If you just HAVE TO write that essay

by Eric Ferguson, Editor

When some students think of whipping out a one or two page essay, "whipping" isn't always the word that comes to mind. Maybe "hauling, dragging, and dredging" come closer. I'm going to offer some suggestions to make things easier for you.

I not only write, I used to score standardized essay tests. I got to see something of what made essays stronger or weaker. Some things may seem like common sense (fine, but do you DO them?), others are things you've heard, but neglect come writing time. Some things are, get this, the same as what your teachers are trying to tell you.

That's actually the first suggestion. Write the way your teachers tell you to. They're not trying to cramp your style. You need to learn the "craft" before you learn the "art." Once you learn to write clearly, then you can think about experimenting with more difficult stuff. You certainly want to develop your own style, but you'll never get there if you can't put a coherent paragraph together, unless the idea is just to have your readers going "huh?". That's not good for the grades, college applications, or getting published. If your teachers seem too particular, cut them some slack. They probably have been told to follow a standard curriculum or prepare their students for a standardized test. Probably you'll be told there's actually some reward for taking risks. Just remember there's a difference between a creative turn of phrase and a non-standard word order that makes your reader re-read just to figure out what you're getting at. That's not good.

Is there a trick to picking a topic? Pick something you know about. If the topic is assigned and you know little about it, do some research. If you don't have time for research, like when taking a test, you may be able to bend the topic to something you know about--- just be aware of how much leeway you get. Sometimes the idea is just to get you to write something, but sometimes staying on topic is part of the test, or there are particular facts the test is looking for, like "describe three things in the story you just read that symbolize such and such." If you have a lot of choice in topic, like "describe any interesting experience you've ever had," write about what you know, not necessarily the first thing that pops into your head. If you're supposed to do research, think a bit about what interests you. You don't want half your time gone before you realize you're bored by this topic. You won't do as well if you're bored. Picking an unusual topic is a good way to make your essay stand out in a crowd, which is a good way to get a higher grade, or get remembered by whoever reads the college applications.

Do some planning. Even taking a minute to think before a test can help immensely to organize your thoughts. Figure out what you're going to write about your topic before you make any actual words. I write from experience (see, I'm writing what I know!) when I say that careful planning makes the writing much faster. You can even make unexpected changes without losing track of where you are.

Should you use a topic sentence (My topic is this.)? Maybe. If you have trouble organizing yourself enough to be understood, or to write more than a couple sentences without running out of things to say, it might help to keep you focused. On the other hand, if you're organized, then the topic sentence can be bland. That's when you can get more creative with your topic paragraph.

If I may use this article as an example (the difference between an article and an essay is I don't get graded----rejected by magazines maybe, but not graded), notice I don't have a straightforward topic sentence. However, when you finish the first paragraph, there is no question what the paragraphs to follow are about. That's what the first paragraph is supposed to do, tell the readers what the essay is about. You avoid that dreadful sign of weak writing: readers having to re-read just for basic understanding. My first paragraph also has just two sentences. My college freshman writing professor would never have accepted that. It's a stylistic risk that works once, maybe I could do it several times, but if done too much that would get hard to read. The same is even more true of one sentence paragraphs. They may not be acceptable to whoever does the grading, and they're good for an effect in limited quantities.

If done regularly, they lose their effect.

Seeing them repeatedly is just plain annoying.

Can the first paragraph be a summary paragraph? Certainly. Such a structure makes clear what you're doing. So after "My interesting experience was when…", you can write, "This was interesting because of this, that, those, and the other thing." That even gives you a structure for the rest of the essay: first you write about "this," then "that," then "those," then "the other thing." It's not pretty perhaps, but it keeps you focused, what you write is clear, and that's what you have to master before you get fancy. I wrote just, "I'm going to offer some suggestions to make things easier for you.", but I could have written, "I'm going to suggest how to pick a topic, how to write the first paragraph, and how to summarize." I would have done so if I thought what I was writing was unclear enough to require it.

Focus each of the paragraphs that follow on one sub-topic, or one aspect of your topic, which ever term makes it clearer for you. Even though I'm an experienced writer, notice that I've been doing just that so far. Finish your thought before moving on to the next subject, which will also help you figure out where to break up your paragraphs. This is where the planning saves you time. Otherwise, you write as you think of something to say. If you find yourself writing, "Let me mention one more thing about what I was saying above.", or words to that effect, that's a sign that sentence should just go in the paragraph above, and you didn't think it out beforehand.

Avoid vagueness. "This experience taught me a lot. That's why it was worthwhile," is very vague. What did it teach you? "It taught me this, this, and these," is specific. Specific is good. If you concentrate on being specific, you'll also find it easier to think of something to write. For example, notice how I use examples. If I just had to fill space, the examples would solve part of my problem, and I might have some good content too.

Indirectness is more advanced, but effective when you can do it. Instead of writing, "My experience taught me not to be afraid to talk to those kind of people," you might write, "By the second day, I found I was walking right up to them without being uncomfortable at all." Instead of telling the readers straight out, they get to figure it out the same way you did.

Pay attention to your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Proofread as well as using your spell checker, since it won't catch missing words or typos that are real words. You may want to react with a big "Well, duh.", but some people are sloppy about those things. Sometimes when scoring standardized tests, I'd pick through the sloppiness to find a decent essay underneath. However, I had to do that as part of the job. Those same essays wouldn't get a serious look if submitted for publication here. I'd get through the first paragraph or two, decide this was too much work, and on to the next one. That's a silly reason to have your work rejected. There are so many good reasons!

Finally we come to the end--- of your essay that is, not this article just yet. You can do a basic summary: "That was my most interesting experience because of this…". This is boring, but it's clear. You can draw a conclusion from the whole essay like, "What I learned from my most interesting experience was...". It's not always easy to know how to end, or how to summarize without writing it all over again. Just don't end so abruptly that your readers look around wondering if they lost the other page.

Even though I've been encouraging you to learn your craft before worrying about stylistic touches, I've been using some myself right here. If you feel you've got this organization thing down, you can certainly experiment. You can have questions instead of statements. In fact, that can be a good way to start a paragraph (notice I did that up above). I also just used an aside, or parenthetical statement. These things, (), are parentheses. I also deliberately broke a rule, specifically the one about one-sentence paragraphs, in order to make a point. Humor can be a tricky device, but if you can make it work, the reader feels a little more engaged, which means they might catch more of what you're trying to say. I did that a couple times here, and you're still reading, so maybe it worked; or maybe you were told to read this. Whatever. Use stylistic devices or not if you feel comfortable doing it. If they flow, they probably work. If you find yourself trying to think of devices to throw in, it's best you don't bother.

Now that I've been telling you to write a concluding paragraph, I find myself in that position. What I will say is this shouldn't be complete drudgery. I sometimes dreaded assignments back in school, but I also found myself wanting to do things that made me try writing on my own. Sometimes that's the most rewarding stuff. The advice I offer here can be useful for more than assigned essays. It will work for essay contests, articles for your school newspaper, pages for your personal web site, and even articles for us.