|
Essay Writing
This article contains three parts:
Step One : Brainstorming
Step Two : Selecting a Topic
Step Three : Writing the Essay
I) Brainstorming
Scholarship essays vary dramatically in subject. However, most of
them require a recounting of personal experience. These tips will be
more helpful for writing personal essays, like for the National
Merit Scholarship, than for writing academic essays.
The most important aspect of your scholarship essay is the subject
matter. You should expect to devote about 1-2 weeks simply to
brainstorming ideas. To begin brainstorming a subject idea consider
the following points. From brainstorming, you may find a subject you
had not considered at first.
* What are your major accomplishments,
and why do you consider them accomplishments? Do not limit yourself
to accomplishments you have been formally recognized for since the
most interesting essays often are based on accomplishments that may
have been trite at the time but become crucial when placed in the
context of your life. This is especially true if the scholarship
committee receives a list of your credentials anyway.
* Does any attribute, quality, or
skill distinguish you from everyone else? How did you develop this
attribute?
* Consider your favorite books,
movies, works of art, etc. Have these influenced your life in a
meaningful way? Why are they your favorites?
* What was the most difficult time in
your life, and why? How did your perspective on life change as a
result of the difficulty?
* Have you ever struggled mightily for
something and succeeded? What made you successful?
* Have you ever struggled mightily for
something and failed? How did you respond?
* Of everything in the world, what
would you most like to be doing right now? Where would you most like
to be? Who, of everyone living and dead, would you most like to be
with? These questions should help you realize what you love most.
* Have you experienced a moment of
epiphany, as if your eyes were opened to something you were
previously blind to?
* What is your strongest, most
unwavering personality trait? Do you maintain strong beliefs or
adhere to a philosophy? How would your friends characterize you?
What would they write about if they were writing your scholarship
essay for you?
* What have you done outside of the
classroom that demonstrates qualities sought after by universities?
Of these, which means the most to you?
* What are your most important
extracurricular or community activities? What made you join these
activities? What made you continue to contribute to them?
* What are your dreams of the future?
When you look back on your life in thirty years, what would it take
for you to consider your life successful? What people, things, and
accomplishments do you need? How does this particular scholarship
fit into your plans for the future?
If these questions cannot cure your writer's block, consider the
following exercises:
1. Ask for Help from Parents, Friends, Colleagues, etc.
If you cannot characterize yourself and your personality traits do
not automatically leap to mind, ask your friends to write a list of
your five most salient personality traits. Ask your friends why they
chose the ones they did. If an image of your personality begins to
emerge, consider life experiences that could illustrate these
particular traits.
2. Consider your Childhood
While scholarship and aid officers are not interested in reading
about your childhood and are more interested in the last 2-4 years
of your life, you might consider events of your childhood that
inspired the interests you have today. Interests that began in
childhood may be the most defining parts of your life, even if you
recently lost interest. For instance, if you experienced extreme
poverty, the death of a loved one, immigration, etc., you might want
to incorporate this into your scholarship essay. Analyze the reasons
for your interests and how they were shaped from your upbringing.
3. Consider your Role Models
Many applicants do not have role models and were never greatly
influenced by just one or two people. However, for those of you who
have role models and actually aspire to become like certain people,
you may want to incorporate a discussion of that person and the
traits you admired into your scholarship or financial aid
application essay.
4. Read Sample Scholarship Essays and Admissions Essays
Before writing a poem, you would certainly read past poets. Before
writing a book of philosophy, you would consider past philosophers.
In the same way, we recommend reading sample application essays to
understand what topics other applicants chose.
5. Goal Determination
Life is short. Why do you want spend 2-6 years of your life at a
particular college, graduate school, or professional school? How is
the degree necessary to the fulfillment of your goals? When
considering goals, think broadly. Few people would be satisfied with
just a career. How else will your education fit your needs and lead
you to a fulfilling life?
If after reading this entire page you do not have an idea for your
essay, do not be surprised. Coming up with an idea is difficult and
requires time. Actually consider the questions and exercises above.
Without a topic you feel passionate about, without one that brings
out the defining aspects of you personality, you risk falling into
the trap of sounding like the 90 percent of scholarship applicants
who will write boring essays. The only way to write a unique essay
is to have experiences that support whatever topic you come up with.
Whatever you do, don't let the essay stress you out. Have fun with
the brainstorming process. You might discover something about
yourself you never consciously realized.
II) Selecting a Topic
Having completed step one, you should now have a
rough idea of the elements you wish to include in your scholarship
essay, including your goals, important life experiences, research
experience, diversifying features, spectacular nonacademic
accomplishments, financial need, etc. You should also now have an
idea of what impression you want to make on the scholarship
committee.
You must now consider topics that will allow you to synthesize your
important personal characteristics and experiences into a coherent
whole. While most scholarship essays allow great latitude in topic
selection, you must also be sure to answer the questions that were
asked of you. Leaving a lasting impression on someone who reads 50
essays a day will not be easy, but we have compiled some guidelines
to help you get started.
