essay writing oxford university

Essay and dissertation writing skills

Planning your essay

Writing your introduction

Structuring your essay

• Writing essays in science subjects
• Brief video guides to support essay planning and writing
• Writing extended essays and dissertations
• Planning your dissertation writing time

Structuring your dissertation

• Top tips for writing longer pieces of work

Advice on planning and writing essays and dissertations

University essays differ from school essays in that they are less concerned with what you know and more concerned with how you construct an argument to answer the question. This means that the starting point for writing a strong essay is to first unpick the question and to then use this to plan your essay before you start putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).

A really good starting point for you are these short, downloadable Tips for Successful Essay Writing and Answering the Question resources. Both resources will help you to plan your essay, as well as giving you guidance on how to distinguish between different sorts of essay questions. 

You may find it helpful to watch this seven-minute video on six tips for essay writing which outlines how to interpret essay questions, as well as giving advice on planning and structuring your writing:

Different disciplines will have different expectations for essay structure and you should always refer to your Faculty or Department student handbook or course Canvas site for more specific guidance.

However, broadly speaking, all essays share the following features:

Essays need an introduction to establish and focus the parameters of the discussion that will follow. You may find it helpful to divide the introduction into areas to demonstrate your breadth and engagement with the essay question. You might define specific terms in the introduction to show your engagement with the essay question; for example, ‘This is a large topic which has been variously discussed by many scientists and commentators. The principle tension is between the views of X and Y who define the main issues as…’ Breadth might be demonstrated by showing the range of viewpoints from which the essay question could be considered; for example, ‘A variety of factors including economic, social and political, influence A and B. This essay will focus on the social and economic aspects, with particular emphasis on…..’

Watch this two-minute video to learn more about how to plan and structure an introduction:

The main body of the essay should elaborate on the issues raised in the introduction and develop an argument(s) that answers the question. It should consist of a number of self-contained paragraphs each of which makes a specific point and provides some form of evidence to support the argument being made. Remember that a clear argument requires that each paragraph explicitly relates back to the essay question or the developing argument.

• Conclusion: An essay should end with a conclusion that reiterates the argument in light of the evidence you have provided; you shouldn’t use the conclusion to introduce new information.
• References: You need to include references to the materials you’ve used to write your essay. These might be in the form of footnotes, in-text citations, or a bibliography at the end. Different systems exist for citing references and different disciplines will use various approaches to citation. Ask your tutor which method(s) you should be using for your essay and also consult your Department or Faculty webpages for specific guidance in your discipline. 

Essay writing in science subjects

If you are writing an essay for a science subject you may need to consider additional areas, such as how to present data or diagrams. This five-minute video gives you some advice on how to approach your reading list, planning which information to include in your answer and how to write for your scientific audience – the video is available here:

A PDF providing further guidance on writing science essays for tutorials is available to download.

Short videos to support your essay writing skills

There are many other resources at Oxford that can help support your essay writing skills and if you are short on time, the Oxford Study Skills Centre has produced a number of short (2-minute) videos covering different aspects of essay writing, including:

• Approaching different types of essay questions  
• Structuring your essay  
• Writing an introduction  
• Making use of evidence in your essay writing  
• Writing your conclusion

Extended essays and dissertations

Longer pieces of writing like extended essays and dissertations may seem like quite a challenge from your regular essay writing. The important point is to start with a plan and to focus on what the question is asking. A PDF providing further guidance on planning Humanities and Social Science dissertations is available to download.

Planning your time effectively

Try not to leave the writing until close to your deadline, instead start as soon as you have some ideas to put down onto paper. Your early drafts may never end up in the final work, but the work of committing your ideas to paper helps to formulate not only your ideas, but the method of structuring your writing to read well and conclude firmly.

Although many students and tutors will say that the introduction is often written last, it is a good idea to begin to think about what will go into it early on. For example, the first draft of your introduction should set out your argument, the information you have, and your methods, and it should give a structure to the chapters and sections you will write. Your introduction will probably change as time goes on but it will stand as a guide to your entire extended essay or dissertation and it will help you to keep focused.

The structure of  extended essays or dissertations will vary depending on the question and discipline, but may include some or all of the following:

• The background information to - and context for - your research. This often takes the form of a literature review.
• Explanation of the focus of your work.
• Explanation of the value of this work to scholarship on the topic.
• List of the aims and objectives of the work and also the issues which will not be covered because they are outside its scope.

The main body of your extended essay or dissertation will probably include your methodology, the results of research, and your argument(s) based on your findings.

The conclusion is to summarise the value your research has added to the topic, and any further lines of research you would undertake given more time or resources. 

Tips on writing longer pieces of work

Approaching each chapter of a dissertation as a shorter essay can make the task of writing a dissertation seem less overwhelming. Each chapter will have an introduction, a main body where the argument is developed and substantiated with evidence, and a conclusion to tie things together. Unlike in a regular essay, chapter conclusions may also introduce the chapter that will follow, indicating how the chapters are connected to one another and how the argument will develop through your dissertation.

For further guidance, watch this two-minute video on writing longer pieces of work . 

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How to Write the Perfect Essay

06 Feb, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles

You can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you won’t have time to make a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful to draft a brief one, including a few key words, so that you don’t panic and go off topic when writing your essay.

If you don’t like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.

Discover More

Thanks for signing up, step 2: have a clear structure.

Think about this while you’re planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question.

Start with the basics! It’s best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you’ll be under time pressure. 

If you agree with the question overall, it can be helpful to organise your points in the following pattern:

• YES (agreement with the question)
• AND (another YES point)
• BUT (disagreement or complication)

If you disagree with the question overall, try:

• AND (another BUT point)

For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question, “To what extent is Curley’s wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men ?”, as follows:

• YES (descriptions of her appearance)
• AND (other people’s attitudes towards her)
• BUT (her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to her advantage)

If you wanted to write a longer essay, you could include additional paragraphs under the YES/AND categories, perhaps discussing the ways in which Curley’s wife reveals her vulnerability and insecurities, and shares her dreams with the other characters. Alternatively, you could also lengthen your essay by including another BUT paragraph about her cruel and manipulative streak.

Of course, this is not necessarily the only right way to answer this essay question – as long as you back up your points with evidence from the text, you can take any standpoint that makes sense.

Step 3: Back up your points with well-analysed quotations

You wouldn’t write a scientific report without including evidence to support your findings, so why should it be any different with an essay? Even though you aren’t strictly required to substantiate every single point you make with a quotation, there’s no harm in trying.

A close reading of your quotations can enrich your appreciation of the question and will be sure to impress examiners. When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques. For example, you could highlight Curley’s wife’s use of a rhetorical question when she says, a”n’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs.” This might look like:

The rhetorical question “an’ what am I doin’?” signifies that Curley’s wife is very insecure; she seems to be questioning her own life choices. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to respond to her question, highlighting her loneliness and isolation on the ranch.

Other literary techniques to look out for include:

• Tricolon – a group of three words or phrases placed close together for emphasis
• Tautology – using different words that mean the same thing: e.g. “frightening” and “terrifying”
• Parallelism – ABAB structure, often signifying movement from one concept to another
• Chiasmus – ABBA structure, drawing attention to a phrase
• Polysyndeton – many conjunctions in a sentence
• Asyndeton – lack of conjunctions, which can speed up the pace of a sentence
• Polyptoton – using the same word in different forms for emphasis: e.g. “done” and “doing”
• Alliteration – repetition of the same sound, including assonance (similar vowel sounds), plosive alliteration (“b”, “d” and “p” sounds) and sibilance (“s” sounds)
• Anaphora – repetition of words, often used to emphasise a particular point

Don’t worry if you can’t locate all of these literary devices in the work you’re analysing. You can also discuss more obvious techniques, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. It’s not a problem if you can’t remember all the long names; it’s far more important to be able to confidently explain the effects of each technique and highlight its relevance to the question.

Step 4: Be creative and original throughout

Anyone can write an essay using the tips above, but the thing that really makes it “perfect” is your own unique take on the topic. If you’ve noticed something intriguing or unusual in your reading, point it out – if you find it interesting, chances are the examiner will too!

Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine. Keep the idea that you’re writing a speech or argument in mind, and you’re guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention.

It’s important to set out your line of argument in your introduction, introducing your main points and the general direction your essay will take, but don’t forget to keep something back for the conclusion, too. Yes, you need to summarise your main points, but if you’re just repeating the things you said in your introduction, the body of the essay is rendered pointless.

Think of your conclusion as the climax of your speech, the bit everything else has been leading up to, rather than the boring plenary at the end of the interesting stuff.

