Before you rush off to put pen to paper, you need to do some serious planning and since most essays have a deadline, try not to leave this until the last minute. First of all, you need to collect any material that is relevant. You may have to purchase, borrow, visit the library or surf the Internet. You may need to refer to your own notes as well as the course and published material, or even refer to your own personal experience of a subject. It is also useful to have somewhere to jot down ideas that you have at odd times, which strangely seem to disappear when it comes to writing the essay!

A note here on extracting the information you need from literature, because you will probably not have the time or will to read everything. Arm yourself with some removable Post-It Index tags, they are excellent for marking those important pages you want to go back to. Look through the preface or introduction to get an idea of the approach and scope of the book. Use the contents page to search for any particular areas relating to your subject matter, and search for specific items using the index. You can safe yourself a lot of time, indeed there may be only a few sections or paragraphs that are actually relevant to your essay.

Next you need to make a plan of the structure or framework of your essay, something along the lines shown below:

Introduction:

This should outline the scope of the essay, as well commenting on the topic itself, some brief definitions or some sort of explanation or may be needed. You need to make it clear to the reader exactly what you are going to be discussing or evaluating etc., so it gives a clear indication of what is to follow.

Main body of the essay:

This is a series of paragraphs which are going to cover the main points that you have already decided upon, and these may be points against or points for a topic, strengths, weaknesses, similarities, differences etc. Examples and illustrations can be used to support and develop your writing. Remember not to just state an opinion, you need to show the reasoning or evidence to back up your argument, discussion etc.

Conclusion:

This should be a summary or review of the main ideas and points, although a firm conclusion or answer may not always be reached. Your own views can be introduced here, along with suggestions for further consideration or development. Be sure to relate back to the original title or question.