Have you ever begun to write an essay only to become frustrated in a tangled mess of incoherent thoughts two hours later?
If this sounds like you, you’re probably not much of a planner. At least not academically. That’s okay, because today, that all changes for you. Part of writing a complete essay efficiently and in a timely fashion all comes down to your planning.
Essay planning is one of the most important skills to have as a student and even as a professional writer. So, if you’re stuck on your thoughts and words, then keep reading. We’ll explain everything you need to know about how to plan and essay.
The Purpose of an Essay
To understand how to plan an essay, it’s important to first understand the goal of an essay. There are several types of essays, and they all have a purpose—to inform, to persuade, to explain, and to entertain. Academically speaking, however, the ultimate goal behind writing an essay is to learn.
Writing an essay is one of the best ways to organize and assimilate what you’ve learned on a specific subject. It helps you to improve your critical thinking skills and analysis, it reveals aspects of your studies that may need clarification, and it improves the way you express your thoughts.
The feedback you receive on your work is just as valuable as the research and writing itself. It exposes your strengths and weaknesses as a writer and critical thinker, and it will help you improve all of your other academic skills. It will also help you to improve your approach to writing essays in the future.
So, the purpose of writing an essay isn’t just to get a good grade or to persuade, entertain, explain, and so on. The purpose is also to expand your knowledge on a subject and sharpen your analysis skills. Think of it as a journey rather than just another assignment you must get through.
Why You Should Plan Your Essay
Our thoughts tend to be a bit incoherent, which is why the key to writing a good essay is organization. After all, you’re trying to make a logical point supported by research, so you’re going to want to save your stream of consciousness writing for your journal.
By planning your essay you’re getting the hard work out of the way. Having a detailed and organized plan will help your thoughts flow logically as well as chronologically. It also gives you the chance to lay all of your research on the table to see what you can use and where, as well as whether or not you need to dive deeper.
It will also save you a lot of time and aggravation during the actual writing process. The last thing you want is to lose your train of thought halfway through writing, or, realize that you’re not making any sense halfway through editing. Plus, once you’ve created a plan, all the necessary information will be in one organized place and all that’s left to do is fill in the blanks.
The Five Stages of Planning an Essay
Think of the essay planning stages as a preliminary outline. If you can’t write a complete essay successfully without planning it first, you won’t be able to draft an outline without proper preparation either. You need each planning stage to prep your outline and then write your essay—it’s a science.
Each stage of planning an essay involves assessing the question being asked, the point you want to make, the overall presentation and supporting research, and creating a schedule to follow from start to finish.
The following are the five stages of essay planning in a nutshell:
1. Understand the Essay Question
Your first order of business is to identify and understand the question being asked. More often than not, this important concept is overlooked and the essay in question never fully realizes the answer or its potential. This is where your critical thinking and analysis skills come into play.
Here’s an example of an essay topic: How does social media positively or negatively impact today’s youth?
The question seems simple enough, but what’s it really asking? It’s not a trick question—it’s simply asking you to take a stand and base an argument off of one of two options. The first option being how does social media positively impact today’s youth? and the second being how does social media negatively impact today’s youth?
Without giving any thought to what is being asked, you could easily make the mistake of arguing both sides. At first glance, it may seem like something that could be done. However, with more careful consideration you’ll notice that it’s asking specifically “positive or negative”. Not positive and negative”.
It’s also important to understand that arguing both sides won’t just make for a vague and confusing essay, but it’s also not the assignment. If the goal of the assignment were to compare and contrast the positive and negative impacts before coming to a conclusion, the essay question would have stated so.
One way to help you understand the essay question better is to pick out the key words and/or phrases. This is a little trick that will highlight your main talking points.Those key words and phrases will be used frequently throughout your essay as well as your research.
Here’s how it’s done:
How does [social media] positively or negatively impact [today’s youth]?
