Stage 1- Prewriting

In out-of-class essays where you pick your own subject to write about, each of you had to find a topic to write about. You began gathering details in order to generate enough raw material that you could find something to write about. From the prewriting that you did, you selected one "branch" that you then did focused prewriting on. In a timed essay, there is neither the time for unfocused prewriting nor is there the need since the essay question provides a focus, so we can skip Stage 1.

Stage 2 - Focused Prewriting

The goal of focused prewriting is either to discover a purpose or to discover details to fit a purpose. Since the essay question in a timed essay provides the purpose for your essay, we need only do the second goal, discover details to fit a purpose. The fastest most efficient prewriting method for accomplishing this is probably brainstorming. In a timed essay, brainstorm as many details as possible to fit the essay question.

Stage 3 - Selecting and Ordering Details to Fit a Purpose

When we discussed the research paper, we saw that it isn't always necessary to write a draft in order to accomplish Stage 3. In the research paper, arranging our notecards and creating a scratch outline provided a way of selecting and ordering details. In the timed essay, we accomplish Stage 3 by crossing off our brainstorm list details that we do not need, by combining details from our list that would be more effective together, by grouping details that we have brainstormed, and finally by numbering the groups in the order in which we will use them in the essay.

Stage 4 - Revision (Sharpening Purpose and Sharpening Details)

In a timed essay we can skip Stage 4 as a separate stage. Be sure in Stage 2 to make sure your thesis fits the essay question and to brainstorm and select the most effective details possible for the essay.

Stage 5 - Editing (Making Language Effective)

In a timed essay, editing focuses on clarity. Write slowly enough that you can make your ideas clear and understandable. In the timed essay, there simply isn't time to review your word choice or to restructure you paragraphs. Make your introduction effective by restating the essay question as the introduction. Organize your body paragraphs around clear topic sentences (This is one reason I recommend a three-part thesis statement in a timed essay). Keep your conclusion short. Restate the main idea of the essay briefly and draw all of your ideas together. The key to writing an effective timed essay draft is good planning in the first three stages and writing slowly enough that the writer can stay clearly focused on the main idea of the essay.

Stage 6 - Proofreading (Making the Format Effective)

There isn't time to recopy or rewrite the essay. Write slowly enough that your handwriting is legible. Skip lines and write in ink. Make any corrections by neatly crossing out any changes and writing the revision above the line (or in a BlueBook examination, on the facing page). As a rule, you don't have time to use white-out to make corrections--it takes too long to dry. Finally, spend several minutes looking over the essay to find and correct those grammatical errors which you are most likely to make. Concentrate on the major errors (Sentence structure--Fr, CS, RO and agreement--Prn, s/v). If you have trouble with verb forms (for instance, leaving ed endings off verbs) or pronoun forms (using things like theirselves which is not a word), proofread for these.

Timing

In general for a timed essay, spend one-third of your time planning the essay (Stages 1-4), one-half of your time writing the essay (Stage 5), and one-sixth of your time proofreading the essay (Stage 6). That means that in a fifty minute essay, you should spend fifteen to twenty minutes planning the essay, twenty-five minutes writing the essay, and five to ten minutes proofreading the essay.

However, if you know the topic of the essay in advance, you can plan the essay before class and redistribute that time over writing and proofreading the essay. Often, when teachers announce the topic in advance, students are allowed to bring an outline or notes to the essay writing session. Be aware that the teacher will expect a more detailed and well-developed essay.