Where to Add Detail in College Essays?
by Kathleen M.
It is time to write an essay, and you’ve read all of the prompts and have selected the one you want to respond to. You do the brainstorming, look at your activity list for inspiration, and choose the story you want to tell.
Then you sit down to write, and somehow, you come up short. Your essay draft is well below the requested word count, and honestly, is a little lackluster. What do you do?
The main strategy for today is asking questions. Ask yourself as many questions as you can in order to fill in the draft a little more with detailed information. Work your way through your essay draft, and ask away!
Who else worked with me on this project?
How did I feel about the team work?
Why were we working together so ineffectively/effectively?
What was I feeling during this experience?
Why did I feel this way?
How do I feel now that the work is completed?
What were some of the problems or issues I faced during this activity/problem? How did I get my activity back on track after facing an issue?
Why do people discuss the process and the product?
As you work through your essay – the above questions may help to spark more detail. You may find other “how” and “why” questions that help to develop your ideas. But focus on asking open-ended questions, not one’s that can be answered with yes and no.
This is just one strategy for developing your essay with detail. This is helpful because as you ask yourself questions, you will need to answer the questions in your essay. These added details may add a sentence or two to each paragraph, or they may mean you add whole new paragraphs.
This added detail should make your story more clear to readers, increase interest, and help you to reach your goal.