So, your key words/phrases here are “social media” and “today’s youth”, which means the real question is: how does social media impact today’s youth? This is what you’ll use during your research to find out whether or not those impacts are in fact positive or negative and why which will help you with your brainstorming process.
It may take some practice to get it right, but you can find out more about how to break down the key words and phrases here.
2. Brainstorm Your Ideas
Now it’s time to brainstorm ideas for your essay and figure out where you stand on the argument being presented. Your initial brainstorming session should be a reflection about the things you already know about the topic from research, reading, lectures, your own opinions etc. Again, this is where your critical thinking and analysis skills come into play.
You want to spend at least half an hour brainstorming the subject matter. Write down each idea you have and the main points you’d like to argue. It’s also a good idea to do some preliminary reading and take notes. Come up with all possible reasons and responses to the essay question, as well as the introduction to the argument and the conclusion.
Part of the brainstorming process also involves identifying what you don’t know about the topic and noting the research that needs to be done. Don’t forget to write down any questions you may have along the way—they’re often the best place to start.
The great thing about a topic like the social media example given above is that it gives you a choice. In this case, that choice is between social media making a positive impact or a negative one. Your argument doesn’t necessarily have to be your personal belief on the subject either. Although it may be tempting to go with what you’re passionate about, it’s sometimes better to base your argument on the amount of available evidence.
For example, a quick search will show everything you need to do. There’s already an overwhelming amount of research-based evidence on the fact that social media has a largely negative impact on today’s youth. Therefore, you already know that you’ll have ample sources that produce statistical evidence that can support your argument throughout the essay.
So, to make your life easier, you’ll want to make the argument that social media has a negative impact on the youth today. Or, more generally speaking, you’ll want to make the argument that has the most supporting evidence behind it.
To help organize your thoughts while brainstorming, you can try mind mapping. Mind maps are a way to visually organize your thoughts from one central idea to all its connections. It’s a valuable exercise that can show you how different topics and ideas are connected. This allows you to come up with a framework that enables your essay to flow easily.
3. Gather Your Sources
Adept research is one of the short answers to the question of how to plan an essay. You can’t just write from the top of your head, especially if you’re trying to make an argument and convince your readers that you’re right. You need fact-based evidence, statistics, published anecdotes, and other legitimate research on the subject.
Generally speaking, your approach to the research should reflect the texts and sources that are relevant to the essay question and subject matter. This includes:
- Reading through handouts or lecture notes (if the essay is for an academic class)
- Going through any assigned texts (or recommended texts)
- Visiting the school library and familiarizing yourself with the section that is relevant to your topic
- Using your library’s internet search engine to browse through their online catalog for scholarly articles and studies
- Search through print and digital journals for recent research on your topic
- Search for scholarly articles on the internet (outside of your library’s online catalog)
For a topic like the example we’ve listed above, your best bet would be to conduct an internet search and read through digital journals, as social media is something that has only been studied for a short period of time thus far. Regardless of your topic and subject matter, however, you always want to include facts and figures.
That means for every main point you plan to make, you want to support it with as much best evidence as possible. Of course, the amount of sources you’ll need depends entirely on the length of your essay, but it’s always best to start with a minimum of five sources for an essay of 1,000 words.
4. Strategize and Organize Your Materials
Tying your essay plan together means strategizing and organizing your stance on the essay question, your ideas and main points, and your sources. In total, here’s what your essay plan should include:
- A strong thesis statement
- A specific number of main ideas/topic sentences
- 1-2 supporting reasons for each main idea
- Your research-based evidence (sources)
- Your counter-argument (if applicable. Keep in mind the different purposes an essay can have)
- A bibliography to show your sources
Let’s start with your thesis statement. Your thesis statement should be your clear and direct answer to the essay question itself. It’s the claim you want to make and discuss or argue further throughout the body of the essay. Your thesis statement should be one or two complete sentences long, and it should be stated clearly within the first few sentences of your introduction.
