How to write an impressive essay: for XAT and GDEI by T.I.M.E.

(Triumphant Institute of Management Education) on Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 6:07pm Over the past couple of years, various b-schools have included essay-writing in th eir post-entrance exam selection process. You could be presented with essay tasks to be carried out in periods ranging fro m 10 to 30 minutes. As such, the number of words in a typical essay could be in the range of 300-700 words (one side to two sides of an A4 sheet). This note is designed to provide you with essential inputs on writing an effecti ve essay. It deals with how to: (a) generate relevant content, (b) come up with the right structure, and (c) write effectively. Remember the basic elements of communication that have relevance here, namely, c larity of thought, empathy, and effective expression. Also keep in mind that a s tep-by-step method, with a check list, would ensure efficient use of time spent on an essay. We would suggest steps, and a check list, such as represented by the acronym COD ER. C - Collect ideas O Organise them D Develop them E Express them R Review C Collect ideas Content the topic itself What are the key words? What is it about? What informat ion does one have? How does one gather further information? What ideas or views does one have (or what views does one develop) on the basis of this information? You would recall the approaches we ve suggested for idea-generation in GDs - such as the Key Word Approach (KWA), Viewpoint of Affected Parties (VAP), and SPELT. Th ese could be used when you are writing an essay too, to generate ideas on the ba sis of information that you have. Remember to make quick, concise notes (just wo rds and phrases) as you brainstorm, to ensure that you recall important ideas. O Organise them Organisation of ideas - put random thoughts and ideas into coherent groups. What would be the purpose or theme of the essay? What would be the appropriate ideas to start with (or to use for introductory statement)? What are the further idea s that one could continue with, and what would these ideas lead to? What ideas w ould be the right ones to end with? Effective notes and careful thought on these aspects would help you put together properly organised content. D Develop them Explanation and elaboration What sort of readership is the essay intended for (e ducation, age, gender, knowledge of the topic, attitude to the topic)? What sort of information would hold their attention best? What sort of examples would the y relate to? What pieces of information, what sort of explanation, and / or what examples, would support the ideas, the theme and the purpose? How long should t he essay be? In an essay intended to be informative only you should be careful about the sele ction of content to ensure that it is significant and relevant to the topic. Fac

ts and examples used should be of interest, but should not seem out of place. In an essay intended to explain concise. you should have explanations that are clear and

In an essay intended to express and opinion you should sequence the ideas and vi ewpoints, with supporting information and examples, in a manner that leads to th e overall opinion that the essay seeks to provide. In an spect s (or tions essay intended to analyse you should present ideas and information with re to different aspects of the topic, so as to point to the relative strength weaknesses) of these aspects. The essay should be one that brings out ques on the topic and finds, or seeks to find, answers.

E - Express them Structure of an essay A typical essay would start with an introduction, using st atements and information of general nature that provide some background to the t opic and point to the nature of the specific ideas that follow. The body of the essay would contain the specific ideas, presented in a clear and coherent manner . Each broad idea or idea set would form a paragraph. The flow, or sequence of p aragraphs would lead to the conclusion which would sum up the purpose of the pre sentation. Effective expression requires logical coherence and flow (as already discussed). Also requires effective use of language. You must stay with sentence structure, vocabulary and idiom that you are familiar with. Individual sentences should no t include more than one idea. This way, you have better control over grammatical construction, punctuation, etc. This works even for a complex idea set, where c ontinuity and flow can be established through the use of simple and appropriate connectives and sentence starters (also called Discourse Markers a few of which are provided further on in this note). R Review You must devote the last few minutes to reading through the essay to satisfy you rself that there is logical flow and coherence, and that the language is error f ree. Correction, replacement or repositioning, if any, should be carried out in a manner that ensures that the flow remains or is improved. We would suggest that, of the steps outlined above, you devote about 30 per cent of the allotted time to steps C O and D, about 60 per cent to the actual writin g, i.e. E, and about 10 per cent to R. Some Discourse Markers: Introduction of a viewpoint It is my opinion that..., My own view is..., As I se e it..., I believe..., and so on. Structuring or classifying and so on. To begin with..., First of all..., For one thing...,

