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Have you read Truitt’s post on essays yet? It’ll help you start thinking about what you need to write some of those application essays. It’s useful for scholarship essays too!
Once you’re ready to start, here are some tips for actually writing your essays:
Before You Write
Different people write in different ways, but almost everyone can benefit from an outline before getting started. An outline will help you get an idea of where you want to go, so you will be able to keep a consistent theme throughout.
Your audience by WAG
Audience
The person or people you are writing to matter! It is important to understand what they are looking for—it could be the difference between admission and rejection.
Research
The first thing you can do to get an idea of what your audience will be looking for is to look up some key information about them. For example, look at some common words they use in their website descriptions, and use similar key words in your essay when you’re making your points.
Writing the Essay
It helps to make your essay more interesting and give you more voice if you start with a personal story that is related to the essay topic. It doesn’t have to be long, but it should capture your reader’s interest.
Theme
Try to stick to an overall theme (or two) that will help everything in your essay flow together. Remember to end that first paragraph with a sentence that gives your reader hints about where you’re going to go with the rest of the paper.
Show, Don’t Tell
It’s all well and good to say that you are hard-working or intelligent, but you can go one step further. You can PROVE it by showing us that you’re hard-working. Talk about what you learned during your hours of community service or the time you spend at work. The reader can fill in the character traits on his or her own.
Conclusion
Conclude by answering the question, “So what?” You’ve told the reader about how taking care of your sweet-but-ailing grandma was the best learning experience you’ve ever had; now tell them why they should care. (Hint: Because you can take what you learned and apply it to your Major in Nursing or Psychology.) Don’t forget to relate your ideas back to your audience!
Is there anything else that’s important for you to do in essay-writing? Post it here!
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