7 Essay Writing Tips

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  • 7/29/2019 7 Essay Writing Tips

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    7 Essay Writing Tips To Ace Your Next Examby Stephen Holliday

    Despite students wildest hope of avoiding the dreaded essay examone that requireseither short or long essay answers rather than multiple choice answersmost find themselves taking such an exam, particularly for subjects like history, philosophy, literature, sociology, political science and others. This type of exam, however, can be successfully managed if you follow a few guidelines outlined here:

    1. After the initial panic passes, read through all the questions before you begin to answer any of them, underlining key words and phrases that will help guideyou in your answer. In many cases, instructors will incorporate key words and phrases from their lectures in the exam question, so make sure that you focus onthese elements in your answer.2. Based on your comfort level (or lack thereof) with particular questions, after you have reviewed all questions, decide approximately how much time you have for questions that are relatively easy for you to answer and, conversely, which questions will require more time to answer correctly and thoroughly. This is a very important step because it will help you organize your time and effort.3. Think of each essay answer as a mini-essay in itself, and approach each answer with a shortened version of the process that youve been taught to use when writing full essays. If you are used to brainstorming or clustering when preparing to write an essay, go through the same, but greatly shortened, process for an essay answer. The time spent in some form of outlining will save time and effort as

    you answer the questions.4. Given the time constraints of most essay exams, you cant afford to write and re-write answers. From an instructors perspective, if a students answer contains agreat deal of cross outs and perhaps whole paragraph deletions, the instructor will probably conclude that the student is not well prepared. It is critical, therefore, to outline the answer before you begin writing and to follow the outlineas you write. Marginal notes of an outline or brainstorming process will probably impress the instructor.5. The rhetorical mode for an answer may be determined by your instructor. For example, you may be asked to analyze, define, compare/contrast, evaluate, illustrate, or synthesize the subject of the question, and you need to focus on answeringthe question with an analysis, a definition and so on in order to respond to the question appropriately.

    6. Just as you do when you draft an essay, try to begin the answer with one or two sentences that answer the question directly and succinctly. In other words, think of the first two sentences as a thesis statement of an essay, and after youve stated the answers thesis, support that thesis with specific examples in the bodyof the answer.7. Lastly, one of the most important steps you can take is to proofread your answers and make any necessary corrections neatly and legibly.