To return to Of Mice and Men once more, here’s an example of the ideal difference between an introduction and a conclusion:

Introduction

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , Curley’s wife is portrayed as an ambiguous character. She could be viewed either as a cruel, seductive temptress or a lonely woman who is a victim of her society’s attitudes. Though she does seem to wield a form of sexual power, it is clear that Curley’s wife is largely a victim. This interpretation is supported by Steinbeck’s description of her appearance, other people’s attitudes, her dreams, and her evident loneliness and insecurity.

Overall, it is clear that Curley’s wife is a victim and is portrayed as such throughout the novel in the descriptions of her appearance, her dreams, other people’s judgemental attitudes, and her loneliness and insecurities. However, a character who was a victim and nothing else would be one-dimensional and Curley’s wife is not. Although she suffers in many ways, she is shown to assert herself through the manipulation of her femininity – a small rebellion against the victimisation she experiences.

Both refer back consistently to the question and summarise the essay’s main points. However, the conclusion adds something new which has been established in the main body of the essay and complicates the simple summary which is found in the introduction.

Hannah is an undergraduate English student at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and has a particular interest in postcolonial literature and the Gothic. She thinks literature is a crucial way of developing empathy and learning about the wider world. When she isn’t writing about 17th-century court masques, she enjoys acting, travelling and creative writing. 

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Academic Writing Tutorials

1-to-1 tutorials with our english tutors to discuss the most effective ways to improve as an academic writer., the link to the tutorials booking page on canvas will be emailed to you once you have enrolled., 2023/24 academic year, course overview.

The 1-to-1 Academic Writing Tutorials allow you and your tutor to discuss the most effective ways for you to improve as an academic writer. These tutorials give you the opportunity to ask specific questions and receive personalised feedback on a particular piece of written work, or to simply discuss recurring problems you have with your writing. 

Your tutor will be able to answer questions and offer feedback on the following aspects of academic writing: task achievement, organisation, source-use, citation, style, syntax and language. 

Learners will normally submit a short piece of written work prior to their tutorial. Your tutor may provide some written comments that they wish to discuss in greater detail during the tutorial. These comments will be available for you to view both during and following the tutorial.

Signing up for this tutorial-based ‘course’ entitles you to two 30-minute 1-to-1 Academic Writing Tutorials per term (Weeks 2-8), subject to availability. 

Tutorials are only offered to students and academic staff of the University. They are not available to non-academic staff, or to alumni or members of the general public. 

Terms and Conditions*

1.    Up to 70 places on the 1:1 Academic Writing Tutorials are available in the first instance.

2.    It is your responsibility to arrange your tutorial times (details on how to do this through Canvas will be sent to you after enrolment). 

3.    No refunds will be given for unused slots.

4.    You are entitled to two tutorials per term (Weeks 2-8), subject to availability.

5.    We advise early booking of slots in Canvas, so that you can book times that suit you and your academic schedule.

6.    Each tutorial is self-contained and can therefore be with any of the tutors who teach these tutorials: you may not necessarily be allocated the same tutor for each of your tutorials.

7.    These tutorials are only offered to students and academic staff of the University. They are not available to non-academic staff, or to alumni or members of the general public. 

*These course-specific terms and conditions are in addition to our general Terms and Conditions , which should also be read carefully.

Course structure

• Offered in weeks 2-8 of term
• Number of tutorials: two per term
• Length of session: 30 minutes
• Available to Oxford University students and Academic staff only.

Course fees

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MODERN LANGUAGES

Other Term-time Courses

Course details

Getting started in creative writing (online).

There are no time-tabled sessions on this course. Using a specially designed virtual learning environment this online course guides students through weekly pathways of directed readings and learning activities. Students interact with their tutor and the other course participants through tutor-guided, text-based forum discussions. There are no ‘live-time’ video meetings meaning you can study flexibly in your own time under the direct tuition of an expert. For further information please click here

This course gives avid readers the skills necessary to turn a love of the written word into a practical experience. It introduces the key characteristics of creative writing, and students are supported with stage-by-stage guidance as they assimilate and put into practice a range of critical and creative methods. In addition to tutor feedback on the course assignments, participants will be encouraged to discuss one another's writing in the course forums, and will be given guidance on offering constructive and useful criticism.

Beginning with an introduction to writing fiction, this course leads students step-by-step through the essentials of the craft – including characterization, plotting, description, dialogue and editing – towards an enhanced understanding of how novels and stories are written. There are also individual sessions on special topics – such as constructing an effective opening sequence, using imagery creatively, and working with experimental or other distinctive genres – and the emphasis throughout is upon developing an individual voice and a confident style while working in a wholly supportive environment.

For information on how the courses work, please click here .

Programme details

Unit 1: Getting Started

• Getting acquainted with one another and the course
• Autobiographical input
• Working with notes
• Practising discussion and critique of fiction-writing

Unit 2: Voice

• Developing an individual emphasis
• Pace and style

Unit 3: Descriptive Writing

• Scene-making: Sharpening the senses
• Fashioning a world

Unit 4: Point-of-view

• Who tells the story? Owns the story?
• Making choices about 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narrative

Unit 5: Character

• Constructing individuals
• Back-stories

Unit 6: Dialogue

• Writing the authentic, the important and the plausible simultaneously

Unit 7: Plot and Momentum

• Patterns of Story
• From story to plot

Unit 8: Genre and Length

• Choices that shape the stories we read
• What we expect
• How we may differ

Unit 9: Theme

• What kind of a story will you tell?

Unit 10: Re-writing and Editing

• Finishing, polishing, re-making, re-telling, expanding and cutting

We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.

Recommended reading

To participate in the course you will need to have regular access to the Internet. All of the primary texts (short stories) used as examples in the course are available online, and in each unit you will find a link to the appropriate websites. Recommended, but not required:

• Lodge, David, ed., The Art of Fiction (Penguin, 1992) ISBN: 0140174923

Certification

Credit Application Transfer Scheme (CATS) points 

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee for each course you enrol on. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. If you do not register when you enrol, you have up until the course start date to register and pay the £10 fee. 

See more information on CATS point

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework, but only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education, you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee. 

Digital credentials

All students who pass their final assignment, whether registered for credit or not, will be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so. 

Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail. 

Cherry Gilchrist

Cherry Gilchrist is a writer, lecturer and tutor. She is the author of a wide range of books including titles on Russian mythology, life story writing, feminine archetypes, alchemy and family history. Publishers include Piatkus, Weiser, and Penguin. Her blog Cherry’s Cache on diverse topics is regularly enjoyed by several hundred readers. As a writing tutor, she has also taught for the University of Exeter, Marlborough Summer School, Cheltenham Literature Festival, and many other venues including cruise ships. Her interests are history, nature and travel, and she lives in the Devon estuary town of Topsham. She is currently training to be a Exeter Red Coat city guide. Cherry gained her degree from New Hall, Cambridge, and holds a post-graduate diploma from the University of Bath Spa.

Dr Louis Greenberg

Louis Greenberg is a writer and fiction editor with a doctorate in modern English literature. Under his own name and co-writing as S.L. Grey, he has published nine novels including  The Mall ,  The Apartment  and Exposure , a mystery about an immersive theatre group. Louis has studied scriptwriting, theatre set design and film finance, and two of his books are in film development. An Advanced Professional member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, Louis has edited fiction for several major publishers .

Mr Jeremy Hughes

Jeremy Hughes has published two novels – Wingspan (2013) and Dovetail (2011). He was awarded first prize in the PoetryWales competition and was short-listed for an Eric Gregory Award. He also publishes short fiction, life writing and reviews. He studied for the Master’s in creative writing at Oxford.

Course aims

This course aims to provide students with insight into the major aspects affecting creative writing, and enable them to use these features confidently in their own writing.

Teaching methods

• Introductory section, outlining key areas of work within each unit.
• Description of required reading and recommended reading.
• Presentation of materials taken from additional (eg. online) sources, relevant to each unit.
• Online discussion forum.
• Online personal study diary.
• Area for short responses to literary extracts from key texts.
• Tutor responses to forum and exercises.
• Assessment and feedback.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students will be expected to understand:

• Key features (such as point-of-view, dialogue, etc) in a fictional work.
• The practical use of such characteristics in their own writing.
• How to use these aspects of technical expertise with increased skill and confidence.

By the end of this course students will be expected to have gained the following skills:

• The ability to recognize and name key features in literature.
• Knowledge of what effects these features produce and how to undertake their use.
• Increased confidence in their own use of such features as enhancements to the development of an individual 'voice' in creative writing.

