Essay planning Archives

A plan for writing essays

August 22, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. Approach
Essays can be composed using a number of different writing strategies. Some people write directly from rough notes, whilst others prefer a ‘discovery’ method. If you are in any doubt at all, you should plan your work. The task of writing is usually much easier if you create an outline structure for your arguments, with brief details of the topics to be covered. The stages of this process are as follows.

2. Analyse the question
Make sure that you understand what an essay question is asking for. What is it giving you the chance to write about? What is its central issue? Note carefully any of its key terms and any instructions. Think about the question, turning it over in your mind. Discuss it if possible with your fellow students. If you are in any doubt, ask your tutor to explain what is required.

3. Generate ideas
Take a sheet of paper and make a brief note of any topics that might be used for an answer. These can be ideas, observations, or information from your study materials. These topics will be used to make a plan. Don’t copy out chunks of texts. Use brief notes or even single word triggers. Write down anything you think of at this stage. Your objective is to generate ideas, to assemble a stock of potential material from which you will pick out the most appropriate items.

4. Choose topics
Take another sheet of paper. Extract from your list all those topics and points of argument which are of greatest relevance to the question and its central issue. You are simply picking out the best material. If it is possible, put your ideas in any logical groups or categories. If anything strikes you as irrelevant to the subject in question, throw it out.

5. Reading and research
Whilst writing essays, you will probably be engaged in reading or research in the subject. This will help you to provide information for an answer. Your reading will be more carefully directed if you have narrowed down the topics you need to cover in your response to a question. This is why it is important to think about the issues involved as a form of preliminary work on the question.

6. Selection
Select items on the strength of their relevance to the question. This may not be an easy judgement to make. Keep asking yourself – “Is this directly related to the subject? Will it answer the question?” You might have three categories of selection. One is a definite “Yes – this relevant”. The second could be like a ‘Pending’ tray containing items which might be used later. The third is a dustbin into which the completely unrelated material is thrown for good.

7. Create order
Take yet another sheet of paper. Try to arrange your chosen topics and material in some sort of order. At this stage you should be starting to formulate your basic response to the question. Organise the points so that they form a persuasive and coherent pattern or argument. Some subjects will lend themselves more easily to the creation of this order than others. In some, such as appreciation of the arts, there may be no set pattern and one must be created. In some of the sciences, there may be a standard form of report which must be followed. This is probably the hardest part of essay planning at a conceptual level.

8. Arrange evidence
Most of the major points in your argument will need to be supported by evidence. One purpose of the essay task is to show that you have read widely in your subject and considered the opinions of others. In some subjects you may actually need proof to support your arguments. During the process of study you have probably been assembling notes and references for just such a purpose. If not, this is the time to do so. On another sheet of paper you might compile a list of brief quotations from other sources (don’t forget the page references) which will be offered as your evidence.

9. Material
Don’t worry too much if you have surplus evidence after completing this stage. This is perfectly normal. You can pick out the best from what is available. If on the other hand you don’t have enough, you should do more background reading or engage with the subject once again. Take some more notes or generate new ideas as material to work on.

10. Make changes
Whilst you have been engaged in the first stages of planning, new ideas may have come to mind. Alternate sources of evidence may have occurred to you, or the line of your argument may have shifted somewhat. Be prepared at this stage to rearrange your plan so that it incorporates any new materials. Try out different arrangements of your topics until they form the most convincing and logical sequence.

11. Make plan
Most essay plans can be summarised in this form:

Introduction
Arguments
Conclusion

State your case as briefly and as directly as possible. Next, present your arguments and your evidence in the body of the essay, explaining their relevance to the original question. Finally, draw together the points of your arguments and try to lift them to a higher level in your conclusion. Your final plan may be something like a list of half a dozen to ten major points of argument. Each of these, together with their supporting evidence, will be expanded to a paragraph of something around 100-200 words. This is the heart of essay planning.

12. First draft
You are now ready to produce the first draft of the essay. Don’t imagine that you are supposed to produce an accomplished piece of writing at one sitting. These will be your first thoughts and your initial attempts at answering the question. Later drafts can be improved by re-writing. You will be matching your evidence to what is required. You do not necessarily need to start at the introduction and work systematically towards your conclusion: it may be better to start working where you feel most comfortable.

13. Relevance
At all stages of essay writing, you should keep the question in mind. Keep asking yourself “Is this evidence directly relevant to the topic I have been asked to discuss?” If necessary, be prepared to scrap your first attempts and formulate new arguments. This may seem painful, but it will be much easier than scrapping finished essays.

14. Paragraphs
A good tip on relevance is to check that the opening statement of each major paragraph is directly related to the question. The first sentence (which is sometimes called the topic sentence’) should be a direct response to what you have been asked. It might be an example to illustrate your answer, or a major point of your argument on the subject in question. If it is not, something may be wrong.

