To give yourself the best opportunity to answer an essay question effectively, it is important to work with a clear structure. If you follow this step-by-step process, it should help you to stay on track with your argument.
Step 1: Read the question:
Step 2: Highlight/underline/circle the main points
Step 3: 'This question is asking me to...'
Step 4: Brainstorming - write down anything that comes to mind about the topic.
Step 5: Pick out important parts in brainstorming and expand/organise to form what will become your main points.
Step 6: Write your thesis statement. Your thesis statement must involve and answer the question. Basically, it states what you will be basing your whole essay around.
Step 7: Write your topic sentences - work out what your main body paragraphs are going to talk about and then write your topic sentences.
Remember, a topic sentence must
a) tell us what the paragraph will be about
b) link back to thesis statement.
Step 8: Decide what quotations and evidence you will use for each body paragraph - make sure your evidence is relevant to your main point and ultimately supports your thesis statement.
Step 9: Plan what you want to say about your evidence and how it supports your points - this is your synthesius and it where you can include discussion of the positioning techniques.
Step 10: Write your concluding statements or linking sentences - optional. Some people like to do this in planning as it is one more way to ensure that they stay on track in their argument. Others prefer to wait until the paragraph is complete so that they can come to a logical conclusion in that part of the argument. Experiment to see what works best for you.
Step 11: Start writing your essay!
Introduction - thesis statement
- outline of main points
- include title of the novel and author's name
- can include very brief background about the novel to set the scene
- consider and mention positioning techniques, e.g:
Main Body Paragraphs - repeat for all paragraphs
Topic sentence
Expand/Elaborate
Evidence
Evaluation
Concluding sentence
Conclusion - revisit thesis statement
- revisit all main points
- mention author and title
- DO NOT BRING IN ANY NEW INFORMATION
- leave reader with something to think about
Step 14: Proof-read and edit - do not stop until you get told to put your pen down.
When proof-reading and editing, consider the following things:
Punctuation
- Have you used commas effectively?
- Have you put full stops at the end of sentences?
- Have you used quotation marks to indicate quotations?
- Have you used possessive apostrophes where needed?
- Have you used capital letters at the beginning of sentences and for Proper Nouns (i.e. a person's name, etc.)
- If you have used a semi-colan, colan or hyphen, have you used it correctly?
Spelling
- Have you spelt the author's name correctly?
- Have you spelt the characters' names correctly?
- Have you looked for incorrect spelling of homophones (words that sound the same but are spelt differently, e.g. 'to', 'too' and two'?
- Have you ensured that you are using Australian (British) spelling rather than U.S. spelling, e.g. 'analyse' instead of 'analyze'?
Sentence structure:
- Do they make sense?
- Do you have a variety of sentence structures, i.e. simple, compound and complex?
- Do you avoid sentence fragments?
- Do you begin sentences in a variety of ways or do they all start the same way?
Expression
- Have you phrased things in the best way?
- Do you avoid colloquial expressions?
- Do you avoid slang and contractions?
- Does the way you have worded your argument make sense?
- Do you avoid using first person (I, me, my, we, our)?
- Do you avoid using second person (you, your)?
Word choice
- Have you repeated words too many times?
- Have you used words in the right context - i.e. does it make sense the way you have used it?
- Do you know what the words you have used actually mean?
- Have you tried to use words that demonstrate that you understand the positioning techniques, e.g. 'imagery', 'characterisation', 'positions', etc.
Grammar
- Have you checked that you are writing in present tense?
- Have you ensured that you are not making mistakes with subject verb agreement, i.e. if the noun is plural so is the verb OR if the noun is singular so is the verb? E.g. 'There are two chairs." (Correct) "There is two chairs." (Incorrect)
- Do you use definite and indefinite articles appropriately? ("The" - definite article. "A" and "An" - indefinite articles.)
Content
- Do you answer the question?
- Is your discussion relevant?
- Are the claims you are making about the book/characters/events correct?
- Are your quotations relevant to your argument?
- Do you reference your quotations?
- Do you take the time to synthesise your evidence?
- Do you mention positioning techniques in your synthesis?
Structure
- Do you have a clear thesis statement that answers the question?
- Does this intro outline your main points?
- Does the intro mention the author and book?
- Do you avoid using quotations in your intro?
- Do your topic sentences link back to your thesis statement?
- Do you have evidence in each paragraph?
- Do you have closing statements or linking statements at the end of each paragraph?
- Does your conclusion avoid bringing in new information?
