The 2nd year
tutorial essay has to be written and handed in by the end of the
autumn term. You should allow time for researching into the
material. Good essays generally contain material not found in
standard texts.
The main purpose of this assignment is an exercise in scientific communication. The essay should be of the style of a Scientific American or New Scientist article.
You should have a "story" to tell. In other words, it is not just a book report. It should convey why you think the topic is interesting for the reader to read about.
The subject is for you to choose. It should be about physics of course! Typically, people choose to write about something of recent interest, for example, something you have read in a popular science magazine or in the papers. You can also look at recent Nobel Prizes. The Nobel website has good background articles on the science and further links.
Here are some useful links:
When you plan the article, make sure that you have the structure of the essay in mind. By this, I do not mean just the physical layout and section headings. It is also important to think about you would present your arguments or describe a complicated set of facts. The essay, as a whole, should have logical or narrative coherence.
You should be able to demonstrate some understanding of the physics behind the facts. This should be qualitative. We don't need pages of equations, but a few simple equations central to the discussion are OK. (You can always put technical details in an Appendix.)
Some people like to pick topics with a philosophical angle, eg "time travel", "can physics explain consciousness?" etc. I should warn you that these topics are typically very hard to write about. The arguments are more convincing if you have concrete examples to back up what you say.
The essay is a chance to find out about the cutting edge of science and technology. Enjoy!