Written by Julia Yurchesyn

Thumbnail & Banner Photo by Daniel Thomas on Unsplash

How do you feel when you’re assigned an essay? Anxious? Confused? Or maybe just resigned?

Interestingly (and perhaps relatably), the Oxford English Dictionary defines “essay” as “a trying to do something” (II). More specifically, “an attempt, endeavour” (II.5.a.) A little further down is a definition that reflects a more tangible understanding of what it is, “a composition of moderate length on any particular subject, or branch of a subject” (II.8.)

These definitions reveal an important truth about essays: they are a struggle, both during and after the writing process. There is always something left unresolved after writing an essay-, another avenue to follow, another rabbit-hole to go down. However, it is ideally a struggle that is meant to bring about a new (perhaps even personal) way of understanding something—an opportunity to voice your own unique perspective.

Now, in my fourth year of an honours degree in English, I think I’ve developed a reliable process when it comes to writing essays. Instead of procrastinating and eventually finding myself deep in an abyss of confusion and dread, I go through a process of steps that I can rely on when school and life get stressful. I hope this article will be helpful for you on your own educational journey!

1.Know the topic

This is your home-base, where everything in your essay branches off from. The good news is that you often get some sort of choice when it comes to essay topics, meaning you have some freedom on what to write about. The problem arises when you never actually pick a topic, and find yourself procrastinating, and then it’s super last minute and you have no idea what to write about! So first thing: know the topic of your essay.

2. Brainstorm

Okay, having a topic is good. Excellent even. But at some point you will need to actually develop the content of your essay. This involves brainstorming. What do you need to brainstorm? Well, what are your thoughts on the topic? What does the research say about X? What facts need to be interpreted? Any ideas, even half-baked ones, should be written down somewhere like a journal for you to develop your ideas. As you write them down, take note of the questions that pop up in your mind and the leads that arise from them.

Personally, as an English literature student, I re-read/skim the text (poem, story, etc.) that I’m writing my essay on and take note of the quotations that stand out the most to me and make me feel intrigued and excited. My best tip is to follow your spidey-sense—wherever there seems to be a flicker of interest in your brain, follow that lead, and take notes along the way!

3. Formulate Your Thesis

This is the most difficult step, but it is the most important: determine what your thesis is, word-for-word, as best as you can. If you are not sure what a “thesis” is, it is essentially the main argument you are making in your essay. It is the reason for the essay’s existence.

In order to formulate your thesis, you need to have thoughts about the topic you are writing your essay on—that is exactly why “topic” and “brainstorming” are steps completed before “thesis” in my own essay-writing process. Essentially, I look at the patterns I see in my brainstorming, the key ideas that are jumping out at me, and attempt to make a clear and distinct statement regarding the patterns that I see. This is hard work, and to be perfectly honest I find myself revising the thesis sometimes even into the actual drafting of the essay itself. Regardless, ideally you will have some sort of functioning thesis statement before the drafting stage.

Another tip: don’t be afraid to talk to your professor about your thesis! Especially if you’ve done the behind-the-scenes work of brainstorming thoughts about your topic, many would be happy to help streamline your observations and ideas into an insightful argument. I can’t tell you how much visiting my professors during office hours helped me feel more confident by identifying my key ideas and helping me establish the root of my essay, my thesis.

4. Outline

Bring up a blank Google/Word document, type your thesis statement at the top, and begin outlining your essay using bullet points or numbers. These should be the discussion points that will support your argument, which will be explored and analyzed within the body of your essay. But at this stage, just worry about listing the points you want to discuss, and also the examples, evidence and sources you will be citing in the essay. All of this should go in the outline in order to make the actual drafting stage as painless as possible.

5. Draft!

Now go—write! Use your outline as your own Google Maps route towards an excellent paper. If you have outlined your essay, the actual writing part will probably take up less time than you imagine.

If you need support during the writing process, a wonderful resource at SMU is the Writing Centre. Wherever you find yourself, if you want or need more guidance, they’re the perfect place to ask.

6. Take a Break :p

Yay! You wrote an essay! Now go on a walk, take a nap, drink some tea, pet your cat…in no particular order. You deserve it! But seriously, just do something to refresh your brain. You’re almost there!

7. Re-read. Re-think. Revise.

Now, read over your essay, asking yourself: is what I’m saying making logical sense? Most likely, there are at least a few holes, gaps or weak points in the body of your essay. Highlight those parts, think of how to fix those vulnerable areas, and reword/rewrite what you wrote. This may also mean expanding your analysis (i.e. writing more words) to bridge your examples and your thesis together as seamlessly as possible. Really, you want your essay to be a convincing argument, so be generous in your explanations!

You can also try peer review. Ask a friend who is unfamiliar with the topic or discipline to read your paper and see if what you wrote comes across the way you intended it to. They can tell you the parts that were confusing and needed more clarification so that you can go back and edit those sections. But make sure that you do not ask them to rewrite/co-write your essay, as that would be an academic offence. Always make sure to follow SMU’s regulations for academic integrity!

And the good news about this step: you can revise as many times as you would like!

8. Proofread

Now look for things like typos, spelling and grammatical errors, citation and style formatting, etc. Correct as necessary.

I go over a lot of these things in my article “Before You Press Submit: Your Essay Checklist,” so if you want something more in-depth I would recommend you read that article!

9. Submit

And done! Now you’re free!

Glad to see that you’ve made it to the end of this article. Even if my process is not one you feel inclined to use; I hope it provides some sort of tip for any future essay you may write!

Finally, wherever you are in your essay writing process, keep going—you are more than capable. Good luck!

How to Write an Essay: Advice from an English Major