ESSAY STRATEGY BY MANUJ JINDAL AIR 53, CSE 2016

Marks in Essay: 158

"Readingmakethafullman,conferenceareadyman,andwritinganexact

man."--FrancisBacon(1561-1626)

WemustlearntowriteaneffectiveessaytoscorewellintheUPSCCivilServices

exam. Essay carries a huge proportion in the overall exam scheme. If you do

somebasiccalculationaboutthecontributionofessaytoyourscoreinUPSC,you

willrealizethatitcanfetchupto160outof250marks,whichis64%marks!I

got1053/2075asmy final score,which is50.75%.The toppergot1120/2075

which is 54%. As you can see, proportionally, essay has a central place in

preparationforUPSCasitcanliterallymakeorbreakyourrank.

Sowheretostart?Perhaps,youareaskingsomequestionslikethefollowingto

yourselves:

Can Iwritewell even if I haveneverwritten seriously, or as anEngineer I

neverwroteorIcomefromaRuralbackgroundwheretherewasnotmuch

focusonEnglishessaywriting?

Writingcanbemasteredbyanyonewhoreadswellandwritesalot.PRACTICE

PRACTICEPRACTICE, that is themantra forsuccess.That’snotenoughthough.

Practicemust be accompanied by continuous analysis of your own errors and

shortcomingsineveryessay.Thisisthefirststeptosucceedinginwritingagood

essayinUPSC.

Thequestionarises,wheretostart.First,inculcateself-belief.Ibelievethatallof

uscanlearntowritebetter,moreeffectively,andgetahigherscoreinUPSCifwe

applyourselvesintherightdirection.UPSCisnotlookingforalinguisticexpert

or a literary piece of writing. They are interested in the clarity of thought,

simplicityofpresentationandawell-groomedstructure.

I ama classical exampleof failing to realize this inmyprevious attempt. I got

only 90 marks in 2015 paper and then was very disappointed by my poor

performance. First I felt like filing an RTI, and I questioned UPSC’s checking.

Slowly,asIthoughtmoreaboutmyessay,Idecidedtoleaveallthisbehindand

startpracticingandimprovingbygettingconsistentfeedback–bothfeedbackof

others,andmyownanalysisofmymistakes.Irealizedthatlackofself-practice

and self-evaluation had led tomy lowmarks. This time I wouldn’t repeat the

samemistake.

Techniques:

Thequestion arises, how touse various techniques to improvewriting for the

essaymoduleofUPSC?

Althoughwritingisacomplextask,itisalearnedcraftthatcanbemasteredand

improvedwithpracticeandarightapproach.Althoughnoformulacanguarantee

a goodessay,manywritershavedeveloped somegood advicetohelp youget

started. Iwillhighlightmypreparation technique,whichwillhelpyou tobuild

thisfoundation.

TheoverallsuggestedprocessofEssaywriting:

Firstly,forpreparingandwritinganessay—itcouldbesummedupasfollows:

Choosinga

topic

Brainstorming

andwritingrough

ideas/arguments+

STRUCTURE

Writinga

thesis

Aroughdraft

Writing

Thefinal

revision

Asyouwritemore,youtoowilldiscoverthatyouwillrevisitsomepartsofthe

processmorethanothers.I,personally,forexample,spendconsiderabletimeon

brainstormingandwritingagoodstructure.

Timetobeallottedtoeachpart:

1. Choosingatopic:5-7minutes.

2. Brainstormingandwritingrougharguments:20minutes

3. Thesis:10minutestotal

4. Aroughdraft:10minuteseach,20minutestotal

5. Writing:50-55minuteseach,110minutes

6. Revision:5-7minuteseach,10minutestotal

TotalTimetaken:180minutes

The important thing is to keep the process in mind. As you become more

proficient with practice, you will become more confident and consistent,

developingyourownpracticesandtechniquesalso.

InterestingFact:EssayMeans“ToTry”

Inthe14thcentury,EnglishborrowedthewordessayfromtheMiddleFrenchwordessai. In Middle French, the word meant "to try". The word's originsultimately go back to the Late Latin wordexagium, the act of weighing,evaluating,judging.

Thehistoryofthiswordisinstructive,forinitshistoryweseeeverythingthatwriters hope to achieve when they compose an essay. à create a well-structure,criticalpieceofanalyticalwriting.

