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How to write a short essay

The following short manual aims to provide some useful hints and advice for
successfully drafting a short essay or briefing note, with special regard to the
requirements of the EU competitions. It is a very challenging task to write under a
heavy time-pressure in a well-structured way, therefore some preliminary practice
and general ideas can always be useful.
We highly recommend elaborating some topics by yourself (see list of topic hints in
another study material), taking some professional examples as a basis. We
recommend the following think tanks offering a wide range of high quality papers:

www.theepc.be
www.ceps.be
www.notre-europe.eu
www.policylibrary.com
www.cer.org.uk
www.friendsofeurope.org

Title
All essays require a title. Choose the title carefully. Make it appealing and informative. You
might start with a working title and then revise to reflect what you eventually write:

Working title: Suggestions about writing

Revised title: Suggestions for Better Essays

Final title: An Essay on Short Essays

Although uncommon and often unnecessary in short essays, subheadings appear here as an
instructional tool. Subheadings help the reader immensely as essay length and complexity
increase. For more guidance, see the Almost Done section.

Paragraphs
Even if subheadings seem inappropriate for your paper, by all means use paragraphs to assist
the reader. Focus on a goal of, say, five related sentences per paragraph, and then vary the
number depending on the topic. Paragraphs should in almost all cases contain more than one
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sentence. Important: for all paragraphs, no matter what the length, your reader should be
able to identify the key (topic) sentence. In fact, write so that the reader who scans the essay
for topic sentences with his eye can learn the essay's major points from them. Try scanning
the essay as if you were now looking for topic sentences.

First Paragraphs
Use your initial paragraph(s) as an introduction to the subject of the essay. Some writers like
to cite an incident from their personal experience. No matter how you structure the
introduction, however, use it to interest your reader and to prepare him or her for what
follows. The end of paragraph one is a good place for the thesis statement of the essay.

Paragraphs found between the first and last constitute the body of a short essay. Use the
body to make your argument. Keep your reader interested here and throughout your essay by
varying the wording, length, and structure of your sentences.

Use the ending to collect your thoughts and to exit gracefully from the essay. Do not merely
end the paper with the last of your points about the topic. On the other hand, seldom is it
necessary in a short essay to list again all your main points. Conclusions (and introductions)
tax most of us more than does the body. Some writers prefer to do the body first, then the
conclusion, then the introduction, and finally the title.

Sentences

Use sentences of various lengths. Avoid grammatical sentence fragments lest your reader
suspect you of being a poor writer. Experiment with the relative placement of sentence parts.
Instead of beginning all your sentences with the subject and following with the predicate,
which quickly becomes boring, use a periodic structure (as it is done in this sentence). With
the periodic sentence, items of a lesser nature precede the heart of the sentence:

Boring: The map lacks a legend because the designer forgot.

Better: Because the designer forgot, the map lacks a legend.

Choose the forceful active voice over the feeble passive. Instead of having your subject
receive the action, make your subject the actor. Doing so saves words and keeps your reader
informed about who did what to whom. Examples follow:

Passive: Computers will be used more frequently by cartographers in the future.

Active: Cartographers, in the future, will use computers more frequently.

Passive: I am being asked by my geography professor to write better.

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Active: My geography professor is asking me to write better.

Passive: The elections were won by Tony Blair.

Active: Tony Blair won the elections.

Passive: It is believed geographers should write in the active voice.

Active: I believe that geographers should write in the active voice.

Words

Choose words carefully. Although it is fine to begin some sentences with the, a series of five
in a row tends to annoy the observant reader. Habitually notice first words (I is another word
to watch) when you do the proof reading. If you find repetition of the first word or others,
seek an alternative word. Consult a dictionary if you are not absolutely certain that the new
word says what you want. Sometimes recasting the offending sentence is easier than finding
the right synonym.

Silly Errors to Avoid

Silly errors leave your reader wondering whether you did not know the correct way or
overlooked the errors in your haste to finish. Neither conclusion flatters you. Here is a list of
common mistakes that students make in papers:

 Using contractions in formal prose: don't, wasn't, it's.