Adding Further..., Moreover..., Likewise..., In addition..., Besides,..., Equall y,..., Another point to be..., Apart from this..., and so on. Giving examples For example,..., For instance,..., A good example of this..., An appropriate illustration of this..., and so on. Generalising On the whole..., In general..., Broadly speaking..., In most cases. .., To a large extent..., and so on. Giving details, making things clear In fact..., This is clear from..., This can

be seen from..., Considering this in greater detail , and so on. Analysing a point What this means is..., In other words..., Translated into real terms,..., and so on. Concluding In conclusion..., To sum up..., In short..., and so on.

Have a look at the two samples provided below, to see what a step-wise approach can result in. Sample 1 Topic: The true measure of national development would be the reduction in econom ic disparities, not the growth in national income. Essay: The term economic disparity would literally translate to the differences in income s and wealth between different economic strata in society. In any economy, there fore, disparities are bound to exist, since levels of skills, contribution, owne rship and wealth do vary. This is as true of fully developed economies as it is of developing and underdeveloped ones. In India, however, we use the term very s pecifically, to point to the yawning gap that exists between the rich and the po or. We acknowledge, with occasional embarrassment, (and opposition parties with ostensible anguish), the fact that, even six decades after independence, this gr oss disparity still exists. To us, it is a reminder that we have not yet been ab le to eradicate poverty the state in which more than a third of our population e xists, without the minimum in food, clothing, shelter and dignity. There is no doubt that, as the economy develops, various economic determiners wi ll show increase at the national (or gross) levels investments, assets, producti on, incomes, and so on. This, in turn will progress to growth in national wealth to a point where, as a nation we are as well off or 'developed' as any other. H owever, it must be remembered that a nation is but a sum of the different strata of the society within it, just as a body is the sum of its parts. Looked at in this manner, it can understood that only when all the parts have the minimum req uired development (or 'health'), that the whole can be considered developed or h ealthy. At first sight, it would seem as if there's a difficult choice to be made that i nvesting in economic growth would mean the inability to devote national effort a nd finances towards lifting the poor out of their morass. However, when we take a broader view, we understand that it is through the first that the second objec tive can be achieved while the benefits of economic growth must first fuel furth er economic growth and then be shared by all economic strata, the greater share must find its way to those at the very bottom of the pyramid, the economically d isadvantaged, till we achieve the banishment of poverty. This seems altruistic, and may be so. However, it makes good economic sense too. Those lifted out of po verty would be freed from the need to devote every moment to sheer existence and subsistence, and would therefore be able to make positive contributions to soci al and economic productivity, to economic growth. Both objectives - economic gro wth and poverty alleviation, are therefore related and should be targeted togeth er, for national development. Clearly, then, it is only when we have eradicated poverty, that we should consid er ourselves developed in the true sense. This is why sociologists, and an incre asing number of economists, are of the view that true development is reflected n ot in cold economic indices such as GDP, GNP or GNI, but in the HDI (Human Devel opment Index) which takes into account three critical human parameters life expect ancy (that reflects nutrition and health), literacy (that reflects employability