Assessment methods

You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.

English Language Requirements

We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements please follow this link: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/english-language-requirements

Application

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an Enrolment form for short courses | Oxford University Department for Continuing Education

Level and demands

FHEQ level 4, 10 weeks, approx 10 hours per week, therefore a total of about 100 study hours.

IT requirements

This course is delivered online; to participate you must to be familiar with using a computer for purposes such as sending email and searching the Internet. You will also need regular access to the Internet and a computer meeting our recommended minimum computer specification.

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support

View a sample page to see if this course is for you

How to write an Oxford application essay

Hello hello!

Not sure how many future Wellesley’s plan on applying to study abroad at Oxford (and the OIS already has great resources for this); thought I’d share my essays and how I structured/thought about them.

When you apply for Oxford, at least for the visiting program, you can apply for two out of the thirty-something colleges that make up the University. Granted, Wellesley only allows us to choose from seven or so of those thirty plus colleges, but that’s still plenty to choose from.

How I chose which two colleges to apply for: Arbitrarily. I literally googled “Oxford University Mountaineering Club” (because I knew I would want to get heavily involved with that club) and looked a the two climbing wall locations. Mansfield and St. Edmund were the two closest to these locations, ha.

Other specifications included: had to teach Economics, since that’s what I’m studying, and had to be a full year (I didn’t want any one-semester silliness–if I’m going to go to Oxford, I’m going to get the full experience!) and finally, I literally calculated the percentage of each college that is made up of visiting students and I think Mansfield and St. Edmund were pretty high; i.e. my chances of getting in were best there.

Okay so onto the essay structuring itself: First paragraph is basically “Why Oxford”

Oh and by the way, here’s what the essay prompt was. That’s kind of important:

“A personal statement which provides a brief account of your studies to date in your present university and an account of how a year of study at Mansfield College would fit into your educational plans. Your personal statement should also include a detailed description of the main subjects you would like to study as well as a description of the course work you have completed in the subject(s) at your home college or university.”

Okay first paragraph: “Why Oxford”

I am drawn to Oxford, and Mansfield College specifically, for a number of reasons. Oxford’s tutorial program requires a combination of dedication, hard work, and independence that I believe would challenge and enhance my intellectual ability, and is also a challenge I am excited to take on and am well prepared for. Oxford also has the geographic environment I am looking for, which is a place of natural beauty and greenery, with a large city easily accessible but not too close by (very similar to Wellesley). Mansfield College, specifically, offers courses in subjects I hope to pursue at Oxford, namely Economics and Management, and in which I already have demonstrated interest. Finally, being an avid rock climber, I have thoroughly researched Oxford’s Mountaineering Club, and Mansfield College is particularly close to both the Iffley Bouldering Wall and the Brookes Climbing Wall, two main locations for the OUMC.

Second paragraph is “why me/why I’m a good fit/why I can handle the program”:

The reason I say I am well prepared for Oxford’s tutorial program is because I am well acquainted with challenging, independent work, as well as heavily writing-based daily routines. The MIT Sloan School of Management course I took this semester, Power and Negotiation, was writing-intensive, met once a week, and was very much a self-learning process. I have also been developing my writing skills since age ten, when I began keeping a journal, and am now one of five weekly bloggers for the Wellesley Admissions Office. I am highly interested in improving my writing and independent work skills, and believe Oxford’s tutorial program perfectly aligns with those interests.

Paragraph three is “what courses I plan on taking (since they want to know) AND WHY and what courses I have already taken”:

Specifically, I plan to take Economics and Management courses at Mansfield, with the addition of one Human Sciences course. My previous coursework in Calculus, Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics, Statistics, and Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis have prepared me well for the Economics courses I plan to take at Mansfield, which are Economics of Developing Countries, Labour Economics and Industrial Relations, and Command and Transitional Economies. I am drawn to these specific primary tutorials because I am highly interested in the macro economy. I read the Wall Street Journal daily and follow the international impact of economic policies made not only in the U.S., but also in China, Japan, and the European Union. My previous coursework in Power and Negotiation introduced me to art of managing difficult interactions and developed my desire to take Strategic Management, Organisational Analysis, Behaviour and Leadership, and Behaviour and its Evolution: Animal and Human at Mansfield. Having held multiple leadership roles since high school and with plans to work in finance after graduation, I desire to enhance my interpersonal and management skills.

A quick note here: I don’t read the WSJ anymore. I was just reading it a lot at the time of this application because I was preparing for banking interviews for summer internships. So don’t feel like you have to be someone who reads a lot of publications all the time. It’s okay to stretch the truth.

Paragraph four is “conclusion and what other cultural aspects (of Oxford, or the UK in general) I find unique/I will look forward to experiencing”

Given my experience in writing-intensive and independent work, my demonstrated interest in Economics and Management, and my passion for climbing, I feel I am a particularly good fit for a year abroad at Mansfield College. In addition, I plan to take full advantage of the social and traditional events at Oxford, including the formal dinners and lectures. This winter break, I will be backpacking through Asia, and during my term breaks at Oxford, I hope to backpack through both the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Having demonstrated my ability to withstand a rigorous academic workload by taking challenging courses and maintaining very good grades at Wellesley, while participating in time-consuming extracurricular activities, I believe Oxford will supplement very well the educational experience I’ve established for myself at Wellesley. It would be a pleasure and a privilege to spend a year abroad at Mansfield College.

Voila! There’s an essay. One page, size 12, Times New Roman, single spaced, normal margins.

Below is my St. Edmund essay, slightly tweaked to personalize it to the school, but otherwise the same.

Hope this will be helpful to future Wellesley-Oxford-hopefuls!

Cheers and have a great rest of the week,

I am drawn to Oxford, and St. Edmund Hall specifically, for a number of reasons. The Oxford tutorial program requires a combination of dedication, hard work, and independence that I believe would challenge and enhance my intellectual ability, and is also a challenge I am excited to take on and am well prepared for. Oxford has the geographic environment I am looking for, which is a place of natural beauty and greenery, with a large city easily accessible but not too close by (very similar to Wellesley). St. Edmund Hall, specifically, offers courses in subjects I hope to pursue at Oxford, namely Economics and Management, and in which I have already demonstrated an interest. Finally, being an avid rock climber, I have thoroughly researched Oxford’s Mountaineering Club, and St. Edmund Hall is particularly close to both the Iffley Bouldering Wall and the Brookes Climbing Wall, two main locations for the OUMC.

In addition, I am drawn to both St. Edmund Hall’s recent partnership with the Oxford Chinese Economy Programme and the launch of the China Growth Centre in 2009. I am highly interested in China’s economy, as demonstrated by my History of Chinese Commerce and Business course this semester and my close reading of the Wall Street Journal (which has proven especially interesting lately considering the decisions of the People’s Bank of China to decrease benchmark rates.) Both the OXCEP and the CGC will allow me to pursue my growing interest in the Chinese economy while I’m abroad.

Finally, one of my extracurricular passions, rock climbing, will be thoroughly fulfilled if I am to attend Oxford, and St. Edmund Hall specifically. The OUMC is extensive, active, and very well equipped with resources. I am currently pioneering the founding of a climbing team at Wellesley, and have already networked with various climbing gyms, Wellesley administrators, and climbing equipment brands—one of which has already agreed to sponsor our fledgling team! St. Edmund Hall has a prime location (compared to the other colleges Wellesley has programs with) in relation to OUMC facilities. I would be honored to climb, compete, and go on trips with OUMC members, as well as learn from club leaders how to successfully lead the club.

Given my experience in writing-intensive and independent work, my demonstrated interest in Economics and Management, and my passion for climbing, I feel I am a particularly good fit for a year abroad at St. Edmund Hall. In addition, I plan to take full advantage of the social and traditional events at Oxford, including the formal dinners and lectures. This winter break, I will be backpacking through Asia, and during my term breaks at Oxford, I hope to backpack through both the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Having demonstrated my ability to withstand a rigorous academic workload by taking challenging courses and maintaining very good grades at Wellesley, while participating in time-consuming extracurricular activities, I believe Oxford will supplement very well the educational experience I’ve established for myself at Wellesley. It would be a pleasure and a privilege to spend a year abroad at St. Edmund Hall.

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The latest language learning tips, resources, and content from oxford university press., top tips for effective essay writing.

