Instructions for an assignment

Instructions for an assignment

Listen to a university teacher giving instructions for an assignment to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

I want to explain a few things about your essay.

First of all, the deadline. The deadline for this essay is October the 18th. Not the 19th, not the 28th, not two days later because your dog was ill or your computer broke – the 18th. If it's late, I won't mark it. I won't even read it – you'll fail the assignment! So, please hand it in on time. You can even hand it in early, if you like!

You can email me the essays at j.hartshorn@lmu.ac.uk. That's H-A-R-T-S-H-O-R-N. I'll reply to say I've got it. If I don't reply within a day, it might mean I didn't get it, so please email me again to make sure. You can also bring a paper copy of the essay to my office, but let's be kind to the trees, OK? Email is better for the trees and for me.

Don't forget that you must reference every idea or quote you use that isn't your own idea. And the last page of your essay should be a list of all the books you used, in alphabetical order, not in the order you used them!

And lastly, make it easy for me to read! That means use a clear font. Arial is best, but Times New Roman is fine too. Not Comic Sans please! Size 12 font for the essay, and size 14 for the titles and subheadings. And use page numbers. Any questions?

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

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Worksheet78.64 KB

Language level

Average: 4.3 (38 votes)
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Profile picture for user CanVD11

Submitted by CanVD11 on Wed, 20/03/2024 - 14:25

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Discussion

What do you find difficult about writing essays?

Writing essays is always a challenge for me, and I believe writing essays is the most difficult task. It requires me to use correctly not only English grammar, and phrases but also vocabulary. Moreover, I think one of the most difficult sectors is developing ideas in the essay. You have to express your opinion, trying to explain and persuade the reader to make them clear particular problems, which requires you to have knowledge and experiences related to the writing topic which you can gain through reading books or newspapers, and long-term learning

Profile picture for user Stellayennipham

Submitted by Stellayennipham on Fri, 15/03/2024 - 14:21

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Discussion

What do you find difficult about writing essays?

I always find writing essays challenging in every phase. I struggle to come up with my own ideas, carry out research and reference under the rules,... but eventually every effort pays off.

Submitted by Jim34 on Mon, 29/01/2024 - 17:20

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What do you find difficult about writing essays? I love writing essays. I'm really good at writing, but the only thing I find difficult is referencing every book or page we use. For me, it's really boring and exhausting, but also really necessary.

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Submitted by alessandro.it on Wed, 17/01/2024 - 20:23

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I believe that essays are probably the most difficult piece of writing to do, because you have to express your opinion, that is the thesis, with coherence and trying to persuade the reader you are right. To make it believable, you need to do some research on books, articles or on the internet to expose other's ideas that are in agreement with yours or in contrast, and in the last case to show why it is wrong. This makes writes an essay challenging and gratifying if you reach the goal.

Submitted by DzhusAngela on Tue, 26/12/2023 - 10:48

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When I wrote a piece of writting I consider that the most difficult is looked for answer,because I wanted that this answer was my(from my hart).But often I liked use quote.I sometimes used order when I wrote essay.

Submitted by Kaung Myat Zaw on Thu, 14/12/2023 - 13:22

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I don't understand "let's be kind to the tree"....tree is the pronoun ?
Someone please explain me..

Hi Kaung Myat Zaw,

"Tree" is a noun. The teacher prefers to have the assignments digitally by email, not on paper. Since paper is made from trees, emailed assignments will use less paper, and protect the trees and the environment. That's why he says "let's be kind to the trees" - to encourage people not to use paper. As he says: "Email is better for the trees and for me."

I hope that helps to understand it.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

Submitted by arizonova on Thu, 23/11/2023 - 07:26

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I don't have enough practice in writing essays nowadays. When I was at school, essays had a different structure and different requirements. That's why it's a little bit difficult for me to create essays.

Submitted by Bella-Happy on Tue, 24/10/2023 - 06:47

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I feel so grateful to know this amazing website where I can practice every time to enhance my English skills. Thanks so much.

Submitted by pikanov on Thu, 19/10/2023 - 04:35

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I love writing, and I like to follow the essay competition. Writing makes me recall and sharpen my memory. Write and write until the last because writing is anti-aging for me.