ProcessofWritingEssayforUPSC:

1. ChoosingaTopic:à UNDERSTANDTHETOPICfirst

a. UPSCprovides4 topics ineachsection.Generally, theessay topic

canbephilosophicalinnatureoritcanbejustlookingforasimple

analysisofaparticularcurrenttopicofeconomic,technologicalor

socialimportance.

b. The key is to get a VERY CLEAR UNDERSTANDING of the topic,

whicheveritis.

c. You will naturally choose a topic that you have the maximum

contenton,butthatcanbemisleading.Youmightmissthecruxof

theessaywhentryingtojustpickatopicwithmaximumcontent.

So spend time on understanding each topic and picking the one

whereyouhavetheBESTCLARITY.

d. To get this clarity look for: the key termsstated in the topic or

what is themainessayquestion.Look forwordsthatsuggest the

kindofreasoningyoushouldbeusingintheessay.Alsousewords

suchaswhy,how,analyze,compare,evaluate,argue,etc.toreframe

youressaytopicandthinkwhatUPSCistryingtoaskinthatessay.

2. Brainstorming:

a. You can start bywriting variouskeywords, quotes, random lines

that come to your mind, examples etc. that come to your mind

afteryouhavedecidedaparticulartopic.

b. You can also form categories such as (1) Intro (2) Body (3)

Conclusion and write a rough work when brainstorming there

underthesecategories.

c. Youcanusethelast4pagesprovidedbyUPSCtowritetheseina

proper wayà rough work should be the cleanest work in the

entirepaper.

d. Evidence/Examplestosupportyourviewandargumentsinessay:

i. The essay must consist of examples or other references,

whatIcall“evidence”tosupportargumentsyouaremaking

in the body. This can be sorted out in the brainstorming

stageonly.

ii. Why this is needed: When Aristotle wrote hisRhetoricin

the 4th century BC, he began a process of codifying the

possiblewaysthatspeakersorwriterscouldpersuadetheir

audiencesbytheuseofevidence.Hisschemahasprovenso

usefulthat ithasbeenthefoundationforwriters formore

than a millennium, and will likely endure as long as

civilization does. Aristotle's outline of the use of evidence

forpersuasivewritingwasjustasusefulfortheancientsas

itwillbeinthenextcentury.

iii. Evidence provides support for claims. Evidence is

subcategorized according tohowit is used to support the

claim. Evidence that focuses on our ability to think is

classified asrational appeal, evidence that focuses on our

ability to 'feel' isemotional appeal, and evidence that

focusesonourabilitytotrust thosewefindtobecredible

isethicalappeal. InUPSC,rationalandethicalarethemost

effective. à Use facts, logical reasoning, expert

views/quotes,studies,quotesfromworldreportsetc.

TheTypesofEvidence

RationalAppeals

·facts

·casestudies

·statistics

·experiments

·logicalreasoning

·analogies

·anecdotes

EmotionalAppeals

·thehigheremotions

1.altruism

2.love

3....

·thebaseemotions

1.greed

2.lust

3....

EthicalAppeals

·trustworthiness

·credibility

1.experttestimony

2.reliablesources

3.fairness

3. Structure:

a. Youcandivideyouressayinroughly8partsof125wordseach.1

for introduction, 1 for conclusion, and rest 6 for the body of the

essay.

b. Heading/Subheadings–>forme,theseworkedastheyprovideda

well-definedstructure tomyessay.Use themasyouwishbutdo

notthinkthatessaymeansnoheadings.UPSCwantsyoutowrite

likeabureaucrat,notanacademic.Also,feelfreetouseextremely

relevant diagrams/flowcharts. I did not do so, but they are

acceptable in UPSC. If youwant to play on the safe side, just go

withtheheadingsandnotdiagrams.

c. Essays may present an argument differently, but an

essay'sorganization— how itbegins,develops, andends—

should be designed to present your argument clearly and

persuasively.(Theorderinwhichyoudiscoveredthepartsofyour

argument is seldom an effective order for presenting it to

areader.)

d. Theintroductionbeginswiththegeneralandmovestowardthe

specific,asthesidesofthetrianglenarrowdowntowardapoint.A

writerusestheintroductiontoshowhowthe

specificquestionaddressedinthisessayrelates

toagreaterissueorfield.

i. Yourintroductoryparagraphsetsthe

stageorthecontextforthepositionyou

arearguingfor.

ii. Thisintroductionshouldendwithathesisstatementthat

providesyourclaim(whatyouarearguingfor)andthe

reasonsforyourpositiononanissue.