• by Oxford University Press ELT
• Posted on June 28, 2023 June 29, 2023

Tips for different essay types 

There are different types of essays that you may need to write during your English language journey. These include:

• Argumentative essays : These essays present the advantages and disadvantages of a particular topic or issue. They require you to provide well-reasoned arguments and evidence to support your point of view.
• Persuasive essays : The aim of persuasive essays is to convince the reader to eventually adopt your point of view or take a specific course of action. These essays rely on strong arguments, logical reasoning and persuasive language.
• Expository essays : Expository essays focus on explaining or clarifying a concept, idea or process. They require you to provide clear and concise information with supporting examples and evidence.
• Narrative essays : In narrative essays, you tell a story or narrate an event. These essays use descriptive language, and engage readers through vivid details and a compelling narrative structure.
• Descriptive essays : Descriptive essays aim to paint a clear picture of a person, place, object or experience. These essays utilise sensory language (e.g. colourful, crowded, dark, cold etc.) and figurative devices to evoke emotions and create a picture of the scene and people in the reader’s mind.

Tips for essay structure 

When writing an essay, you need to think about several key elements:

• Organisation and structure: Make sure your essay follows a clear and logical structure. Your essay should start with an introduction explaining what your essay is going to be about, followed by paragraphs containing the main points you want to express. Each of the paragraphs in the main body should address a single main idea. Finally, you should end with a conclusion.
• Paragraphing: Divide your essay into paragraphs to make it easy for the reader to follow and to make it coherent. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea of that particular section.
• Main ideas with supporting arguments and evidence : In the main body of your essay, clearly state your main ideas and support them with relevant arguments, examples, facts, or statistics. Use these supporting details to strengthen your overall argument.

More essay writing tips

Essays typically maintain a formal register, so it is important to use appropriate language. Here are some examples:

• Formal language: In an essay, try to avoid using contractions, e.g. They are instead of they’re. Try to avoid using the personal pronouns I or we – instead, you could use a passive structure. Do not use colloquial expressions or idioms, and try to use more formal words for everyday language, e.g. show – demonstrate, find out – discover, give – provide, point out – indicate.
• Linking words: Use cohesive devices and words and phrases to connect your sentences to improve the flow and coherence of your essay. For instance, use words like however, in addition, furthermore or on the other hand to connect ideas. You can also create smooth transitions from one idea to the next by using sequencing language such as firstly, next, following this etc.

Final tips for essay writing

To produce a well-structured and coherent essay, think about the following:

• Make a plan: Before you start writing, create a plan outlining the main points you want to include. Refer to your plan regularly to stay focused and maintain a logical flow.
• Use varied language : Use a variety of vocabulary, sentence structures, and sentence lengths to make your essay more engaging and interesting.
• Proofread and edit: After completing your essay, carefully review it for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. This is particularly important in an English exam.

Knowing how to write an essay in English is an important skill. Understanding the different types of essays, organising your ideas effectively, using appropriate language and linking words, and following a plan can significantly improve your essay writing skills. By incorporating these tips into your writing routine, you will feel more confident the next time you write an essay in English. 

For more information about different types of writing in the Oxford Test of English, read this blog and download our detailed guide !

Decide whether the statements about essay writing are true (T) or false (F). 

• In an English exam, you usually do not have time to proofread your essay. T/F
• Your essay should always start with an introduction and end with a conclusion. T/F
• Persuasive essays ask you to present both points of view with evidence to support. T/F
• You should make a plan before you start your essay, then not refer to it again until you finish writing. T/F
• You should use language to help you sequence your ideas where necessary. T/F
• You could start your essay with, In my opinion… T/F
• False. In an English exam, you should always leave some time to proofread your essay when you finish to check for any errors and correct them. 
• True. The middle part of your essay is the main body that contains your main arguments and key points. 
• False. Persuasive essays require you to convince the reader to eventually adopt your point of view or take a specific course of action. Argumentative essays require you to present the advantages and disadvantages of a particular topic or issue. 
• False. Refer to your plan regularly whilst writing so you can stay focused and maintain a logical flow. 
• True. Use sequencing words and phrases to help you structure your essay and improve its flow. 
• False. Try to avoid using personal pronouns. 

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Author: Oxford University Press ELT

Every year we help millions of people around the world to learn English. As a department of the University of Oxford, we further the University’s objective of excellence in education by publishing proven and tested language learning books, eBooks, learning materials, and educational technologies. View all posts by Oxford University Press ELT

Thank you for sharing valuable resources with us. It is inspiring and motivating. I really find everything, especially the webinars, extremely useful.

VERY USEFUL!!! THANX! NEXT TIME MORE PRACTICAL EXERCISES, EVEN IN A BOOK…

Thank you for very valuable tips. Will definitely use them with my students who are preparing for FCE exams.

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A group of Oxford University students were encouraged to use AI 'thoughtfully and critically' to help them write some essays

• An Oxford University course module allowed students to use AI tools to write essays in a class. 
• The task was to help students understand how to write a much better essay by using AI responsibly. 
• The essays weren't part of any formal assessment, Professor Steve New told Business Insider.

Oxford University students were given the go-ahead to use AI tools like ChatGPT to help them write an essay for a class, The Telegraph reported Tuesday .

Professor Steve New, who teaches a module on technology and operations management, told The Telegraph that undergraduates studying Economics and Management were made to undertake the task in his class and that it wouldn't be part of any formal assessment. 

He explained that when AI tools are used "thoughtfully and critically" it "should help you produce a much better essay than you would produce unaided." 

A note on the course said that the assignment has been adapted to the current academic year because of how generative AI systems like ChatGPT, Bard, and Claude have "changed the environment in which we work." It said that AI tools "can greatly enhance your ability to generate essays".

After OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in November 2022, college professors saw a sharp rise in students using the chatbot to write assignments. At the time, two philosophy professors previously told Business Insider that assignments written by ChatGPT raised red flags because they're really "well-written" on the surface but upon closer examination, they made no sense or lacked context and depth. 

Since then, the Russell Group , a group of 24 leading colleges in the UK including Oxford and Cambridge, agreed to a set of principles that would allow students and teachers to become "AI-literate" and use the technology ethically. 

Related stories

In New's class, the students were told to write out an answer to an essay question using an AI tool of their choice, and then pass it on to their course mates for review.

Their course mates would fact-check their essays because AI tools have frequently made up facts and even used fake citations. The students were still subject to standard rules on referencing and plagiarism when writing the essay. 

New told students that AI should "increase your ability to think hard about the subjects you discuss, and make you more confident in framing a clear and persuasive argument".

He added: "But the document that emerges should be yours. You need to write stuff you will stand by. The AI can produce humdrum 'some say this, some say that…meh' essays in a fraction of a second; you should be producing compelling, tightly-argued, evidence-based prose that you believe in."

Speaking to Business Insider, New said that AI tools can " help students think more deeply and more broadly about the issues under consideration. The tools can suggest ways of thinking about a problem that students might otherwise miss."

He said that allowing the use of AI tools was only possible thanks to the way in which Oxford University runs its classes.

"This is possible for us because of Oxford's unusual and distinctive 'tutorial method' - the students write essays that play no part in their formal assessment, and then get to discuss their work in very small groups with their tutor."

Use of AI for any work that forms part of a graded assignment is banned, he added.

Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, has a global deal to allow OpenAI to train its models on its media brands' reporting.

Watch: What is ChatGPT, and should we be afraid of AI chatbots?

• Main content

• Higher Education
• Writing an Argumentative Essay...

Writing an Argumentative Essay 101

by PrivateLabel | Sep 15, 2015 | Higher Education

We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘think before you speak’. It’s generally said in quite a supportive way – often after someone hasn’t!

But the saying makes a good point, especially when it comes to putting forward an effective argument. Arguments are vehicles for your thoughts to travel. Any weak link can stop them getting to where you want them to go. This is of course extremely important when you’re writing an argumentative essay. Here are a few good pointers to help you design a solid argument:

• Map out your idea

Start by formulating your thesis or claim and your supporting statements for it.

Once you have done this, you can target your research areas more precisely and you can consider the strengths and weaknesses of your case.  

• Know what you’re arguing against

Set out what you think are the major supporting statements for the opposing case to your own.

This will help you to find evidence that will refute those statements.

• Get the evidence before you make the claims

Begin your research by ensuring that you can find evidence for each of your supporting statements. Check the evidence for the other side. You may need to change some of your argument, depending on the information you find.

• Have your sources ready

Make sure that you have listed all the necessary bibliographic information about your sources, especially page numbers. You will need that information for your references and reference list.

• You don’t have to start writing with the introduction

When your research is complete, begin on the body of your essay, perhaps leaving the introduction until last. It is usually easier to start with your most important point. You can reorganize things later.

