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7 Steps for Writing an Essay Plan

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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Have you ever started writing an essay then realized you have run out of ideas to talk about?

This can make you feel deflated and you start to hate your essay!

The best way to avoid this mid-essay disaster is to plan ahead: you need to write an Essay Plan!

Essay planning is one of the most important skills I teach my students. When I have one-to-one tutorials with my students, I always send them off with an essay plan and clear goals about what to write.

Essay Planning isn’t as dull as you think. In fact, it really does only take a short amount of time and can make you feel oh so relieved that you know what you’re doing!

Here’s my 7-Step method that I encourage you to use for your next essay:

The 7-Step Guide on How to write an Essay Plan

• Figure out your Essay Topic (5 minutes)
• Gather your Sources and take Quick Notes (20 minutes)
• Brainstorm using a Mind-Map (10 minutes)
• Arrange your Topics (2 minutes)
• Write your topic Sentences (5 minutes)
• Write a No-Pressure Draft in 3 Hours (3 hours)
• Edit your Draft Once every Few Days until Submission (30 minutes)

I’ve been using this 7-Step essay planning strategy since I was in my undergraduate degree. Now, I’ve completed a PhD and written over 20 academic journal articles and dozens of blog posts using this method – and it still works!

Let’s go through my 7 steps for how to write an essay plan.

Prefer to Watch than Read? Here’s our video on writing an Essay Plan.

how to write an essay plan

1. figure out your essay topic. here’s how..

Where did your teacher provide you with your assessment details?

Find it. This is where you begin.

Now, far, far, far too many students end up writing essays that aren’t relevant to the essay question given to you by your teacher. So print out your essay question and any other advice or guidelines provided by your teacher.

Here’s some things that your assessment details page might include:

• The essay question;
• The marking criteria;
• Suggested sources to read;
• Some background information on the topic

The essay question is really important. Once you’ve printed it I want you to do one thing:

Highlight the key phrases in the essay question.

Here’s some essay questions and the key phrases you’d want to highlight:

This strategy helps you to hone in on exactly what you want to talk about. These are the key phrases you’re going to use frequently in your writing and use when you look for sources to cite in your essay!

The other top thing to look at is the marking criteria. Some teachers don’t provide this, but if they do then make sure you pay attention to the marking criteria !

Here’s an example of a marking criteria sheet:

Sample Essay Topic: Is Climate Change the Greatest Moral Challenge of our Generation?

Now, if you have a marking criteria you really need to pay attention to this. You have to make sure you’ve ticked off all the key criteria that you will be marked on. For the example above, your essay is going to have to make sure it:

• Takes a position about whether climate change is a serious challenge for human kind;
• Discusses multiple different people’s views on the topic;
• Explores examples and case studies (‘practical situations’);
• Uses referencing to back up your points.

The reason you need to be really careful to pay attention to this marking criteria is because it is your cheat sheet: it tells you what to talk about!

Step 1 only takes you five minutes and helps you to clearly clarify what you’re going to be talking about! Now your mind is tuned in and you can start doing some preliminary research.

2. Gather your Sources and take Quick Notes. Here’s how.

Now that you know what your focus is, you can start finding some information to discuss. You don’t want to just write things from the top of your head. If you want top marks, you want some deep, detailed and specific pieces of information.

Fortunately, your teacher has probably made this easy for you.

The top source for finding information will be the resources your teacher provided. These resources were hand picked by your teacher because they believed these were the best sources available our there on the topic. Here are the most common resources teachers provide:

• Lecture Slides;
• Assigned Readings.

The lecture slides are one of the best resources for you to access. Lecture slides are usually provided online for you. Download them, save them on your computer, and dig them up when it’s time to write the essay plan.

Find the lecture slides most relevant to your topic. To take the example of our climate change essay, maybe climate change is only discussed in three of the weeks in your course. Those are the three weeks’ lecture slides you want to hone-in on.

Flick through those lecture slides and take quick notes on a piece of paper – what are the most important topics and statistics that are relevant to your essay question?

Now, move on to the assigned readings . Your teacher will have selected some readings for you to do for homework through the semester. They may be eBooks, Textbooks or Journal Articles.

These assigned readings were assigned for a reason: because they have very important information to read ! Scan through them and see if there’s any more points you can add to your list of statistics and key ideas to discuss.

Next, try to find a few more sources using Google Scholar. This is a great resource for finding more academic articles that you can read to find even more details and ideas to add to your essay.

Here’s my notes that I researched for the essay question “Is Climate Change the Greatest Moral Challenge of our Generation?” As you can see, it doesn’t have to be beautiful #Studygram notes! It’s just rough notes to get all the important information down:

Once you’ve read the assigned lecture slides and readings, you should have a good preliminary list of ideas, topics, statistics and even quotes that you can use in step 3.

3. Brainstorm using a Mind-Map. Here’s how.

Do your initial notes look a little disorganized?

That’s okay. The point of Step 2 was to gather information. Now it’s time to start sorting these ideas in your mind.

The best way to organize thoughts is to create a Mind-Map. Here’s how Mind-Maps often look:

For your essay plan Mind-Map, write the essay question in the middle of the page and draw a circle around it.

Then, select the biggest and most important key ideas that you think are worth discussing in the essay. To decide on these, you might want to look back at the notes you took in Step 2.

