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Writing
Successful Scholarship Essays-
Step Three: Writing The Essay, Tips For Success
Even
seemingly boring topics can be made into exceptional scholarship
essays with an innovative approach. In writing the essay you must bear
in mind your two goals: to persuade the scholarship officer that you
are
extremely worthy of receiving college assistance and to make the
officer
aware that you are more than a GPA and a standardized score, that you
are a real-life, intriguing personality.
Unfortunately,
there is no surefire step-by-step method to writing a good
essay and every topic requires a different treatment since no two
essays
are alike. However, we have compiled the following list of tips that
you
should find useful while writing your scholarship essay.
- Answer
the Question. You can follow the next 12 steps, but if you
miss the question, you will not win the scholarship.
- Be
Original. Even seemingly boring essay topics can sound
interesting
if creatively approached. If writing about a gymnastics
competition you
trained for, do not start your essay: "I worked long hours
for many
weeks to train for XXX competition." Consider an opening
like, "Every
morning I awoke at 5:00 to sweat, tears, and blood as I trained on
the
uneven bars hoping to bring the state gymnastics trophy to my
hometown."
- Be
Yourself. The scholarship committee wants to learn about you
and
your writing ability. Write about something meaningful and
describe
your feelings, not necessarily your actions. If you do this, your
essay
will be unique. Many people travel to foreign countries or win
competitions,
but your feelings during these events are unique to you. Unless a
philosophy
or societal problem has interested you intensely for years, stay
away from
grand themes that you have little personal experience with.
- Don't
"Thesaurize" your Composition. For some reason,
students
continue to think big words make good essays. Big words are fine,
but
only if they are used in the appropriate contexts with complex
styles.
Think Hemingway.
- Use
Imagery and Clear, Vivid Prose. If you are not adept with
imagery,
you can write an excellent essay without it, but it's not easy.
The
application essay lends itself to imagery since the entire essay
requires
your experiences as supporting details. Appeal to the five senses
of the scholarship officers.
- Spend
the Most Time on your Introduction. Expect scholarship
officers
to spend 1-2 minutes reading your essay. You must use your
introduction
to grab their interest from the beginning. You might even consider
completely changing your introduction after writing your body
paragraphs.
- Don't
Summarize in your Introduction. Ask yourself why a
reader would want to read your entire essay after reading your
introduction. If you summarize, the scholarship officer need not
read the rest of your essay.
- Create
Mystery or Intrigue in your Introduction. It is not
necessary or recommended that your first sentence give away
the subject matter. Raise questions in the minds of the
scholarship
officers to force them to read on. Appeal to their emotions to
make
them relate to your subject matter.
- Body
Paragraphs Must Relate to Introduction. Your introduction
can be original, but cannot be silly. The paragraphs that follow
must
relate to your introduction.
- Use
Transition. Applicants continue to ignore transition to their
own
detriment. You must use transition within paragraphs and
especially
between paragraphs to preserve the logical flow of your essay.
Transition
is not limited to phrases like "as a result, in addition,
while . . . , since . .
. , etc." but includes repeating key words and progressing
the idea.
Transition provides the intellectual architecture to argument
building.
- Conclusions
are Crucial. The conclusion is your last chance to
persuade the reader or impress upon them your qualifications. In
the
conclusion, avoid summary since the essay is rather short to begin
with; the reader should not need to be reminded of what you wrote
300 words before. Also do not use stock phrases like "in
conclusion,
in summary, to conclude, etc." You should consider the
following
conclusions:
- Expand
upon the broader implications of your discussion.
- Consider
linking your conclusion to your introduction to establish a
sense of balance by reiterating introductory phrases.
- Redefine
a term used previously in your body paragraphs.
- End
with a famous quote that is relevant to your argument. Do not try
to do this, as this approach is overdone. This should come
naturally.
- Frame
your discussion within a larger context or show that your topic
has widespread appeal.
- Remember,
your essay need not be so tidy that you can answer why your
little sister died or why people starve in Africa; you are not
writing a "sit-com," but should forge some attempt at
closure.
- Do
Something Else. Spend a week or so away from your draft to
decide if you still consider your topic and approach worthwhile.
- Give
your Draft to Others. Ask editors to read with these questions
in mind:
- What
is the essay about?
- Have
I used active voice verbs wherever possible?
- Is
my sentence structure varied or do I use all long or all short
sentences?
- Do
you detect any clichés?
- Do
I use transition appropriately?
- Do
I use imagery often and does this make the essay clearer and
more vivid?
- What's
the best part of the essay?
- What
about the essay is memorable?
- What's
the worst part of the essay?
- What
parts of the essay need elaboration or are unclear?
- What
parts of the essay do not support your main argument or are
immaterial to your case?
- Is
every single sentence crucial to the essay? This MUST be the
case.
- What
does the essay reveal about your personality?
- Could
anyone else have written this essay?
- How
would you fill in the following blank based on the essay:
"I want to accept you to this college because our college
needs more ________."
- Revise,
Revise, Revise. You only are allowed so many words; use them
wisely. If H.D. Thoreau couldn't write a good essay without
revision, neither will you. Delete anything in the essay that does
not relate to your main argument. Do you use transition? Are your
introduction and conclusions more than summaries? Did you find
every single grammatical error?
- Allow
for the evolution of your main topic. Do not assume your
subject must remain fixed and that you can only tweak sentences.
- Editing
takes time. Consider reordering your supporting details,
delete irrelevant sections, and make clear the broader
implications of your experiences. Allow your more important
arguments to come to the foreground. Take points that might only
be implicit and make them explicit.
- Have
your Essay Professionally Edited. The application essay is
too important not to spend $50 for its improvement. Editing
houses like EssayEdge
will significantly improve your essay's style, transition,
voice, grammar, and tone; EssayEdge will also make content
suggestions to ensure your essay is unique and memorable.
By
EssayEdge
:
Our Editing Makes the Difference
 Samples
Of Successful Scholarship Essays
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