Disagree. When I was writing essays for my MBA, I formed the opinion, searched for journal articles whose extracts agreed with my opinion, and cited them. I don't think I read a single article or researched a single topic.
Essay-writing is about jumping through hoops; working out what the lecturer expects to see and then giving it to them. Admittedly that is also a skill required in every knowledge job (replace "lecturer" with "boss"), but I think there are better ways to teach this.
Essay-writing is about jumping through hoops; working out what the lecturer expects to see and then giving it to them. Admittedly that is also a skill required in every knowledge job (replace "lecturer" with "boss"), but I think there are better ways to teach this.