Edinburgh Napier University

  Essays are unavoidable as a student and more often than not the source of concerns , pains and even fear. One common assumption is that markers are mean demons whose only aim is to trash a student's work. This could not be further from the truth. However, very often what we are forced (we don't have choice!) to read is causing us as much pain as the students who are forced to write it. Considering the student writes one essay but the marker gets to see them all I would argue the pain is aggregated on one side. All this pain could be avoided or dramatically reduced for both sides with few, simple steps. 1. Listen to your Teacher This is indispensible. As a University Lecturer I was often taken aback why the plethora of hints I gave were not taken up. In fact I made it custom in my module handbooks to write a foolproof description how to write and format an essay. Or so I thought as my eorts were to no avail. Take it from me: Your teacher is a human being. Consider them and that you only have one teacher but we got literally dozens if not hundreds of students. It is much easier to give you a good mark if your work is handed in on time, well formatted and written. Telling you how to do that makes our life easier but also yours. We are not frilled by the sound of our own voice, what we say has a reason and if we say it, we mean it. Again, it makes life easier for you and us.