Each key idea will take up around about 200 – 350 words (1 to 2 sentences).

Here’s a rough guide for how many key ideas you’ll want depending on your essay length:

• 1000-word essay: 3 to 4 key ideas
• 1500-word essay: 5 to 7 key ideas
• 2000-word essay: 6 to 8 key ideas
• 3000-word essay: 9 to 12 key ideas

Once you’ve selected your key ideas you can list them in a circle around the essay question, just like this:

Last, we need to add detail and depth to each key idea. So, draw more lines out from each key ideas and list:

• Two sources that you will cite for each key idea;
• A statistic or example that you will provide for each key idea;
• Any additional interesting facts for each key idea

Here’s how it might look once you’re done:

4. Arrange your Topics. Here’s how.

You’re well and truly on your way to getting your essay down on paper now.

There’s one last thing to do before you start getting words down on the manuscript that you will submit. You need to arrange your topics to decide which to write first, second, third, fourth, and last!

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Start and end with your strongest points;
• Ensure the points logically flow.

To ensure your points logically flow, think about how you’re going to transition from one idea to the next . Does one key point need to be made first so that the other ones make sense?

Do two key points seem to fit next to one another? If so, make sure you list them side-by-side.

Have a play around with the order you want to discuss the ideas until you’re comfortable. Then, list them in order. Here’s my order for my Climate Change essay:

Each of these key ideas is going to turn into a paragraph or two (probably two) in the essay.

5. Write your topic Sentences in just 5 minutes. Here’s how.

All good essays have clear paragraphs that start with a topic sentence . To turn these brainstormed key points into an essay, you need to get that list you wrote in Step 5 and turn each point into a topic sentence for a paragraph.

It’s important that the first sentence of each paragraph clearly states the paragraph’s topic. Your marker is going to want to know exactly what your paragraph is about immediately. You don’t want your marker to wait until the 3 rd , 4 th or 5 th line of a paragraph before they figure out what you’re talking about in the paragraph.

So, you need to state what your key idea is in the first sentence of the paragraph.

Let’s have a go at turning each of our key ideas into a topic sentence:

6. Write a No-Pressure Essay Draft in just 3 Hours. Here’s how.

Okay, now the rubber hits the road. Let’s get writing!

When you write your first draft, don’t put pressure on yourself. Remind yourself that this is the first of several attempts at creating a great essay, so it doesn’t need to be perfect right away. The important thing is that you get words down on paper.

To write the draft, have a go at adding to each of your topic sentences to turn them into full paragraphs. Follow the information you wrote down in your notes and Mind-Map to get some great details down on paper.

Forget about the introduction and conclusion for now. You can write them last.

Let’s have a go at one together. I’m going to choose the paragraph on my key idea “Is climate change caused by humans?”

I’ve already got my first sentence and my brainstormed ideas. Let’s build on them to write a draft paragraph:

• “Most scientists believe climate change is caused by humans. In fact, according to the IPCC, over 98% of climate change scientists accept the scientific data that climate change is caused by humans (IPCC, 2018). This figure is very high, signalling overwhelming expert consensus. This consensus holds that the emission of carbon from burning of fossil fuels in the 20 th Century is trapping heat into the atmosphere. However, a minority of dissenting scientists continue to claim that this carbon build-up is mostly the fault of natural forces such as volcanoes which emit enormous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere (Bier, 2013).”

Your turn – have a go at your own draft paragraphs based on your Mind-Map for your essay topic! If you hit a rut or have some trouble, don’t forget to check out our article on how to write perfect paragraphs .

Once you’ve written all your paragraphs, make sure you write an introduction and conclusion .

Gone over the word count? Check out our article on how to reduce your word count.

7. Edit your Draft Once every Few Days until Submission. Check out this simple approach:

Okay, hopefully after your three hour essay drafting session you’ve got all your words down on paper. Congratulations!

However, we’re not done yet.

The best students finish their drafts early on so they have a good three or four weeks to come back and re-read their draft and edit it every few days.

When coming back to edit your draft , here’s a few things to look out for:

• Make sure all the paragraph and sentence structure makes sense. Feel free to change words around until things sound right. You might find that the first time you edit something it sounds great, but next time you realize it’s not as good as you thought. That’s why we do multiple rounds of edits over the course of a few weeks;
• Check for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors;
• Print out your draft and read it on paper. You notice more mistakes when you read a printed-out version;
• Work on adding any more details and academic sources from online sources like Google Scholar to increase your chance of getting a top grade. Here’s our ultimate guide on finding scholarly sources online – it might be helpful for this step!

Before you go – Here’s the Actionable Essay Plan Tips Summed up for you

Phew! That essay was tough. But with this essay plan, you can get through any essay and do a stellar job! Essay planning is a great way to ensure your essays make sense, have a clear and compelling argument, and don’t go off-topic.

I never write an essay without one.

To sum up, here are the 7 steps to essay planning one more time:

The 7-Step Guide for How to Write an Essay Plan

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 10 Reasons you’re Perpetually Single
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How to plan an essay: Essay Planning

• What's in this guide
• Essay Planning
• Additional resources

How to plan an essay

Essay planning is an important step in academic essay writing.

Proper planning helps you write your essay faster, and focus more on the exact question.  As you draft and write your essay, record any changes on the plan as well as in the essay itself, so they develop side by side.

One way to start planning an essay is with a ‘box plan’.

