Writing Economics Essays

Abstract

It is not by chance that essay writing is so prevalent in higher education. The reason is that it serves several functions. Here we will just mention four:

• 1. In the first place, it is a convenient way of assessing students’ knowledge and skills in many subject areas; hence if you master the techniques of writing economics essays, with only a little variation you will be able to write good essays in other subjects. That is because economics essays require skills such as the ability to organise knowledge and to write clearly.

• 2. From the student’s point of view they are a good way to internalise knowledge. That is because they make you think about the topic and organise your thoughts. This is a good way to really understand.

• 3. Next they help you develop the capacity for rational argument. This is particularly important in economics where students have to assess the strengths and weaknesses of competing approaches, for example, assessing the appropriateness of a government’s competition policy.

• 4. A fourth function of essay writing is that it generates feedback. In secondary school, pupils often have to complete pieces of work very frequently; with age the frequency diminishes and in higher education you may only have one or two pieces of work a term. So, you may not know how you are doing until you have to write an essay.