There is a popular saying among UPSC aspirants that if one can score well in Essay, Optional and Ethics paper then his selection is confirmed. If he ends up scoring well in Interview then his selection in top three services is assured. Among all three of the above, essay requires the least amount of preparation and is rewarding the most. But it’s the essay paper where the writing skills of a candidate are put to maximum use. This is because the topic is generic or abstract or philosophical in nature and everyone interprets it in his own way.

How to write a good essay: The primary requirement for writing a good essay is to have a good understanding of the topic. The candidates should read all the topic at least thrice and then decide upon the essay one is planning to write. Before deciding try to understand the different nuances of the topic. The topics in the essay can be divided broadly into 2 parts:

1. Generic topics which will require a lot of information for good essay writing. Example being an Essay on “Climate Change”.
2. Abstract topics or also called philosophical topics which require multidimensional thinking and good interconnection skills. Example being ” Fast and steady wins the race”.

While writing the essay don’t just start writing. Rather make a brief about what all is to be written in a structured format. In my opinion at least 30 minutes should be devoted to deciding about the topic and making the brief of the topic. Don’t write any essay based on plain memory. It will make it unstructured. Rather use the memorised material to create your own essay on the spot.

Introduction: In order to write a good introduction one needs to understand the topics’ interconnection with all the different issues pertaining to the society, economy etc. One should give a brief idea about what all he/she is going to write in the essay by touching upon the multiple interconnections.

The introduction should consist of not more than 15% of the whole content of the essay.

Main Body: In the main body the ideas that have been introduced in the introduction are to be explained in detail using multiple examples. For example while writing an essay on Climate change the origin of the concept and the historical developments in the area of climate change can be explained then one can move on to discuss about reasons for climate change and the ways to tackle it. Please remember that in those topics which are global in nature the Indian perspective can be given in at least 2 paras and vice versa for India centric topics. In the main body the candidates should take not more than 5 to 6 ideas and explain them properly rather than just mentioning about 10 ideas without proper explanation.

The main body part should contain around 70% of the whole essay.

Conclusion: The conclusion is not about summarising the whole essay rather it is about getting to the message one wants to give from his/her essay. In short it can be said that conclusion is about ‘Visionary Exit’. Hence just give a brief summary of the essay and then write about the message you want to convey.

The conclusion should not be more than 15% of the essay.

All the best!

• UPSC