First, decide how many stages you want in your argument – how many important points do you want to make? Then, divide a box into an introduction + one paragraph for each stage + a conclusion.

Next, figure out how many words per paragraph you'll need.

Usually, the introduction and conclusion are each about 10% of the word count. This leaves about 80% of the word count for the body - for your real argument. Find how many words that is, and divide it by the number of body paragraphs you want. That tells you about how many words each paragraph can have.

Remember, each body paragraph discusses one main point, so make sure each paragraph's long enough to discuss the point properly (flexible, but usually at least 150 words).

For example, say the assignment is

Fill in the table as follows:

Next, record each paragraph's main argument, as either a heading or  topic sentence (a sentence to start that paragraph, to immediately make its point clear).

Finally, use dot points to list useful information or ideas from your research notes for each paragraph. Remember to include references so you can connect each point to your reading.

The other useful document for essay planning is the marking rubric .

This indicates what the lecturer is looking for, and helps you make sure all the necessary elements are there.

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How to structure and plan an essay

This page will help you to organise and plan an academic essay by outlining clear initial stages to follow, and will introduce you to a model for organising a typical academic essay.

What is an essay? 

An essay is a focused, academic discussion of a particular question, problem or issue.

Many of you have been writing essays for years, and are probably good at it. That's great, and everything you look at here will build on and develop those skills.

But it's worth asking: are there different things expected of a university essay from those for school, college, or other contexts?

The obvious answer is yes, and it takes time and effort to learn the range of writing skills needed to produce university essays effectively.

There are all sorts of reasons why essays are common forms of assessment. They allow you to explore a problem in-depth, express yourself concisely and precisely, and debate other people's published opinions on a topic.

They're also a good warm-up for traditional forms of academic publication, such as a journal article.

Academic essays usually follow an established organisational structure that helps the writer to express their ideas clearly and the reader to follow the thread of their argument.

An essay's structure is guided by its content and argument so every essay question will pose unique structural challenges.

Planning stages

Essay writing is a process with many stages, from topic selection, planning and reading around, through to drafting, revising and proofreading.

Breaking the task down and creating a clear plan with milestones and intermediate deadlines will allow you to focus attention more fully on the writing process itself when you put your plan into action either as part of an assignment or an exam.

1. Understand the question

• Is the question open-ended or closed? If it is open-ended you will need to narrow it down. Explain how and why you have decided to limit it in the introduction to your essay, so the reader knows you appreciate the wider issues, but that you can also be selective.
• If it is a closed question, your answer must refer to and stay within the limits of the question (ie specific dates, texts, or countries).
• What can you infer from the title about the structure of the essay?

2. Brainstorm for ideas

• What you know about the topic – from lectures, reading etc
• What you don't know about the topic, but need to find out to answer the question
• Possible responses or answers to the question – any ideas about your conclusion.
• Consider using a mind map to organise your thoughts…

3. Make a plan

• Planning your essay makes it more likely that you have a coherent argument
• It enables you to work out a logical structure and an endpoint for your argument before you start writing
• It means you don't have to do this type of complex thinking at the same time as trying to find the right words to express your ideas
• It helps you to commit yourself to sticking to the point!

Have a look at this Glossary of Essay Instruction Words (PDF, 100KB) , or watch this short Study Skills Hacks video on identifying the tasks in a question to help you identify what is required.

The Hourglass essay

If you're stuck on an overall structure for your essay, try this simple model for organising a typical academic essay. An hourglass essay introduces a broad area, before narrowing the focus towards the specific question that you are answering. It finishes by placing that narrow area back into a wider context. 

Introduction: the funnel of the hourglass

Set the scene and lead your reader into your essay by introducing the broad area of interest and then narrowing towards your specific focus:

• Start broad with a hook to catch the reader's attention
• Provide some context for the hook. What does your project add to it?
• Focus on the narrow area of your essay: can you summarise it in a single sentence mission statement?

Body: the stem of the hourglass

The body of your essay should be as narrow and focused as possible. Body paragraphs will take one sub-topic at a time and provide a logical flow of ideas for your reader:

• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence to tell your reader what it will cover
• Fill your paragraph with a range of supporting evidence and examples
• Finish your paragraph with a final wrapping-up sentence to summarise and/or link ahead

Conclusion: the base of the hourglass

Your chance to reinforce your key messages and go out with a bang:

• Revisit your mission statement: how have you addressed it?
• Summarise the main points of your argument or findings
• Finish with a broader scope, explaining how your topic might inform future research or practice, or where gaps remain

Have a go at using this template (google doc) to plan a structure for your essay, paying particular attention to the ways in which you have broken down the topic into sub-themes for your body paragraphs.

Come along to an Essay Structure and Planning workshop, which will outline how to analyse your essay question, discuss approaches logically structure all your ideas, help you make your introductions and conclusions more effective, and teach how to link your ideas and ensure all essay content flows logically from the introduction.

Book an Essay Structure and Planning Workshop place here

Book workshop on writing Writing Persuasive Introductions, Conclusions and Discussions and Writing Effective Thesis Statements and Topic Sentences which explore both features and linguistic structures.

