Writing an essay in anthropology is an exercise in juggling ideas about human behavior, humanity, cultures, human biology, linguistics, societies, and many other issues. In order to get a good mark, you have to make sure that your essay, book review, research paper, or any other project is original and includes a serious attempt to relate your current knowledge to the existing anthropological principles.
Your number one task here is to identify the question that you have to answer in your work. Typically, you have a chance to choose between two issues: your own interests in the field and college topic requirements.
When dealing with an introductory section, write your question and let your readers know how exactly you’re going to provide a proper answer for it. As you move to the body of the anthropological essay, you have to discuss all the key points that were raised within your question. Finally, your conclusion is a summary of the answer that was given to the question under study.
Write the First Draft
When working at this stage, keep in mind that you’re writing for yourself. There’s no need to be too critical about the quality of your prose, and all the mistakes should be skipped for now. Just ensure to put all of your ideas on a piece of paper and explore them critically later.
Choose the most comfortable way to start the writing process but never begin it with the introductory paragraph. As a rule, writing an intro goes last when you’re done with the body of the essay and all of the ideas are listed reaching the logical conclusion. Besides, the introductory section is like a road map for your target audience – it informs them of where they’re going to travel next in your text.
Paragraphing Is a Must
While many college and university students believe that paragraphing an essay in anthropology just makes their writing more attractive, it actually breaks it into manageable sections. Each of your paragraphs must have a topic sentence placed where the paragraph starts. As a rule, a topic sentence is the first sentence of the paragraph. Keep in mind that it has three main functions:
- to let your readers know what the paragraph is going to be about;
- to serve as a connection between what was said before and the issue you discuss in the paragraph;
- to inform the target audience on everything that should be written in the paragraph (all the unrelated issues must be crossed out).
Consider Your Target Audience
As a rule, college anthropology essay targets a general audience. While some of your readers may happen to be anthropologists, the majority of them aren’t. For that reason, as you wonder how to write an anthropology essay, ensure to consider your audience as a group of people that are intelligent but lack knowledge in your field of study. Keep in mind that even an expert in your area may not necessarily know your particular sub-field, the study sites, or the jargon that you use. That is why your work should be full of in-depth insights, offering new perspectives and information even to the most skillful anthropologists. However, your essay also must include some basic background information and context in order to provide every reader with a chance to follow along with ease.
Include Counterpoint(s)
If the viewpoint that you include in your anthropology essay is contentious, do not hesitate to admit that. It is important to let your target audience know if there’s anyone out there disagreeing with you and why. Include your counterarguments in order to make your work more credible. In case your point of view stands against what the majority of readers tend to think, ensure to acknowledge that. Take your time to anticipate potential reactions and learn to deal with each.
The Conclusion
The concluding part is the section where you briefly sum up the topic of your essay and point out the key points of your argument. As it has been already mentioned, you have to present an answer to the question under study. It is the conclusion that includes the final answer to it and its assessment. A logically organized conclusion is your last chance to prove that the previous sections of your work are both coherent and truthful when it comes to answering the paper question. Impress your readers with an effective and thought-provoking conclusion.
Finally, don’t forget to proofread your essay in anthropology in order to fix all the spelling, grammar, and other mistakes. Re-check all the terms that you used in your work by consulting anthropology dictionaries like AnthroBase.com. Thus, you will be sure all the concepts were interpreted properly.
