Essay Writing 101

“Tell them what you’re going to say, tell them what you have to say, and then tell them what you just said.”

This quick guide covers the writing of an essay within a time limit. 

The five elements of an Accuplacer essay

Element 1: Mechanics
The first thing essay readers will notice about your essay is whether your sentences are grammatically sound. These readers have been around the block a few thousand times when it comes to reading essays, so errors in grammar, spelling, or syntax will tend to really stand out. And in most readers’ minds, nothing compromises the value of an essay more than a poor understanding of the basic rules of written English.
When you finish any essay, you should always re-read it to look for mistakes you may have made in your first draft. Even if your essay is timed, you should always leave a little time at the end to refine and polish your work.

Element 2: Structure
The structure of an essay involves the variety of sentences that you use. There are many ways to construct a sentence, and each has its own rhythm. If you repeat the same sentence structure throughout a paragraph, the reader will get really bored really fast. Alternative: Add a little more added information  to make the sentences varied,  containing a wider array of vocabulary, flowing into each other better. The result: A much higher score.

Element 3: Organization
The most basic way to organize an essay: An introductory paragraph that contains a thesis statement, two or three paragraphs that support the statement made in the introduction, and a strong concluding paragraph. One way to look at this three-part scheme is with these three statements:
• Tell them what you’re going to say;
• Say what you have to say; and
• Tell them what you just said.

Accuplacer being a standardized test, it means readers have a lot of essays to read, and they don’t have a lot of time to linger on your big one. Keep t simple.

Element 4: Development
Readers like organization, and they like when your ideas are developed well in the body of your essay. Are your examples interesting? Are they relevant to your thesis? Are they linked together well?

Element 5: Focus
This speaks to the overall feel of your essay, which your reader will appreciate once he or she has read the entire thing. Is your message clear, or did you derail your train of thought? Do your paragraphs progress logically? Essentially, the reader wants to assess how well you understood the topic and how well your body paragraphs supported your thesis statement. Again, it’s important to remember that the reader doesn’t care as much about the thesis statement itself as about how well that statement is supported, and that the overall message is compelling.

If your reader notices your well-organized work from out of a pile, containing relevant examples to support a clear thesis statement, he or she will be overjoyed.

How to do it

Step 1: Brainstorm
After you read the essay prompt, take a few moments to think about how you might answer it. Do you have an opinion? If so, write it down. If not, start thinking about examples that would be relevant to the topic. Anything is possible: personal anecdotes, books you’ve read, movies you’ve seen, current events, etc. Write all of these down, too, and whatever you do, don’t censor yourself. Free-think with as few restrictions as possible; you’ll have plenty of time to sift through all the ideas as you prepare for step 2.
At this point you don’t really need to have an opinion (or a thesis statement). In some cases, you might not formulate your thesis until after you’ve had a look at some of the ideas you’ve written down. As in many elements of this or any standardized test, don’t discount the possibility of a mid-problem epiphany. They’re much more common than you might think.

Step 2: Make An Outline
This is where your essay finds its structure and sounds less like your free-associative ramblings. Look among all the ideas you jotted down. Which ones seem the most relevant? Which seem to fit together to form the most effective thesis? Keep the ones you like, skip the ones you don’t, and get ready to build the skeleton of your essay.

Step 3: Start Writing Informally
Most of us think in conversational English, rather than formal, written English. So as you’re forming your essay, indulge your instincts and start writing as if you’re explaining your ideas to a friend. Expressing your thoughts informally can actually speed the creative process, because you won’t feel compelled to express them in the most formal way possible. This also makes your ideas come across as more genuine.

Step 4: Polish It Up
Once you feel your essay’s content is strong, and your ideas are fully formed and supported well, it’s time to formalize your writing into something that might appear in published form. Use this time to:
• read the essay start to finish to see if your paragraphs flow well together (“connecting” words like Furthermore can be useful);
• make sure your paragraphs are reasonably short (4-8 sentences) and strongly delineated;
• rewrite sentences to make sure they don’t all have the same rhythm;
• insert synonyms to vary your word choice;
• check for spelling, syntax, and punctuation.A. you finish up your work, it’s important to note here that even though your ability to write a thoughtful, concise essay is being tested, your readers also know this is an impromptu exercise with, in many cases, a deadline. They are looking for an essay of high quality, but they also know they cannot expect perfection on such an off-the-cuff assignment. This realization may take a little pressure off you as you endeavor to create your best work under pressure. All you can do is the best you can do, and practice will help you improve.
 

Things to keep in mind:

- Acknowledge the other side: Your stance on a particular subject becomes much more compelling if you can display an understanding of why those who disagree with you feel the way they do. This shows that you’ve considered both sides of the debate and cultivated an informed opinion.
• Make sure it’s long enough:  If an essay looks short, it will look incomplete, regardless of how well you turn a phrase within. 
• Don’t repeat yourself: If you come up with what you think is a really trenchant idea, your instinct might be to repeat that idea more than once in order to make sure the reader saw your fantastic insight. When you repeat thoughts, it shows that you’re basing your thesis on fewer ideas than it might look like, and essay readers can see through that ploy from several miles away.
• The more convinced you are, the more convinced they will be: Your job as a writer is to compel your reader to share your thoughts. If you’re wishy-washy about what you’re trying to say, how can you expect your reader to be persuaded? Instead of saying this may be a problem, say it is a problem.
• If you’re writing your essay, try to write as legibly as possible. Have mercy on the reader.
• If you’re typing your essay, brush up on your typing skills. If you spend all your time hunting and pecking, you’ll take time away from your planning and composition, and your essay will suffer.