Peterson's technique for a top-notch essay
Digest the essay prompt and jot down ideas that could possibly go into your essay.
Make a rough list, outline, or web to organize your ideas.
Spend the bulk of your time writing the essay. Use a four or five paragraph format with a clear introduction, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion.
Use the last two minutes or so to proofread your essay.
Scoring:
Two trained scorers will take about one minute to read and evaluate your essay. Clearly, this isn't enough time for a detailed examination of each essay. Instead, essays are scored holistically, meaning that scorers base their evaluation on the overall impression of the essay. But what exactly do scorers look for?
They certainly don't expect perfect essays. Essay scorers are very aware of the limitations under which the essays are written, so they really only expect quality first drafts. In other words, even the highest scoring essays can have a few mistakes. The Guide that scorers use to assess the essays lists the five following categories.
Development and Support
This relates to how the writer responds to the question in the prompt and develops ideas. Of the five categories, this one is the most important.
Here are excerpts from the first two paragraphs of a well-developed essay written to answer the question. Is it more important to be true to yourself than to conform to the expectations of others? Notice how the first paragraph directly answers the question, and then the second paragraph offers ample support for the answer.
The history of America is rich with examples of people who were true to their own convictions instead of behaving like everyone else. Many of these people actually changed society for the better. Henry David Thoreau was one such person
Throughout his lifetime, Henry David Thoreau thought for himself and acted upon his own opinions. In the years leading up to the Civil War, he was a vocal opponent against slavery. To protest slavery and the government that allowed it, Thoreau refused to pay his federal taxes. Thoreau was thrown in jail for this refusal. While there, he wrote an essay called "Civil Disobedience", encouraging people to stand up for their beliefs and break laws that were unjust.
Organization
This simply refers to the flow of ideas from the essay's introduction to its body, through to its conclusion.
See how the first sentence of each paragraph in this sample indicates the essay's organization?
The history of America is rich with examples of people who were true to their own convictions instead of behaving like everyone else
Throughout his lifetime, Henry David Thoreau thought for himself and acted upon his own opinions
