How to write good essay

How to Write a Good Essay in a Short Amount of Time

Writing good Essay

 

    Sometimes, you need to be able to write a good essay in a short amount of time for a timed exam, such as the Advanced Placement exams in high school. At other times, you might find yourself in the uncomfortable situation of having to write an essay fast because you procrastinated or let it sneak up on you. Although an essay written at the last minute will almost never be as good as an essay you spent more time on, putting together a decent essay quickly is still feasible. With a little planning and a lot of hard work, you can write an essay that’s good (or good enough!) in just a short time.

Develop a plan. Consider how much time you have to write the essay and develop a writing plan based on that. This will help you figure out how long to spend on each part of the essay writing process, and will also keep you on task.

• Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses when devising your plan.^[1] For example, if you are a good researcher but not great at editing, spend less time on the research section in favor of spending more time on the revising section.
• Make sure to schedule breaks for yourself to refresh your brain and recharge yourself.

Consider the essay question. You may know the topic of an essay when your teacher assigns it to you, but even if you don’t, first consider the question and different ways you could make arguments about the topic. Doing this preliminary brainstorming will not only direct you towards the appropriate research, it will help the writing process go more quickly.^[3]

• Make sure you understand what the question is asking for! If you provide a summary when the essay prompt asked you to “analyze,” you’re unlikely to do very well.
• If you don’t have an essay topic, choose a subject that interests you and consider the essay question afterward. You are more likely to write a good essay on a topic that you’re interested in.

Develop your argument or thesis statement. Your argument or thesis statement is the point you’re making in the essay through evidence and analysis. Develop your argument to help direct your research and make the writing process go more quickly.^[4]

• If you don’t have much experience with your topic, it might be difficult to develop an argument. You can still consider your argument and then use your research to support or refute the claims you want to make.
• A good exercise to help you quickly figure out your essay question and argument is to write “I am studying (choose a topic) because I want to know (what do you want to know) in order to show (this is where your argument goes).”^[5]
• For example, “I am studying the medieval witch trials because I want to know how lawyers employed evidence in their cases in order to show that the trial process influenced modern medical techniques and legal practices.”^[6]
• Consider counter-arguments in order to strengthen your essay.

 

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