Rhetorical functions in academic writing: Defining

The process of writing an essay

Understanding Essay Questions

Lecturers often tell students that they do not want to know their opinion. But when the student hands a piece of work in, the lecturers say things such as: you haven’t answered the question, you’ve only summarised facts, what are you trying to say? etc. We need to make a distinction between a student’s uniformed, unsubstantiated opinion and the conclusions that they themselves have come to from their reading and research, what we can call their voice. This must be made clear in their writing.