia Kamaladi Branch, when I visited, Bank Balance Certificate was issued on the ground floor and Bank Statement was issued from the counter on the first floor. However, the branches of NIC Asia bank of Gongabu and Samakushi provide both services from the reception. Depending on customer flow, different branches have different arrangements as to how they provide their services. Make sure how your bank provides those services.

If you have to take a token, take the right token. In some branches of NIC Asia, for instance: NIC Asia Gongabu Branch, there's a separate token called CSD which is called Customer Service Department. However, up until the day I visited the NIC Asia Samakhushi Branch, there was no token system. Things might be different in the future and depending on the branch and bank you visit.

Normally, issuance of Bank Balance Certificate and Bank Statement should not take much time. However, sometimes, the system of the bank to generate Bank Balance Certificate might not function and you might be required to wait for long hours. E.g. Nabil Bank Maharajgunj Branch, had made my friend wait for the entire day citing their system was not functioning, which normally takes around 30 minutes or less, when the system is working normally.

When visiting your bank, make sure everything you need is in order, so you get the document you need without much hassle.You need to have your account number handy because you need to fill that in the form. Also, fill out address and other details as per your Citizenship Card.