Consider the following questions before proceeding:
* Have you selected a topic that
describes something of personal importance in your life, with which
you can use vivid personal experiences as supporting details?
* Is your topic a gimmick? That is, do
you plan to write your essay in iambic pentameter or make it funny.
You should be very, very careful if you are planning to do this. We
recommend strongly that you do not do this. Almost always, this is
done poorly and is not appreciated by the scholarship committee
unless a creative approach is explicitly recommended. Nothing is
worse than not laughing or not being amused at something that was
written to be funny or amusing.
* Will your topic only repeat
information listed elsewhere on your application? If so, pick a new
topic. Don’t mention GPAs or standardized test scores in your
essay if they are mentioned elsewhere.
* Can you offer vivid supporting
paragraphs to your essay topic? If you cannot easily think of
supporting paragraphs with concrete examples, you should probably
choose a different essay topic.
* Can you fully answer the question
asked of you? Can you address and elaborate on all points within the
specified word limit? If you plan on writing about something
technical, make sure you truly can back up your interest in a topic
and are not merely throwing around big scientific words. Unless you
convince the reader that you actually have the life experiences to
back up your interest in neurobiology, the reader will assume you
are trying to impress him/her with shallow tactics. Also, be sure
you can write to the scholarship officers and that you are not
writing over their heads.
* Can you keep the reader's interest
from the first word. The entire essay must be interesting,
considering scholarship officers will probably only spend a few
minutes reading each essay.
* Is your topic overdone? To ascertain
this, peruse through old essays. s. However, most topics are
overdone, and this is not a bad thing. A unique or convincing answer
to a classic topic can pay off big.
* Will your topic turnoff a large
number of people? If you write on how everyone should worship your
God, how wrong or right abortion is, or how you think the Republican
or Democratic Party is evil, you will not win the scholarship or aid
award. The only thing worse than not writing a memorable essay is
writing an essay that will be remembered negatively. Stay away from
specific religions, political doctrines, or controversial opinions.
You can still write an essay about Nietzsche's influence on your
life, but express understanding that not all intelligent people will
agree with Nietzsche's claims. Emphasize instead Nietzsche's
influence on your life, and not why you think he was wrong or right
in his claims.
* In this vein, if you are presenting
a topic that is controversial, you must acknowledge counter
arguments without sounding arrogant.
* Will a scholarship officer remember
your topic after a day of reading hundreds of essays? What will the
officer remember about your topic? What will the officer remember
about you? What will your lasting impression be?
Consider the
following guidelines below.
1. If you are planning on writing an essay on how you
survived poverty in Russia, your mother's suicide, your father's
kidnapping, or your immigration to America from Asia, you should be
careful that your main goal is to address your own personal
qualities. Just because something sad or horrible has happened to
you does not mean that you should win a scholarship. You don't want
to be remembered as the pathetic applicant. You want to be
remembered as the applicant who showed impressive qualities under
difficult circumstances. It is for this reason that essays relating
to this topic are considered among the best. Unless you only use the
horrible experience as a lens with which to magnify your own
personal characteristics, you will not write a good essay.
2. "Diversity" is the biggest buzzword of the
1990's. For this reason, so many applicants are tempted to declare
what makes them diverse. However, simply saying you are a black,
lesbian female will not impress scholarship officers in the least.
While an essay incorporating this information would probably be your
best topic idea, you must finesse the issue by addressing your own
personal qualities and how you overcame stigma, dealt with social
ostracism, etc. If you are a rich student from Beverly Hills whose
father is an engineer and whose mother is a lawyer, but you happen
to be a minority, an essay about how you dealt with adversity would
be unwise. You must demonstrate vividly your personal qualities,
interests, motivations, etc. Address specifically how your diversity
will contribute to the realm of campus opinion, the academic
environment, and the larger society.
3. Don't mention weaknesses unless you absolutely need to
explain them away. You want to make a positive first impression, and
telling a scholarship officer anything about drinking, drugs,
partying, etc. undermines your goal.
4. Be honest, but not for honesty's sake. Unless you are a
truly excellent writer, your best, most passionate writing will be
about events that actually occurred. While you might be tempted to
invent hardship, it is completely unnecessary. Write an essay about
your life that demonstrates your personality.
III) Writing the Essay
Even seemingly boring topics can be made into
exceptional scholarship essays with an innovative approach. In
writing the essay you must bear in mind your two goals: to persuade
the scholarship officer that you are extremely worthy of receiving
college assistance and to make the officer aware that you are more
than a GPA and a standardized score, that you are a real-life,
intriguing personality.
Unfortunately, there is no surefire step-by-step method to writing a
good essay.The following list of tips that you should find useful
while writing your scholarship essay.
1.Answer the Question. You can follow the next 12 steps, but
if you miss the question, you will not win the scholarship.
