Driven by their desire to write a fantastic college application essay, students sometimes charge forward into the battle without their most powerful weapon, a clear approach to good writing. So, as a service to those who may have forgotten them, and as a reminder to everyone to take a deep breath and relax before you begin writing, here are six basics steps that will help you write the most effective essay you can possibly write.
Step One: Brainstorming
For some students, this step has already been completed . They’ve locked into their essay subject, and they’re not going to change it. But for others – those less sure and those faced with a tricky essay prompt – some brainstorming might be required.
As I’ve mentioned in other articles, the best time to brainstorm is right before you fall asleep and right after you get up. These are times when the brain is uncluttered, and fresh ideas have a better chance of coming to the surface. Long walks or drives on an open road can also work well to open the mind, as long as you make sure to watch where you’re going!
Step Two: Freewriting
Once you’ve settled on your topic, or even have a general sense of it, you can begin freewriting. This involves simply letting your mind roam through your topic while you write down everything that pops into your head. These can be single words or phrases, fragments of ideas or full blown concepts. Don’t worry about good sentences here and most importantly, don’t edit yourself. This is the time when you discover what your idea is really all about.
Step Three: Outlining
Outlining is extremely valuable and critical to a well organized essay. Look at your free writing and begin to organize your ruminations into a cohesive outline. Not only will this help you arrange your ideas clearly, it will also stimulate additional ideas, related to your topic, that might not have come up in the freewriting.
Important Note: Students often want to skip this step and jump into their first draft. Instead, resist that urge to start writing, work hard on your outline, and watch how much time you will save in the long run.
Step Four: 1st draft
Begin your essay, using the outline as a guide. Again, the first draft can be a time of discovery, as new ideas flow in. Stress content over mechanics here, as your essay begins to take shape.
Step Five: Revision
Revising your essay is detailed work involving rereading, rewriting, reviewing, rethinking, rearranging, restructuring, tightening, deleting, moving, expanding, unifying, correcting and checking. Some questions to ask yourself in this process include: Is my basic premise working? What parts of the essay are good? What parts are boring? Does my essay flow naturally from one idea to the other, or am I repeating myself? Do my paragraphs consist of one basic idea, with sentences supporting it? Have I made any grammatical errors? Have I varied my vocabulary and sentence structure? Do I have an opening grabber and a satisfying conclusion?
This would also be the time to ask for help from those whose opinions about good writing you respect.
Step Six: Polishing
Here’s where a good essay becomes great. Add similes, metaphors, interesting comparisons, humor. Comb your work for cliches and overused words or expressions and delete or replace. Hone your opening so that it draws the reader irrevocably into the rest of the essay. Look for ways to further tighten your essay by bringing back a concept you introduced at the beginning. This “bookend” technique, if used correctly, can close your essay with tremendous impact, and make it a stand out in the reader’s mind. Be scrupulous. Don’t back off. Keep working until every issue has been addressed.
Utilizing these six basic steps will surely decrease some of the anxiety surrounding the writing process, while at the same time improving the quality of your application essays
