What Is The Secret To Successful College Essay Writing?

This question has been asked by hundreds of students over the years; the answer will depend on who you ask. Is it having a great topic or thesis? Is it using fancy words to sound more educated? Is it the sheer length of the essay that makes it successful? While these may be the definitions of successful to some, others will have a completely different answer. That answer is brainstorming. Whether you are a college freshman writing your first essay or a doctoral student writing one, the key to successful writing is brainstorming.

Reasons Why Brainstorming Is So Important

The most important things surrounding a college essay are that the essay makes sense, it flows properly, and it covers the topic. Pretty basic, right? Well, the way an essay will encompass these things is if you do proper brainstorming. Here are some reasons why it is important to brainstorm:

• It keeps your thoughts organized. An essay is supposed to flow smoothly from one thought to the next. If you sit down and just start writing you are guaranteed to have a choppy paper. Brainstorming helps you collect your thoughts and make sure you cover all the angles you want to before you actually start writing.


• It saves you time. Writing an essay from scratch with no notes of any kind is a horrible idea. As you write you will think of different things you want to incorporate into your paper but have to start all over to do so. A few hours of brainstorming ideas can save you days of rewriting.


• It makes editing and researching easier. You can do your brainstorming in outline form, a web, or just a bunch of ideas on a piece of paper. Any way you do it, you will be able to look back and add or delete ideas as you go along. Once you have that part narrowed down, you can begin your research. This will also take less time now that you have spent time brainstorming; you know exactly what you need to research.


• It keeps you from procrastinating. Brainstorming requires days of thinking and analyzing. Do not let that fool you though. It takes days because as you go about your daily business you may think of another topic or argument you want to add to your paper. You may ask friends their thoughts on your topic which will trigger more ideas. All if that takes time.

Brainstorming is the backbone of college essay writing. Get into this habit early and your essay writing will be a breeze.