How to Write Environmental Studies and Forestry Essay Successfully: Expert Guide

Writing guide
Posted on January 17, 2019

Introduction to the Topic

The writing of various essays accompanies each student almost throughout the entire course of studies at the college and university and is an indispensable tool for consolidating and developing the knowledge gained during the educational process. An essay can have many goals, but its basic structure remains unchanged. You can write an essay in order to justify some point of view or explain the steps that should be taken to perform a specific task. If you follow several simple steps, you will see that writing an essay takes place almost in itself, and this process causes no difficulties. You will just need to insert ideas, which are the most important part of an essay. So, an important part of such work is strict adherence to an appropriate instruction. One version of such a document is this manual.

What Is Environmental Studies and Forestry Essay?

At each stage of learning, you study a variety of topics related to environmental issues and forestry. The natural is the fact that the theory stated in textbooks is not enough for a full understanding and consolidation of the material. In addition, you will probably want to explore some topics deeper and in more detail or put on paper your own thoughts on the work that has already been done. In a general sense, this is an essay that is an author’s composition written with the use of primary and secondary sources, as well as research articles and additional materials. As a rule, it has a rather free structure and is not big by a number of words. In particular, environmental science and forestry essay is characterized by several features. For example, it must necessarily indicate a specific topic or question that you have been studied or are currently taking in the course of environmental studies and forestry. The essay cannot simultaneously include several thematic ideas that do not overlap. Also, the content of such a paper is used to assess the author’s personality primarily, that is, his/her worldview, thoughts, and feelings, despite the fact that the use of additional literature and research works of other writers is often necessary. In general, environmental science and forestry essay on a particular topic can be classified in the following areas:

  • descriptive,
  • narrative,
  • critical,
  • reflexive,
  • analytical, and so on.

The choice of direction will depend on the topic of the essay and the requirements set by the instructor.

Tips on Preliminary Notes: Meet Effective Note Taking Methods

Preliminary notes play an important role in preparation for writing environmental studies and forestry essay. It is the first point that you should remember as soon as you begin to learn a new topic. Preliminary notes are a versatile tool that will help you to overcome any barriers and difficulties with ease while writing an essay. In this regard, if you start to consider another topic on environmental studies and forestry, you should simultaneously keep a brief record.

What is the meaning of these notes and what benefit do they have in themselves?
The main role of preliminary notes is the creation of a mini-summary of the topic under study. They are one of the cheat sheet options that you can open at any time to refresh your memory and remember the key points.

With the help of preliminary records, you can select those topics that interest you most or those that you consider important. Most likely, we can say that they can be used later in writing your environmental studies and forestry essay. For example, when studying forest ecology, you can focus on the unique ecological processes taking place in the forest zone.

You can conduct preliminary notes using a specific structure in order to systematize your knowledge or highlight specific topics. For example, you can conditionally divide your notebook into several sections: environment, environmental issues, problems and opportunities in the field of forestry, environment, and development, and so on. This structuring will help you to make entries in the desired section and then use the recorded key points depending on the topic of the essay.

In the preliminary notes, you can state the conclusions for each topic covered, which is a necessary action for the subsequent presentation of them in the essay.

Finally, the preliminary records are a huge platform for presenting your own opinions on the topic studied, your vision of the situation, the options for solving it, or other authorial information. For example, you heard the following statement: ensuring timely, reliable and accurate information on forests and forest systems is critical for raising public awareness and making informed decisions and therefore should be encouraged. At this point, you may wonder what information systems in the field of environmental studies and forestry can be the most optimal, affordable and realizable? In the future, you can explore this question further and include it in your essay.

How do I make preliminary notes properly?

  • When attending classes, you should always have at hand any recording tool, such as a notebook, or a laptop PC. Do not rely on your memory, as you can miss important moments.
  • Take notes on each topic, so either of them can serve you like an essay base.
  • Do not write a lot. Preliminary notes should be kept in the form of key points and brief records.

Selecting a Topic for the Environmental Studies and Forestry Essay

First of all, it is necessary to understand that there are two ways of choosing a topic. Namely, the instructor either gives you a specific topic or suggests you choose it yourself. If you do not have the right to choose a topic on your own, then you should consider the following features:

  • You need to understand what kind of work the instructor expects to see – a review, an in-depth analysis, a critical essay, or something else;
  • Depending on the classification of the essay, you should be convinced of the specifics of the topic;
  • It is important to know whether the essay should be your personal response or reflection on a specific topic, or you should use additional literature and previous studies;
  • Direct choice of the topic (if the instructor did not explicitly indicate it) should be conducted as follows:
    • Use your preliminary notes to remember everything that you have studied on this topic;
    • Review your records that reflect your interest in a particular area of environmental studies and forestry;
    • Correctly formulate your theme and specify it.
  • A mandatory item is your sincere interest in the chosen topic. Otherwise, the result of your work will be a boring and inexpressive review.