More information

• Start planning early, leave your plan for a couple of days, and then come back to it. This may give you a fresh perspective.
• It is often easiest to write the introduction last, but when you are planning your essay structure make sure you have your mission statement.
• A good plan will make it much easier to write a good essay. Invest the time in making a plan that works.
• Check what your tutor wants, but it is often best to focus on one element in great detail, rather than discuss several aspects superficially.
• Make sure you allow time to proofread your work before submission!
• How to structure a paragraph
• How to paraphrase and quote
• How to write in an academic style

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Planning an Essay

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This page is the first of two that describe the processes involved in producing an essay for academic purposes, for school, college or university and covers the planning stages of essay writing, which are important to the overall process.

The second page, Writing an Essay , provides more information on the steps involved in actually writing an essay. We recommend you read both pages to gain a full understanding.

Developing the skill of essay writing takes practice, time and patience , your essay writing skills will improve and develop the more you write.

With the help of your course tutor (teacher or lecturer) and peers (other students) and from constructive feedback from the marker of your work, writing an essay will become easier as you progress through your studies and your confidence increases.

This page details general good practice in essay planning, including what you should do and what you should try to avoid. It is important however, that you understand the specific requirements of your school, college or university.

Writing an essay helps you to consider the issues raised in your course and to relate them to your own experience, way of thinking, and also any wider additional reading and research you may have undertaken in order to tackle the essay topic. 

Writing an essay (or other assignment) is an important part of the learning process.  In the writing of an assignment, learning occurs as you think through and interpret the points raised (together with those of other writers on the subject).

Presenting your experience and showing understanding within your assignment will, from the marker's point of view, demonstrate your knowledge of the subject area.

The Purpose of an Essay

The original meaning of an essay is ' an attempt ', or a try, at something. It is therefore appropriate to consider writing an essay as a learning exercise.

Essays, and other academic writing, focus the mind and encourage you to come to conclusions about what you are studying.

Writing is often the best possible way to assimilate and organise information. Writing helps to highlight any areas that you have not fully understood and enables you to make further clarifications. It develops your powers of criticism, analysis and expression, and gives you a chance to try out your and other writers' ideas on the subject.

The feedback you receive from the marker of your essay should help to advance your study skills, writing, research and  critical thinking skills .

What is the Marker Looking For?

As an essay - in the context of this page - is an assessed piece of work, it can be very useful to consider what the person who will be assessing the work, the marker, will be looking for.

Although different types of essays in different subject areas may vary considerably in their style and content there are some key concepts that will help you understand what is required of you and your essay.

When marking an assignment, a marker will look for some of the following elements, which will demonstrate you are able to:

Find relevant information and use the knowledge to focus on the essay question or subject.

Structure knowledge and information logically, clearly and concisely.

Read purposefully and critically. (See our page: Critical Reading for more)

Relate theory to practical examples.

Analyse processes and problems.

Be persuasive and argue a case.

Find links and combine information from a number of different sources.

Answer the Question

One main factor, always worth bearing in mind, is that a marker will usually only award marks for how well you have answered the essay question.

It is likely that the marker will have a set of criteria or marking guidelines that will dictate how many marks can be awarded for each element of your essay.

Remember it is perfectly possible to write an outstanding essay, but not to have answered the original question.  This will, in all likelihood, mean a low mark.

Planning Your Essay

Planning is the process of sorting out what you want to include in your essay.

A well-planned and organised essay indicates that you have your ideas in order; it makes points clearly and logically.  In this way, a well-planned and structured essay enables the reader, or marker, to follow the points being made easily.

Essay assignments are usually formulated in one of the following ways:

As a question

A statement is given and you are asked to comment on it

An invitation to ‘ outline’ , ‘ discuss’ or ‘ critically assess’ a particular argument or point of view

Remember always write your essay based on the question that is set and not on another aspect of the subject. Although this may sound obvious, many students do not fully answer the essay question and include irrelevant information. The primary aim of an academic essay is to answer the task set, in some detail.

To help you do this, you might find the following list of stages helpful.

Producing an Essay Plan

The essay plan below contains ten steps.

It is often useful to complete the first six steps soon after receiving your essay question. That way information will be fresh and you are more likely to be thinking about your essay plan as you do other things.

Study the essay question intently.

Write the essay question out in full.

Spend some time, at least half an hour, brainstorming the subject area.

Write down your thoughts on the question subject, its scope and various aspects.

List words or phrases that you think need to be included.

Note the main points you should include to answer the question.

If, at this point, you feel unsure of what to include, talk to your tutor or a peer to clarify that you are on the right track.

Once you have finished the first six steps and you feel sure you know how to proceed, continue to expand on your initial thoughts and build a more in-depth essay outline.

Skim through any course material or lecture handouts and start to build up a more detailed outline. Scan through your own lecture notes, and if anything strikes you as relevant to the assignment task, write where to find it on your detailed outline

Write down where you will find the necessary information on each of the points in your detailed outline (lecture notes, course handouts etc.).  Indicate on the outline where you feel that some further research is necessary.

Be careful not to allow your outline to become too complicated; stick to main points and keep it relevant to the question.

If you have been given a reading list or a core text book then check the relevant sections of that.

See our page: Sources of Information for more ideas of where you can find relevant information for your essay.

Academic essays usually have a word limit and writing within the word limit is an important consideration. Many institutions will penalise students for not writing the correct amount of words – for example, the essay question may call for a 2,000 word essay, there may be a 10% grace, so anything between 1,800 and 2,200 is acceptable.

