Good preparation for essay writing really does make a difference in making it so much less stressful to do. Below I’ll explain how I revise for and plan an essay, with particular focus on timed essays as they often need more preparation but this can be used for all essays.
Revision:
To revise for an essay, I find that actually making something like a poster, flashcard, etc is the best way to help me remember and understand the topics of the module.
The most important part of revising for essays, however, is having a good list of references for each topic. Even if you don’t have time to make full notes for each topic in your lectures/ after lectures, you definitely want to read papers and make notes on them at the very least. Having good sources in your essay is the most important and often time consuming part of writing essays if you haven’t prepared them beforehand.
Here is a PDF example of my revision sheets for a topic in a second year module I had. This example isn’t perfect, for example, I know now that I would make sure that definitions and all my facts have sources that are easy to find on the page, but its an example of how you could structure your revision at least.
Planning:
This is a guide of what needs to be in each section of an essay plan. For each particular essay topic you may need to add to or alter this but I hope it’s at least helpful to get started:
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Introduction
- Definitions of key words
- Background to the topic and why is the topic important?
- In this essay I will… (talk about what you will discuss in the essay and what you think the topic is about. Even if you’ve interpreted the question wrong, if you start the essay by saying what you’ve interpreted it as, its likely that if it’s a good essay, you won’t get marked down for it)
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Paragraphs
- Have one main point for each paragraph. Start by stating the point, then in the next few sentences explain it more and use examples with sources. At the end of each paragraph or even throughout it, make sure you link the point to the question. Why is it relevant? How does it link to the topic being discussed?
- Make sure you have the sources/ references for each of the points you make. These should be sources from papers from lectures but also from outside sources (google scholar is great for this) to show outside/further reading and understanding
- Try to write around 4-6 paragraphs depending on the word count.
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Conclusion
- If it’s a question looking at two or more sides of an argument, talk about what you think is the right one and back that up with facts used in your essay
- If it’s an essay on talking about a topic with no sides of an argument, briefly talk about the points that you’ve made about the topic (summarise it) and use the question (If the question is ‘Discuss individuality in foraging and migration in aquatic vertebrates’ then start by saying ‘Individuality in foraging and migration does occur in aquatic vertebrates…’
- Some essays may be different types to the ones above but overall, bring everything together and answer the question
And remember for all of these sections make sure you have references to back up your points!!
Here is a blank form of the Essay Plan I use to plan my essays (which also includes the information above).
Disability and Essays/coursework
When managing disability at uni (pain, fatigue, brain fog, etc) starting essays or other coursework early is always a good idea.
You don’t have to even do much on those earlier days but it starts the thinking process which is helpful if you experience frequent brain fog because (its kind of hard to explain) but it sort of gives
your brain that time to break down the ‘problem’ of the essay or coursework. You’ll find yourself brainstorming at random times even though most of the time you’re not actually doing much and then it should eventually click and you’ll be able to write. This may not work for everyone as everyone is different in how they deal with things but either way starting early is good.
This also gives time to talk to course mates and throw ideas back and forth (without colluding of course). For example, speaking to a friend about structuring an essay we were writing meant I thought to add original thinking to my essay which in my case was talking about ‘how individual foraging has changed from anthropogenic means’
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