An essential guide to constructing coherent and powerful arguments, using real examples from student work and demonstrating, step-by-step, how to read critically, write the opening paragraphs of an essay, provide evidence in the middle and construct punchy conclusions.

Andrew Balmer is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Member of the Morgan Centre for the Study of Everyday Lives at the University of Manchester
Anne Murcott is Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham and Honorary Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, University of London

Introduction
Part I: Principles and practices of writing and argumentation
1. Reading critically and making notes
2. Making an argument
3. Beginnings in detail
4. Middles in detail
5. Ends in detail
6. Editing and proof-reading
7. Detailed case studies of student examples
8. Writing a dissertation
Part II: Tips and techniques
9. Choosing an essay question
10. How to decide what to read
11. How to get past writers block
12. Rhetorical questions, should I use them?
13. How to cut your essay down in length
14. Making use of feedback
Part III: Spelling, grammar and punctuation
15. The basics of spelling, grammar and punctuation
Index