Getting More and Better Content into Your Essays

So you’ve picked a topic and narrowed it. You’ve got an early draft, but it’s too much like a skeleton in need of flesh, too general and vague and needs better development. Here are some strategies to help you develop better content for your essay. You can use them in any combination that helps your essay achieve its purpose(s). Let purpose and audience guide you.

• Provide an example, either real or hypothetical, to show us what you mean.
• Tell a story that illustrates or demonstrates a part of the essay.
• Describe. Show us.
• Explain an aspect in depth. Teach us.
• Compare the subject to something similar.
• Contrast it with something different (make distinctions).
• Divide the topic into its parts and analyze how they fit together.
• Classify the subject by putting it into a category with similar subjects.
• Explain how some aspect of the topic is done or how it happens (its process).
• Evaluate effectiveness, feasibility, artistry, etc.
• Examine causes.  Ask, “why?”
• Ask, “At what point do things start to go wrong?”
• Examine effects. Ask, “What next?”
• Explore consequences, short-term and long-term. Look to the future.
• Ask, “At what point do people begin to disagree about this issue?” Dig to the root of the controversy.
• Ask, “What can be done?” Provide solutions.
• Define terms. Ask, “what?” Tell us what something is or what it isn’t.
• Provide statistics.
• Provide expert opinion.
• Argue that your case is like another one, an analogy.
• Present the other side’s arguments, fairly and accurately, and then refute that position.
• Point out the logical flaws in the other side’s position.
• Find the bottom line. Ask, “what does it all add up to?”
• Add insight--lessons learned, realizations about self or others or society or world, questions you still wonder about, significance, etc..