 Choosing the wrong word: principal confused with principle, its confused with it is or
it's, affect with effect, thier with there, to with too, complimentary with
complementary.

 Making up a word: alot instead of a lot.

 Employing pronouns (this, it, these, those) whose antecedents are unclear: This is
confusing.

 Failing to follow years, states, and countries with commas: January 5, 1943, was the
date; Brussels, Belgium, was the place.

 Failing to space properly around the dash and the hyphen: dash--dash, hyphen-hyphen.
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Almost Done
Do not allow a single draft to satisfy you; use subsequent drafts to improve your composition.
Check your spelling after the first draft, and edit later drafts for typographical errors and
superfluous words, depending on the time. Since you generally have 2-3 hours for the essay at
the EU competition, this leaves you sufficient time to make a draft and then start your work.

Make final preparations for submission. Since the essay will almost surely require more than
one page (and it should indeed), use additional sheets of paper – not the back sides! Number
the sheets in some convenient spot, such as bottom centre.

Writing (especially good writing) requires hard work. Strive for improvement; profit from
constructive criticism.
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Ten Essay Tips

Writing a good essay involves the sort of verbal craftsmanship which can only come from long
periods of hard practice. There is no short-cut to success and no foolproof formula to follow.
Hence what follow are tips not commandments. Nevertheless they are worth thinking about.

1. Answer the question, the whole question.

You can only score marks if you are being relevant, so take your time, before plunging into
the writing, to think clearly about the meaning of the essay title and to make an essay plan.
Look for the “key words and phrases” in a title – but it is as well to remember that every
word serves some function and therefore is important.

2. Be direct and explicit – but carefully

Don't leave it for the marker to puzzle out the relevance of what you are writing. That means
giving a relevant argument: if you're not arguing a case, you're not answering the question.
Nevertheless be very careful: do not openly and directly criticize an EU policy or EU action,
always try to argue in an indirect and non-offensive way. Try to underline your statement
with as many facts and arguments as possible.

3. The first paragraph is vital

Make sure to avoid the two commonest pitfalls, being irrelevant and writing a narrative. Try
to do three things: a) analyse the question, defining its meaning and establishing its
parameters; b) sub-divide the question into smaller areas (on each of which you will
subsequently have a paragraph); and c) outline an argument or, perhaps, several alternative
interpretations. By all means have a “dramatic” first sentence.

4. The final paragraph is also vital

Do not bring in fresh factual material, and do not address the “next” topic (for instance, what
Mr. Barroso did after 2004 once you've answered the question by explaining how he came to
power). Instead, return to the actual wording of the question and answer it as directly and
succinctly as possible - and make sure it's consistent with what you've written earlier. It may
seem strange, but it's worth experimenting by writing the conclusion to an essay first: then
you'll know exactly where you are heading.

5. Deal with one relevant issue per paragraph

Each middle paragraph should have an argument (or interpretation or generalisation)

supported by evidence. You must always give both. Try to give the argument in the first
sentence(s) and then to “prove” it with the best possible selection of details.
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6. Give real facts and evidence, not just historians' opinions.

If you can, quote the evidence the historians quote, not the historians themselves. Remember
that history is the reconstruction of the past on the basis of the surviving evidence: it is not a
just a collection of opinions. Also, give the evidence in the essay proper: don't hide it away in
footnotes or appendices.

7. The correct balance is vital

Give most space to the most important issues - importance being assessed in relation to the
question set. Remember that it is all too easy to spend a disproportionate amount of
time/space on the first issue you deal with, so that others have to be dealt with hurriedly.
For this reason, it is probably best not to leave your most important ideas to the end of an
essay, especially in an EU competition, when you may run out of time.

8. Try to give references to your quotations

Never try to pass off other people's work as your own: plagiarism, even of phrases, is
generally easily spotted and it is more than risky in an EU exam.

9. Presentation is important

Try by all means to make your handwriting legible. Spread you work out, in order to leave
room for comments, and number the pages. Check spelling and grammar, and strive - and
strive again - for clarity of expression. If you fail to express yourself clearly you will inevitably
penalise yourself. Think about those who will read your essay – they need to make out your
writing before evaluating what you wrote. Good habits are almost as easy to acquire as bad,
so work hard to express yourself well and don't be satisfied with your second-best.

