Six Stages of the Essay Writing Process - 2

Stage Two: Choosing Ideas

This step is about having a look at all the ideas we’ve got and assessing them. This is where we start to discriminate between the ideas we definitely can’t use, and ones that have some potential. To do that, we need to remind ourselves what our writing job is trying to do. The purpose of imaginative writing, you’ll remember, is to ‘entertain’, so for choosing an idea the test will be: can the idea be made ‘entertaining’? The answer will be yes if the idea could engage a reader’s feelings, let the reader see or hear something, or make a reader want to know what happened next.

The purpose of an essay is to persuade or inform or both, so the test we’ll use will be: can this idea be used as part of an argument, or as information about the topic? The answer will be yes if the idea would give the reader facts about the subject, a general concept about it, or an opinion about it, or if the idea could be used as supporting material or evidence. Once you’ve chosen the ideas you think you can use, two things will happen:

• You’ll get a sense of the shape your piece might take—what it could be about.
• You’ll see where there are gaps—where you need to think up a few more ideas.

You might be thinking: ‘Why didn’t we just gather useful ideas in the first place?’ The reason is that useful ideas and useless ideas often come together in the same bundle. If you never let the useless ideas in, you’ll miss some of the useful ones too.

So, the purpose of an essay is to persuade or inform or both. That means engaging the readers’ thoughts rather than their feelings. They might get some information from your essay or they might see information arranged to illustrate a general concept. Or they might be persuaded of a particular point of view about the topic. In this case the point of view will be supported by examples and other kinds of evidence. For an essay, then, we’ll apply three basic tests to all our ideas. At this stage you probably don’t know exactly what arguments or points your essay is going to make. That’s okay, you don’t have to know that yet. Going through the ideas you have (the ones you collected in Stage One) and applying these tests will help you clarify that:

1. The information test

• Does this idea provide any facts about the subject (for example, a definition, a date, a statistic or background information)?
• Ask yourself:

• Could I use this to clarify the terms of the assignment (a definition, explanation of words)?
• Could I use this to clarify the limitations of the assignment (narrowing it to a particular aspect)?
• Could I use this as a fact (a date, a name, a statistic)?
• Could I use this as general background information (historical overview, background information, some sort of ‘the story so far . . .’)?

If the answer to any of these is yes, choose it.

2. The concept test

• Could I use this to put forward a general concept about a subject (an opinion, a general truth or a summary)?
• Could I use this as part of a theory or an opinion about the subject (either my own or someone else’s)?
• Ask yourself:
• 
  

Could I use this as part of a general concept about the subject (a general truth or broad idea)?

Is this an opinion about the subject (either my own or someone else’s)?

Could I use this as part of a theory about the subject?

If the answer to any of these is yes, choose it.

3. The evidence test

• Could I use this to support any information I present?
• Could I use this to support an opinion (point of view) or theory about the subject?
• Is it a concrete example of the idea I’m putting forward?
• Is it a quote from an authority on the subject, or some other kind of supporting material?
• Ask yourself:
• 
  

Could I use this as an example of something to do with the assignment?

Could I use this to support any idea or point of view about the assignment?

Is this a quote from an authority or an established fact, or any kind of specific case in point?

If the answer to any of these is yes, choose it.

What if this isn’t working?

Ask yourself:

• Am I stuck because I’m not sure exactly what points I’ll make in my essay?

• (Solution: you don’t have to know that yet. Just choose anything that seems relevant to the assignment. Once you’ve chosen your ideas, then you can work out exactly how to use them.)

• Am I setting my standards for choosing unrealistically high?

• (Solution: lower them, just to get yourself started—even Einstein had to start somewhere.)

• Am I trying to find things that could be used just as they are?

• (Solution: recognise that these early ideas might have to be changed before you can use them.)

• Am I disappointed not to be choosing more ideas?

• (Solution: even if you only choose a couple of ideas from your list, that’s okay. You can build on them.)

Repeat this process with the other things you did in Stage One

• the cluster diagram;
• the research;
• the freewriting.


Previously…
Stage One: Getting Ideas

To Follow…
Stage Three: Outlining
Stage Four: Drafting
Stage Five: Revising
Stage Six: Editing