Tips for Essay writing in UPSC Civil Service Examination (Updated)

Prologue

UPSC Civil service aspirants at times wonder how to write answers that fetch marks and resonate with the demand of the topic.Many serious candidates even preparing very hard are not able to fetch marks that they really deserve.The very reason behind the problem is they are not aware of the “ART OF ANSWER WRITING”. You might have heard these words number of times but this article would help you to understand the true essence of these words.

Easing the Essay

To start with we would first talk about the writing the essay the paper.Writing a “Decent and good essay” in Mains and not exceptionally great essay should be the focus of the aspirants.Here we are enlisting the steps that you need to keep in mind while approaching the essay in mains.

1.Choosing the Topic

1. Don’t be in hurry and give at least 5 minutes for selection of topic.
2. Select the topic in which you are most comfortable. Don’t think whether the topic is too general. If you have good command, content and confidence in the topic pick it and finalize it.
3. Never ever try to pick topic under the notion that it is different and the majority are not going to write on this. It is a poor presumption that essay on not so common topic will fetch you more marks. This is not a command because, on uncommon topics, you are short on points, data, perspectives and dimensions to cover.Over, this your under great pressure and anxiety to handle.
4. So go with a common topic and write on it. If you want to choose the unconventional topic; you can go for it (It is your call ).
5. Choose a topic in which you have diversified content. The essay requires multidimensional approach hence content should cover as many areas as possible.

2.Figuring the topic

Once you have Finalised the topic, next stage is brainstorming over it. Try to write down whatever you remember related to the topic in rough space. Devote at least 10 minutes in jotting down all related points.  It is always advisable to First think, Act later. So, first prepare loose skeleton with proper flow, before writing on any topic.Form subheadings, write keywords, mark examples and relevant data in rough space.

3. Structure of Essay

UPSC these days ask Essays mainly in two patterns;
First, Famous saying/Quotes. For eg., “With greater power comes greater responsibility” and
Second, In form of Questions like, “Is the growing level of competition good for the youth”; “Was it the policy paralysis or the paralysis of implementation which slowed the growth of our country?”

Structuring of essay very much depends on how the topic is framed. If it falls into the first category than structure would be like, first define what power and responsibility are, various dimensions of power starting from local to Universal level, historical to modern-day examples and so on. Each part would cover various dimensions of topics.

What essay needs to cover—  Given the topic you have to choose and try to cover the crisp picture of the topic in first 20 % of the essay.In the next 15 % of the essay should cover the contemporary outlook of the topic. In the next 15 % try to cover the pro and cons of the topic and their effect on the society.In the next 30 % try to bring out the multi-dimensional picture of the of the topic.Multidimensional means cover society, economic, political, cultural, social, ethical, constitutional etc point of view. In the last 20 %, try to draw a conclusion bring some facts to your conclusion to support it.Try to take a positive stand and talk about the bigger picture and the welfare of all the stakeholders of that particular issue or view.Remember, Introduction and conclusion are mandatory for all type of essays.

4 .How to Start and End

Starting and concluding an essay is a very important aspect of good essay writing. we have seen approaches in which essay starts with quoting recent incident, story, and famous saying. You may adopt any of these approaches as there is no hard and fast rule for this; however, it should be kept in mind that starting paragraph should be small, straight forward and should generate enough curiosity in mind of the reader to read further.

End paragraph of the essay should have a lasting impact on the examiner. It is said that before you frame your opening paragraph, you must know what the end you are going to write. Clarity on end helps in maintaining flow and helps in sticking to the topic. The end should ensure a question asked in essay topic is answered holistically, conclusively and your stand should be reflected firmly. Use of famous quote, visionary statement or any relevant 2 liners should be used to bring conclusion to your writing

5.Some points to ponder

There are definitely some points that one need to keep in mind are –

1. The language of the essay should be as simple as possible. Key to success is good content and systemic flow, not the Shakespearean language.
2. Time management is very crucial. Keep 5 minutes in last for each essay to review, underline key words, check any grammar/spelling mistakes etc.
3. The only key to writing a good essay in mains is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. At least write 25-30 essay on different topic relevant to contemporary India, issue based, perspectives based or practice from last 15 years paper
4. Prepare and learn before hand some relevant key words like Post Colonial Era, Hyper globalization, Patriarchy, Caste Rigidity etc and some famous quotes of renowned personalities.
5.  Read some of the essays written by topper to get an account of their approach and style.Many such transcripts are available online.

At last only way to Final merit list are REVISION and WRITING PRACTICE.

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