What is the AIM??

What are essays for?

Essays, and other pieces of written work you are asked to present during your course, are intended to do several things.

• Of course they are supposed to show how much you have learned, and how well you can think about it.
• They are also about how well you can communicate your knowledge and ideas.

Written communication itself consists of two components:

1. Content and writing style. What follows is not about these aspects, which you should be discussing with your tutors. They are not so amenable to simple guidelines!
2. Presentation skills which everyone needs in the ‘Real World’.

[Warning! This is mainly intended for Archaeology students. Much of it may be of use to others, but do check other Departments’ individual rules and requirements!]

What is the aim of presentation?

In document presentation, there are two main aims:

1. Ease of use. The document must be simple to find your way around, and easy to read.
2. Attractive appearance. You must match the style to circumstances. With essays, this is easy enough. You are aiming at a clean, perhaps elegant appearance, definitely without frills*.

(*Of course, if you are writing other kinds of documents for other audiences, such as brochures for commercial companies or exhibition panels for school-children, you would do things differently. But that’s another story...)

Always remember the KISS rule:

‘Keep It Simple, Stoopid!’

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