Seven Steps to Writing a Great Essay

Writing an essay about a literary text or a topic related to English is something every student has to do at some time in their life!

I know that English essay writing can feel overwhelming. Have no fear! Together, we’ll tackle this common task and learn a step-by-step approach that will give you the skills to write an effective essay.

My top tip: leave plenty of time to do your essay! 

If you are given an essay to do for homework, don’t leave your essay until the night before it’s due to be handed in. Rushing an essay is unlikely to result in a good grade.

Step One: Understand the essay question!

A classic mistake that people make is to read the essay question very quickly and then start writing immediately. Understanding and analysing the question is crucial! If you don’t understand the question properly, your essay will probably not answer the question.

Grab a highlighter and read the question slowly and carefully, underlining important words as you go. Let’s look at a sample essay question:

Explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Romeo and Juliet in the play.

When reading and analysing the question, look for verbs such as “analyse”, “compare”, “contrast”, “explain”, “evaluate”. Also look for ideas, names, and themes mentioned in the question. Also, check to see if you have to focus on the whole text or a specific part of the text. 

OK, so let’s apply this to the essay question we’ve just looked at:

Explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Romeo and Juliet in the play.

You can see here that we have identified the verb “explore” and that we need to focus on the relationship between two specific characters, Romeo and Juliet. Also, note that the question DOES NOT mention specific acts or scenes in the play that we must focus on, so a good answer will explore how the relationship is presented throughout the play.

Step 2: Review and plan how you will write your essay!

If you’re writing an essay for homework, start by reviewing the topic you will write about. However, if you are writing the essay in an exam, you may not have access to the text but if you do, quickly skim the relevant parts. In the above example question, we are told to explore how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Romeo and Juliet in the play. So start by looking at the very first scene in which Romeo and Juliet meet and analyse the context of where they meet and how their relationship first begins. 

Then work your way through the play looking at how the relationship changes and develops. It’s a good idea to make notes as you review the relevant scenes. Also, identify and highlight quotes you could use to support your points. 

Warning! Fail to plan, plan to fail!

Before you plunge into writing your essay, take time to write a plan. Many people are tempted to skip this step and start writing an answer. The problem with this approach is that the answer ends up being disorganised. 

Important!

If you are writing an essay for an exam, make sure that you carefully manage your reviewing and planning time! Don’t spend so long on this part that you end up not writing the actual essay

A good plan should include:

• An introduction: a brief statement of your main argument or what you plan to discuss.
• A list of the paragraphs you wish to write. For each paragraph, focus on a specific topic or idea.
• Details of the order of your main paragraphs so that they flow logically. (For example, for the essay on Romeo and Juliet it would make sense to analyse their relationship chronologically, as the story unfolds. You could write a paragraph about each scene.)
• A conclusion: a short summary of what you have just written about, giving your final thoughts. Always relate your conclusion to the essay question.

Step 3: Check your plan!

There’s no point in following a plan if it doesn’t answer the question. So, go back to the question and read it again! Next, read your plan carefully. Ask yourself, “If I followed this plan, would it answer the question fully?” If your answer is ”No”, rewrite or change your plan until it does. If your answer is “Yes”, you are good to go.

Step 4: Write your first draft of the essay!

Now you can start writing your essay. Follow your plan carefully. As you complete each stage of your plan, tick it off and read the next step. Keep completing the cycle until you get to the end of your plan.

Top Tip – If you are asked to write an essay about a specific text, such as a poem, play or novel, use quotes from the text to support your arguments and then explain the effects of the quote.

Step 5: Break time!

Try to take a break after your first draft. Do something completely different. This break will give you a fresh perspective on your essay when you return to it. In an exam situation, you will have to skip this step.

Step 6: Editing or rewriting your essay!

Reread the essay question and then read your answer aloud. 

Think! 

• Have I missed anything important or relevant out?
• Have I repeated myself?
• Have I provided appropriate quotes to support my argument?
• Are my paragraphs in a logical order?
• Have I included anything irrelevant?

Make any changes you need to your essay. 

You may need to repeat this step until you are happy with your answer!

Step 7: Perfect by proofreading

Now reread your work, slowly and carefully!

This time check for the following:

• spelling
• punctuation
• grammar

Make any final corrections. That’s it, you’re done!

At last, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you’re finally at the end of the process. Hopefully, following these steps has helped make tackling an essay a little less scary!  It’s all about breaking the task into manageable chunks and allowing plenty of time to complete each stage.

Now you should have all the skills to write fabulous essays that will get you top marks!

If you’ve found this article helpful, let me know in the comments below. Are you looking for one-to-one English lessons? Visit www.topmarkseducation.co.uk to find out more about how I can help.