15. Revising the draft
Your first draft is the basic material from which you will be building the finished product. Be prepared to re-write it in whatever way is necessary. If it is too short, generate more arguments. If it is too long, cut out the less relevant parts. If it doesn’t seem convincing, consider putting its arguments in a different order. You might begin to tidy up the grammar and style at this stage.

16. Multiple drafts
The number of drafts you make will depend upon the time you have available (and possibly the importance of the piece of work). It is very useful to take your work through a number of drafts, re-writing where necessary. In the majority of cases, this will improve the quality of what you produce.

17. Editing
Before actually submitting the piece of work, you should take it through at least one stage of rigorous presentation of your work will enhance its effectiveness. Create a neat, legible text; double-space your paragraphs and leave wide margins to ‘frame’ what you have written. Take pride in the work you produce. Keep essays in a loose-leaf folder or a document wallet. Alternatively, use one of the plastic envelopes which are now increasingly popular. Remember that your essays will be of critical importance during the period of revising for examinations.

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Essay plans

September 16, 2009 by Roy Johnson

creating firm structure and clear argument

1. Essay plans
You can approach the composition of an essay using a number of different writing strategies. Some people like to start writing and wait to see what develops. Others work up scraps of ideas until they perceive a shape emerging. However, if you are in any doubt at all, it’s a good idea to create essay plans for your work. The task of writing is usually much easier if you create a set of notes which outline the points you are going to make. Using this approach, you will create a basic structure on which your ideas can be built.

2. Planning techniques
This is a part of the essay-writing process which is best carried out using plenty of scrap paper. Get used to the idea of shaping and re-shaping your ideas before you start writing, editing and rearranging your arguments as you give them more thought. Planning on-screen using a word-processor is possible, but it’s a fairly advanced technique.

3. Analyse the question
Make sure you understand what the question is asking for. What is it giving you the chance to write about? What is its central issue? Analyse any of its key terms and any instructions. If you are in any doubt, ask your tutor to explain what is required.

4. Generate ideas
You need to assemble ideas for the essay. On a first sheet of paper, make a note of anything which might be relevant to your answer. These might be topics, ideas, observations, or instances from your study materials. Put down anything you think of at this stage.

5. Choosing topics
On a second sheet of paper, extract from your brainstorm listings those topics and points of argument which are of greatest relevance to the question and its central issue. Throw out anything which cannot be directly related to the essay question.

6. Put topics in order
On a third sheet of paper, put these chosen topics in some logical sequence. At this stage you should be formulating a basic response to the question, even if it is provisional and may later be changed. Try to arrange the points so that they form a persuasive and coherent argument.

7. Arrange your evidence
All the major points in your argument need to be supported by some sort of evidence. On any further sheets of paper, compile a list of brief quotations from other sources (together with page references) which will be offered as your evidence.

8. Make necessary changes
Whilst you have been engaged in the first stages of planning, new ideas may have come to mind. Alternate evidence may have occurred to you, or the line of your argument may have shifted somewhat. Be prepared at this stage to rearrange your plan so that it incorporates any of these new materials or ideas. Try out different arrangements of your essay topics until you are sure they form the most convincing and logical sequence.

9. Finalise essay plan
The structure of most essay plans can be summarised as follows:

Introduction
Arguments
Conclusion

State your case as briefly and rapidly as possible, present the evidence for this case in the body of your essay, then sum up and try to ‘lift’ the argument to a higher level in your conclusion. Your final plan should be something like a list of half a dozen to ten major points of argument. Each one of these points will be expanded to a paragraph of something around 100-200 words minimum in length.

10. Relevance
At all stages of essay planning, and even when writing the essay, you should keep the question in mind. Keep asking yourself ‘Is this evidence directly relevant to the topic I have been asked to discuss?‘ If in doubt, be prepared to scrap plans and formulate new ones – which is much easier than scrapping finished essays. At all times aim for clarity and logic in your argument.

11.Example
What follows is an example of an outline plan drawn up in note form. It is in response to the question ‘Do you think that depictions of sex and violence in the media should or should not be more heavily censored?‘. [It is worth studying the plan in its entirety. Take note of its internal structure.]

Sample essay plan

Question

‘Do you think that depictions of sex and violence in the media should or should not be more heavily censored?‘

Introduction

Sex, violence, and censorship all emotive subjects

Case against censorship

1. Aesthetic: inhibits artistic talent, distorts art and truth.

2. Individual judgement: individuals have the right to decide for
themselves what they watch or read. Similarly, nobody has the right to make up someone else’s mind.

3. Violence and sex as catharsis (release from tension): portrayal of these subjects can release tension through this kind of experience at ‘second hand’.