Think about the main elements that need to be covered in the essay. Make sure you allocate the greatest number of words to the 'main body of the essay' and not to a subsidiary point.

Decide how much space you can devote to each section of your outline.  For example, a third of a page for the introduction, half a page for point 1 which has two sub-points, one and a half pages for point 2 which has five sub-points etc.  Although you will not follow such a space scheme rigidly, it does enable you to keep things under control and to know how much detail to put in, keeping the balance of the essay as you originally planned.

Of course, you will make minor adjustments to your essay plan as you actually write. However, do not make major adjustments unless you are absolutely certain about the alternative and how it fits into your original scheme.

Having a strong essay plan makes the actual task of writing an essay much more efficient.

Continue to: Writing an Essay Sources of Information

See also: Essay Writing Tips Note-Taking for Reading Finding Time To Study

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How to Write a Perfect Essay Plan

• 4-minute read
• 9th December 2019

Every good essay starts with a good essay plan. And planning your essay is important, as it will help you express each point you need to make clearly and in a logical order. But what goes into a good essay plan? And how can you write one? Join us for a quick look at how this works.

1. Read the Question Closely

The first step in any essay plan is to look at the question you’ve been set. It should provide some clue as to the kind of essay required, such as whether it is an open or closed question . These differ as follows:

• An open question permits various answers. For instance, if you were set an English literature essay, you might be asked What are the main social themes in the writing of Charles Dickens? This would allow you to discuss a range of concepts in response. Writing you essay plan would then involve narrowing down your subject matter so you can focus on one issue.
• A closed question focuses on a specific issue, often asking you to agree or disagree with something. For instance, a closed question could be Is technology a destructive force in the writing of Charles Dickens? In this case, the question dictates the form of the essay, as you would need to look at arguments for and against the claim and, finally, come to a conclusion.

Keep in mind that both question types require an in-depth answer! Some closed questions could technically be answered by writing ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on a piece of paper, but this won’t get you great marks. Instead, think of the question as a prompt for you to show off what you know on the topic.

And if you’re not sure about anything, such as how a question is worded, you will want to check this with whomever set the assignment.

2. Brainstorm Ideas and Organise Your Research

After studying the essay question, the next step is to brainstorm ideas for answering it. And the starting point for this is to organise your research.

In other words, it’s time to get out those lecture notes! In fact, you should make a mind map of everything you know on the essay topic.

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Look for anything that is relevant to the essay question. You can then narrow down the possible answers to the topics that interest you most. This should also help you identify any gaps in your knowledge, so you can make notes on what else you may need to research for your essay.

3. Draft an Essay Outline

The last step in writing an essay plan is to outline your essay. This means breaking it down section by section, paragraph by paragraph, so you know exactly what you need to write to answer the essay question.

The exact content will depend on the topic and word count . But, as a rule, most essays will have a basic structure along the following lines:

• Introduction – A paragraph or two that sets out your main argument.
• Main Body – This is the main chunk of your essay. To plan this, break down your argument into paragraphs or sections, sticking to one main idea per paragraph. Once you’ve done this, note down how each point supports your argument, plus any quotes or examples you will use.
• Conclusion – A brief summary of your arguments and evidence.
• References – A list of sources you plan to use in your essay.

This will then guide the writing process, making sure you always stay on topic.

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Planning your essay is just the first step: you then need to write it! And to make sure it’s the best it can be, you’ll want to have it proofread . Our expert editors can help with that, making sure that your writing is always academic in tone and completely error free. Just let us know how we can help!

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Essay writing

• Introduction

Answering the question

Generating ideas, planning your essay, different planning methods.

• Writing your essay
• Developing your essay writing

Useful links for writing essays

• Study Advice Helping students to achieve study success with guides, video tutorials, seminars and appointments.
• Academic writing LibGuide Expert guidance on punctuation, grammar, writing style and proof-reading.
• Guide to citing references Includes guidance on why, when and how to use references correctly in your academic writing.
• Reading and notemaking LibGuide Expert guidance on managing your reading and making effective notes.
• Academic Phrasebank Use this site for examples of linking phrases and ways to refer to sources.
• Ten stages of assignment success (Prezi) Based upon Burns and Sinfield, Essential Study Skills.
• Critical Thinking A short video on Critical Thinking that the BBC have prepared in partnership with The Open University

The first thing to do when preparing to write an essay is to make a plan. You could just rush in and write everything that comes into your head, but that would make it difficult for your marker to read and would reduce the effectiveness of your ideas. These will make much stronger arguments if you group them together than they would do on their own.

The guidance on this page will show you how to plan and structure your essay to produce a strong and focused response to the question.

A very common complaint from lecturers and examiners is that students write a lot of information but they just don't answer the question. Don't rush straight into researching – give yourself time to think carefully about the question and understand what it is asking.

Underlining key words – This is a good start point for making sure you understand all the terms (some might need defining); identifying the crucial information in the question; and clarifying what the question is asking you to do (compare & contrast, analyse, discuss). But make sure you then consider the question as a whole again, not just as a series of unconnected words.

Re-read the question – Read the question through a few times. Explain it to yourself, so you are sure you know what it is asking you to do.

Try breaking the question down into sub-questions – What is the question asking? Why is this important? How am I going to answer it? What do I need to find out first, second, third in order to answer the question? This is a good way of working out what important points or issues make up the overall question – it can help focus your reading and start giving your essay a structure. However, try not to have too many sub-questions as this can lead to following up minor issues, as opposed to the most important points.

