How to make your essays interesting?

February 03, 2022

Good evening folks!

How to make your essays interesting?

After writing your first essay, you might wonder how to improve your essay. I will be sharing my learnings in this post.

Unlike GS answers, an essay runs into 1000+ words. Hence we must be able to keep the interest of the reader. If the examiner feels that they have learned something new, they might give you more marks.

Unfortunately, we do not focus much on the long term process that happens before we write essays.

An interesting essay writer is a curator of content

A few other reasons why students struggle with content for essays are:

  • Reason #1 - Not developing a habit of reading. Toppers like Anudeep and Vikram Grewal had been avid readers.

  • Reason #2 - Reusing common examples like "Hitler, Hiroshima - Nagasaki, Gandhi etc"

  • Reason #3 - Not being able to quote authors or great personalities.

Let us look at three steps that can help us to improve our content for the essay.

Step 1: Collect anecdotes from newspapers, movies, podcasts or books.

Those who curate interesting incidents are more likely to use them in their essays.

I had read an article about Jonas Salk - the inventor of the Polio vaccine. He did not patent it thereby making it affordable for many children. I used this story as an introduction to the below essay topic.

Step 2: Collect quotes from important personalities

The credibility of your opinion rises when you use relevant quotes.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants. - Isaac Newton

We need to categorise quotes on specific themes based on the previous year questions. A set of 20-30 quotes will be enough to write good essays.

Step 3: Revise your notes regularly

The above two steps will not be of much use if we don't revise our notes.

I would go a step further and say that we must internalise the essence of these quotes and anecdotes. Only then even under a pressure situation, they will surface and sail us through. Think of them as new friends. Interact with them and use them in your essays.

So these were some steps that I found helpful. I still feel that there is so much more to learn about writing a good essay. Let me know if there is any specific aspect you found difficult while writing essays. I will try to write about those aspects in the future.

As always, I would love to hear your journey and perspectives on writing essays.

Kaliedoscope - Let us overcome the resistance to write

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Links to Additional Material for Essays:

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