10. Write several versions of approaches before staring the essay, then choose the
one you can elaborate the best

Nothing is worse than starting off your essay and realising halfway that you do not have
enough data, information, argumentation and facts to write a full four-page paper. What is
even worse is to change your topic at this point and start again from the very beginning.
Rather spend 5 more minutes before starting to write than change your mind later.
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Argumentative Essay
The type of essay that you are most likely required to draft at an EU competition

When simple arguments are not sufficient, then you must combine the simple forms to make
more complex structures. This, in a nutshell, is what is involved in constructing an
argumentative essay. An argumentative essay is different from several other types of essays
(e.g., descriptive essays or narrative essays) you might write. The difference lies in the fact
that in an argumentative essay you are trying to convince someone to agree with a claim you
are making and for which you are offering logical arguments.

The difference is manifested in the fact that an argumentative essay has a conclusion or
thesis. In setting out to write an argument, it is important to be extremely clear about your
conclusion. In an argumentative essay, everything you say should be directed to
demonstrating the truth of this conclusion. Moreover, what you say must be adequate to the
conclusion. Hence, a major task in constructing an argumentative essay is to formulate your
conclusion. But before turning to it, there is a preliminary point we must deal with. The goal
of an argumentative essay is to convince an audience of a claim. Thus, throughout the task of
constructing an argument we must be cognizant of who our audience is – the EPSO selection
board, most likely. We begin with a brief discussion of what you need to know about your
audience in constructing an argumentative essay.

The first thing you need to know about your various potential audiences is what attitude they
already have toward the change. Perhaps some of them have no view at all, and perhaps
others have very strong views on either side of the issue. Always be very careful about the
position to take – it should never be personal, possible not a direct critique and it should
respect dissenters’ opinion as well.

The goal of an argumentative essay is to convince your audience of a conclusion. Thus, you
must be making a claim of some kind. Insofar as it makes a claim, a conclusion is not the
same as a topic or subject matter for an essay. You might choose as a topic environment or
human rights or neighbourhood policy. But specifying such a topic does not yet specify a
claim that you are trying to demonstrate to your audience. A conclusion must state something
about the topic. For example, "cars should be banned from urban areas" is a possible
conclusion. "The internal market has been one of the most successful projects" is another.
These are claims that one person might try to demonstrate to another person.

There is a very important further factor that you need to bear in mind in developing a thesis
for an argument. This is the amount of room (length) you have in which to present your
argument. Since you are required to write an argumentative essay of maximum five pages or
less, you will not want to argue for an overly broad or complex conclusion, because you will
not be able to marshal sufficient arguments to convince someone of that conclusion. Thus,
you will not want to argue for the repeal of all the EU's welfare programs, or that the EU
should give up the Lisbon Agenda. Either one of these might be the conclusion of an
interesting argument, but such an argument will require a substantially longer essay. In
writing a short essay you need to focus or limit your thesis to something that can be
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reasonably established within five pages. Try to select one special aspect of the topic and
focus your attention mainly to that.

You may worry that if you restrict your topic, you will not have enough to say to make a
paper. But in fact, the opposite is usually true: The more focused your conclusion, the more
material you will be able to identify from which to construct arguments. This is a
consequence of the fact that a more specific claim provides a better memory cue, and thus
makes it easier to come up with reasons.

Let us work through a couple examples of constructing the conclusion of an argument. First
we must identify a topic or subject matter. Perhaps you choose the topic about the European
Parliament and human rights. You might try immediately to formulate a position on this topic:
The European Parliament has significant achievements in this field. This certainly is an
arguable claim. But it is a very general claim. There are a variety of different achievements
associated with the European Parliament, and there are numerous different standards against
which you might evaluate whether it is so. Consider how you might focus this conclusion. You
might focus on one of these concrete achievements – for example, the Sakharov Prize. The
following will then be your conclusion: The Sakharov Prize is one of the main human rights
achievements of the European Parliament. This provides one tentative conclusion for an
argumentative essay.
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7 rules for testing possible conclusions

Once you have formulated a possible conclusion, you are getting close to the point at which
you can begin to formulate your argument. But before you do so it is useful to test your
conclusion to insure that it is appropriate for the kind of essay that you intend to write. In
this section we present seven rules for evaluating the conclusion you have proposed. As you
consider these rules, you may be led to revise your conclusion.

