Looking for all the best essay writing tips, from planning to structure to timing?  Well, this is the place for you!

Knowing how to write a fantastic essay seems really challenging until you know these life-changing tips.  Straight from a private tutor and (very…) experienced essay-writer, here is my take on the best essay writing tips to inflate your marks.

You are going to learn about responding to questions, planning your essays, figuring out your timing and how to revise for an essay.

This article is all about the best essay-writing tips your teacher forgot to tell you.

Essay Writing Tips

1. Read the question

Ok, this one seems very obvious!  It’s very important, though, and often neglected.  To demonstrate my point here properly, I’m going to use an example essay question:

How far was Marshall Aid the main cause of Europe’s economic boom after World War II?

Most people reading this would see Marshall Aid and economic boom, and that’s it.  However, you need to zoom in on every aspect of the question.  Here’s how I would tackle an essay question like this:

How far was Marshall Aid the main cause of Europe‘s economic boom after World War II?

The opening words normally indicate the question type.  This is a ‘how far’ question, so I need to weigh up both the points for this argument and those against.

This is the main topic and should the majority of my essay should concern it.  At least two paragraphs – one in favour of Marshall Aid being the main cause and one against.

This tells me what type of essay I am writing – cause, course or consequence.  Here, fairly obviously, the essay is focused on causes.  I will therefore need to demonstrate an understanding of how each factor led to economic boom.

This limits my answer by geography – no discussion of the USA, please!

This limits my answer by sector – we are concerned purely with economic boom, not social, technological or industrial.  Of course, some of these might impact economic boom, but should not form the majority of my answer.

This limits my answer by time – we are looking at the period after WWII, so 1945 to 1960 ish.  Don’t mention anything outside this period unless it is absolutely necessary.

Treat every single essay question like this, even in an exam situation.  If you miss something, you could lose a huge amount of marks in a split second.

2. Figure out your argument

Hopefully, by the time you are writing an essay, you should have enough knowledge of the subject to make a snap judgement.  For this question on Marshall Aid, I would argue that it was significant but not the main cause.  This was instead long-term trends of industrialisation and globalisation – in my opinion!

Anyway, it really doesn’t matter what your argument is, as long as it is relatively logical.  All you need to do is stick to it like a limpet.  Tell your teacher your argument in the introduction, repeat it in the relevant paragraph and say it several times more in the conclusion.  The more you repeat your answer, the more confident and assured you will sound.

Having said that, make sure not to ignore other arguments.  Acknowledge weak points if there are any, then undermine their credibility or emphasise their significance.  Your argument does not have to be flawless, just solid.

3. Stick to a plan

Once you have read and re-read the question and made a decision as to the direction of your argument, make a plan.  I cannot stress enough how important this stage is.  You should spend at least five minutes making a detailed plan.

Honestly, if you need convincing, maybe it will be enough for me to tell you that when examiners see a plan on the page they go in with high expectations and are more likely to understand your essay structure.  So planning quite literally gives you immediate extra marks!

Let’s take that question from before and I’ll show you a rough plan I might make.  Here is the question again:

How far was Marshall Aid the main cause of Europe’s economic boom after World War II?

And here’s a possible plan.  It’s up to you whether to write three or four paragraphs, though I wouldn’t go beyond this range.  For this question, I chose to write four paragraphs, which I find is useful with ‘how far’ and ‘to what extent’ questions as it allows me to properly explore the factor given in the question and my own arguments.

The main cause was long-term trends of industrialisation and globalisation

USA’s close link to Europe encouraged adoption of American manufacturing and management techniques – convergence

Increased collaboration across Europe (such as the EEC in 1957) and world widened the market

Adoption of deregulated markets and privatisation policies encouraged growth

More women joining the workforce – modernisation

There’s a rough example of what I might write for a VERY detailed essay plan.  You wouldn’t have time for this in an exam, but you can jot down the key points, like ’14 billion dollars’, ‘grants’, ‘land-reform’, ‘Genissiat hydroelecctric project’, ‘Germany received funding’ and ‘80% growth in West vs 10.4 in East Germany’, for the first paragraph.  This will not take you long, but it will make writing the main body of your essay much easier, faster and clearer.