• Structure your argument

Once you have a rough draft, think about how to organise your argument in the most effective way. Logical, well-thought-out organisation – along with clear, concise English – is one of the main persuasive tools in argumentative essays.

Hay, I, Bochner, D, Blacket, G, & C, Dungey. 2012. Making The Grade. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

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• 40 Useful Words and Phrases for Top-Notch Essays

To be truly brilliant, an essay needs to utilise the right language. You could make a great point, but if it’s not intelligently articulated, you almost needn’t have bothered.

Developing the language skills to build an argument and to write persuasively is crucial if you’re to write outstanding essays every time. In this article, we’re going to equip you with the words and phrases you need to write a top-notch essay, along with examples of how to utilise them.

It’s by no means an exhaustive list, and there will often be other ways of using the words and phrases we describe that we won’t have room to include, but there should be more than enough below to help you make an instant improvement to your essay-writing skills.

If you’re interested in developing your language and persuasive skills, Oxford Royale offers summer courses at its Oxford Summer School , Cambridge Summer School , London Summer School , San Francisco Summer School and Yale Summer School . You can study courses to learn english , prepare for careers in law , medicine , business , engineering and leadership.

General explaining

Let’s start by looking at language for general explanations of complex points.

1. In order to

Usage: “In order to” can be used to introduce an explanation for the purpose of an argument. Example: “In order to understand X, we need first to understand Y.”

2. In other words

Usage: Use “in other words” when you want to express something in a different way (more simply), to make it easier to understand, or to emphasise or expand on a point. Example: “Frogs are amphibians. In other words, they live on the land and in the water.”

3. To put it another way

Usage: This phrase is another way of saying “in other words”, and can be used in particularly complex points, when you feel that an alternative way of wording a problem may help the reader achieve a better understanding of its significance. Example: “Plants rely on photosynthesis. To put it another way, they will die without the sun.”

4. That is to say

Usage: “That is” and “that is to say” can be used to add further detail to your explanation, or to be more precise. Example: “Whales are mammals. That is to say, they must breathe air.”

5. To that end

Usage: Use “to that end” or “to this end” in a similar way to “in order to” or “so”. Example: “Zoologists have long sought to understand how animals communicate with each other. To that end, a new study has been launched that looks at elephant sounds and their possible meanings.”

Adding additional information to support a point

Students often make the mistake of using synonyms of “and” each time they want to add further information in support of a point they’re making, or to build an argument . Here are some cleverer ways of doing this.

6. Moreover

Usage: Employ “moreover” at the start of a sentence to add extra information in support of a point you’re making. Example: “Moreover, the results of a recent piece of research provide compelling evidence in support of…”

7. Furthermore

Usage:This is also generally used at the start of a sentence, to add extra information. Example: “Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that…”

8. What’s more

Usage: This is used in the same way as “moreover” and “furthermore”. Example: “What’s more, this isn’t the only evidence that supports this hypothesis.”

9. Likewise

Usage: Use “likewise” when you want to talk about something that agrees with what you’ve just mentioned. Example: “Scholar A believes X. Likewise, Scholar B argues compellingly in favour of this point of view.”

10. Similarly

Usage: Use “similarly” in the same way as “likewise”. Example: “Audiences at the time reacted with shock to Beethoven’s new work, because it was very different to what they were used to. Similarly, we have a tendency to react with surprise to the unfamiliar.”

11. Another key thing to remember

Usage: Use the phrase “another key point to remember” or “another key fact to remember” to introduce additional facts without using the word “also”. Example: “As a Romantic, Blake was a proponent of a closer relationship between humans and nature. Another key point to remember is that Blake was writing during the Industrial Revolution, which had a major impact on the world around him.”

12. As well as

Usage: Use “as well as” instead of “also” or “and”. Example: “Scholar A argued that this was due to X, as well as Y.”

13. Not only… but also

Usage: This wording is used to add an extra piece of information, often something that’s in some way more surprising or unexpected than the first piece of information. Example: “Not only did Edmund Hillary have the honour of being the first to reach the summit of Everest, but he was also appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.”

14. Coupled with

Usage: Used when considering two or more arguments at a time. Example: “Coupled with the literary evidence, the statistics paint a compelling view of…”

15. Firstly, secondly, thirdly…

Usage: This can be used to structure an argument, presenting facts clearly one after the other. Example: “There are many points in support of this view. Firstly, X. Secondly, Y. And thirdly, Z.

16. Not to mention/to say nothing of

Usage: “Not to mention” and “to say nothing of” can be used to add extra information with a bit of emphasis. Example: “The war caused unprecedented suffering to millions of people, not to mention its impact on the country’s economy.”

Words and phrases for demonstrating contrast

When you’re developing an argument, you will often need to present contrasting or opposing opinions or evidence – “it could show this, but it could also show this”, or “X says this, but Y disagrees”. This section covers words you can use instead of the “but” in these examples, to make your writing sound more intelligent and interesting.

17. However

Usage: Use “however” to introduce a point that disagrees with what you’ve just said. Example: “Scholar A thinks this. However, Scholar B reached a different conclusion.”

18. On the other hand

Usage: Usage of this phrase includes introducing a contrasting interpretation of the same piece of evidence, a different piece of evidence that suggests something else, or an opposing opinion. Example: “The historical evidence appears to suggest a clear-cut situation. On the other hand, the archaeological evidence presents a somewhat less straightforward picture of what happened that day.”

19. Having said that

Usage: Used in a similar manner to “on the other hand” or “but”. Example: “The historians are unanimous in telling us X, an agreement that suggests that this version of events must be an accurate account. Having said that, the archaeology tells a different story.”

20. By contrast/in comparison

Usage: Use “by contrast” or “in comparison” when you’re comparing and contrasting pieces of evidence. Example: “Scholar A’s opinion, then, is based on insufficient evidence. By contrast, Scholar B’s opinion seems more plausible.”

21. Then again

Usage: Use this to cast doubt on an assertion. Example: “Writer A asserts that this was the reason for what happened. Then again, it’s possible that he was being paid to say this.”

22. That said

Usage: This is used in the same way as “then again”. Example: “The evidence ostensibly appears to point to this conclusion. That said, much of the evidence is unreliable at best.”

Usage: Use this when you want to introduce a contrasting idea. Example: “Much of scholarship has focused on this evidence. Yet not everyone agrees that this is the most important aspect of the situation.”

Adding a proviso or acknowledging reservations

Sometimes, you may need to acknowledge a shortfalling in a piece of evidence, or add a proviso. Here are some ways of doing so.

24. Despite this

Usage: Use “despite this” or “in spite of this” when you want to outline a point that stands regardless of a shortfalling in the evidence. Example: “The sample size was small, but the results were important despite this.”

25. With this in mind

Usage: Use this when you want your reader to consider a point in the knowledge of something else. Example: “We’ve seen that the methods used in the 19th century study did not always live up to the rigorous standards expected in scientific research today, which makes it difficult to draw definite conclusions. With this in mind, let’s look at a more recent study to see how the results compare.”

26. Provided that

Usage: This means “on condition that”. You can also say “providing that” or just “providing” to mean the same thing. Example: “We may use this as evidence to support our argument, provided that we bear in mind the limitations of the methods used to obtain it.”

27. In view of/in light of

Usage: These phrases are used when something has shed light on something else. Example: “In light of the evidence from the 2013 study, we have a better understanding of…”

28. Nonetheless

Usage: This is similar to “despite this”. Example: “The study had its limitations, but it was nonetheless groundbreaking for its day.”

29. Nevertheless

Usage: This is the same as “nonetheless”. Example: “The study was flawed, but it was important nevertheless.”

30. Notwithstanding

Usage: This is another way of saying “nonetheless”. Example: “Notwithstanding the limitations of the methodology used, it was an important study in the development of how we view the workings of the human mind.”

Giving examples

Good essays always back up points with examples, but it’s going to get boring if you use the expression “for example” every time. Here are a couple of other ways of saying the same thing.

31. For instance

Example: “Some birds migrate to avoid harsher winter climates. Swallows, for instance, leave the UK in early winter and fly south…”

32. To give an illustration

Example: “To give an illustration of what I mean, let’s look at the case of…”

Signifying importance

When you want to demonstrate that a point is particularly important, there are several ways of highlighting it as such.

33. Significantly

Usage: Used to introduce a point that is loaded with meaning that might not be immediately apparent. Example: “Significantly, Tacitus omits to tell us the kind of gossip prevalent in Suetonius’ accounts of the same period.”

