What is meant by the term patriarchy? How is it used in the study of gender? What explanations are commonly given for the existence of patriarchy?
What is meant by the term patriarchy? How is it used in the study of gender? What explanations are commonly given for the existence of patriarchy?
A 500-word essay is a very small space in which to convey an idea or argument and requires clear thinking and a strongly presented argument/description. It will be about informing, explaining and describing. The short essay has several learning outcomes:
1. It provides you with an opportunity to explore a key idea/concept that has been covered in the lectures and readings and enables you to organise your idea into short subsections that address the different issues/ideas comprising your topic/ formulate an a opinion about some aspects of those ideas
2. The essay will also give you a sense of your engagement and understanding of the material that has been covered, as well as your ability to explain your position
3. The essay will also provide a focus opportunity to improve writing skills. Amongst key ideas and concise sentence and paragraph framing, grammar, punctuation, spelling and citation all figure in this short essay
Organising a 500-word essay
A conventional pattern of organisation and development could be useful for the short 500-word academic essay: an introductory paragraph, a body (usually two or three paragraphs), and a conclusion paragraph. Relative lengths of these three parts could be roughly 1:3:1
Introduction: Mainly the set-up, a preliminary opening to enable the reader to prepare for something else: the rest of the essay.
Body: usually two or three paragraphs to enable the writer to provide the body (evidence: facts, examples, details, quotations etc.) to support the thesis. Need most space to be convincing
Conclusion: usually just one paragraph. Even though any set of data or presentation of facts can support multiple conclusions, the conclusion in a 500-word essay should be limited to one or two generalizations supported by the content of the body and in keeping with the content of the thesis statement