Now, depending on the length of your essay, you’ll want to break down your main points. Your main points will make up the entire body of your essay, and each point should be developed in a paragraph followed by a supporting paragraph or two. Roughly, your ratio of main points to essay length should look like this:
- 3-4 main points for a 1,000-word essay
- 5-7 main points for a 1,500-word essay
- 6-9 main points for a 2,000-word essay
- 9-12 main points for a 3,000-word essay
Remember, you’ll need at least one to two supporting reasons for each main point to discuss in their designated paragraphs. That means citing at least two sources for each main point, as well as a statistic, quote, or an example for each main point, and any interesting facts that can be added to each main point.
It’s important to organize your main points, ranking them from strongest to weakest. The real trick, however, is to begin and end with your strongest points, keeping the weakest in between. You also want to be sure that each main point easily flows into the next. So, while you’re organizing and ranking your main points think about how well each one will transition into the next.
In addition to how you will rank your main points, it also helps to assign a number of words to each paragraph. This will help you break up the sections of your essay evenly, so you can keep each main point clear and concise. The last thing you want to do is drag out your lesser points as it could weaken your entire argument.
Side note: When quoting someone, keep it short. Do not use block quotes to fill up space in your word count.
5. Plan Your TIME
Maybe you’re an overachiever, maybe you’re a procrastinator. Either way, if you want to learn how to pan an essay you have to learn how to plan and manage your TIME. You’re not just writing towards a final product here, you’re undergoing a complex developmental process.
Whatever kind of student or writer you are, planning a writing schedule will help you manage your time and keep you on the right track up until your deadline. Your essay schedule will include:
- Knowledge of your deadlines
- Preparation
- Research
- organizing/drafting and outline
- Writing your essay
- Editing your essay
- Meeting Your final deadline
How you organize your time will depend on how much time you have until your final deadline. So the first thing you’ll want to do when planning your time is to count the number of days you have to plan, write, and edit.
From there, you can plan and organize your essay time like this:
- Day 1: Prepare for your essay topic. If this is an academic essay, you’ll want to discuss the topic with your professor and clear up any doubts or confusion you may have. Take the time to understand the essay question and brainstorm and make a preliminary plan.
- Days 2-3: Do all the necessary research for your main points. Visit the library if necessary and read through all your materials, highlighting important information and the facts and figures you want to use. Part of this process is also making sure that you understand all of your research completely, so take notes and leave no stone unturned.
- Day 4: Assemble and organize all of your research and materials. From there, create a detailed outline for your entire essay.
- Day 5: Following your detailed outline, write your first draft. Once you’ve finished writing, it’s a good idea to take a few hours or a whole day if possible before reviewing it. This allows you to have a fresh approach to your self-editing process so you can be objective.
- Day 6: Write your second (or final) draft, giving yourself the same amount of time for the editing process. If possible, have one of your peers review your essay. From there, you can make your final tweaks and double-check your bibliography.
- Day 7: Submit your work on or before your deadline.
Of course, this is just an example of how to plan your time in general. You may not need a full seven days, or you may need more. Just remember, that when you’re creating a schedule for your essay, it’s important to take breaks and have that time in between each phase so you can come back to your work energized and with a fresh pair of eyes.
The most important thing is that you give yourself enough time to plan your essay, write it, and revise it. Otherwise, you’ll be left to draft a quick outline and write it all in one day.
Now let’s talk about drafting your outline.
How to Draft an Outline
Drafting an outline is how to plan an essay 101. Without an outline, you’re basically just writing blind with no direction. It’ll also take you much longer to write your actual essay on your own, trust us—we’ve tried it, and it didn’t work out too well.
Your typical outline looks like this:
- Intro
- Body
- Paragraph 1
- Paragraph 2
- Paragraph 3
- Conclusion
This basic format is also referred to as WEED—What, Evidence, Example Do. The point is to organize the main points that you’ve organized and ranked during your planning stage. It’s also to make sure that you have your supporting evidence and useful information to back up each main point right there in front of you.