• Answering the question and planning (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
• Answering the question and planning (transcript) Read the transcript.

The kinds of things to note briefly are:

• What you already know about the topic – from lectures, seminars, general knowledge.
• Things you don't know about the topic, but need to find out in order to answer the question.
• Initial responses or answers to the question – what you think your conclusion might possibly be.

This helps you start formulating your argument and direction for answering the question. It also helps you focus your reading, as you can pinpoint what you need to find out and go straight to the parts of books, chapters, articles that will be most relevant.

After reading - After your reading, it is often good to summarise all your findings on a page. Again, a spider diagram can help with this.

Bringing together the key points from your reading helps clarify what you have found out, and helps you find a pathway through all the ideas and issues you have encountered. If you include brief details of authors and page nos. for key information, it can act as a quick at-a-glance guide for finding the evidence you need to support your points later.

It also helps you see how your initial response to the question might have changed or become more sophisticated in light of the reading you've done. It leads into planning your essay structure.

• It enables you to work out a logical structure and an end point for your argument before you start writing.
• It means you don't have to do this type of complex thinking at the same time as trying to find the right words to express your ideas.
• It helps you to commit yourself to sticking to the point!

You need to work out what to include, and what can be left out. It is impossible to cover everything in an essay, and your markers will be looking for evidence of your ability to choose material and put it in order. Brainstorm all your ideas, then arrange them in three or four groups. Not everything will fit so be prepared to discard some points (you can mention them briefly in your introduction).

Outline what you are going to include in each section:

• Introduction : Address the question, show why it's interesting and how you will answer it.
• Main body : Build your argument. Put your groups of ideas in a sequence to make a persuasive argument. One main point in each paragraph.
• Conclusion : Summarise your arguments and evidence, and show how they answer the original question.

Writing a summary - Some people plan best once they have written something, as this helps clarify their thinking. If you prefer to write first, try summarising the central idea of your essay in a few sentences. This gives you a clear direction for working out how you are going to break it down into points supported by evidence. You can then use one of the methods below to write a more detailed plan.

• Structuring your essay (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
• Structuring your essay (transcript) Read the transcript

Bullet points / linear plans - This type of plan lists the main points using bullet points or numbers. It can be a brief outline of the main point per paragraph, or a more detailed plan with sub-points and a note of the evidence to support each point (e.g. source and page no.).

No plan is perfect, so be prepared for your ideas to change as you write your essay. However, once you have an initial plan it is much easier to adapt it and see where new things fit if your thinking does change.

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How to Write an Essay Plan

Essay planning might seem like a waste of time, but it’s not! In fact, planning your essays will save you time and energy in the long-run.

This is because it’s much easier to write an essay that’s already been planned. You won’t need to worry about which point should come next or whether your argument is strong enough. Instead, you can focus purely on writing the essay.

So, if you want to ease the stress of essay writing and improve your grades, make essay planning a priority!

How will planning improve my grades?

Essays plans can:

• Help you create a clear structure
• Help you distribute the word count evenly
• Prevent you from missing material out
• Help you build a strong argument
• Allow you to get feedback (many tutors will look at essay plans)
• Alleviate writer’s block (when it comes to writing the essay)

Once you’ve written a few essay plans, you’ll appreciate just how much value they can add to your essays.

What does an essay plan look like?

An essay plan is a skeleton outline of your essay. It summarises what will be included in each paragraph and how the paragraphs will link together. It also states how many words will be used in each section, and the key references that’ll be used. Check out the essay plan template below for more details.

Essay plan template

Essay title: [….], introduction – […] words.

• Engage with the essay question: [….]
• State your position or argument: [….]
• State any theories or frameworks that will inform the essay (if applicable): […]
• Outline the structure of the essay: [….]

Paragraph 1 – […] words

• Outline your first key point: [….]
• Provide evidence (empirical research, theories, examples etc): [….]
• Consider any criticisms of the above, then rebut: […]
• Restate the main point and its relevance to the overall argument, link to next paragraph: […]

Paragraph 2 – […] words

• Outline your second key point: [….]
• Consider any criticisms of the above, then rebut […]

Paragraph 3 – […] words

• Outline third key point: [….]
• Restate the main point and its relevance to the overall argument: […]

Conclusion – […] words

• Revisit the essay question and re-state your position/argument: [….]
• Summarise the points from each paragraph: [….]
• Offer a slightly new perspective and leave a lasting impression: [….]
• List the key references to be used: [….]

Total word count: […]

It’s worth mentioning that essay plans aren’t perfect. They provide an outline of the essay, but some elements will probably change during the write-up process. In many ways, writing an essay plan is like planning a car journey. You’ll have a clear sense of where you’re going, but you might have to take some detours along the way.

A step-by-step guide to filling in the essay plan

If the essay plan template looks daunting then don’t worry, try breaking it down into stages:

1. Interpret and rephrase the essay question

You’ll see that the first stage of the essay plan asks you to ‘engage with the essay question’ .

Often, essays fail because they haven’t answered the question. That said, you should begin by making sure you understand the essay question. To do this, take a copy of the essay title and highlight the most important phrases. Then, slightly rephrase the question, and add it to your essay plan.

