Writing Essays

Below you will find my procedure or process for the preparation and writing of essays. This procedure was developed over 4 years of study, and I found it to be quite successful. While, at first look, it may appear to be rather a lot of work in the preparation stage, using this procedure really pays off during the actual writing of the essay.

So, to begin. The most important part of essay writing, or any other writing for that matter, is the preparation. The greater, and more thorough the preparation, the easier the actual writing, and the better the final result.

The first step in the preparation stage is making a list of all the essays due for that semester, and their dates due. This allows you to see exactly how much work is to be done for that semester. From this you can create a plan of when each essay is to be written. You can then allow various amounts of time for each essay, depending on its size and the marks it earns. In other words, the bigger the essay in word size, the more marks it is usually worth towards that subject, therefore the more time that should be allowed for it. Some universities provide large (poster size) calendars which are excellent for this task.
By using such a plan, it was always my practice to complete essays at least 1 week, and preferably 2 weeks before they were due. I usually succeeded at this by beginning the first essay as soon as possible after the first day of the semester. I would, in some cases, have an essay completed by the end of the first week of classes. This had a number of advantages. First, by completing the essays early, it allowed me to leave them for a week or so after completion and then returning to them before submitting them. In this way, I would often see problems with the essay I did not see at the time of writing it, while having the time to correct these problems. Second, by beginning so early, I found that all the research materials I wanted were readily available as few, if any, other students were looking for them. Finally, by beginning early, I would find that well before the end of the semester I would have all my assignments completed. So that I would have a couple of weeks break from assignments before the final exams began. This time gave me both a rest from uni work, and extra time, and therefore less stress, in preparing for the exams.
The most productive time for me was the mid semester break. This time allowed me to write at least 2 essays. I usually used it to write either 2 large essays, or 1 large and 2 smaller papers. As the university libraries are open during this time, it is a good time to source research materials as there are usually less students using the library.

The second step is finding the resource materials, e.g.. books, journals etc. This is best done by setting aside a morning or an afternoon, well before the essay is due, say 2 or 3 weeks, and using this time exclusively to find your resources. While this may seem quite obvious, it is surprising how many students leave the research until the last minute, only to find the materials already gone or being used by other students.
Now, in selecting the materials to use for an essay, it is best to find a few good books etc., rather than a lot of mediocre ones. You will find that many of the books are actually quite similar in content and argument. By using a relatively few resources, say less than a dozen, you will have the time to read the material properly. This allows you time to understand and consider what the author is actually arguing, as well as determining the usefulness of the text. This is important both for the writing of a good and strong essay which shows a good depth of understanding of the subject, and to use this essay procedure.
So how do you actually select which materials to use in your essay? Well, this really depends on what subject your essay is about. That is, economics essays would require a different approach to finding, and using, resources than, say, History. To give you an example from my own studies, in this case history, I would try to find books published recently and others published earlier. This would give me both information on the actual essay topic, and a view of the changing historical thinking on the subject. In some cases, I could use the books to find references to original documents which I could then search to see if they were available. As for the usefulness of the text, and its arguments, well, this only becomes clear when actually reading it.

Okay, so you have gone to the library, looked on the internet, and have now before you a collection of reference materials. So what do you do with it all? Well, this is where the real work of essay writing begins, and where my essay writing system really begins as well.
The first step is to use each reference source separately, and extract the information from it for possible use in your essay. You do this, quite naturally, by reading it and taking notes. In my system a separate sheet of ruled paper is used for each of the reference materials to take down the notes. Each sheet has the title of the book written at the top for easy reference later. Every time something is found within the text, e.g.. a new idea or argument, or a good quote, it is written down on the sheet in the order that it is found, along with its page number. So that, as you read your reference source, your notes are in the same order as those in the book. And by writing down the page number you can quickly find the reference for use in your essay. In the case of quotes, I would write them down word for word in my notes. This is important, as it acts as a prompt later when writing the essay to use the good quote, and also because a good quote, if used properly, can really strengthen an essay.
Along with taking note of the references on your sheet of paper, I would always use a pencil (Never a pen) to lightly draw a vertical line next to each of my noted references. As each reference is in order on your notes page, so the number of your vertical lines on each page will match this. This makes actually finding your references later much easier, and avoids having to re-read whole parts of a page to find one small reference. And the reason why pencil is used is so that once your essay is completed you can easily rub out the vertical lines and leave the book in good condition.
This procedure, using separate sheets of paper to take notes is used for all of your reference sources. So that, when you complete your research, you will have before you all the information you need to write the essay. Yet, before you can use it effectively, it needs to be put into some sort of order.

To use the notes, I would always regroup them under a topic or argument heading. I did this through the use of yet another sheet of paper with the heading of "Arguments". This sheet was created simultaneously while taking notes. But this sheet was used to note down the main arguments found in the books etc. That is, as I was reading the reference materials, whenever I would find a main or important argument, idea, or theme put forward by the author, I would note this down. Once I had completed my research I would then have before me both the individual references for each source, and in the 'Arguments' sheet a set of possible topics or argument headings for using these individual references. In other words, the main arguments would represent the separate parts or sections of my essay, while the individual notes would be used within these sections.

To do this, I would then take a new set of sheets of paper, and give them the heading of whichever of these main arguments I was to use in the essay. This choice would be determined by what I had concluded from my research what my essay was to actually be about and argue. On each of these sheets of paper, I would then copy down exactly from my notes any reference to the argument from any of the reference materials. That is, I would take from each reference material, individual references to support my arguments. At the end of this process I would have 2, 3, 4, or more, arguments for use in my essay, with all the individual references which were to make these up directly linked to them. So when writing each section of the essay, all I needed before me was usually a single piece of paper, which contained all the references from each of the materials for that section. In this way, my essay was effectively already written on each of these sheets. All I had to do was decide which of the individual references to use, and where to use them, along with how to expand on them in using my own arguments.

Now, while this may seem like a lot of work, and lets be honest, it can be, it is also, in my experience, a very effective system. Not only does it give you all the information for each of your arguments neatly placed together, it also reduces the time needed in actually writing the essay, as you don't need to spend valuable time hunting for a reference you remember reading but can't remember where it is. Also, when reordering your references under their argument headings, it allows you to begin working out how to use and link the information before you even begin writing the essay. So while this system can be a lot of work during the preparation stage, it really pays off during the writing stage, which goes a long way to writing a high quality essay. Finally, another advantage to this system is that the notes you create can be used in other essays in the future which deal with a topic similar to the one your essay is about.
Put simply, for me, this system worked, and worked well. It allowed me to write clearly defined, well argued essays. And the results? Well, I never received a Failed mark, received very few, if any, Pass marks, and received a few Credits. I mostly received Distinctions and High Distinctions for my essays. Not because I am a genius (I am not even close), or because I am a wordsmith, but because I had a system of essay writing which gave me all the information I needed and grouped it for use. All I had to do was decide how to use it. And in all modesty, this was the one thing I was good at!

And if you are still doubtful about using this system, read my essays and decide for yourself. A very good example of the success of this system is the essay entitled:

An analysis and comparison of Michel Foucault's
and Marx's theory of power relations.

Read it and judge for yourself.