How to Write An Essay Plan Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

An essay is a short piece of writing on a subject, which is designed for the writer to show their knowledge surrounding the subject, giving opinion and backing it up with academic research. An essay will appear to wander aimlessly, from point to point, without clarity and logic, and not giving the author chance to properly display their knowledge. An essay plan provides the essay with a firm structure, which in turn will make the essay clear and coherent, making the best of the information the author has gathered. This is vital when trying to successfully portray a point, as if the information is not clear, the reader will not fully understand the suggestions the author is making, and the essay will be graded lower. Once the essay subject has been chosen, the topic fully researched and the authors opinion on the matter decided, it is time to begin planning the essay. The essay plan does not have to be written as long as the essay itself, it must only provide the skeleton of the essay. The first section is the introduction, the second section, which will make the bulk of the essay, is the argument.

It is helpful to break down the information into bullet points in the essay plan, choosing the most relevant information and noting down how it can be expanded on when the essay itself is written. The essay plan may be written in note form to save time, or it can be written in full sentences, depending upon whichever the author feels most comfortable with. The essay plan must begin with an introduction, as an essay must always begin with an introduction. Introductions do not have to take up a huge amount of the word count, it may simply introduce the subject, and what the author is intending to write about it. Essay plans for essays with a larger word count may take into consideration the extra words they have, and the author may plan to add additional information, such as which academic opinions they will be referring to, and the information which the essay will establish.

The introduction is designed to inform the reader of what they are about to read, and the opinion the author has arrived at on the subject. The next stage of the essay plan is the main body of the argument, which will take up the majority of the essay. It is in this part of the essay the author will state their ideas, and back it up with an academic rsquo s perspective. The author rsquo s opinion is important to an essay, however, it is made more persuasive by developing and discussing the evidence, and then backing it up with academic research.

To do this successfully, in the essay plan the author should choose the most relevant information to the argument they are going to make, and put it into bullet points. Each paragraph should include three bullet points, with the first bullet stating the point the author is making. The essay plan should follow this structure to keep the essay simple and easy to follow. The author must express why they are making the argument, as this proves they have an opinion on the subject and are not simply re writing something which they have previously read. To prove the author has done research around the essay topic and give the argument more credibility, academic opinion is then used to support the argument the author is making. It is important in an essay plan for the author to note down quotations from academic resources so they do not have to be searched for when the time comes for actually writing the essay.

It is also helpful to note down the references next to the quotations in the essay plan, to avoid any mistakes and plagiarism. The three bullet points, when transferred into the essay, will provide one point towards the argument, and give an explanation as to why that point has been made. This format should be repeated throughout the main body of the text, for each point the author wishes to make. Sticking to a structure will portray to the reader the author is able to write coherently, and present information well.

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At this point in the essay plan, effort should be made to ensure that each paragraph links smoothly to the next, creating an even flow in the information the author is presenting. The essay plan must then include a conclusion, which summarises the arguments made in the essay. The conclusion provides a sense of closure to the reader, so the essay is not left open ended. In the essay plan, the author must plan the conclusion as one paragraph, brief and straight to the point, similar to the introduction. The conclusion may also suggest other areas which can be referred to within the subject, which are of interest but the author has not approached. This will give evidence the author has thoroughly researched the topic, and was able to pick out and use the relevant information for the essay subject. If an essay plan is followed, it provides evidence to the reader that the author is knowledgeable in the subject in which they are writing upon, and can transfer the knowledge onto paper.

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When information is well organised, it is written clearer and the reader will find it easier to understand. An essay plan makes it easier to provide a well written essay, which in turn, guarantees higher marks than a badly structured essay. Below is an example of what an essay plan should look like including explanations and tips , and how much detail it should contain. Essay question: was the russian revolution a genuine revolution or was it a coup? word limit: 2,0 words introduction 10% of word limit: 200 words introductions should never be longer than 500 words, so this 10% guide only applies to essays shorter than 5,0 words. To be considered an introduction, an introduction must do two things: answer the question ndash it was a genuine revolution.

List the evidence your essay will put forward to prove your answer ndash this can be seen through an examination of the sections of society which supported the revolution. Any major topic or subject that you plan to discuss in your essay must be introduced in the introduction. body of the essay: 400 words each how long you spend writing about each subject should reflect the importance of each subject.

If all four topics are of equal importance, write roughly the same amount of words on each. Topic 1: workers topic 2: peasants topic 3: soldiers topic 4: national minorities conclusion 10% of word limit: 200 words conclusions should never be longer than 500 words, so this 10% guide only applies to essays shorter than 5,0 words. To be considered a conclusion, a conclusion must do two things: answer the essay question again using different words than in the introduction, don rsquo t repeat yourself exactly ndash it was a genuine revolution. Recap repeat, summaries all the evidence you have given to prove your answer during your essay ndash workers, peasants, soldiers, national minorities a conclusion must not contain any new information, you are only summarising what you have already written. The quality of your essay will be directly proportionate to the quality of your plan.

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Those few minutes you spend formulating a clear, well thought out and logical plan will save you time a lot of time when writing your essay and ensure that you are answering the question set. When planning your essay you should focus on four things:

    the question the context of the question the main factors in relation to your question the conclusion of your argument
understanding the question is the most important factor in writing a 20 mark essay. In your plan you have to ensure that you are fully aware of what the question is actually asking you to do. By breaking down the question at the planning stage you are ensuring that you are taking the correct approach to answering it. There is really no room for mistake when you only have 40 minutes in the exam to answer each of your 2 essay questions. If we take the question: how important was the allied use of new technology in the victory over germany by 1918? this question is asking you to do three things: explain the importance of the use of new technology as a reason for allied victory explain the importance of other reasons for the allied victory make a judgment on the importance of the use of new technology as a reason for allied victory. By placing the question in context you are showing the marker that you have knowledge and awareness of the historical period that you are studying.

When placing a question in context it helps if you think of the marker as an alien and some probably are! who is visiting planet earth for the first time and has no knowledge of any event, development or issue in the history of human civilisation. Therefore you need to give a bit of background knowledge in your introduction that puts the question in its historical background or explains some of the terms of the question. There are a number of ways that you could set the wider context for the above question: by describing overall the course and outcome of the first world war by describing the causes of the war by explaining the importance of new technology in warfare today and in the past by identifying the main factors involved in answering the question this will give you an overview of how you are going to develop the essay. The main factors for our question are: new technology, you would tackle this first as it is the factor identified in the question the entry of the usa into the war the allied naval blockade the collapse of germany’s allies the collapse of the german home front finally, you should identify the overall judgment that you are going to make from your argument.

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For example: new technology was vitally important in the victory because of the battlefield superiority it gave the allies. The entry of america made it inevitable that the allies would be victorious because of the wealth of money, materials and men. Whatever the evidence in your argument leads you to believe was the most important reason for allied victory. The process of planning will ensure that you are focused on the question before you begin to write your essay. You should be aiming to complete the plan in less than five minutes in the exam. your finished plan for writing this essay would look something like this: the simplest way to ensure that your work is structured in such a way is to prepare an essay plan before you start. Many students prepare such a plan by putting down keywords and headings in a rough order and then rearranging these elements until they get the best results.

thesis statements

a good example of a simple technique is the use of a 'thesis statement'.

A 'thesis statement' is a short summary of the point you intend to make in your essay. Once you have written your 'thesis statement', it is a simple matter to outline the rest of your essay.

finding more information

you need to find the method that works best for you.