StudyingGuide

Writing and Editing an Essay

In essays, the most important thing is listing the ideas. This phase takes the most time. There are two methods for collecting ideas.

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Brainstorming

"Brainstorming" literally means "storm of thoughts". During this process, you write down all the thoughts that come to you, completely free of judgment and without thinking of it twice. This free thinking increases your creativity, and the best essays can come from the most outlandish thoughts. That means, no matter how crazy or absurd a thought seems to you, write it down anyway first.



Brainstorming is especially useful for topics you have no idea about. It is through the free flow of ideas that you will come up with the questions that will make your essay interesting.

Mind Mapping

A second form of idea collection is the so-called "mind mapping", or "drawing a landscape of ideas". Here, the thoughts are sorted in the same way. The principle is simple:

• in the middle is the topic;
• from it go large branches, which stand for important subtopics;
• from these branches again smaller branches go off with thoughts to the subtopic;
• from these branches of thoughts go off again ramifications as well;

Advantages:

• You get a clear structure for your essay right away.
• Your thoughts can jump back and forth between the branches.
• The overview of each branch produces new thoughts.
• If you can't think of anything else, you can take a break and quickly return to the topic later thanks to the clear structure.

A clear head for clear thoughts

An essay is first created in your head, and only when you have it mentally ready, you start writing.

If you want to sort and organize ideas, you must be able to do so undisturbed. You can use the techniques mentioned below to do this.

Melodic music

When collecting ideas, whether for experience essays or factual essays, you appropriate music will help you to unleash the imagination. The music should have a clear rhythm and a dominant melody. It should be played at normal volume. You yourself should then take a seat at your favorite place.

Relaxing situations

Thought currents are also released by relaxing situations that ostensibly benefit the body (for example, in the shower, in the bathtub, on the sofa, while running in the woods). Precisely because these activities are directed at the body, the mind relaxes, and you can let your thoughts wander on the subject.

Flowing balances

Equally helpful is looking at or listening to so-called "flowing equilibria": looking at a burning candle, the steady sound of falling water (waterfall, a dam), a gurgling brook, watching passing clouds, looking at a pendulum.

Writing down brilliant thoughts immediately

So, thinking about the structure of an essay and choosing the content that will go into it certainly doesn't need to take place at your desk. However, you should always have something to write with (or a voice recorder) so that you can record brilliant thoughts immediately. Because sometimes ideas flash up very briefly, and you need to write them down quickly before they disappear into the depths of your brain again.

Editing

Editing steps:

• Get an overview: What is the text about?
• Divide reading sections
• Look up unknown words
• Underline/write out important passages
• Repeat in your own words
• Outline the text
• Get an overview

The best way to get an overview is to start by reading the headings that your text has. Then you have a framework on which you can hang more information from the text.

Divide reading sections

If the text is strongly subdivided by headings, you can use these small chapters as a division. Often, however, you need to subdivide within a chapter. Then you can read paragraph by paragraph. The best thing is to pay attention to when a new train of thought begins while reading. There you make a stop first.

Look up unknown words

You must look up unknown words immediately or have them explained to you. Otherwise, you won't understand what it's all about. In addition, your vocabulary will grow and with it your creativity, expressiveness and spelling confidence.

Underline / copy important information

You can underline the important parts of a text or mark them with a highlighter. If you are not allowed to write anything in the text itself, then write out the significant sentences in keywords. (TIP: You can do this again in the form of a mind map.) Writing down the important content ensures that it is more firmly fixed in your memory.

Repeat in your own words

After each paragraph, you should repeat the text you have read in your own words. This will help you retain the text.

Outline the text

It is important to sketch what you have read. Because we usually remember better what we see in the form of a picture, sketching is very helpful. Such a sketch can look like this:

• mind map
• scheme (flow or order scheme)
• picture representing the text content