Example of choosing a topic
Let’s say that within a month (a week, a few days, and so on) you studied the following topics:

  • General Introduction to Environmental Studies and Forestry;
  • National Policy in the Field of Forest Resources;
  • Aspects of Environmental Protection;
  • Types of Forests;
  • Rational Use of Forest Resources.

In addition to the names of these topics, you have preliminary entries that reflect the characteristics of each of these areas. That is, by studying the listed variations, you marked those that were most interesting for you and recorded any of your reflections or more narrow questions. For example, non-waste technologies of wood processing. In this regard, your final topic may be the following option: Rational Use of Forest Resources on the Example of Non-Waste Technologies of Wood Processing.

Key Points of Environmental Studies and Forestry Essay

If you want your essay to turn out to be logically built, interesting and reflect the selected topic consistently, then it should include the three basic points – the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion.

  • Introduction. The introduction should be formulated in such a way as to attract the reader’s attention and give a clue of the basic idea of your environmental studies and forestry essay. It is better to start with something that immediately draws attention or accentuates the relevance of the issue under consideration. In the same section, you can point out the subject matter of the topic, explain why it is being considered, and give a brief summary of the problem under study. A mandatory part of the introduction is the thesis statement, which (unless the essay has its unique structure) should be delivered in the last sentence of this section. It involves a short text, in which the author sets out his/her main idea or assumption, which he/she will support throughout the paper. For example, non-waste technologies for processing wood can significantly reduce deforestation and contribute to the recovery of forests.
  • The main body. In the main part of the environmental studies and forestry essay, all preparation comes to a climax. Now you must explain and describe the topic that you have chosen, as well as give all the necessary justifications and evidence. One of the components that will help you to perform this task is your preliminary records. You can start by reviewing the literature on the selected topic (if your environmental studies and forestry essay is not a free composition). For this purpose, explore a variety of studies that have been conducted on the question that interest you, or literature that describes the main ideas and characteristics that support your thesis. Summarize the reviewed work in a few words and refer to its author. Next, you may consider the key issues which relate to your topic in a logical sequence. For example, what is meant by forest resources, what are the problems in this area, what is meant by “rational use,” what methods of rational use are relevant for today, what technologies are used, and so on. Finally, describe the non-waste technologies of wood processing and its benefits. Each key point must be confirmed by evidence and citations of authors who support your findings.
  • Conclusion. Conclusion creates a sense of completeness. It summarizes thoughts or gives a final look at your topic. An integral part is the confirmation (or refutation) of the thesis stated at the beginning of the paper. For example, in this regard, the use of non-waste technologies of wood processing indeed minimizes the damage caused to forestry and improves the ecological background. All the rest that is necessary for the conclusion is three or four strong sentences, and it is not necessary that they correspond to any specific structure. Just give an overview of the main thoughts (try to change the wording a little, and not copy them from the body text of the essay) or briefly describe your feelings about the topic. Even some story may be useful for completing your environmental studies and forestry essay.

Writing and Post-Writing Tips from Our Writers

While writing your environmental studies and forestry essay, it is recommended to observe the following tips:

Check the sequence of paragraphs. Read them. Which one is the strongest? Perhaps it would be a good idea to start with the strongest paragraph, finish the text with the second strongest, and insert the weakest paragraph in the middle. Whichever sequence you choose, make sure that it is logical. If your environmental studies and forestry essay describes the process, then most likely you will need to adhere to the steps (sequence) that make up this process.

  • Check the instructions for the assignment, namely, whether you have included all the necessary information, whether you answered the question asked, and so on.
  • Be sure to check your essay for spelling, the presence of errors, and the correctness of citations.
  • Proofread the test written. Are there any weaknesses in the essay? Are its sentences smoothly flowing into each other?

In conclusion, it is possible to say that the writing of environmental studies and forestry essay contributes to the development of creative and analytical thinking, the ability to present thoughts correctly, and the thinking process in general. Practice in this area, and this will help you to learn how to formulate your words properly, highlight the cause-effect relationships and support your arguments with appropriate evidence and examples from practice!

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