Essays Cover Image

Essays

by eNotes

Start Free Trial

Editor's Choice

How do you approach the Preface, Acknowledgement, Bibliography, and Introduction in a long essay?

Quick answer:

In a long essay, the Preface is a short personal essay explaining your motivation and context for writing, usually in book-length works. The Acknowledgements section thanks those who assisted you, often required if you received institutional support. The Introduction briefly outlines the project's scope, approach, and relation to existing research. The Bibliography lists all sources consulted, adhering to the required citation style, such as APA or MLA, and appears at the end of the essay.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Longer writing projects are usually divided up into chapters and include what are known as front matter and back matter as well as the main body of the text. The length of each depends on the size of a project, longer in the case of a book or dissertation, and shorter in the case of a journal article or MA thesis.

Preface: This is usually a short personal essay describing why you wrote the work and how it fits into the genre or discipline it engages. It is present in most book-length works and in MA or PhD theses, but not in shorter works. 

Acknowledgements: The purpose of acknowledgements is to thank people or institutions who helped you in your work. Often, if you were supported by grants or institutional funds, you are legally obliged to acknowledge the support. In journal articles, acknowledgements can be placed as the first footnote, and in most scholarly books they form the final section of the Preface.

Introduction: An introduction summarizes in brief  the entire project, describing what it covers, how it approaches the topic, and how it is situated with respect to other work in the area.

Bibliography: Appears at the end of a project, and often goes beyond a mere works cited list to include other works you have consulted in your research.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles
A preface is usually pretty brief, I'd say about a page for a project. Think of it as an introduction. Since you also need an introduction, it's a very brief introduction and the introduction itself would be a few pages. The acknowledgement is your chance to thank people who helped you. The bibliography format depends on your teacher. You need to know if you're to use APA or MLA.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial