1. Take the prompt apart before you read anything else
Underline the task verb and the limits. 'Evaluate' is not 'describe', and 'with reference to two texts' means an essay using three is off-brief.
Write the question at the top of your document as a sentence you have to answer. Everything you keep in the essay should help answer it.
- Task verb: analyse, evaluate, compare, explain, argue
- Scope: period, region, number of sources or cases
- Deliverable: word count, format, referencing style
- Weighting: which rubric row carries the most marks
2. Read with a question in mind, not to cover the topic
Take notes as answers to the prompt rather than as summaries. For each note, record the source and page immediately - going back to find a page number later costs more time than writing it down did.
3. Commit to a thesis before you outline
A thesis is a claim someone could disagree with. If nobody could argue the other side, it is a topic statement, not a thesis.
Topic statement: This essay discusses the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.
Thesis: The 2008 crisis was primarily a regulatory failure rather than a failure of individual risk-taking, because the incentives that produced it were legal and widely known.4. Outline in claims, one per paragraph
Write the topic sentence of every body paragraph before drafting. If those sentences read in sequence do not make your argument, the structure is wrong, and it is far cheaper to fix now.
Intro - context, then thesis
Body 1 - claim + evidence + interpretation
Body 2 - claim + evidence + interpretation
Body 3 - strongest counterargument + response
Conclusion - what follows from the argument5. Draft the body first, introduction last
You cannot introduce an argument you have not made yet. Write the middle, then write an introduction that promises exactly what the body delivers.
Keep each paragraph to one claim. When a paragraph passes roughly 200 words, check whether it is quietly doing two jobs.
6. Revise against the rubric, then proofread separately
Revision and proofreading are different tasks. First check argument, structure and evidence against each rubric row. Only then look at sentences, citations and formatting.
- Does every paragraph support the thesis, or is one there because you researched it?
- Is every quotation interpreted rather than dropped in?
- Does every in-text citation have a matching reference entry?
- Read the essay aloud once - it catches what the eye skips
Key takeaways
- Decode the prompt's task verb and limits before researching
- Write an arguable thesis, then outline in topic sentences
- Draft the body before the introduction
- Revise for argument first, proofread for surface errors second