When you write your essays, you are making choices. The way you choose to write reflects your power of
persuasion and organization, style, and master of written English. These essay-writing tips are suggestions
made by counselors, writing teachers, and scholarship experts. If you choose to pay attention to them, you will
increase your chances at writing an award-winning essay.
Brainstorm your ideas. Brainstorming methods include webbing, outlining, paragraph piecing or a
combination of methods that work best for you. Don’t hold back. Often your best ideas come after
warming up your brain – the topic you choose for your essay could be your 30th, 50th, or 100th idea.
Scholarship essays usually ask questions in one of three categories: “Tell us about yourself,” “Why are you
applying to us?” and the “creative” question. Ask yourself questions to search out personal qualities and
experiences that can be used as essay topics.
Choose your Topic. After you’ve finished brainstorming, you need to select your topic. Have you selected
a topic that describes something of personal importance? Is your topic a gimmick? Is your topic overdone?
Will your topic repeat information you listed elsewhere on your application? Can you fully answer the
question asked? Can you keep the reader’s interest? Will a reviewer remember your topic? Will your topic
turnoff a large number of people? When writing about diversity, don’t simply state which diversity group
you fall into – talk about your own personal qualities and address how diversity will contribute to the realm
of campus opinion, the academic environment, and the larger society. Don’t mention any weaknesses
unless you absolutely need to explain them away. These are all things to consider.
