170+ Essay Writing Strategy UPSC

Essay is one of the most important papers in GS mains. This is because it is highest scoring paper and needs least preparation.

What is an essay?

Essay is what you think about the topic with reasoned arguments. It is not collection of ideas of great men .it should reflect your own ideas and analysis. It should show originality. Parts of essay:

·         An introduction that gives the reader an idea of what they are about to learn and presents an argument in the form of a thesis statement

 

·         A body, or middle section, that provides evidence used to prove and persuade the reader to accept the writer's particular point of view

 

·         A conclusion that summarizes the content and findings of the essay

 

"Reading make a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man." -- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

How can we prepare for essay?

There is no need for specific preparation for essay as you have to write your opinion about a general topic. Therefore the knowledge which you have acquired from the newspapers and General studies. Reading newspaper will develop your essay writing ability a lot. Editorials are the place where you learn this art. That’s why I suggest not to follow daily news affairs of websites as you don’t get time to read newspaper. You can do only one thing . Newspaper is the best

What UPSC expects from you: “Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay, to arrange their ideas in an orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.”

How to write an Essay?

1.    Selection of the Topic : Essay topic should be selected carefully. You will have to select two essay topics out of 8 topics.
( 1 out of 4) General instructions to select the topic

 

·         Understand the entire topic and not just one part of the topic .Let me explain with an example of 2018 topic “Poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere” Here the topic is neither on poverty nor on prosperity. It is on how poverty and prosperity are interlinked.

 

·         Be comfortable with genre of topic . UPSC topics are generally on polity, economy , society, technology and philosophy . Select the topic from genre where you are comfortable with . Suppose you are not comfortable with handling philosophy try to avoid such topics as you would not be able to generate substantial arguments and points . Eg “A good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge”

 

·         Don’t hurry and don’t select just because you have heard the topic in past : Let me give example in 2012 UPSC asked a famous Gandhi statement “ Be the change you see in the world” . Many of my friends got very average marks. They hurriedly selected the topic without thinking over the point that although the topic was familiar but generating 3000 words of good substance will be a challenge.

 

·         Read all topics before selecting one: Sometimes the first topic may appeal to you. But hold your horses, read all the topics. Then decide which topic you can do justice with

 

Brain Storming the Topic :

Once you select the topic you need to brainstorm the topic . Generate as many points as possible. To generate points just recall your gs mains syllabus

·         History of the topic:

·         Sociological aspect of the topic:

·         Geographical aspect:

·         Constitutional aspect:

·         Governance aspect : Policy , Act ,Scheme

·         Economic dimensions of the topic

·         Technological dimension about the topic

·         Ethical dimension of the topic

Introduction to essay:

What is introduction?

It tells the examiner what to expect in the essay. It also assures him that you have understood the topic. It is the most important part of essay . I can make your break your chances of getting the highest marks in essay. It should lay out the plan of the essay.

Why do you need a great introduction?

First impression is the last impression.

Introduction to the essay is like a face to the body. We all like meeting beautiful faces. It has to be eye catching. It should arouse interest in the mind of the examiner. Without interest take it from me he won’t even bother to read till the end to decide the marks he wants to give you.

How to write introduction?

5 ways to write eye catching introduction:

·         Anecdote: It’s a short amusing story which tells the essence of the topic. Like in Gandhi essay you can start with the real-life example, when you changed yourself first and then tried changing others.

 

·         Startling Fact: Some eye-catching facts. Like in last two decades 3 lakhs farmers have committed suicide. This could be a good intro on 2017 topic “Farming has lost the ability to be a source of subsistence for majority of farmers in India.”

 

·         Quotations: You can also use a good quote to begin your essay. 

The topic was “If development is not engendered, it will be endangered.”

·         Context (Some current incident): You can also start the essay with some current contest. This will relate with the examiner ,because they follow news.

 

·         Explanation of the topic: This is the most traditional way to begin the essay. Here you explain the topic in plain simple words. In 2016 I used this for my second essay “Cooperative federalism myth or Reality). I started with explaining federalism and its type and then came to cooperative federalism.

 

What is an ideal size of introduction: Here I give the analogy of a human body. Introduction is like a face of the body. what is the size of our face?

Or a Simple face with no description.

Which one looks good. Do we need to think?

Likewise, introduction should be 10–15% of the essay. Not very less than this not more. It should have at least two paragraphs.

 

Body of the essay:

Now you can use the themes you have generated during brain storming to write the body

How to write the body?

Start from the historical dimension, trace the topic to its sources, you can briefly discuss the evolution and present status.

Then you can start examining the spatial dimensions Like social: Here you can start with individual, then go to family, then society, then nation, etc.

After that you can examine political dimension of the topic. Here you can begin with constitution dimension, policy dimension, schemes, etc.

Then go on to other dimensions as explained above in brainstorming section.

Points to be kept in mind while writing body:

·         Write atleast 20 paragraphs.

·         Each paragraph should elaborate only one idea.

·         Give example for each idea.

·         Analyse the idea in each paragraph

·         Link paragraphs through linker. Below is a list of linkers

Conclusion: 

This is again very important. As examiner awards marks after reading your conclusion.

 

How to write a great conclusion?

It should show your problem-solving approach to life. An IAS officer is nothing but a problem solver for the society and country. Therefore, always conclude essay with solution. It shows your positive attitude.

Solution should be generated at various level:

·         Individuation

·         Family

·         Society

·         Government

·         International

 

For example, for the essay
“If development is not engendered, it will be endangered.”

You can give solutions on above levels.

What not to write in conclusion?

·         Never discuss a new idea.

·         Never discuss anything opposite to the topic

·         Never be negative about the topic, even when topic is negative, sound optimistic.

     I hope this will help you to write a good essay and get good marks in your UPSC CSE exam and clear it with flying colours.