The Economics of Internet Search Note on How to write a good essay (1) •?The first step to write a satisfactory essay is to study the essay topic and questions carefully. You need, first and foremost, to locate the key concepts in the questions, and try to understand what they mean. •?A key concept in the first question is monopoly. In economics, monopoly has a very specific meaning; it refers to a market structure where only one firm operate. A possible example is Microsoft. The company is the sole producer of the Windows Operating Systems, and is usually considered to be a Monopoly. You need to consult some elementary microeconomics textbook, such as Parkin et al (Chapter 12) or Varian’s Intermediate Microeconomics (Chapter 24) to learn about monopoly. We also discus the topic in some details in a few weeks time. •?There are several issues about monopoly that are relevant to your essay: (1) the conditions that define a monopoly – the key features of a monopoly; (2) the causes or determinants of a monopoly; (3) the consequences of a monopoly; and (4) possible policies for countering monopoly power. Knowledge of these will strongly help you to come up with a good essay. •?The textbooks usually point to two features defining a monopoly: o (1) the firm produces a good with no close substitute (e.g., windows) o (2) there are barriers to entry into the market (e.g., Microsoft owns the patent for windows, and no other firm can legally produce it.). •?When you understand the key features that define a monopoly and the determinants of a monopoly, you need to decide whether the conditions apply to eBay and Google. Here, it is essential to try to be both innovative and critical to come up with a good answer. Quite importantly, you need to do your best to justify your position. A good argument (analysis) about whether or not the monopoly conditions apply to eBay and Google will be quite rewarding. •?There is already quite a good deal of literature on whether Microsoft is a monopoly or not. A useful way to answer the first part of the question on eBay and Google is to read one or two papers on whether Microsoft is a monopoly, and apply the reasoning to the current case (eBay and Google). Economics of Internet search enginesThe Economics of Internet Search Note on How to write a good essay (2) •?This notes aims to explain how you should organize your essay or what shape a satisfactory essay should take. •?A well-structured essay has four key parts. They include: (1) Introduction, (2) The main part, (3) Conclusion, and (4) Bibliography. •?In the introduction, you will discuss the question and, more importantly, explain what steps you take to answer it. In the current case, you may say, for example, the following: I will organize the discussion as follow: First, I will explain the concept of monopoly, possible determinants of a monopoly, and economic consequences of a monopoly. Second, I will introduce the two companies – eBay and Google, their products, and their market operations. Third, I will try to find out whether the conditions defining a monopoly apply to these companies, and what the differences between eBay and Google are. Having done this, I will try to discus possible policies that the government can take to regulate the market for internet search, and make it more efficient. Finally, I conclude the paper by highlighting my key points. So, in a sense, in the introduction you describe the plan of your journey – how you want to start your essay, how you want to structure your analysis, and how you want to end it. The above paragraph may not be exactly what you want to do but you need to have something similar in the introduction to your University essays. •?The main part of your essay should deal with the question. Basically, you need to break the question into smaller parts, and answer them bit by bit – similar in the way mentioned in the above paragraph which describes your journey. In the current case, there are four parts to your essay topic, and the main part of your essay can be divided in four parts, each devoting to a single question. To put it differently, there should be four subsections in the main part of your essay. Try to choose some titles for each part – say, call the first part: The Key Features of a Monopoly. •?The concluding part of the essay (Conclusion), in a sense, summarizes your essay, and highlights your key judgments and results. It is always essential to end your essay with a concluding part. By trying to write a conclusion, you are forced to summarize your discussion, and note whether they make sense. There is no need at all to have some thing new in the concluding part. A highlight of the key results would be adequate. People usually first look at the introduction and conclusion of a paper, and then decide whether to read it or not. •?It is essential to end your essay with a bibliography,