At whatever level you are studying, it can sometimes be a struggle to produce an essay that ticks all the right boxes in terms of content, layout, style and argument. If you feel daunted by the task of producing your first piece of written work, or unsure whether your latest essay has answered the question, this checklist may be of some help.

1.Check the question/essay title – if it’s vague: define it!

This sounds obvious, but before you even begin to read around, plan or start to write your essay, be clear what the essay is asking you to consider. Often this is clearly specified, such as: “to what extent was Oliver Cromwell viewed as a hero or a villain?” Here, the question allows you to structure your reading around defined headings and develop a fairly straightforward line of argument.

However, a title such as “discuss the notion of the Victorian poetess” is much broader in its potential scope. A key tip I have learned here, is to turn the title into a definite question.

Whilst this may be difficult to do in the early stages it may help, as you start to read around the subject, to formulate a series of questions that reflect the major theme you might want to cover. An easy way to do this is to brainstorm as many possible elements as you can see and start to group these into related topics, turning each into a specific question. A large piece of paper and a set of post-it notes can be very useful, as can a ‘mind-map’, if you prefer.

This will help you decide how you are going to hone the topic, work out what you will need to read around, and establish the overall question you intend to address. Importantly, it will help you to establish what you WON’T be covering in your essay. So, as an example, the broad topic of the Victorian poetess above could be honed down to: “how does the work of the Victorian poetess differentiate itself from that of her male counterpart?” or, “to what extent does the work and life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning encapsulate the essence of the Victorian poetess?”

And once you have identified the specific question you are going to tackle, make sure you essay keeps referring back to the angle you have chosen.

2.Plan your route map

The key to a good essay, which takes the reader through a series of logically ordered facts and arguments, is a good skeleton structure – what I call “the route map”. This is where you start to put your sub-headings into a loose order and think about how you can sequence the eventual content of each major section. Importantly, it will also help you sequence and prioritise your reading. As you come across new points from your reading, which you may want to include in your essay, add these to your draft route map. In this way you can start to establish the line(s) of argument to be covered and you are less likely to stray into non-relevant territory.

3.Give yourself enough time

It’s easy to advise students not to leave writing the essay until the last minute, but in fact many people say they work better when they are getting close to a deadline. At the very least, get your initial route map drafted out, as it will help you focus your reading. It will also give you the confidence that, when you do finally put pen to paper, you have a logical structure and enough material to proceed.

I learnt this the hard way, reading around a fairly vague essay title for three weeks and discovered, three days before the deadline, that I hadn’t done the right reading to produce an essay and had run out of points half-way through. Whilst pressure works well for me, panic definitely doesn’t!

4. Starting to write – getting the introduction right

A good introduction should do two things. The first is to set the scene, putting the essay question/title into context. This might include some background information that relates the general topic to the actual question. The second is to explain how you will specifically address the question, giving an initial outline of the themes/sections you intend to include. This is particularly helpful to the reader (i.e. the person who will be marking your essay!), so that they know what to expect in terms of the focus of your writing. This is especially important if, as discussed earlier, the essay title is very broad in scope and if there are several different ways to tackle it.

Sometimes it is difficult to find the right opening sentence to set the essay moving. A tip I have found useful is to start with a pertinent quote from a relevant source. For example, if you are writing about a dramatist, a quote from the play might help. An extract from a relevant secondary source (i.e. someone who has written about your particular topic) may also be useful.

Some people suggest you should leave writing the introduction and the conclusion until you’ve completed the main body of the essay. Personally I’ve always suffered complete paralysis unless I have drafted out at least a rough introduction to get me moving in the right direction. Hopefully you will find out what process of essay writing works best for you fairly early on in your course.

5. The essay building-blocks

Once you have finished your reading and you have worked out a clearer route map, you should have a logical sequence of key sections. Within each section, draft out the order of points that form your argument, making sure that each of these relate back to, and help you answer, the essay question.

At the end of each section, remember to summarise your point and, importantly, relate this back to the essay question/title. This is sometimes called ‘signposting’. It’s where you are showing the reader you have finished your point and where you are emphasising the relevance of the content of the section in developing your overall answer.

Using appropriate link words, after each ‘signpost’ point, you can flow more comfortably into the next main section.

 

 

6. Your conclusion

Knowing how to round off an essay can be tricky. It’s an opportunity to pull together, in one place, the various points you’ve made, referring back to the question/title, and try to draw an overall view. Importantly, it’s not just about re-iterating what you’ve already said, but outlining your overall analysis of the key points. Try not to introduce lots of brand new information/argument, rather look on the conclusion as an opportunity to look back on your route map and comment on how this has addressed the question/title.