2.Be Original.Even seemingly boring essay topics can sound
interesting if creatively approached. If writing about a gymnastics
competition you trained for, do not start your essay: "I worked
long hours for many weeks to train for XXX competition."
Consider an opening like, "Every morning I awoke at 5:00 to
sweat, tears, and blood as I trained on the uneven bars hoping to
bring the state gymnastics trophy to my hometown."
3.Be Yourself.The scholarship committee wants to learn about
you and your writing ability. Write about something meaningful and
describe your feelings, not necessarily your actions. If you do
this, your essay will be unique. Many people travel to foreign
countries or win competitions, but your feelings during these events
are unique to you. Unless a philosophy or societal problem has
interested you intensely for years, stay away from grand themes that
you have little personal experience with.
4.Don't "Thesaurize" your Composition.For some
reason, students continue to think big words make good essays. Big
words are fine, but only if they are used in the appropriate
contexts with complex styles. Think Hemingway.
5.Use Imagery and Clear, Vivid Prose.If you are not adept
with imagery, you can write an excellent essay without it, but it's
not easy. The application essay lends itself to imagery since the
entire essay requires your experiences as supporting details. Appeal
to the five senses of the scholarship officers.
6.Spend the Most Time on your Introduction.Expect scholarship
officers to spend 1-2 minutes reading your essay. You must use your
introduction to grab their interest from the beginning. You might
even consider completely changing your introduction after writing
your body paragraphs.
* Don't Summarize in your
Introduction.Ask yourself why a reader would want to read your
entire essay after reading your introduction. If you summarize, the
scholarship officer need not read the rest of your essay.
* Create Mystery or Intrigue in
your Introduction.It is not necessary or recommended that your
first sentence give away the subject matter. Raise questions in the
minds of the scholarship officers to force them to read on. Appeal
to their emotions to make them relate to your subject matter.
7.Body Paragraphs Must Relate to Introduction. Your
introduction can be original, but cannot be silly. The paragraphs
that follow must relate to your introduction.
8.Use Transition.Applicants continue to ignore transition to
their own detriment. You must use transition within paragraphs and
especially between paragraphs to preserve the logical flow of your
essay. Transition is not limited to phrases like "as a result,
in addition, while . . . , since . . . , etc." but includes
repeating key words and progressing the idea. Transition provides
the intellectual architecture to argument building.
9.Conclusions are Crucial.The conclusion is your last chance
to persuade the reader or impress upon them your qualifications. In
the conclusion, avoid summary since the essay is rather short to
begin with; the reader should not need to be reminded of what you
wrote 300 words before. Also do not use stock phrases like "in
conclusion, in summary, to conclude, etc." You should consider
the following conclusions:
* Expand upon the broader implications
of your discussion.
* Consider linking your conclusion to
your introduction to establish a sense of balance by reiterating
introductory phrases.
* Redefine a term used previously in
your body paragraphs.
* End with a famous quote that is
relevant to your argument. Do not try to do this, as this approach
is overdone. This should come naturally.
* Frame your discussion within a
larger context or show that your topic has widespread appeal.
* Remember, your essay need not be so
tidy that you can answer why your little sister died or why people
starve in Africa; you are not writing a "sit-com," but
should forge some attempt at closure.
10.Do Something Else. Spend a week or so away from your draft
to decide if you still consider your topic and approach worthwhile.
11.Give your Draft to Others. Ask editors to read with these
questions in mind:
* What is the essay about?
* Have I used active voice verbs
wherever possible?
* Is my sentence structure varied or
do I use all long or all short sentences?
* Do you detect any clichés?
* Do I use transition appropriately?
* Do I use imagery often and does this
make the essay clearer and more vivid?
* What's the best part of the essay?
* What about the essay is memorable?
* What's the worst part of the essay?
* What parts of the essay need
elaboration or are unclear?
* What parts of the essay do not
support your main argument or are immaterial to your case?
* Is every single sentence crucial to
the essay? This MUST be the case.
* What does the essay reveal about
your personality?
* Could anyone else have written this
essay?
* How would you fill in the following
blank based on the essay: "I want to accept you to this college
because our college needs more ________."
12.Revise, Revise, Revise. You only are allowed so many
words; use them wisely. If H.D. Thoreau couldn't write a good essay
without revision, neither will you. Delete anything in the essay
that does not relate to your main argument. Do you use transition?
Are your introduction and conclusions more than summaries? Did you
find every single grammatical error?
* Allow for the evolution of your main
topic. Do not assume your subject must remain fixed and that you can
only tweak sentences.
* Editing takes time. Consider
reordering your supporting details, delete irrelevant sections, and
make clear the broader implications of your experiences. Allow your
more important arguments to come to the foreground. Take points that
might only be implicit and make them explicit.
* Have your Essay Professionally
Edited. The application essay is too important not to spend $50 for
its improvement.
|
|
 |
|
|