As an example,

Engage with the essay question: This essay critically evaluates what the gig economy means for employment relations issues, particularly workers’ rights and work-life balance.

2. State your position or argument

As shown above, the next stage of the essay plan is to state your position or argument. You will need to have done some research/background reading to get a sense of what you want to ‘argue’ in your essay. As an example,

3. Choose your key points

Once you’ve planned your introduction, it’s time to choose the themes that will be covered in your paragraphs. You should only include one key point per paragraph. Example:

Paragraph 1 – 150 words

• Outline your first key point: Some gig economy workers are labelled as ‘independent contractors’, rather than ‘workers’ (even though they do the duties of ‘workers’). This means that they are not entitled to employment rights such as sick pay and holiday pay. By labelling their staff as ‘independent contractors’, these companies undermine workers’ rights.
• Provide evidence (empirical research, theories, examples etc): Deliveroo will be used as an example. Employee experiences reported in the press (see Smith, 2018) and journal articles relating to this case will be cited (see Adams, 2019). Also, employment rights legislation will be presented (Gov, 2020).
• Consider any criticisms of the above, then rebut: Independent workers’ unions have helped some gig-economy workers fight back and achieve ‘worker’ status. This suggests that the gig economy is not inevitably exploitative. However, the unions have not been able to achieve ‘worker’ status for Deliveroo riders, despite fighting hard.
• Restate the main point and its relevance to the overall argument, link to next paragraph: As such, this substantiates the suggestion that some gig economy companies have undermined centuries of workers’ rights progress. As such, it can be said that some gig economy companies are leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation. Indeed, another exploitative facet of the gig economy is that workers often carry a high ‘burden of responsibility’ but are not comparatively compensated, as is explored in the next paragraph.

If you want to learn more about how to structure your paragraphs, check out our guidance on how to structure an essay .

4. Gather the evidence

When writing your plan, make a note of the key sources you will use in your essay. You’ll notice that under each paragraph, it says to ‘Provide evidence (empirical research, theories, examples etc)’.

It’s advisable to include at least one reference per paragraph. The more references you can gather before you start writing your essay, the better! Also, put the full citation in the ‘Reference list’ section of your essay plan so that you don’t lose it.

5. Offer a slightly new perspective and leave a lasting impression

Good essay conclusions don’t just repeat material that was discussed in the essay. Rather, they offer a slightly advanced perspective on the material that was discussed in the essay. This ‘advanced’ perspective can be quite difficult to plan for as it is often realised as a result of actually writing the essay.

However, this point has still been included in the essay plan template as it acts as a reminder. Want more tips on how to write an essay conclusion? Check out our detailed guidance!

6. Divide up the word count

You will notice that, next to each paragraph on the essay plan, there’s a space to fill in the suggested word count. Dividing up the word count before you start writing will stop you from exceeding the word limit when you write up your essay.

Essays are all different, but, as a general rule, the word count tends to be allocated as follows:

• Intro – 5-10%
• Main body (split into paragraphs) – 80-90%
• Conclusion – 5-10%

To create a sense of balance, try to keep all the paragraphs a similar length.

When done properly, an essay plan can take several hours to write. But, as mentioned, it’ll save you so much time and energy in the long run. Not to mention, it’ll make the writing process a lot less stressful!

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Posted on 11th April 2019

How to Plan an Essay

By Cite This For Me

Planning is one of the most important parts of the writing process, but it’s also one of the most overlooked. Some students think planning is a waste of time, while others aren’t exactly sure how to plan.  

In this article, we’ll explain why planning actually saves you time, plus give you tips on how to create an effective plan for any essay or paper.

Why you should plan your essays

So, why is planning such a big deal? Why can’t you just start writing?

A plan is an organized roadmap for your essay. It helps you sort your ideas into coherent paragraphs that flow logically. Without a plan, you might end up rambling and leave your readers lost and confused.

Planning also gives you a chance to make sure that your ideas make sense and that you have plenty of evidence before you start writing. You don’t want to get halfway through your essay and realize you’ve lost your train of thought—or that you don’t have adequate evidence to support your claims.

How Planning Saves You Time

Far from being a time waster, planning actually saves you time in the long run. Once you’ve done the work of planning, writing your essay comes easily.  You’ll already have all of the information you need for your essay in one place. Now all you have to do is put it into sentence form!  

What Does a Plan Look Like?

There’s no one way to plan an essay. You can format your plan using whatever method works best for you.

You may want to try a traditional outline , a bubble map, or even some carefully organized notes. However you choose to record your plan, there are some key elements you should include.

What to Include in a Plan

In order to plan thoroughly and effectively, be sure to include the following items.

At the top of your planning sheet, write your thesis statement. Your thesis should clearly, concisely state the main claim or argument you’ll be advancing in the essay. If you’re writing the essay in response to a prompt, your thesis is a clear answer to the question the prompt is asking.

Often, your thesis will also list 2-3 main points in support of your claim.

Here’s an example:

Overuse of social media is dangerous because it limits face-to-face interaction, and studies show it increases anxiety and depression while decreasing self-esteem.  

You should list your thesis at the top of your paper because it controls your entire argument. Every paragraph, supporting detail, and piece of evidence in the rest of your essay exists to support your thesis.

As you map out the rest of your paper, continue consulting your thesis. Does the information you’re including directly support your thesis? If not, leave it out. (Or rewrite your thesis.)