e. Body:

i. Thebodyoftheessayis,ofcourse,whereallthereallywork

isdone.Havinggainedthereaders'attentioninthe

introduction,thewritermustnowholdtheirattentionby

offeringsubstantial,interesting,compellingideasthat

support,illustrate,exemplify,orexpandthethesisofthe

essay.

f. Conclusion:

i. Yourconclusionshouldneitherbeasummarynoramere

restatementofyourthesis.

ii. Instead,itmustgobeyondthethesistoreachajudgment,

toexpressyourapprovalofonesideofanissue,to

discussyourfindingsandtheirimplications,ortooffer

solutions.Toputitsuccinctly,youshouldsaysomething

worthwhile.Afterall,theexaminerhasstayedwithyou

throughseveralpages;youowethemaconcluding

statement.

iii. Theconclusionservesseveralfunctions:

1. toinspiretheaudiencewithafavorableopinionof

ourselvesandanunfavorableopinionofour

opponents,

2. toamplifytheforceofthepointswehavemadein

thepervioussectionandtoextenuatetheforceof

thepointsmadebytheopposition,

3. torousetheappropriateemotionsintheaudience,

and

4. torestateinasummarywayourfactsand

arguments.

iv. Techniquesofconclusion:

1. Restatethethesisandreachbeyonditwitha

recommendation,anevaluation,aprediction,ora

question.Inessence,youmustbeconclusive;thatis,

youmustpresentyourthesisinitsfinal,most

persuasiveform.Intheintroductionyouweregiving

thereaderanideaofwhatwastofollow,tryingto

attractinterest.Intheconclusion,youhavethe

weightoftheessaybehindyou,andyoucanstate

yourcasesuccinctly,knowingthatthereaderhasall

theinformationyouhaveprovided.

2. Closewithaneffective

3. Offeradirectiveorsolution.

4. Comparepasttopresentorthebeginningtotheend

—isanotherwayfrequentlyusedbysometomake

animpactfulconclusion.

4. Thesisa. TopicsbyUPSCdoesnotprovideyouwithanobviousthesis,you

shouldfirstthinkofpossiblequestion(s)youcanusetoanswerthe

"problem"presented inyouressay'sassignment.Askingtheright

questionscanleadyoutowardcollectingrelevantinformationand

ultimatelyformulatinganinteresting,worthwhilethesis.

b. Whatisathesis:

i. stateswhatyourpositiononanissueis

ii. usually appears at the end of the introduction in a short

essay

iii. should be clearly stated and often contains emphatic

language(should,ought,must)

5. Writing

a. If you do the rough work and brainstorming suggested above,

writingwillbeacakewalk.

b. Thebettertheplanningstage,theeasierthewritingstage.

c. Don’ttrytowritetooslowly,asitwillnotprovideaflowandyou

mightbecomenervous.

d. Write with your normal speed and use the rough work

consistentlytoguideyourwriting.Iusedtolookbackafterevery

paragraphtoensureIwasfollowingmyroughwork.

e. Write legibly – the better your handwriting, themore advantage

youhaveoversomeonewithsimilarcontentbutpoorhandwriting.

f. Underline:Headingsandimportantkeywords.

g. Use CAPITAL letters to showcase important ideas or words you

wantexaminertoread.

6. Revising

a. Look out of general grammatical mistakes that you can catch in

onerevisionquicklyonly.Noneedtofocustoomuchthanthison

grammar.

b. Misspellingscanbefixedinthisrevision.

c. Aesthetics:Iusedmytimeforrevisionforunderlining.Iunderlined

everythingwithapencilandascale.Theessaymustlookasgood

asitreadsJ

Otherthingstokeepinmind:

Keepyouressay'soverallpurposeandorganization inmind.Giveyourself

the freedom to adapt and change youroutlineas you are in the process of

writingtheroughpart.

Don'twaittill"everythingisready"beforeyoubegintowrite.Giveyourself

thelibertyofstartingtowriteevenassoonaspossible.Don’twaittillyouhave

finished the syllabus and all that. Even if you don’t have much content, start

now!!Thiswillgiveyouenoughtimetobuildyourfoundations.

Myfirstarticleonessayaftermarkscameout:

Astoryofimprovingthescorefromapaltry90toagamechanging158!

TheAchilles’heelinmysuccesstoCSE2015wastheessaycomponent.Despite

havingbeenwritingforalmostadecadeonadailybasis(Iwritemydiary),I

madesomecriticalmistakesthatcostmeaspothigherupintheranksin2015.