4. Learn how to write an introduction and conclusion

This is important at any level, but is especially crucial from A-level onwards.  Essentially, each introduction should address the main topic of the question, the lead point (red bit in my plan above) of each paragraph and your final response.  Each conclusion should basically do the same thing, just with more emphasis on your overall argument.

Introductions can be formulaic – that’s a good thing in this case.  It allows you to write one very quickly and accurately.  Conclusions need a little more care to make sure your argument is perfectly clear. 

Whatever you do, don’t forget to write a conclusion – it’s such a huge part of your argument that running out of time to write one can significantly diminish available marks.  That’s why I also recommend ending each paragraph with a concluding sentence, linking back to your lead point and essay question.

That’s a very brief dive into intros and conclusions.  For more detail, have a look at this article, where I show you exactly how to write an effective introduction and conclusion.

How to Write an Essay

5. Be hyper-specific

Specificity gets you a ridiculous amount of marks.  Whether that is remembering an exact number for a history essay or an exact quote for an English essay does not matter – it is impressive no matter what.

Having said that, you don’t need to know absolutely everything to be hyper-specific.  Know your history timelines and orders of events, but don’t bother learning every single year.  Knowing the decade is absolutely sufficient.

Similarly, English mark schemes award ‘references’ to texts, not ‘quotes’.  So if you can’t remember a quote, don’t panic – if you can remember exactly what happens in the scene, paraphrase it.  You can score very highly whilst using very few quotes!

For me, specificity isn’t really remembering things, having said all that.  When I ask for specificity, I mean an ability to pick exactly the right adjective to describe Macbeth’s nihilisitc take on his futile, aimless life at the end of Act 5.  I mean the way that high note in the Star Wars theme is strident and piercing, dominating the texture and capturing the listener’s attention.  A surprising amount of essay content consists of spewing exciting vocab on a page!

6. Focus on clarity

Don’t try to make complex points – you WILL get yourself in a tangle, no matter how carefully you plan and write your answer.  Being clever works when you have months to write an essay, not when you have forty minutes!

Examiners want to read answers that are vaguely original (i.e. don’t parrot a textbook), but that does not mean you need to reinvent the wheel every time you have an essay on Sheila in An Inspector Calls.  Sheila starts out materialistic and ends up enlightened.  That was Priestley’s point, not an elaborate deconstruction of capitalistic feminity in Edwardian and post-WWII society.

Well, maybe it kinda was, but only write that if you are 100% confident that you can express yourself very clearly!  You can write a very simple essay packed with clear, simply ideas and get very good marks, so don’t make it harder for yourself unless it is absolutely necessary.

7. Leave time to proof-read

This one is really challenging, especially in exam conditions.  It is absolutely worth it to at least re-read your introduction, conclusion, lead points and concluding sentences, though.  Check for clarity, grammar and focus.  Have you answered the question?

In exam conditions, give yourself at least five minutes to proof-read.  If you are writing an essay at home, maybe for coursework or a university essay, give yourself a day off from writing then read it the next day.  Reading out loud is a fantastic way to see if something doesn’t quite work.  Also, get someone else to read it to you – a friend, a parent or a reluctant sibling!

7.5. Secret bonus grammar section!

Now for my favourite part of writing – grammar!  Yes, I am one of those sad people who finds grammar interesting.  Anyway, here are a few quick grammatical points to consider:

• Do not use the first person (I or me).  Instead of ‘I think that Marshall Aid was highly significant’, write ‘it is arguable that Marshall Aid was highly significant’
• Include lots of maybes, perhapses and arguablys.  They make your writing sound sophisticated and demonstrate that you know there is some debate.  You are admitting that your answer is not the only “correct” response!
• AVOID COMMA SPLICES (if you don’t know what this is (most people wouldn’t!), have a read of this article: The Comma Splice: Every Teacher’s Pet Peeve)
• Focus on short, punchy sentences.  If in doubt, put in a full stop!

This article was all about the best essay writing tips.

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How to Structure a Paragraph

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