Your thesis also dictates the structure of your essay. Based on the sample thesis above, readers would expect information about how social media limits face-to-face interaction, increases anxiety and depression, and decreases self-esteem. And they would expect the information in that order.

For these reasons, start by generating a thesis statement and writing it at the top of your planning sheet. Then allow your thesis to guide the remainder of your plan.

2-3 Supporting Reasons

Your plan should also include your 2-3 supporting reasons (the reasons why you’ve chosen to take a particular stance or make a certain claim).

For our essay about the dangers of excessive social media use, for instance, our supporting reasons are already outlined in the thesis statement:

• Social media limits face-to-face interaction.
• Overuse of social media increases depression and anxiety.
• Overuse of social media decreases self-esteem.

These supporting reasons will be the main topics of your body paragraphs.

Once you’ve written your thesis and determined your supporting reasons, it’s time to plan out your evidence.

How will you support each of your supporting reasons (which in turn support the thesis of your essay?)

Depending on what type of paper you’re writing, your evidence may include:

• Information about current or historical events

If you’re writing the paper for an assessment, it’s likely that you’ll be provided with a prompt and a series of passages or texts. In this case, you must use only textual evidence (evidence selected from the provided texts).  

For each of your supporting reasons, try to plan at least three pieces of strong, relevant evidence. When you write your essay, you’ll also need to provide your own commentary or analysis of the evidence you select, so ensure you only choose evidence that you can explain in your own words.

As you select your evidence, begin building your bibliography. Recording them as you research and write is easier than doing it at the end of your process where you may forget where a piece of evidence came from. It’s also important to include a parenthetical citation or another type of in-text citation when mentioning evidence within your paper.

Counterargument  

If you’re writing an argumentative/persuasive essay, you’ll also need to plan your counterargument. A counterargument has three main parts:

• Introduce the opposition
• State an opposing argument
• Refute the opposing argument

Choose an argument from the other side that you’d like to address in your paper. It should be one of the most popular arguments from the other side, and it should be one that you’re confident you can refute.  

Once you’ve selected an argument, plan how you’ll refute it as well. You may point out a logical fallacy, provide a stronger reason from your own side, or offer a compromise.

Once you have all the pieces of your essay planned, putting it on paper is simple.  

Your introductory paragraph will include your thesis statement (and list your 2-3 supporting reasons). The topic sentence of each body paragraph will introduce one of your 2-3 supporting reasons (in the order they were mentioned in your introduction). Each body paragraph will contain the evidence you’ve already planned out to support it.

All you need to do is organize this information into sentence form, insert transitions, add commentary to your evidence, and include a conclusion.

Final Thoughts

Some students see planning as a pain, but it actually saves you time and makes your essay clear and organized.  

A solid plan should include:

• Thesis statement
• 2-3 supporting reasons
• 3 pieces of evidence for each supporting reason
• Counterargument (if persuasive/argumentative)

Still don’t believe in the power of planning?

Try it out next time you’re assigned an essay. Notice how much easier it is to write your essay—and how much better your writing is with just a bit of advance planning!

Cite This For Me has citing tools like a Harvard referencing generator , an APA citation generator , and Chicago style citation maker to help you create a bibliography for your paper. Try it today!

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Plan and research

A good place to start planning your essay is by researching your topic. From there, you can move on to develop a mind map that helps you formulate a linear essay plan.

Start early and plan how you will manage your time. Tools like the Assignment planner can be useful for this. You will need to move back and forth between steps as you refine your essay plan.

Research the topic

• Re-read your course notes then do some initial reading on the topic from the suggested reading list.
• Use LibrarySearch and subject guides to find additional, relevant material.
• Take notes .
• Keep a record of all relevant sources to avoid plagiarism .

Mindmapping

Organise your research by creating a mind map.

Stage 1: Brainstorm ideas

Stage 2: Categorise your ideas

• Purpose of team
• Effectiveness
• Relevance and adaptability
• projects daily operations
• staff moral
• professional development
• team leaders
• member skills
• team members
• different departments
• communication
• authoritarian
• participatory
• types of teams
• understandings
• group dynamics
• fixing ineffective teams
• who measures goal success?
• individual gains
• team reporting
• dealing with unproductive teams
• team disputes
• forming a team
• dismantling a team
• no team structure

Stage 3: Create a mindmap, grouping ideas and keywords

Use and effectiveness (mindmap central heading) :

• why companies use teams

Linear essay plan

Turn your mindmap into a detailed linear plan that includes references. Several options for the structure may be available at this stage. Your choice might need modification or review later on. Look at the following examples.

• Introduction
• daily operations and goals
• Organisational strategic planning
• specific team purpose and how they operate (in business context)
• Berlin, Carlstrom & Sandberg 2012
• problem solving teams (describe structure and purpose in Co. A)
• cross functional teams (describe structure and purpose in Co. B)
• Mathieu et al 2014
• Threats to effectiveness
• Co. A and Co. B operations and goals
• Co. A and Co. B basic description of team models
• How do we measure the effectiveness of a team? (...according to theorists)
• What makes a team effective (according to theorists - adaptability? incusivity? positive dynamics? collaboration?...and so on)
• The team model in Co. A is more effective than that in Co. B because...
• According to...the team model of Co. B has the advantage of...

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• Essay structure
• Researching

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