MBA Admissions 2012: Key to success in Essay Writing - Structure it right
Added: (Thu Dec 01 2011)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
To make you perfect on Essay Writing front, MBAUniverse.com has started the special series on ‘Essay Writing for Admissions to IIMs, XLRI, and IIFT’.
Today, continuing with the special series, we present to you tips on how to write the essay, basically focusing on the structure of a good essay. Read further to know more.
Follow these simple steps and your essay will be well structured.
Understand the Question – What are you really being asked to do?
One of the biggest mistakes people make when answering essay questions is ‘they don’t answer the question’. Instead of taking some time to digest the question posed, they jump straight in and regurgitate everything they know about the subject. And whilst this approach may illustrate that you know your subject, it also suggests that you haven’t read or understood the question. This then just leads to the examiner stamping your work with a just ‘OK’.
So the most important thing you can do when writing an essay is really get to grips with the question posed. Establish exactly what you are being asked to do, and then constantly keep checking your answer to make sure you are ‘answering the question’.
Take a look at the questions below; what words do you think are the most important? What are each of them asking you to do?
-- What should government do to attract the youth to armed forces?
-- Voting should be made compulsory
-- Is climate change alert an exaggeration?
The most important words in all of these questions are the ones that tell you what you have to write on. These words are, ‘do’, ‘to attract’, ‘Should be made’, ‘Is’. For example in the first topic, you will have to focus on the steps that the government needs to take to make armed forces attractive for the youth. This will provide the answer to ‘What should government do?’. To add strength to your essay you can talk about the current number of soldiers in armed forces, the things that ail our armed forces.
In the second topic it is up to you what stand you want to take, in favour or against the statement. Ideally, you should think well before you attempt to write. Whatever stand you take, you should have right thoughts to support your stance.
Spending time getting to grips with the essay question, and constantly reminding yourself of the question whilst you write your essay will save valuable time, and is the fastest way to improving your essay marks.
Structuring your essay –Beginning, Middle and End
Now that you fully understand the question that your essay needs to answer, you can set about structuring the perfect response. It doesn’t matter how long or short your essay is going to be, it must contain three main sections:
* An Introduction
* The body or main argument of the essay
* A Conclusion
The Introduction should set the scene. It should provide any necessary background information, and state the intention of the essay. This is where you want to show the examiner that you understand the essay question. So state that you are going to compare two novels, discuss a concept, explore the impact of a character, etc.
The body of the essay should contain the main argument of the essay. Put simply, this is where you would compare the novels, discuss the concept, explore the impact of the character, etc.
The Conclusion should do just what it says. It should conclude your argument and pull together the main threads of your essay. You should use the conclusion of your essay to make a real impact and firmly state once again the main points of your essay. Go back to the question posed, and make sure your conclusion succinctly answers it.
The content – Make sure you know what you’re talking about
And finally, the essay has to have some substance. The content is obviously pivotal to the success of your essay – you can get away with waffling through the introduction and conclusion, but the body needs to consist of some subject matter. So make sure you know the subject you are writing about. And ensure you have sufficient examples to support any opinion or statement you make