7. Citing sources and constructing your bibliography

It’s vital that you give credit to the work of other people, where you have used it. If you choose to include an argument or opinion outlined in reading material you have used make sure you cite that person as your source (either as a footnote or within the essay text, and include the page number). Some people feel it’s wrong to include lots of arguments from other writers. Personally I think the opposite is true, and that most tutors are looking for essays to demonstrate that the student has undertaken a breadth of reading around the subject.

Make sure any primary or secondary sources you have read and/or included in your essay are clearly set out in your Bibliography. I found it helpful to set this up as a separate page at the point where I began to write my essay, and added relevant works to it as I went along. This way I reduced the danger of forgetting to include anything.

8. Style

One of the common mistakes I have seen students make is to produce an essay that is strong on content and argument but weak on style. Remember that tutors often have to read 20-30 essays at a time. It will make it harder for them to assess your work if the layout is visually hard on the eyes, where sentences are over-long and where the key arguments have got lost in a sea of words.

So, keep sentences short and well punctuated. If you aren’t sure whether what you’ve just written is too long and, therefore losing the point of your argument, try this tip: inhale and start to read the sentence out loud; if you’ve run out of air well before the end of your sentence then it probably needs to be restructured!

The same point applies to paragraph length. Shorter paragraphs are easier on the reader’s eye, allowing them to literally see more clearly where you are summarising an argument and moving on to a new point.

Don’t forget to signpost at the end of each section – your tutor will be able to see that you still have the question/title in mind and can follow the flow of your argument with greater ease.

Most colleges/universities will give you advice on the preferred layout for an essay (e.g. headings, page numbering, spacing, etc.). Make sure you follow the rules and, above all, use your layout to make your work easy to read. Also remember that tutors have their own style preferences. For example, some are happy with the use of “I” in an essay (as in “in this section I intend to consider….”), others don’t. Obviously this will be a case of trial and error with each module you undertake, but if you are comfortable with a particular style (such as the use of “I”), check with your tutor that this is acceptable.

9. If you get bogged down

With all the planning/route-mapping/researching in the world it’s still possible for your essay to lose its way! Common problems include getting sidetracked by interesting facts or arguments but not being certain whether they add to the answer or take you wildly off course. Other problem is simple overflow of material or lack of logical sequencing.

Often, when you are so close to the essay (physically and mentally!) it’s hard to be objective, take a step back and see what needs to be changed, taken out or added in. A good tip is to take a short break, come back to your work and, with a blank piece of paper beside you, start to read your essay. As you read, summarise the purpose of each paragraph in one word or phrase, and write it on the blank paper until you have compiled a list.

Look at the list, with your essay question in mind, and see if anything looks out of place in terms of the logical flow. Ask yourself whether each word/phrase helps you answer the question or whether it’s interesting but irrelevant. This can help you decide what to re-order or what to cut!

If you still aren’t sure, ask someone else to read through your work and give you some feedback. They don’t have to be an expert in your subject – a friend, fellow student or family member can be just as helpful in telling you whether your essay follows a logical route, whether your arguments are clearly made or where you seem to have strayed from the question.

Some universities also offer an essay reading service (often undertaken by post-graduate students from you department) and course tutors will often be willing to look over your essay plan even if they won’t look at your final essay draft (again, this will sometimes depend on the tutor rather than any hard and fast rule).

10. And finally…check your work!

Make sure you leave enough time before the deadline to check your work thoroughly – you’ll get no extra marks for typing errors or a poor layout! Don’t rely solely on your computer’s ‘spell-check’ facility to identify all the minor errors – if you’ve accidentally typed the wrong word, but it’s spelt correctly, the computer won’t always highlight the error.

Some people find it helpful to print their essay before undergoing a final check, as errors are sometimes easier to spot on paper than on screen. You might also ask someone else to read it through – a fresh pair of eyes can often spot a mistake that you’ve missed. (An obvious one is to check that secondary references or, say, characters from a novel, have been spelt correctly!)

As you read through, make sure that you have answered the question, that your introduction clearly sets out your proposed approach/scope and that your essay does indeed follow your plan. 

Finally, if you are still struggling with a particularly tricky topic, or feel you need some extra help, contact us! We absolutely, positively, DO NOT write essays for other people, but we might be able to offer you one-to-one advice on how to improve your approach, from the planning through to the writing.

Please remember that the points I’ve made here are simply my own ideas based on my time as a student and on my experience of supporting other students. If you have any additional tips or advice that you think might help Estudia members please get in touch.