1. Never Argue for a Broader Position than Is Necessary

First, we can differentiate claims in terms of how broad or general they are. Some claims
apply to many more objects or events than others. Consider saying that “The European
Parliament is therefore the principal defender of human rights.” This is obviously an
overstatement, which will weaken your argument.

2. Never Argue for a Narrower Position than Is Necessary

If saying “The Sakharov Prize has proven to be the European Parliament main human rights
tool” would also be a mistake to argue for a conclusion that was narrower than that you
needed to establish. So the second rule for evaluating possible conclusions is: Never argue for
a narrower position than is necessary.

3. Make it Clear Whether Your Conclusion is a Demonstration, Critique, or Defense

In addition to evaluating whether your conclusion is too broad or too narrow, you need to test
whether the conclusion captures the sort of argument you intend to make. Is your intent to
prove or demonstrate that something is or isn't the case, or is it merely to show that
someone's argument for a different conclusion is inadequate? Or do you intend to show that
someone's critique of an argument on behalf of a conclusion is inadequate?

Using the terminology, the first case, in which we are trying to show that something is or isn't
the case, presents an instance of a demonstration. If, however, the goal is to show that
someone else's argument for a different position is inadequate, then we are concerned with
developing a critique. Finally, if we are rebutting someone else's critique, we are engaged in
defense.

4. Make Clear the Kind of Statement for Which You Are Arguing

The fourth consideration focuses on the type of claim you are making in your conclusion. Are
you arguing that a particular condition holds or that a state of affairs is true? If so, then the
conclusion states a fact, and we will call it a description. It is sometimes claimed that you
cannot argue about facts, but this is false. If they are well known, of course we won't bother
arguing for them. But any time the facts are in dispute, we can try to demonstrate them. If
we contended the Sakharov Prize has not fully achieved its potential, we would be arguing
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for an evaluative conclusion. The words not fully are the key terms that indicate the
conclusion is evaluative.

Your conclusion might also take a variety of other forms. You might argue for a prediction,
that is, for the claim that something will come to be true. An example would be arguing for
the conclusion that The European Parliament will have an ever increasing role in the field of
human rights. Or you might argue for a causal claim in which you contend that one thing
caused another. Thus, you might contend that Efforts so far have played a spill-over effect
on other institutions’ actions. Another option is to argue for a hypothetical statement. They
state that if certain conditions are true, certain other conditions will also be true. In arguing
for a hypothetical claim, you are not arguing that either the antecedent or the consequent is
true, but that, should the antecedent be true, then the consequent will also be true. An
example of a hypothetical conclusion would be: If all institutions manage to cooperate on
this policy issue, human rights abuses worldwide will surely diminish. (You may note that
predictions and hypothetical statements are often closely connected: We generally specify
conditions under which a prediction will hold, and these might constitute the antecedent of a
conditional.)

Your conclusion may also take the form of a recommendation, which may be a two-edged
weapon in your essay. You might argue that some action should be taken, but do not try to
reprimand an institution why it has not happened until now. Your conclusion then takes the
form of an advice statement. In other contexts you might be arguing on behalf of a certain
policy, in which case your conclusion has the form of a policy statement. The difference
between these is that an advice statement is generally focused on a particular situation.

5. Make Sure the Conclusion Is an Arguable Statement

Your goal is to argue for your conclusion, so you need to make sure it is something that can be
argued for. As we have seen, there are a wide variety of kinds of statements for which you
can argue. What kind of statements, then, are not arguable?

