Essay Preparation

Researching, Reading and Finding Evidence

Finding Secondary Material
• Module Bibliography (available on Moodle).
• Read the relevant sections from the essential course
reading (see document ‘Recommended Reading’ on
Moodle) and follow up references in these works.
• Use the library catalogue to find relevant books (e.g.
‘language King James Bible’).
• E-Library gateway: a list of databases and collections of
material the University has access to (Portal > Library tab
> ‘find more resources’).
• Online? Google Scholar especially useful on-campus but
be aware results are incomplete and you still need to
consider whether what you find is scholarly or not.
Choosing what to read
Consider the following (especially if you’ve found
something online):
• Is the work a book or article published by a reputable
publisher or in a peer-reviewed journal?
• Are references appropriately acknowledged?
• Is the work relatively recent and are you using the
most up-to-date edition? If the book or article isn’t
very recent, has anything more recent been published
on the subject (it might not have been)?
Reading for the Essay
• If using a text, read it with the question in mind. Make
notes before reading secondary works.
• Use indexes and tables of contents to pick out the
relevant sections.

• When making notes ensure:

• you record bibliographic details and page numbers as
you go.
• you keep a separate record of your own ideas.
• Don’t try and read everything — make sure you leave
enough time to write and check your essay.
Finding Evidence:
Online Dictionaries
• OED Online (www.oed.com): gives etymologies, early
forms and current and obsolete meanings. (Check
which edition the entry you are looking at comes
from.)
• The Dictionary of Old English
(http://www.doe.utoronto.ca/; on-campus access
only and currently only includes the letters A–G).
• Middle English Dictionary
(http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/med/).

All of these dictionaries give plenty of examples of how

the words were used.
Finding Evidence:
Editions
If you’re looking at the language of a particular period, you
may want to narrow it down to one or two texts.

• Make sure the texts you use are properly referenced (and
if necessary included in an appendix).
• Choose an appropriate academic edition and pay
particular attention to whether the text has been
normalised (e.g. spelling modernised) when selecting an
edition to use.
Other Useful Resources:
• Producing Assessed Coursework
https://workspace.nottingham.ac.uk/display/english/Pr
oducing+Assessed+Coursework
Essential information about how to reference and present
your work, as well as other useful advice.

• Innervate Student Journal

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/teachinglearning
/innervate/index.aspx
Examples of some good essays by students in the School.
You might want to have a look at how they’ve referenced
and structured their essays.