4. Violence can deter: certain films can show violence which
reinforces opposition to it, e.g. – A Clockwork Orange, All Quiet on the Western Front.

5. Censorship makes sex dirty: we are too repressed about this
subject, and censorship sustains the harmful mystery which has surrounded us for so long.

6. Politically dangerous: Censorship in one area can lead to it
being extended to others – e.g., political ideas.

7. Impractical: Who decides? How is it to be done? Is it not
impossible to be ‘correct’? Any decision has to be arbitrary

Case for censorship

1. Sex is private and precious: it should not be demeaned by
representations of it in public.

2. Sex can be offensive: some people may find it so and should not have to risk being exposed to what they would find pornographic.

3. Corruption can be progressive: can begin with sex and continue until all ‘decent values’ are eventually destroyed.

4. Participants might be corrupted: especially true of young
children.

5. Violence can encourage imitation: by displaying violence – even while condemning it -it can be legitimised and can also encourage
imitation amongst a dangerous minority.

6. Violence is often glorified: encourages callous attitudes.

Conclusion

Case against censorship much stronger. No necessary connection between the two topics.

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Structure in essay plans

August 25, 2009 by Roy Johnson

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1. The structure of a piece of writing is the (sometimes underlying) order of its parts. Good structure usually means that a persuasive or logical sequence of these parts has been created. This is often best established by creating the structure in essay plans.

2. The basic structure of most essays can be very simple:

Introduction
Argument(s)
Conclusion

3. Provided that the individual topics of your argument(s) are arranged in a clear and meaningful order, this basic model should create a firm structure.

4. The order of the parts is often determined by the nature of the subject in question. This order might be created by:

logical progression
increasing significance
equal significance
chronological order
narrative sequence
category groupings

Arranging the parts

5. Imagine you were writing an essay about French wine. You have decided to discuss four red wines and four white wines. The structure for this essay is created by diving the examples into white wines and red wines – as shown here.

Introduction

Part One – Red wines
* wine 1
* wine 2
* wine 3
* wine 4

Part Two – White wines
* wine 1
* wine 2
* wine 3
* wine 4

Conclusion

6. This is clear, simple, and uncomplicated. But you could also create a slightly more interesting structure by arranging the wines by region. This is the arrangement shown here.

Introduction

Loire
* red wine
* white wine

Bordeaux
* red wine
* white wine

Cotes du Rhone
* red wine
* white wine

Bugundy
* red wine
* white wine

Conclusion

7. It’s the same number of examples, but the arrangement is slightly more complex. This might also make the essay more interesting. Notice how each item is kept separate – so they don’t get mixed up. And each one would be discussed in a paragraph of its own.

8. Next – this process can be taken one step further with a slightly more complex question. You might often be asked to write an essay considering the arguments for and against some topic or proposition. For instance – “Consider the arguments for and against congestion charges in city centres.”

9. There are two ways you can arrange the structure for an essay of this type. Here’s the first, which we’ll call Strategy A.

Introduction

Part One – In favour of congestion charges
* [traffic] reduces volume
* [ecology] less air pollution
* [economy] generates local income
* [politics] positive social control

Part Two – Against congestion charges
* [traffic] public transport alternatives
* [ecology] transfers problem elsewhere
* [economy] reduces profitable activity
* [politics] punishes tax-payers

Conclusion

10. The arguments in favour of congestion charges are kept separate from the arguments against. The structure is simple, clear, and uncomplicated. Notice that the same topics (traffic, ecology, economy, and politics) are covered in both the case ‘for’ and ‘against’. Next – look at an alternative strategy, Strategy B.

11. You can see that in this example the structure is arranged in the form of TOPICS – and each one contains an argument for and against the proposal.

Introduction to congestion charges

TOPIC 1
* [traffic] reduces volume
* [traffic] public transport alternatives

TOPIC 2
* [ecology] less air pollution
* [ecology] transfers problem elsewhere

TOPIC 3
* [economy] generates local income
* [economy] reduces profitable activity

TOPIC 4
* [politics] positive social control
* [politics] punishes tax-payers

Conclusion

12. It’s fairly important if you are using this structure to keep a balance. And the topics must be clearly identified and matched. That is, you must not put an argument FOR economy alongside one AGAINST traffic

13. If there is no natural order for your topics, you might deal with them in order of their importance. You could deal with the smaller, less important items first. This leaves the larger, more important issues until the end of the essay. Discussing the detail first in this way leaves the larger items for general consideration in approaching your conclusion.

14. On the other hand you might wish to deal with the major item(s) first, then turn to a consideration of the detailed evidence which supports the argument you are making. Using this approach, you could then return to your main points again and give them further general consideration as your conclusion.

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Sample essay plan

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