This is the moment every parent fears: when your child is sitting there, clumsy, looking at a blank piece of paper in front of them. They have a fast present deadline for their essay and nothing but nothing you do as a parent seems to help them get closer to completion. What can you do to help? The answer is: a lot.
Producing a successful essay can be one of the most difficult parts of the school process, and yet the need to write an essay is everywhere: from English literature to economics to physics, geography, classical studies, music and history. To be successful, you must master essays in high school and in high school.
Getting students over this barrier was one of the reasons I put pen to paper four years ago and produced a book called Write That Essay! At the time, I was a senior academic at Auckland University and a university graduate. For almost 20 years, in both coursework and exams, I had been advising everyone from 17-year-old 'beginners' to 40-year-old career changers with their essay writing service. Often, the difference between a student who might have achieved a B-grade and A-grade students was just some well-placed advice and guidance.
Then I visited over 50 New Zealand High Schools and talked to over 8000 Kiwi children about essay writing. These students reported exactly the same challenges that I had encountered in the past, and more. The result has been two books and a DVD that have helped children reach some of the potential that lies within all of us.
In this article, I will deal with some things you can do as a parent to help your child succeed with essays. Because it is within the reach of every child to write good essays.
Tips for success with essays:
1. It's an argument
Remember that an essay is an argument: the task of an essay is not to write a story or to tell a plot. The teacher knows all this information. In an essay, your child's job is to present a compelling argument using specific evidence for the point they are trying to make.
2. Write a plan: you will be glad you did
Have your child write a short list plan of the topics that their essay should cover. Even a short plan is better than no plan at all and will begin to give the author a sense of completing an essay on whether this topic is well within their reach.
If your child is a visual learner, move away from the desk and go to a neutral space. Take a large sheet of blank A3 paper and some colored pens, and brainstorm a mind map or sketch plan of what the essay should contain. Using pictures, lines, circles, and arrows all help the visual student understand the task at hand and help them see what to do.
Get started
One challenge that many children (and adults) face in writing essays is getting started. The person sits there waiting for inspiration to hit them like a bolt of lightning and it never happens. What can you as a parent do to help?
Encourage them with the idea that great essays are never written the first time. Make them see essay writing as a three-part process. The first draft is just to get the ideas and words out in rough shape. In the second and third efforts, they will add to their essay where there are blanks, clarify ideas and give it one last polish. Realizing that an essay should not be perfect the first time you write it really helps some people.
4. To have enough to say
If your child is still stuck, find out if they have read enough on the subject. Some inertia when writing may be due to lack of knowledge. They find it much easier to write if they spend another day or two reading more about the topic and gathering some additional ideas.
5. Try to use a neutral sentence
Suggest starting the essay with a neutral sentence: a sentence that simply indicates an interesting fact about the topic being written about. Here is one: 'Mozart was one of the most important Austrian composers of the eighteenth century.' First sentences in essays do not have to be amazing - you just have to start!
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