by Friere

Created on: May 13, 2008

You have been given 50 minutes to write an essay on what social factors contribute to divorce. Suddenly, an overwhelming panic grips your thought processes as you struggle to think of what to say about a topic you may have considered completely uninteresting.

What's a person to do? The key to writing a successful timed essay is to research venue specific topics, identify the required writing style, and then practice writing an essay on a timer.

Researching your subject matter will depend on the venue of the test. For example, if you are taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test, a person might want to check out

SAT test prep materials and narrow their focus to the essay portion or they can visit the internet site collegeboards.com for helpful preparation hints as well as past essay topics. What about a timed essay on a civil service test? Just visit the perspective employers website or you may contact the human resources representative that will be proctoring the exam, more than likely they will have practice questions that you can use for preparation. In other instances, you can consult a library or book store where you will find a number of venue specific test preps and usually they are located in the same area.

You have now armed yourself with subject matter examples, now the process of choosing a strategy can begin. This might mean identifying whether or not it is a comparison/contrast paper, position paper, or analysis paper. Once the required style has been identified; the next step is to circle or underline the words that describe the key points you are being asked to write about in the question. Okay, so now you are ready to create a style specific thesis using the underlined words as topic sentences. Each paragraph should include compelling examples that illustrate the point you are trying to make. The challenge now is create strong supporting paragraphs that support each of your thesis points and reference sources that will be credible and familiar to most readers.

The supporting references can come from popular news shows or talk shows that may have discussed the topic or lectures you have heard from professors on the subject matter. For example, if the topic is on "the causes global warming" and the questions sites fossil fuels as a reason, a writer can site what was discussed on Public Broadcasting Show program such as NOVA or reference other credible sources that the reader can readily identify as such. Finally, for your conclusion highlight the strongest parts of each paragraph as a summation for why your position or analysis is correct.

The last phase involves proofing your paper for spelling errors, grammatical errors, i.e. sentence fragments, which are incomplete thoughts. Next, make sure your essay has transitional statements at the end of each paragraph so that the linkage between your thesis points is clearly understood to the reader. Transitional statements are statements that are linked to a previous point in a paragraph, but also introduce the next thesis point. This process is practiced until the writer feels comfortable with writing on a timer.

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