There are three kinds of statements that are particularly worth noting:(a) subjective
statements, (b) statements that are obviously true, and (c) narrative statements. Subjective
statements often begin with words such as I believe, I think, or It seems to me that. It may
be of interest that the speakers do or do not believe something, and it will be true or false
that they do or do not believe it, but such statements do not constitute appropriate
conclusions for arguments. They do not call for proof or evidence of a logical sort. Thus, it is
not usually the business of argument to treat them as conclusions in need of demonstration.
Notice, however, that it is usually possible to reword a subjective statement into an assertion
that can be argued for. If someone asserted as a conclusion, I believe that the European
Parliament should be a human rights watchdog, one could reword it by deleting the words I
believe that. Now the truth of the statement does not turn on the subjective state of the
speaker, but on whether the proposed policy is correct.

The second kind of unarguable assertion is one we have already discussed. You should not
argue for an assertion that is obviously true or known to be true by your intended audience.
The goal of an argument is to convince people to accept as true something they do not now
believe. For example, if it is widely known that the European Parliament has very dissenting
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opinions on almost all topics, and if it is generally accepted that this is due to the political
groups that compose it, then the statement The European Parliament is made up of political
parties with very diverse opinions on certain issues would not be arguable.

The third kind of unarguable assertion is a narrative statement. A narrative statement reports
on a series of events. Generally, it is not controversial that these events occurred, and hence
one need not argue that they did occur. Thus, a narrative such as, The European Parliament
had its plenary session in Strasbourg and decided on a number of key issues is generally not
controversial. As with all rules, there might be exceptional cases. If the event in question is
one in the distant past, or there is some doubt about the order of events, one might proceed
to develop an argument. Typically, however, a narration of an event does not require
argumentation.

6. Make Sure the Conclusion is Definite

We noted earlier that your conclusion is not just a subject matter; it is a claim. You need to
state your claim as precisely and as definitely as possible. If you are recommending the policy
of making a stronger emphasis on human rights, then say so. Do not say, “I am going to
discuss whether human rights should be more attended to." Because you are going to argue
that it should, commit yourself to defending this position at the outset. If you do not do this,
the chances are very great that your argument will wander.

Deciding exactly what it is you are going to argue for at the beginning will help to avoid this.
If you do not have a claim to advance, then you have no business arguing. The whole goal of
argumentation is to convince your audience. If you are not explicit as to what conclusion you
are arguing for, however, you probably won't convince them of the statement you want them
to believe. In fact, because getting them to accept your conclusion is the major goal, being
explicit about the conclusion is actually as important as the arguments you give. Although you
want your readers to accept your conclusion because of the arguments you put forward for it,
what matters most is that they accept the conclusion. To have a chance of doing this, your
reader must know what your conclusion is, and thus you must make sure the conclusion is
definite.

7. Determine Whether the Conclusion Requires Qualification

After formulating your conclusion as clearly as possible, determine whether it requires

qualification. It may be that you cannot prove the conclusion you would like to, but that you
are able to prove a qualified version of it. The evidence you have at hand may just not
support the conclusion that e.g. an expenditure of $2 million in advertising will produce
increased sales revenues of $4 million, but the evidence may suggest that it is very likely that
it will. If your evidence supports only this strong likelihood, then make your argument support
the conclusion that an expenditure of $2 million in advertising will have a strong likelihood of
producing increased revenues of $4 million.

Many people are afraid or hesitant to write qualified conclusions, perhaps out of the feeling
that such conclusions "don't say enough." But usually what qualifying your conclusion (and the
appropriate premises to support it) amounts to is following a policy of honesty. If you can't
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prove the stronger conclusion you want because the evidence just doesn't support it, then you
are being dishonest if you say that you can. Honesty requires that you qualify the conclusion
until it is supported by the evidence you have. Beyond honesty, however, there are practical
reasons to make sure you have qualified your conclusion appropriately. If you claim more than
you can prove, you open yourself up to a critique on just this point.

Bibliography:

 www.essaytoday.com
 lilt.ilstu.edu/mdsuble/AnEssayonShortEssays.htm
 www.english.bham.ac.uk
 kimberlychapman.com/essay/essay.html