Writing Essays and Assignments

As with any new skill, the first few times you try out planning, you might find it clunky or a bit time consuming, but the more you practice planning, the quicker and easier it will become, especially for use in exams!

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Here's our quick guide to quick planning:

For the even quicker quick guide to quick planning, just read the BOLD words...

You will need plain or lined paper/Word or PowerPoint open; coloured pens/pencils, etc.; relevant text books; and the essay/assignment title!

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1. An academic essay should start with a question - that, after all, is what you'll need to answer in your conclusion. If the essay or assignment title you've been given doesn't appear to be a question, then turn it into one.
   For example: "Discuss the idea that Hamlet was mad." becomes "Was Hamlet mad?"
   Once you have your question, the first part of your plan should be your tentative answer - do you agree or not?
   Use the BUG technique to make sure you're definitely asking and answering the right question.
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2. Now you have your question and rough idea of an answer, it's time to prove it. Most essays require between 3-5 points, depending on their word count (although you should check with your teachers about the precise number for each subject). A 1,500 word essay might have 3 main points, for example. So your next step is to list three reasons for your answer.
   For example, Hamlet wasn't mad because: (1) other people could also see the ghost of his dead father, (2) he is able to rationalise his thoughts, (3) he specifically states he is only pretending.
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3. Once you have your points, you need to spend a bit of time finding the evidence for these - this is probably the longest part of planning, but don't be fooled into thinking this is slowing you down - you'd have to do this anyway! Use your text books and class notes to gather the facts. Make quick notes of evidence/examples next to or underneath each answer.
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4. If it's relevant to your question, while you're finding evidence to back up your answer, you should also be looking for examples that might argue against your answer - counter-arguments are all part of analysing and evaluating your argument. Your essay title might even expect this of you (argue for and against). Note these too.
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5. Now take a look at your planning notes so far and note (with a number or other key) which argument (and/or counter-argument) you will write up first, then second, then third.

That may look like a lot of work, but in practice it can actually look as simple as this:

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Quick Activity

Have a go at creating a basic plan for an essay or assignment you are working on. Try out the BUG technique on the question, and come up with at least three examples with notes on where to find evidence/counter-examples. You can write your plan in any kind of layout that works for you - consider bullet-point lists, mind-maps, etc. This is an essential activity, so you can upload your evidence if you wish. Your upload can be a word document or a scanned pdf of a handwritten example.

Upload your completed basic Essay Plan here

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So now that you have your rough plan ready, you're ready to use it to start writing. 

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Extra! Extra! Essay Writing Frames

For a more in-depth planning process, consider working with an essay writing frame - one example can be found by clicking here. 

You can amend this to suit the types of elements you need to include for subject-specific essays and exam essays. Use markschemes and tutor feedback to build up a frame that works for you and helps you always include the right things...