How to Write Better Essays

pin your arguments down. Not only have your examples got to support

your arguments, but they must illustrate them vividly. This will make

them more believable and interesting – they will grab and hold your

reader ’s attention.

Finally, check that, wherever possible, your arguments have shown

your readers what you mean, rather than simply told them. For

this, make sure you’ve used enough quotations and anecdotes. They

will make your writing more readable, but they must make the point

you want them to make. Therefore, make certain they all do real

work. And remember, like other forms of evidence, too many are as bad

as too few.

Your conclusion

Having checked all of this, when it comes to your conclusion it should

be plain sailing. The key thing you must be certain of is that the intro-

duction and conclusion relate to each other, giving your essay a tight

cohesion. If you haven’t achieved this, then rewrite it so that you come

back to the issues you raised, and the anecdote you may have used, in

the introduction. But avoid raising any new issues that weren’t raised

in the body of the essay. The key to conclusions is to let your

readers know that you have delivered on all the promises you made

in the introduction.

Checklist

1 Have I interpreted the implications of the question thoroughly?

Have I missed anything?

2 Does the introduction analyse the implications clearly and give the

reader a clear indication of the structure of my answer?

3 Have I arranged the material logically?

4 Does the essay move fluently from one section to the next, from

paragraph to paragraph?

5 Does each topic sentence introduce the subject of each paragraph

clearly?

6 Have I developed each argument sufficiently?

7 Have I made my arguments clear, or are there difficult passages

that would benefit from being rewritten?

8 Do I support each argument with sufficient evidence and examples?

9 Do all my examples and evidence do real work?

10 Have I shown, rather than told, the reader wherever possible?

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