Remember, you want to divide your sections up by the number of words required for your essay, which will also determine the number of body paragraphs you’ll be needing. For example, if your essay requires 1,200 works you’ll want to break up your seconds as follows:
- Introduction – 150 words
- Body Paragraph 1 – 240 words
- Body Paragraph 2 – 240 words
- Body Paragraph 3 – 240 words
- Body Paragraph 4 – 240 words
- Conclusion – 150 words
Now that you’ve got a clear picture of how you’ll be allocating your word count, you can add the details of what information goes in each section. You can use bullet points or a numbered list to organize this information so that when you write you have a step-by-step plan to follow.
Here’s What Your Outline Should Look Like:
Introduction – 150 words
- Your general/introductory statement
- Your thesis statement (1-2 complete sentences)
- Order of arguments/main points
Body Paragraphs 1-4 – 240 words
Topic sentence: State your first—and strongest—main point
Supporting ideas:
-state facts
-use quotes
-incorporate statistics
Be sure to include references for each supporting idea/statement.
Conclusion – 150 words
- Restate your thesis
- State your general conclusions
- Make a final concluding statement
Your conclusion should summarize your main points and evidence as well as show how they answer the original essay question.
If we were to use the social media example, the outline would look something like this:
Essay Topic: How does social media positively or negatively impact today’s youth?
Introduction – 150 words
- With social media use on the rise, we must take a discerning look into how it impacts today’s youth…
- Thesis Statement: Social media has a negative impact on today’s youth as it creates internet addiction and antisocial attitudes.
- This essay will explore how social media has a negative impact on today’s youth…
Body Paragraph 1 – 240 words
Topic sentence: Social media creates animosity among youth groups
Supporting ideas:
-social media perpetuates bullying
-”Treat others the way you want to be treated” -anonymous
-1 in 4 teenage girls are bullied on social media platforms
With each of these supporting ideas, you’ll want to include their sources, especially when you are quoting someone or some organization.
Conclusion – 150 words
Restated Thesis: As evidence, it’s easy to see how social media creates online addiction as well as anti-social behavior, therefore having a negative impact on today’s youth.
General conclusions: If we continue to allow our youth to be impacted negatively by social media, we are creating a future of indifference and narcissism…
Final concluding statement: Because of the negative impact that social media has on today’s youth with bullying, etc., it is crucial that parents limit their usage and encourage them to engage in outside activities.
Of course, your outline will look much more detailed with the proper sources in place as markers for your real essay. You can find more examples of essay outlines here. Once you have your detailed outline drafted, it’s all downhill from there.
Now Begin Writing Your First Draft
A first, no-pressure draft is the final stage of your essay planning. (We know, it doesn’t sound like it, but bear with us!). Think of this draft as an even more detailed outline that’s just missing a few words or punctuation marks.
A no-pressure draft means that you don’t have to worry about punctuation (to an extent), and you don’t have to worry about making your sentences detailed just yet. What you’re doing here is getting the juices flowing by writing a few concise sentences following the points of your outlines.
This draft should take up no more than three hours of your time, especially since everything is already laid out for you in your outline. Once you’ve finished your first draft, it’s ideal to wait at least a few hours before coming back to review it. Once you do, you can make notes of where you need to add certain details, cite specific sources, and so on.
Remember, this is a no-pressure draft, meaning that you can start over from scratch if you hate it or simply revise it. From here, you’ll write a second draft and then a final draft if your schedule allows.
Go Forth and Write
Now that you understand how to plan an essay, the writing and editing part should be a cakewalk.
Remember that planning an essay involves understanding the purpose of the essay, the question being asked, and the argument you want to make. If you don’t understand what’s being asked, and you’re unwilling to learn, then you won’t be able to make a viable argument.
Planning your essay saves you time, aggravation, and stress. It also helps you divide up your workload, making the entire process much more efficient and less arduous.