34. Notably

Usage: This can be used to mean “significantly” (as above), and it can also be used interchangeably with “in particular” (the example below demonstrates the first of these ways of using it). Example: “Actual figures are notably absent from Scholar A’s analysis.”

35. Importantly

Usage: Use “importantly” interchangeably with “significantly”. Example: “Importantly, Scholar A was being employed by X when he wrote this work, and was presumably therefore under pressure to portray the situation more favourably than he perhaps might otherwise have done.”

Summarising

You’ve almost made it to the end of the essay, but your work isn’t over yet. You need to end by wrapping up everything you’ve talked about, showing that you’ve considered the arguments on both sides and reached the most likely conclusion. Here are some words and phrases to help you.

36. In conclusion

Usage: Typically used to introduce the concluding paragraph or sentence of an essay, summarising what you’ve discussed in a broad overview. Example: “In conclusion, the evidence points almost exclusively to Argument A.”

37. Above all

Usage: Used to signify what you believe to be the most significant point, and the main takeaway from the essay. Example: “Above all, it seems pertinent to remember that…”

38. Persuasive

Usage: This is a useful word to use when summarising which argument you find most convincing. Example: “Scholar A’s point – that Constanze Mozart was motivated by financial gain – seems to me to be the most persuasive argument for her actions following Mozart’s death.”

39. Compelling

Usage: Use in the same way as “persuasive” above. Example: “The most compelling argument is presented by Scholar A.”

40. All things considered

Usage: This means “taking everything into account”. Example: “All things considered, it seems reasonable to assume that…”

How many of these words and phrases will you get into your next essay? And are any of your favourite essay terms missing from our list? Let us know in the comments below, or get in touch here to find out more about courses that can help you with your essays.

At Oxford Royale Academy, we offer a number of  summer school courses for young people who are keen to improve their essay writing skills. Click here to apply for one of our courses today, including law , business , medicine  and engineering .

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Pulling together: how Cambridge came to dominate the Boat Race – a photo essay

The race along the River Thames between England’s two greatest universities spans 195 years of rivalry and is now one of the world’s oldest and most famous amateur sporting events. Our photographer has been spending time with the Cambridge University Boat Club over the past few months as they prepare for 2024’s races

T he idea of a Boat Race between the two universities dates back to 1829, sparked into life by a conversation between Old Harrovian schoolfriends Charles Merivale, a student at the time at St John’s College Cambridge, and Charles Wordsworth who was at Christ Church Oxford. On 12 March that year, following a meeting of the newly formed Cambridge University Boat Club, a letter was sent to Oxford.

The University of Cambridge hereby challenge the University of Oxford to row a match at or near London each in an eight-oar boat during the Easter vacation.

From then, the Cambridge University Boat Club has existed to win just one race against just one opponent, something Cambridge has got very good at recently. Last year the Light Blues won every race: the open-weight men’s and women’s races, both reserve races, plus both lightweight races – six victories, no losses, an unprecedented clean sweep. Cambridge women’s open-weight boat, or blue boat, has won the last six Boat Races while the men’s equivalent have won five out of the last seven. In such an unpredictable race, where external factors can play a large part, this dominance is startling.

Thames trials

Rough water as the two women’s boats make their way along the River Thames near Putney Embankment during the Cambridge University Boat Race trials.

It’s a mid-December day by the River Thames. The sky and water merge together in a uniform battleship grey and the bitter north wind whips the tops off the waves. Outside a Putney boathouse two groups of tense-looking women dressed in duck-egg blue tops and black leggings with festive antlers in their hair are huddling together, perhaps for warmth, maybe for solidarity. The odd nervous bout of laughter breaks out. For some of them this is about to be their first experience of rowing on the Tideway, a baptism of fire on the famous stretch of London water where the Boat Race takes place. “Perfect conditions,” remarks Paddy Ryan, the head coach for Cambridge University women, for this is trial eights day, when friends in different boats duel for coveted spots in the top boat.

A couple of hours later these women along with their male equivalents will have pushed themselves to the absolute limit, so much so that several of the men are seen trying to throw up over the side of their boats at the finish under Chiswick Bridge. This may be brutal but it’s just the start. For these students the next few months are going to be incredibly tough, balancing academic work with training like a professional athlete. Through the harshest months of the year they will be focused on preparing for the end of March and a very simple goal: beating Oxford in the Boat Race.

Agony for one of the men’s boats after the finish of the race near Chiswick Bridge during the Cambridge University Boat Race trials.

Ely early mornings

Two of the women’s boats head out in the early morning for a training session on the Great Ouse.

Early winter mornings on the banks of the Great Ouse, well before the sun has risen, can be pretty bleak. In the pitch black a batch of light blue minivans drop off the men and women rowers together at the sleek Ely boathouse that was opened in 2016 at the cost of £4.9m – it’s here that all Cambridge’s on-water training takes place. Very soon a fleet of boats carrying all the teams takes to the water for a training session that may last a couple of hours. Then it’s a quick change, a lift to the train station and back to Cambridge for morning lectures.

The women’s squad head into the Ely boathouse after a 6am drop-off.

As a rower descends the stairs to the bays where the boats are stored, there is a clear indication of why it was built and why they are there. “This is where we prepare to win Boat Races,” a sign says. Since this boathouse was built, Cambridge have won 30 of the 37 races across all categories.

Top: The men’s squad stretch in the boathouse before an early morning training session and a member of the men’s blue boat descends the stairs into where the boats are kept. Below: One of the men’s teams set off for early morning training and the women’s blue boat rows past the women’s lightweight crew during a training session.

It’s a far cry from the old tin sheds with barely any heating and no showers. These current facilities are impressive, enabling the entire men’s and women’s squads to be there at the same time and get boats out.

Top: The men’s blue boat prepare to derig their boat at their Ely training site. Above: The women’s blue boat put their vessel back in the boathouse after a training session on the Great Ouse.

But it’s not just the boathouse that has contributed so much, it’s also the stretch of water they train on. In a year when floods have affected so many parts of the country it has really come into its own. Paddy Ryan, the chief women’s coach, explains: “Along this stretch the river is actually higher than the surrounding land. The water levels are carefully managed by dikes and pumps. As a result we haven’t lost a single session to flooding. That’s not the case for Oxford. I believe their boathouse has been flooded multiple times this year, unable to get to their boats. We’ve had multiple storms but we’ve been able to row through them all.”

The men’s third boat practises on the Great Ouse.

It’s a flat, unforgiving landscape, especially in midwinter, definitely not the prettiest stretch of water, but Cambridge don’t care. Ryan says: “It might be a little dull on the viewing perspective but we could row on for 27km before needing to turn round. We have a 5km stretch that is marked out every 250m. We are lucky to have it.”

The men’s blue boat practise their starts on the long straight on the Great Ouse.

The sweat box

Members of the men’s squad check on their technique with the use of a mirror at the Goldie boathouse.

The old-fashioned Goldie boathouse is right in the centre of Cambridge perched on the banks of the River Cam. Built in 1873, its delicate exterior belies what goes on inside. This is the boat club’s pain cave, where the rowers sweat buckets, pushing themselves over and over again; it’s a good job the floor is rubberised and easy to wipe clean.

A wreath to Charles Merivale, the founder of the Boat Race, and wood panelling in the upstairs room at the Goldie boathouse which commemorates Cambridge crews that have competed in the Boat Race from 1829.

(Top) Seb Benzecry, men’s president of the Cambridge University Boat Club, and (above) Martin Amethier, a member of the reserve Goldie crew, sweat during sessions on ergo machines.

Iris Powell of the women’s blue boat (above) performs pull-ups during a training session.

Above left: Hannah Murphy, the cox of the women’s blue boat, urges on four of her crew (left to right) Gemma King, Megan Lee, Jenna Armstrong and Clare Hole, as they undertake a long session on the ergo machines. Above right: Kenny Coplan, a member of the men’s blue boat crew, looks exhausted then writes in his times after his session on an ergo machine (below).

Brutal sessions on the various ergo machines, where thousands of metres are clocked and recorded, are a staple of the training regime set in place. If there is any slacking off the students just need to look up at one of the walls where a map of the Boat Race course hangs. The “S” shape of the Thames has been carefully coloured in the correct shade of blue and record timings for various key points on the course have been written in for both men and women. All but one record, and that one is shared, is held by Cambridge.

Paddy Ryan, the women’s chief coach, talks to the women’s blue boat during a training session on the River Great Ouse in February.

