Essay Writing Tips
Simple, clear advice on how to write an essay. Honest.
Gosh, this is niche as it gets. Hopefully the majority of my readers are avid wine studiers.1
Essay Writing Tips
This really is dry. Actual tips. I’m not going undermine the subject, there’s no between the lines in-joke. Just, here are some simple facts about how to answer essay questions.
Most people learn a lot about wine, most people know more than me about something. That’s not the game I’m playing, the MW’s skill is in knowing a little bit about most things, and deftly being able to wrangle it into a long format answer.
I had a history teacher at school once, lovely guy, brilliant waffler, passionate, knowledgeable. Wore his knowledge like a burden, some things just needed to be over-explained, fully. Didn’t like to short change his students.
We’d take it in turns to ask questions that warranted the longest answers in order to get out of doing the actual things we were supposed to be doing. By asking the question it really gave him the opportunity to fully explain all aspects of the answer.
He genuinely thought we were so into the subject that a long format answer would be of interest to us.
As a teenager I thought we’d won the game. As an adult, I’d like to go back and ask him some more questions about history.
Intro, Body, Conclusion
Right. Imagine you have a question. Whatever the question is, there’s three things you need to get into the essay.
Intro: Explain the Question.
Body: Answer the Question
Conclusion: Summarise the Question.
It really is a simple as that. You just need to know the answer. That’s the hard bit.
Essay Planning
This is the thing I scribble down on a notepad to help me plan any essay. I practice doing this for past questions and key topics more than I practice writing full essays.
This should be pretty self explanatory. It really helps you figure out which bits need to go where. What’s explaining the question, how do I want the essay to flow, which topics can get grouped together in a paragraph. That sort of thing.
Plus, importantly, what the heck do I actually know? The nuts and bolts, the side shoots, the examples. Usually this goes down as a total mess as quickly as possible, then I do a Columbo and join all the dots.
The Intro
Explain the question. As simple as it sounds, I like to start with something airy, then pin it down. Like trying to catch a leaf falling from a tree.
Define the terms. The actual, individual words in the question each have their own meaning. Explain that you know what they mean, and how they’re relevant to what you’re going to say.
Limit the scope to the bits you know best. That way you can say “Oh, I’m not gonna mention too much about this…” when that’s the bit you know the least about. Even though it may not be principally relevance to the answer, it shows that you know a little bit of periphery.
Its also, much easier to say what you’re going to say, when you’ve already said it. Write the essay, then the conclusion, then go back and write the intro.
The Hard Part
Answer the question.
The way I study is to pick apart bits of the syllabus using old questions and gaps in my knowledge2 then pull together a mega-doc with loads of bullet points and memory joggers. Information collated from multiple sources. All jumbled up in there together on a specific topic.
I’ll then pick out all of the key elements and re-bullet point them into the few bits I need to remember. Each bullet point only needs to be able to form a 200 word paragraph. If there’s something with loads of points, I’ll go through and group them together.
If you can’t do that yet, learn it some more. Learn how to write a good essay first. Then, all you’ve got to do is study the stuff, because you know how to squidge it into an essay.
The Examples
Use these to underpin your bullet points. The example is not the answer, it helps you to demonstrate your understanding of the answer.
I find that trying to elaborate on each of the bullet points in a few minutes, out loud, should give you enough stuff.
I find relevant examples much easier to conjure up when I’m explaining them to someone who hasn’t got a clue3. You know how you're all like "hey, this winemaker at that winery does this, with that and those..."
That’s much easier to understand than a technical paper, and you can drop those examples into the essay as you see fit.
When I’m writing, I’m essentially typing down what I would say if I was saying it out loud4.
The Conclusion
No new information here. You’re summarising what you’ve already said. If you haven’t said it yet, and it’s relevant, pop it down somewhere else.
John Atkinson MW gave me a version of this tip. It stuck with me for conclusions.
Don’t forget your intro is saying what you’re going to say, and your conclusion is summarising what you’ve just said.
I hope this all helps.
Dan
Reader: They are not. You might be.
There are plenty of those.
Hi Mum!
I’ll be amazed if that makes sense to any of you.
Dan, this is excellent. I have literally no reason to write an essay - quite possibly every again in my life, ever - and yet, I will be saving this excellent explanation (to share with folk who DO need to write essays. The John Atkinson explanation would have served me well in the academic year 2000/2001 when I was loitering (not much intent) at military staff college, coincidently studying for an MA which required essays. Anyhoo, bloomin' good stuff. Thank you. Barrie
Hi Dan! Love Mum! Anytime you need someone who hasn’t got a clue, I’m here.