Help In Scholarship Essay Writing: How to Begin Your Paper
Writing a scholarship essay can be very stressful. That’s understandable. After all, for many students, scholarships aren’t just a bonus or a bragging right. They’re an absolute necessity in order to afford a higher education. Worrying about whether or not one will receive scholarships can cause anxiety, and anxiety can make the process of applying—especially writing the essay—more difficult than it needs to be. Starting is the hardest part, however. Once you’re off to a good start, you’re likely to find that finishing with a strong essay is far easier than you thought it would be. These tips will help you start off strong.
Focus on the Task at Hand
Clear your thoughts. It sounds like a cliché, but in this circumstance it’s actually very good advice. Don’t obsess over the outcome, just focus on writing the very best essay you can. In other words, treat this as you would any important assignment, and give it your all. You can’t control the outcome, but you can put effort into writing a great essay.
Consider the Assignment Carefully
Read the instructions for the essay several times. Make notes on what would be appropriate topics, if you are given a choice of topics. If the topic is already chosen, then take some notes on interesting perspectives or theses you can use for your essay. Don’t move forward until you have five ideas you like—even if some of them seem silly. Brainstorming is more than a way to come up with good topics. It also gets you into the right frame of mind to begin.
Construct a Theme or Thesis
Your essay will be much easier to begin once you’ve got a clear idea of the essay’s central theme. Whether that’s a narrative, an argument you wish to persuade the reader of, or just a motif doesn’t matter much so long as you have a strong direction to follow.
Make a Detailed Outline
Nothing will ease the process of getting started more than a detailed outline. You’ll want to outline an introduction, which is an overview of the points you will cover, and then each body paragraph. You don’t have to follow the outline exactly when writing, but creating a detailed one from the get go will give you valuable momentum. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to begin your rough draft.