Perhaps,itwasablessingindisguise,butitwasquiteapainfulblessing!Thereal

questionmostofyoumustbethinkingaboutis,howdidIrecognisethisproblem

andtackleit?HowdidIimprovemyscoresodrastically?Well,herearemytwo

centsonit.

TheinitialstepwastorecognizethatIfailedtogetgoodmarksbecauseofmy

ownfollies.First,IrealizedthatIdidnotpracticeenoughfortheessay

component.Ibarelywrote3-4essaysduringthe2015attempt.Iignoredthis

criticalpartoftheexamandtookitforgranted.Iimagined,tomyownperil,that

sinceIhadbeenwritingforsolong,Iwouldbeabletohandletheessayswell.

Formanyofusitworks,howevertherearealsomany(trustme,MANY),whofall

becauseofthiscomplacency,justlikeIdid.

Also,pleaserealisethefactthatessaycanfetchupto160outof250marks,

whichis64%marks!Igot1053/2075asmyfinalscore,whichis50.75%.The

toppergot1120/2075whichis54%.Clearly,essayhasacentralplaceinour

preparationforUPSCasitcanliterallymakeorbreakyourrank.

Second,Isimplydidnotwriteagoodenoughessayin2015.InitiallyIdidnot

believeso.Afterthemarksheetofmainexamwasout,Ispentcountlessnights

thinkingwhathadIdonewrongtogetascoreof90?!WasitamistakeatUPSC’s

end?MyfathereventoldmetofileanRTIandallthat.

InamatterofafewdaysIrecollectedabout20-30%ofmyessay,oratleasthow

Ihadgoneaboutit.Ialsore-readmyolderessays(althoughIhadwrittenonly

twoorthreeofthem).ItwascleartomebythistimethatthemarksIgotwere

notrandom.Theywerebasedinsomesortofreality,somebasicmistakesImade

andalsoduetolackofgoodguidanceandpractice.

ImmediatelyafterthemarkswereoutIstartedlookingforEssaytestseries

availableinthemarket.Thiswasthefirstimportantstep–makeamindsetto

writealotofessaysandgetallofthemevaluatedbytherightpeople.These

peoplecanbeyourfriends,siblings,parents,teachersandsuccessfulcandidates

frompastyearsaswell.Iwroteatotalof46essaysinthecourseofmyjourney

forCSE2016,anditdefinitelypaidoff.

SohowtowriteUPSCessays?

Followthepattern[thisisanargumentationtechniquethatiswellacceptedfor

conventionalacademicwritingacrossvariousuniversities]:

1.Introduction

2.Thesisstatement[themainargumentofyouressay]

3.Mini-thesisstatementstosupportthemainargument

4Antithesis,ifneeded

5.Conclusion

Example:Topic:“ImpactsofGlobalisationonIndianCulture”–seemyessay

attached

Thisaboveformulationhelpedmetogetmystructureandlineofthinkingintact.

Iwasnotsomeonewhohadcommandoverlanguage.Ialsounderstoodthat

UPSCdoesnotfocusonlanguage/vocabskillswhenawardingmarksinthese

essays.Theyarelookingforclarity,structureanddiversityofthoughtprocess.A

conventionalessaywould,onaverage,fetchyoumoremarksthanan

unconventional/creativeoneforsure.

Heading/Subheadings–>forme,theseworkedastheyprovidedawell-defined

structuretomyessay.Usethemasyouwishbutdonotthinkthatessaymeans

noheadings.UPSCwantsyoutowritelikeabureaucrat,notanacademic.Also,

feelfreetouseextremelyrelevantdiagrams/flowcharts.Ididnotdoso,butthey

areacceptableinUPSC.Ifyouwanttoplayonthesafeside,justgowiththe

headingsandnotdiagrams.

Ialsofollowedavideolectureofferedfreeoncourseraonwritingacademic

papersandessays,whichbasicallytalksindetailabouttheabovestructureI

haveprovidedyou.

Thelinkishere[notsureifit’sstillofferedbutprovidingthelink

nonetheless]:https://www.coursera.org/learn/getting-started-with-essay-

writing/home

TestSeriesItook:

LukmaanIAS,+wrotesomeInsightsessayswhichhelpedandotheroldpapersof

UPSCalso

Lukmaanexperience:

Teacherswithyearsofvaluableexperiencecheckcopieshere.Lukmaan’sAnsari

sirknowswhatisneededinanessayandhecommunicatesthatsuperblyinhis

comments.Heconsistentlyevaluatedmyessayandprovidedmecritical

feedbackandhelpedmedevelopanintuitivesenseonessays.Thankyousir.