Essay Guidelines

In response to Associate 2 levels of table headers with content, this page looks at different ways to markup up a complex table.

Original Table

Here is the solution which the topic starter proposed.

Components of an Essay
Component	Purpose	Description
Title	Asks the question(s); describes the two areas or issues to be discussed	Usually set by the course team. Contains key words about content and process.
Introduction	The issue under discussion is spelled out.	Introduces the issues to be discussed. Gives essential background information. Focuses on and perhaps defines the key words Gives a list or a route map of what is to follow
Main Body	Arguments for -	The points to support the case should be backed by evidence, with a new paragraph or section for each point.
Main Body	Arguments against -	The points against the case should be backed by evidence, with a new paragraph or section for each point.
Conclusions	Conclusion or summary	Your answer to the question. Includes reference to the issue in the title and a summary of how the points in the body of the essay have made a case both for and against the argument. It may be appropriate to come down in favour of one side of the argument

Using Headings 1

My rule of thumb is if you’re putting multiple complete sentences in table cells, it's not really a data table. If you’re putting block-level markup structures like <ul> in table cells, something’s not right!

I would tend to do this using headings, as below. I’m starting at <h3> so the document outline for this page remains logical. The actual page might start at a different level.

Components of an Essay

Title

Purpose: Asks the question(s); describes the two areas or issues to be discussed.
Description: Usually set by the course team. Contains key words about content and process.

Introduction

Purpose: The issue under discussion is spelled out.
Description: Introduces the issues to be discussed.; Gives essential background information.; Focuses on and perhaps defines the key words.; Gives a list or a route map of what is to follow.

Main Body

Arguments For

Description: The points to support the case should be backed by evidence, with a new paragraph or section for each point.

Arguments Against

Description: The points against the case should be backed by evidence, with a new paragraph or section for each point.

Conclusions

Purpose: Conclusion or summary.
Description: Your answer to the question. Includes reference to the issue in the title and a summary of how the points in the body of the essay have made a case both for and against the argument. It may be appropriate to come down in favour of one side of the argument.

Using Headings 2

I think the problems with the previous examples go beyond the markup to the actual content. Describing the purpose of the conclusion component as being “conclusion or summary” just so it has one illustrates this well, imho.

I suspect this is because the author tailored their content to the markup structure they had in mind (a table). The better practise is to tailor the markup to the content. Then maybe give them both a wiggle to make up for the gaps in HTML.

Here’s my attempt to write the content in a more natural way and then mark up what I wrote. Again, I’m starting at <h3> so the document outline for this page remains logical.

Components of an Essay

Title

Asks the question(s).
Describes the two areas or issues to be discussed.
Usually set by the course team.
Contains key words about content and process.

Introduction

The issue under discussion is spelled out here:

Introduces the issues to be discussed.
Gives essential background information.
Focuses on and perhaps defines the key words.
Gives a list or a route map of what is to follow.

Main Body

Consists of two sections:

Arguments For
Arguments Against

Each section, the points should be backed by evidence. A new paragraph or section should be used for each point.

Conclusions

Your answer to the question. Includes:

A reference to the issue in the title.
A summary of how the points in the body of the essay have made a case both for and against the argument.

It may be appropriate to come down in favour of one side of the argument.

Conclusion

Erm, there isn’t one really! Just that there are lots of ways to mark things up, especially if you are prepared to wiggle your content a little. Quite which approach is best is anyone’s guess...I’d probably side with the Using Headings 2 example.