Back to the Basics of Essay Writing

Are you one of the students who worry that they will come to the VCE® Exam English exam and find themselves unable to start, to even put pen on paper? Have you ever experienced the dreaded ‘writer’s block’, where you suddenly run out of ideas and can’t go any further with your essay? 

Let’s face it, essays are a student’s worst nightmare. But if you are pursuing further study after school or even a career in academics, you will have to get pretty good at them. That’s why we spend so much of high school learning and crafting the art of essay-writing. It’s like learning a different language, expressing ourselves in a way that we aren’t used to. As you move into later years of school and university, your ability to use this language will become more important as you deal with more complex topics, write longer essays and begin to do your own research.

Whether you’re a seasoned English student or you’re simply hoping for a decent mark, the prospect of writing three essays in three hours can be daunting. Some students will have unique ideas floating around their heads but not know how to express them in writing. Some might not even know where to begin. Many students will come across a difficult topic in their SACs or final exam and be completely stumped.

In these situations, nothing is more important than confidence in your own ability to write. Time pressure and exam stress can have an almost paralysing effect on your flow of ideas and expression. To ensure you don’t hit writer’s block in the middle of your VCE® Exam exam, you may want to go over some of the fundamentals of essay writing again, listed below:

An ‘essay’ is a statement of your own opinion
When revising for their VCE® Exam English exams and SACs, many students forget the most crucial element of the subject: forming an opinion. It’s a cliché, but there really are no wrong answers in English. You can argue whatever you like, but you must also be able to support your arguments and explain why you are right.

With important exams looming ahead, it can be easy to choose a ‘safe’ approach and argue what you think everyone else will be arguing. While this approach might work in some cases, it leads to essays which lack conviction. When students develop their own opinions about the texts they read, they will naturally be inclined to defend their arguments, which is after all what essay writing is all about. The better you defend your arguments, the harder it is for an examiner to criticise you.

It doesn’t take long to come up with original opinions about your set texts in English. Engaging in classroom discussion, sharing ideas with classmates, or even reflecting on a book that you are reading for school can be easy and enjoyable ways to revise. Yet these can also be the most valuable revision you will do all year for VCE® Exam English.

Research supports your arguments
Having a contention is the best starting point for writing an essay. Unfortunately, opinions are not enough in the world of academics. To break your way into the field of scholarly discussion – in other words, to be taken seriously by teachers and examiners – you’ll need to do some solid research. 

So what should you be looking for in your texts when you sit down in class or at home to study them? Generally, you will want to start broad, investing major themes in the text and understanding the context or the era in which they were published. Then narrow your focus, looking at specific characters and relationships. Ultimately, you’ll want to know your texts inside out and remember a good list of quotes.

Research gives you a strong base for the arguments in your essay. When you’re stuck for what to write in an exam or SAC, a relevant example or quote from the texts you’ve been studying can always come in handy.

Getting used to the ‘style’ of essay writing
Learning to write essays is in some ways like learning a new language. Most students would agree that essay-writing is a more formal style of expression than what you expect from normal
conversation. Once you hit VCE® Exam, teachers expect that you will be fluent and confident with this style. We revise concepts such as essay structuring, paragraphing and grammar extensively in early high school, but there simply isn’t time to revisit them in VCE® Exam.

As with any other skill, the key to mastering essay-writing is to practise it. While you write practice essays, focus on building logical arguments. Write plans or at least have a clear picture in your mind of all the points you will make in your three or four main paragraphs. Ensure that each sentence links onto the next, and that you haven’t left any logical gaps between them. A common rule of thumb is to leave no doubt in the reader’s mind: don’t assume that they will make those connections in their minds, no matter how obvious they might seem.

When you find that you’re writing yourself into a trap in an exam, with time fast running out and the dreaded writer’s block sinking in, panic can set in. This is where it is important to write clearly. A common misconception among students is that your essay needs to sound ‘complex’ to get a high grade. But under time constraints, the safest option is to keep it simple. If you do get stuck on how to word a particular phrase, sometimes you may just need to lower your standards temporarily so you can push on.