A key ingredient in any successful team is the coaching. Cambridge’s setup is stable and well established. Paddy Ryan is the chief women’s coach, a genial, tall Australian, he has been part of the women’s coaching team since 2013. The care and devotion to his squad is perfectly clear. “I have my notebook next to my bed so I can jot things down. I wake up in the middle of the night going: am I making the right decisions? I care about them as people and I need to manage them … We joke as coaches that we are teaching some of the smartest people on the planet how to pull on a stick.”

Rob Baker, the chief men’s coach, has Cambridge rowing in the blood. Born and bred in the city, his father was a university boatman for 25 years. He even married into the sport – his wife, Hayley, rowed for Cambridge as a lightweight – so it was no surprise that he became part of the coaching setup way back in 2001. He was the first full-time women’s coach in 2015 then moved to take over the men in 2018.

Rob Baker, the men’s chief coach, talks to his blue boat at their Ely training site.

Apart from an obvious role in the development of rowing skills, a key part of their job is making sure there is a balance for their student athletes. They understand they have to juggle training needs. “Every week we have a general plan,” says Baker, “but then someone might have an extra class or supervision they’ve got to do so we have to move around it. They are studying at one of the most competitive universities in the world with the highest standards so you’ve got to give them space to do that properly.” He goes on: “But when they get on the start line for their race, they’ll be just as competitive as if they were professionals.”

The presidents

Jenna Armstrong and Seb Benzecry discuss their plans in the Great Hall at Jesus College.

Every year one man and one woman are elected presidents to represent Cambridge University Boat Club. They are the captains and leaders, not only responsible for helping design the training programme in conjunction with the coaches but also making budgetary and tactical decisions along the way. This year both of them, Jenna Armstrong and Seb Benzecry, are from the same college, Jesus, which helps the communication between the two of them. They share ideas and knowledge, thoughts and worries. Their lives, for these intense few months, are a juggling act.

Armstrong is a 30-year-old from New Jersey, and doing a PhD in physiology. Once a very keen competitive junior skier she was forced to abandon her hopes of a career on the slopes after a number of serious knee injuries. She only started rowing in 2011 and only became aware of the Boat Race when she saw it on TV a couple of years later.

Jenna Armstrong, cycling down the Chimney, the grand entrance to Jesus College, to go to the other side of the city to carry out more of her PhD research at the department of physiology, development and neuroscience.

The research she carries out at the university labs could be turn out to be life-saving. “I study mitochondrial function in placentas from women from all over the world to learn how genetic and environmental factors during pregnancy can influence placental metabolism and impact the health of both mother and baby. I’m particularly interested in growth restriction which affects about 10% of babies worldwide. That can have lifelong implications for these babies and currently we don’t have any treatment for this.”

Benzecry, 27, is studying for a PhD in film and screen studies, and comes from a completely different rowing background. He grew up just a stone’s throw from the Boat Race course and went to a school on the banks of the Thames. This will be his 14th year of competitive rowing but his fourth and last Boat Race.

“ I remember one year my birthday fell on race day and we watched after my birthday party. Because we live fairly close to the course, I’ve always felt connected to the race.”

Seb Benzecry stands next to an Antony Gormley statue in the Quincentenary Library at Jesus College as he conducts research for his dissertation which forms part of his PhD in film and screen studies.

Talking about how hard it is to get the right balance between academic student life and rowing, Benzecry says: “I guess you have to accept there are many, many things you can’t do, you just don’t have time for during the season. You have to put the blinkers on.”

Armstrong says: “I have to be very prepared, very strategic and organised. I pack everything the night before, and then once I leave my room in the morning, I don’t go back. That allows me to go to training, go to the lab, go to training again. It’s surreal actually, to come to a place like Cambridge, have one of the best educations in the world on top of the most incredible rowing experiences in the world. We have a thing now in the boat, when we are doing something incredibly hard, I say this is my ideal Saturday, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I would rather be here than in bed or on a date. And I make everyone else say it with me too. I’d rather be nowhere else.”

Benzecry states: “When it’s really bad, when training is so hard, we say Oxford aren’t doing this, they could never do this. It’s an incredibly powerful thing to be thinking we work harder than them, our culture is better than them. They don’t want to go hard as we do – they might think they do but they don’t, they just don’t have it.”

Integration

The men’s and women’s blue boats during a training session on the River Great Ouse in February.

Until 1 August 2020, there were three separate university boat clubs in Cambridge: one for open-weight men, one for lightweight men, and one for open-weight and lightweight women. Since they merged to become one club, it has undoubtedly helped with everyone sharing the same resources and motivating and inspiring one another. No one is more important and everyone has a key part to play in the result. This year, Oxford have followed suit.

Baker says: “I definitely feel, for the athletes themselves, it makes a big difference. They all feel like they’re contributing to one common goal. Every cog in the wheel has to do its job but for sure it feels like one big team on a mission.”

Benzecry explains: “We’re seeing each other train, we’re all out on the water at the same time, we’re supporting each other throughout the season, building a sense of momentum for the whole club towards the races. Everyone’s just inspiring each other all the time and I think that’s been such a sort of cultural shift for Cambridge.”

The men’s blue boat pack their craft on to a trailer at their Ely training site ready for the trip down to London for the Boat Race.

Siobhan Cassidy, the chair of the Boat Race, knows from first-hand how the integration has helped. She rowed for the Light Blues in 1995 and had a key role in the transition. “We could see the advantages of working together, collaborating as a bigger team, the positive impact we felt that could have on performance. But not just the output, actually the whole experience for the young people taking part.”

Siobhan Cassidy, the chair of the Boat Race, pictured at the Thames Rowing Club at Putney Embankment.

This Saturday, if the weather holds, an estimated 250,000 people, the vast majority of whom have no allegiance to one shade of blue or the other, will pack the banks of the Thames to see these races. It’s one of the largest free events in Britain. Broadcast live on BBC One, the race is also beamed to 200 countries across the world.

The starting stone for the University Boat Race and pavement inscription: “The best leveller is the river we have in common” at Putney Embankment.

A map of the Boat Race course at the Goldie boathouse, with the Thames coloured in Cambridge blue and record timings written in for men and women showing almost total Cambridge dominance.

A sporting pinnacle being contested on a fast-flowing, unpredictable river by two teams of university students – it’s pretty bizarre. But maybe it’s that quirkiness that keeps the race, after almost two hundred years, still going strong. And even more bizarre to think that Cambridge, the current dominant force in the Boat Race, a sporting event that can’t shrug off its elitist stereotype, owes so much of that success to such egalitarian principles.

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7 Surefire Signs That ChatGPT Has Written an Essay Revealed

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have revealed the seven telltale signs that a piece of written content was generated by ChatGPT , after carefully analyzing more than 150 essays written by high school students and undergraduates.

They found that ChatGPT loves an Oxford Comma, repeats phrases and spits out tautological statements practically empty of meaning at a much higher frequency than humans.

While the findings are interesting, the sample size is quite small. There's also no guarantee that the linguistic habits and techniques identified couldn’t and wouldn't be used by a human. What’s more, AI content detection tools are largely unreliable; there’s still no way to know for certain that any given written content is AI-generated.

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The 7 Telltale Signs Content is AI-Generated

The researchers at Cambridge analyzed 164 essays written by high school students with four essays written with a helping hand from ChatGPT.

The ChatGPT-assisted essays were generally more information-heavy and had more reflective elements, but the markers at Cambridge found that they lacked the level of comparison and analysis typically found in human-generated content. 

According to UK-based publication The Telegraph , which broke the story, the researchers identified seven key indicators of AI content:

• Frequent use of Latin root words and “vocabulary above the expected level”
• Paragraphs starting with singular words like “however”, and then a comma 
• Lots of numbered lists with colons
• Unnecessary clarificatory language (e.g. “true fact”)
• Tautological language (“Lets come together to unite”)
• Repetition of the same word or phrase twice 
• Consistent and frequent use of Oxford commas in sentences

Are There Any Other Ways to Spot ChatGPT Plagiarism?

Yes and no. There are many tools online that claim to be able to detect AI content, but when I tested a wide range of them last year, I found many to be wildly inaccurate.

For instance, OpenAI’s own text classifier – which was eventually shut down because it performed so poorly – was unable to identify that text written by ChatGPT (effectively itself) was AI-generated.

Even Turnitin has been using automated processes to detect plagiarized content in academic work for years, and they’ve also developed a powerful AI content checker. The company has always maintained that verdicts arrived at by their tools should be treated as an indication, not a cast-iron accusation.

“Given that our false positive rate is not zero” Turnitin explains in a blog post discussing its AI content detection capabilities.

“You as the instructor will need to apply your professional judgment, knowledge of your students, and the specific context surrounding the assignment”.

