A clear direction of argument is crucial for writing essays, but knowing where to begin can be difficult. It is important to start by thinking carefully about the question, before planning, structuring and drafting your answer. Here are some key tips to help you prepare and write your essay.
Analysing the question
What is the subject of the question? In the broadest sense, what is the question about? Think carefully about the scope of what is being asked, and what material will be relevant in developing a response to it. At the same time, try to identify tensions and areas of ambiguity within the question that you can elore through your argument. As a social scientist, you are entitled, indeed you must, ask questions from the question.
Look at this essay question as an example:
‘Non-monetary measures of poverty are better than monetary measures.’ Do you agree?
What other questions does the question raise? Some might be:
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What are monetary and non-monetary measures?
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How and why are they used?
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How will I define poverty?
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How will I define ‘better’?
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For measuring poverty
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For guiding policy making
Most of the time, the ‘correct’ answer at LSE will be ‘it depends / it’s complex’.
Planning and structuring your essay argument
A good essay has a convincing, clear structure, from its introduction through to conclusion. This means that it is sensible, and will save you time, to plan your essay in advance, thinking about how you can organise your claims with a coherent flow.
A convincing essay has three elements:
Thesis: This is your central argument and answer to the question. Tell us what you are going to argue and why. Use your introduction to offer a roadmap of your thesis. As you make each claim, tell us how it links back to and supports your thesis. Your conclusion should restate your thesis and tell us why it matters.
Justification: As you write your essay, you will need to demonstrate your grasp of the topic and justify why your argument is more convincing than others. Think about why the argument you are developing is persuasive. This means locating your position within existing debates and scholarship, but also exploring the tensions and gaps that exist there too.
Support: Supporting your claims is crucial for justifying your overall argument. Supporting your claims means using relevant evidence such as examples, cases, data and existing academic literature to support or refute the arguments at play in the topic. Appropriate referencing and avoiding the risk of plagiarism – see the Academic integrity resource link below - are important when supporting your claims.
Reviewing your essay
Be prepared to revise and rewrite your essay. It is sensible to re-read your essay drafts over, thinking about what works and what doesn’t work in the argument you have made. Have you answered the question? If someone asked you to explain your answer in a sentence, could you?
Further resources
Relax about writing - ideas for helping you to become a confident and comfortable writer from Carola Nuernberg, formerly of LSE’s Teaching and Learning Centre
Introduction to essay writing - tips from Dr Claudine Provencher in LSE LIFE on how to write a good LSE essay
Academic integrity - advice on referencing and avoiding plagiarism from Maria Bell in the LSE Library