Throughout your education you will have to write many essays, and while the subjects and the occasions may vary, the basic formula shown here will help you write a strong essay under a time limit.

You should know the research material – when you start on an essay project you will be required to know about the subject and write in a particular area. You will need to conduct some research and so need to understand and remember this research, in order to write effective essays. You will also need to make sure that the information you have available, when writing the essay, in on the correct topic for your writing.

Relax. Especially if you are writing an important essay, or an essay in an exam, its vital that you relax before you start to write. Breathe in and out a few times and take a few minutes to read and think about the exam. If you start straight away, you will be feeling the stress and are more likely to write a bad essay than if you are composed and focused on the task in hand.

Read the question. Know from the start how long your essay is supposed to take you, the expected word count and any other instructions. Make sure that if a specific font or word size is specified that you use it, and keep the word count in mind as you write.

Know your question in-depth – simply knowing what your essay question is asking wont be enough to write an effective essay for submission, as you will also need to understand that you will need to analyse all of the information out there and understand what is expected of you. You will also need to ensure you know the different parts to the question and what key terms are used and also mean.

Establish a schedule – you should know how long it will take you from when you are given the essay , through to when you will need to submit it. You should allow at least two days to plan your schedule and two after your research to write the actual essay. Then, you ensure that you will have written a comprehensive essay that is completed by the time for submission.

Note things down – you should make some notes of the different things that you will need to make sure that are contained in your essay, establishing the different parts of your essay will be crucial if you want to make sure that you have the different areas covered in your academic writing.

Start strong – your first sentence in your essay will be the most powerful for the reader, it should grab their attention and encourage them to read the entire content of your essay, and not be put off by not really wanting to read the rest of your work.

As you’re writing the essay, periodically check the question to make sure you arent rambling. Don’t pad your essay with unrelated information, and make sure you arent repeating yourself.

Simplicity is key – if you are looking at writing your essay and think it will be complicating attempting to include the different parts to it then you shouldn’t’ An essay does have a collection of different thoughts, but it also should help you write about the things that you have researched about. The main thing to make sure of, is if you are running out of time then don’t panic, as this won’t solve anything for you.

Edit and proofread. Re-read over the essay, the next day if possible, and revise and edit. Check for spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and inconsistencies. As you read you may realise you’ve left out important information, or that you need to move a sentence. Make sure you re-read after you’ve done your editing, to check the essay still makes sense and that it still answers the question.