) and standard of living (that reflects dignity). (518 words) Sample 2 Topic: It is utopian to expect ethics in business. This is why business environm ents need laws. Essay: When we consider society, we normally think of it as a composite of human beings . In fact, the word has much larger meaning. Society is a composite of persons and here we mean not only humans but all bodies that have presence in society, by v irtue of their functions. Businesses serve society and, in doing so, interact with other persons. Thus the y are also a part of society and their interactive behaviour, just like that of humans, is governed by entitlements and responsibilities. When these entitlement s and responsibilities are recognised and understood by persons on their own and given effect to, through voluntary behaviour, we say the persons are guided by ethics. However, there are times when persons may not be guided by ethics, or wh ere, ethics notwithstanding, rights and duties are to be determined. For such ti mes, when entitlements and responsibilities are to be laid down and enforced by authority, we have laws. So, whether for individual humans, or for societal persons in the larger sense, et hics and laws are actually similar in objective - they seek to bring about that proper application of rights and duties of persons that would enable society to function smoothly. This holds just as true in the world of business which, as discussed earlier, is part of society. Therefore, when we consider Ethics versus Law in the area of bus iness we cannot mean that one opposes the other but that, depending on circumsta nces and situations, one is effective where the other is not (or that one is mor e effective than the other.) The application of ethics in business would mean that the parties in a business relationship (whether the business itself, or customers, associates, authorities , employees or owners - anyone who could be called stakeholders) recognise and d o what needs to be done to see that others get their entitlements, that their ri ghts are not infringed, and that no harm or loss comes to them. This is what we have in mind when we speak of 'fair' or 'honest' dealings - delivering value for money whether in terms of price, quality, volume, time or support and ensuring that financial commitments are met. As long as those in business are guided by t hese principles, they are being ethical and this leads to comfortable, secure an d long-standing relationships and goodwill. These, in turn, form the basis for h olistic growth. However, just as there is no utopia, the world of business cannot run on volunta ry behaviour alone. There are situations where the focus on specific objectives, such as profit and monetary growth, often leads persons to subjective perceptio ns of entitlements and responsibilities and results in conflict of interest. Thi s is where the various laws (commercial, revenue, and civil laws) play their rol es - laying down what would cause one perception to gain preponderance or priori ty over another, thus determining the rights and duties appropriate to such situ ations. Right-thinking and ethical businesses recognise this need, and their eth ics therefore extend to proper compliance with such laws. This is what earns the m regard and reputation, also essential for proper growth. Then there are businesses and business situations where, sometimes, no heed is p aid to ethics, where persons seek to achieve objectives at any cost or no matter wh

at it takes , and the laws (including, sometimes, criminal laws) are necessitated to enforce appropriate business behaviour so as to protect the rights of stakeho lders. We have looked at three broad areas that indicate the relevance of ethics and la w in business. However, it must be kept in mind that the boundaries between thes e areas are neither sharp nor immutable. Social behaviour is not the same all ov er the world or at all times. In the case of humans, perceptions of what is ethi cal and what is not may vary in some aspects, depending on culture, traditions a nd social attitudes prevalent in different societies. When it comes to businesse s, this variance exists because of political and economic ideologies and objecti ves that have either gained social acceptance, or have been adopted through part icular systems of government or through policies that have been implemented by g overnment. For instance, what is considered unethical practice in a socialist en vironment may not be considered so in a capitalist framework. Similarly, busines s activities that may not require regulation in a free market situation may need regulation when they fall in the ambit of social responsibility or social welfa re activity. It can be seen, then, that Ethics and Law are not contradictory, either in meani ng, or objective. They are both relevant to business, and have value and applica tion in different situations and circumstances. It is clear, however, that busin ess that is guided by ethics is more likely to enjoy harmonious existence and gr owth than business that is prodded by law. Businesses would do well, therefore, to adopt ethical approaches on their own and willingly accept the application of laws when in situations that present a conflict of interest. Such behaviour wou ld make them valuable and well accepted components of the social fabric they are part of. (835 words) Some of the essay topics given last year at IIM-A: The educational system is killing creativity in Indian children. Should Nehru s temples of learning remain elitist? Indian women should take up their husbands surname after marriage. Should India s youth imbibe the positive aspects of western culture? Both men and women need to undergo gender sensitivity courses. NGOs are yet to get their due from society. Studying pure science is a waste of time. Industrialisation should not happen at the cost of human rights. Indian politicians need training in communication skills. Globalisation has failed to live up to its promises. Pubs are anti-Indian. It should be made compulsory for Indian politicians to be fit. The resurgence of public sector companies in the current financial slowdown. Obama will bring change, but only to the USA. The Indian space programme is an ambition misplaced.