None of these tools are infallible – and worse still, many of the free ones you’ll find lurking at the top of the Google Search results are completely and utterly useless.

Is It Wrong to Use AI for School or College Work?

While asking AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini to write you an essay isn’t quite “plagiarism” in the same way copying content written by other people and passing it off as your own is, it’s certainly not advised.

Whether it’s objectively plagiarism or not is likely irrelevant – the educational institution you’re enrolled in has probably created guidelines explicitly banning generative AI. Many universities have already taken a similar approach to peer review and other academic processes.

Besides, the whole point of writing an essay is to consider the range of ideas and views on the topic you’re writing about and evaluate them using your head. Getting an AI to do it for you defeats the whole point of writing the essay in the first place.

Our advice – considering the consequences of being accused of plagiarism while at university – is to stick to the rules. Who knows – you might learn something while you're at it!

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Sob stories? Trauma dumps? Black kids worry about writing college essays after affirmative action ban

When the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in higher education, it left the college essay as one of few places where race can play a role in admissions decisions.

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CHICAGO (AP) — When she started writing her college essay, Hillary Amofa told the story she thought admissions offices wanted to hear. About being the daughter of immigrants from Ghana and growing up in a small apartment in Chicago. About hardship and struggle.

Then she deleted it all.

“I would just find myself kind of trauma-dumping,” said the 18-year-old senior at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago. “And I’m just like, this doesn’t really say anything about me as a person.”

When the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in higher education , it left the college essay as one of few places where race can play a role in admissions decisions. For many students of color, instantly more was riding on the already high-stakes writing assignment. Some say they felt pressure to exploit their hardships as they competed for a spot on campus.

Amofa was just starting to think about her essay when the court issued its decision, and it left her with a wave of questions. Could she still write about her race? Could she be penalized for it? She wanted to tell colleges about her heritage but she didn’t want to be defined by it.

In English class, Amofa and her classmates read sample essays that all seemed to focus on some trauma or hardship. It left her with the impression she had to write about her life’s hardest moments to show how far she’d come. But she and some of her classmates wondered if their lives had been hard enough to catch the attention of admissions offices.

“For a lot of students, there’s a feeling of, like, having to go through something so horrible to feel worthy of going to school, which is kind of sad,” said Amofa, the daughter of a hospital technician and an Uber driver.

This year’s senior class is the first in decades to navigate college admissions without affirmative action. The Supreme Court upheld the practice in decisions going back to the 1970s, but this court’s conservative supermajority found it is unconstitutional for colleges to give students extra weight because of their race alone.

Still, the decision left room for race to play an indirect role: Chief Justice John Roberts wrote universities can still consider how an applicant’s life was shaped by their race, “so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability.”

“A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student’s courage and determination,” he wrote.

Scores of colleges responded with new essay prompts asking about students’ backgrounds. Brown University asked applicants how “an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you.” Rice University asked students how their perspectives were shaped by their “background, experiences, upbringing, and/or racial identity.”

Wondering if schools ‘expect a sob story’

When Darrian Merritt started writing his essay, he knew the stakes were higher than ever because of the court’s decision. His first instinct was to write about events that led to him going to live with his grandmother as a child.

Those were painful memories, but he thought they might play well at schools like Yale, Stanford and Vanderbilt.

“I feel like the admissions committee might expect a sob story or a tragic story,” said Merritt, a senior in Cleveland. “And if you don’t provide that, then maybe they’re not going to feel like you went through enough to deserve having a spot at the university. I wrestled with that a lot.”

He wrote drafts focusing on his childhood, but it never amounted to more than a collection of memories. Eventually he abandoned the idea and aimed for an essay that would stand out for its positivity.

Merritt wrote about a summer camp where he started to feel more comfortable in his own skin. He described embracing his personality and defying his tendency to please others. The essay had humor — it centered on a water gun fight where he had victory in sight but, in a comedic twist, slipped and fell. But the essay also reflects on his feelings of not being “Black enough” and getting made fun of for listening to “white people music.”

“I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to write this for me, and we’re just going to see how it goes,’” he said. “It just felt real, and it felt like an honest story.”

The essay describes a breakthrough as he learned “to take ownership of myself and my future by sharing my true personality with the people I encounter. … I realized that the first chapter of my own story had just been written.”

A ruling prompts pivots on essay topics

Like many students, Max Decker of Portland, Oregon, had drafted a college essay on one topic, only to change direction after the Supreme Court ruling in June.

Decker initially wrote about his love for video games. In a childhood surrounded by constant change, navigating his parents’ divorce, the games he took from place to place on his Nintendo DS were a source of comfort.

But the essay he submitted to colleges focused on the community he found through Word is Bond, a leadership group for young Black men in Portland.

As the only biracial, Jewish kid with divorced parents in a predominantly white, Christian community, Decker wrote he constantly felt like the odd one out. On a trip with Word is Bond to Capitol Hill, he and friends who looked just like him shook hands with lawmakers. The experience, he wrote, changed how he saw himself.

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“It’s because I’m different that I provide something precious to the world, not the other way around,” he wrote.

As a first-generation college student, Decker thought about the subtle ways his peers seemed to know more about navigating the admissions process. They made sure to get into advanced classes at the start of high school, and they knew how to secure glowing letters of recommendation.

If writing about race would give him a slight edge and show admissions officers a fuller picture of his achievements, he wanted to take that small advantage.

His first memory about race, Decker said, was when he went to get a haircut in elementary school and the barber made rude comments about his curly hair. Until recently, the insecurity that moment created led him to keep his hair buzzed short.

Through Word is Bond, Decker said he found a space to explore his identity as a Black man. It was one of the first times he was surrounded by Black peers and saw Black role models. It filled him with a sense of pride in his identity. No more buzzcut.

The pressure to write about race involved a tradeoff with other important things in his life, Decker said. That included his passion for journalism, like the piece he wrote on efforts to revive a once-thriving Black neighborhood in Portland. In the end, he squeezed in 100 characters about his journalism under the application’s activities section.

“My final essay, it felt true to myself. But the difference between that and my other essay was the fact that it wasn’t the truth that I necessarily wanted to share,” said Decker, whose top college choice is Tulane, in New Orleans, because of the region’s diversity. “It felt like I just had to limit the truth I was sharing to what I feel like the world is expecting of me.”

Spelling out the impact of race

Before the Supreme Court ruling, it seemed a given to Imani Laird that colleges would consider the ways that race had touched her life. But now, she felt like she had to spell it out.

As she started her essay, she reflected on how she had faced bias or felt overlooked as a Black student in predominantly white spaces.

There was the year in math class when the teacher kept calling her by the name of another Black student. There were the comments that she’d have an easier time getting into college because she was Black.

“I didn’t have it easier because of my race,” said Laird, a senior at Newton South High School in the Boston suburbs who was accepted at Wellesley and Howard University , and is waiting to hear from several Ivy League colleges. “I had stuff I had to overcome.”

In her final essays, she wrote about her grandfather, who served in the military but was denied access to GI Bill benefits because of his race.

She described how discrimination fueled her ambition to excel and pursue a career in public policy.

“So, I never settled for mediocrity,” she wrote. “Regardless of the subject, my goal in class was not just to participate but to excel. Beyond academics, I wanted to excel while remembering what started this motivation in the first place.”

Will schools lose racial diversity?

Amofa used to think affirmative action was only a factor at schools like Harvard and Yale. After the court’s ruling, she was surprised to find that race was taken into account even at some public universities she was applying to.

Now, without affirmative action, she wondered if mostly white schools will become even whiter.

It’s been on her mind as she chooses between Indiana University and the University of Dayton, both of which have relatively few Black students. When she was one of the only Black students in her grade school, she could fall back on her family and Ghanaian friends at church. At college, she worries about loneliness.

“That’s what I’m nervous about,” she said. “Going and just feeling so isolated, even though I’m constantly around people.”

The first drafts of her essay focused on growing up in a low-income family, sharing a bedroom with her brother and grandmother. But it didn’t tell colleges about who she is now, she said.

Her final essay tells how she came to embrace her natural hair. She wrote about going to a mostly white grade school where classmates made jokes about her afro. When her grandmother sent her back with braids or cornrows, they made fun of those too.

Over time, she ignored their insults and found beauty in the styles worn by women in her life. She now runs a business doing braids and other hairstyles in her neighborhood.

“I stopped seeing myself through the lens of the European traditional beauty standards and started seeing myself through the lens that I created,” Amofa wrote.

“Criticism will persist, but it loses its power when you know there’s a crown on your head!”

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