We started this book by drawing attention to the value of writing essays
both in what you can learn from them and in terms of the abilities and
skills you develop along the way. Now that we’ve worked through each
of the stages, it should be possible to see more clearly the benefits that
can be derived if each of these stages is done well.
In the first stage, interpreting the title, you were shown ways of developing
the skills you need to analyse the most difficult concepts. As a
result, you should now feel confident that you can reveal not just the
key issues involved in any question, but also the sort of insight which
marks your work out as interesting and original. What’s more, you
should now be able to build on this with the brainstorming skills you
learnt in this stage. These will help you mobilise your ideas, arming
you with your own thoughts, so you’re no longer tyrannised into
accepting uncritically the opinions of the authors you read.
In the research and planning stages you were shown how to develop
the sort of intellectual skills that will give you the confidence to tackle
any assignment no matter how difficult. Having researched the topic,
not only will you have learnt a great deal about it and many of the
peripheral issues, but you will have developed the capacity to use your
research skills with more flexibility to meet a wider range of intellectual
tasks. Similarly, by planning your essay you created a structure
of ideas you can draw upon not only in your written work, but in
discussions and examinations. Around this you can now build
your own understanding of the subject.
As to your ability to capture your ideas in writing that is clear, fluent
and interesting, now that you’ve worked your way through the writing
and revision stages you will know that by separating the writer from
the editor you can use the skills involved in each much more effectively.
Having done this once, you should be able to repeat it in all your
work, producing essays that are clearly structured, logically argued and
written in clear, light prose that holds the reader’s attention. You will
know now, having worked through each of the five stages of revision,