write an essay on importance of planning

Essay writing

• Introduction

Answering the question

Generating ideas, planning your essay, different planning methods.

• Writing your essay
• Developing your essay writing

Useful links for writing essays

• Study Advice Helping students to achieve study success with guides, video tutorials, seminars and one-to-one advice sessions.
• Academic writing LibGuide Expert guidance on punctuation, grammar, writing style and proof-reading.
• Guide to citing references Includes guidance on why, when and how to use references correctly in your academic writing.
• Reading and notemaking LibGuide Expert guidance on managing your reading and making effective notes.
• Academic Phrasebank Use this site for examples of linking phrases and ways to refer to sources.
• Ten stages of assignment success (Prezi) Based upon Burns and Sinfield, Essential Study Skills.
• Critical Thinking A short video on Critical Thinking that the BBC have prepared in partnership with The Open University

The first thing to do when preparing to write an essay is to make a plan. You could just rush in and write everything that comes into your head, but that would make it difficult for your marker to read and would reduce the effectiveness of your ideas. These will make much stronger arguments if you group them together than they would do on their own.

The guidance on this page will show you how to plan and structure your essay to produce a strong and focused response to the question.

A very common complaint from lecturers and examiners is that students write a lot of information but they just don't answer the question. Don't rush straight into researching – give yourself time to think carefully about the question and understand what it is asking.

Underlining key words – This is a good start point for making sure you understand all the terms (some might need defining); identifying the crucial information in the question; and clarifying what the question is asking you to do (compare & contrast, analyse, discuss). But make sure you then consider the question as a whole again, not just as a series of unconnected words.

Re-read the question – Read the question through a few times. Explain it to yourself, so you are sure you know what it is asking you to do.

Try breaking the question down into sub-questions – What is the question asking? Why is this important? How am I going to answer it? What do I need to find out first, second, third in order to answer the question? This is a good way of working out what important points or issues make up the overall question – it can help focus your reading and start giving your essay a structure. However, try not to have too many sub-questions as this can lead to following up minor issues, as opposed to the most important points.

• Answering the question and planning (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
• Answering the question and planning (transcript) Read the transcript.

The kinds of things to note briefly are:

• What you already know about the topic – from lectures, seminars, general knowledge.
• Things you don't know about the topic, but need to find out in order to answer the question.
• Initial responses or answers to the question – what you think your conclusion might possibly be.

This helps you start formulating your argument and direction for answering the question. It also helps you focus your reading, as you can pinpoint what you need to find out and go straight to the parts of books, chapters, articles that will be most relevant.

After reading - After your reading, it is often good to summarise all your findings on a page. Again, a spider diagram can help with this.

Bringing together the key points from your reading helps clarify what you have found out, and helps you find a pathway through all the ideas and issues you have encountered. If you include brief details of authors and page nos. for key information, it can act as a quick at-a-glance guide for finding the evidence you need to support your points later.

It also helps you see how your initial response to the question might have changed or become more sophisticated in light of the reading you've done. It leads into planning your essay structure.

• It enables you to work out a logical structure and an end point for your argument before you start writing.
• It means you don't have to do this type of complex thinking at the same time as trying to find the right words to express your ideas.
• It helps you to commit yourself to sticking to the point!

You need to work out what to include, and what can be left out. It is impossible to cover everything in an essay, and your markers will be looking for evidence of your ability to choose material and put it in order. Brainstorm all your ideas, then arrange them in three or four groups. Not everything will fit so be prepared to discard some points (you can mention them briefly in your introduction).

Outline what you are going to include in each section:

• Introduction : Address the question, show why it's interesting and how you will answer it.
• Main body : Build your argument. Put your groups of ideas in a sequence to make a persuasive argument. One main point in each paragraph.
• Conclusion : Summarise your arguments and evidence, and show how they answer the original question.

Writing a summary - Some people plan best once they have written something, as this helps clarify their thinking. If you prefer to write first, try summarising the central idea of your essay in a few sentences. This gives you a clear direction for working out how you are going to break it down into points supported by evidence. You can then use one of the methods below to write a more detailed plan.

• Structuring your essay (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
• Structuring your essay (transcript) Read the transcript

Bullet points / linear plans - This type of plan lists the main points using bullet points or numbers. It can be a brief outline of the main point per paragraph, or a more detailed plan with sub-points and a note of the evidence to support each point (e.g. source and page no.).

No plan is perfect, so be prepared for your ideas to change as you write your essay. However, once you have an initial plan it is much easier to adapt it and see where new things fit if your thinking does change.

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How to plan an essay: Essay Planning

• What's in this guide
• Essay Planning
• Additional resources

How to plan an essay

Essay planning is an important step in academic essay writing.

Proper planning helps you write your essay faster, and focus more on the exact question.  As you draft and write your essay, record any changes on the plan as well as in the essay itself, so they develop side by side.

One way to start planning an essay is with a ‘box plan’.

First, decide how many stages you want in your argument – how many important points do you want to make? Then, divide a box into an introduction + one paragraph for each stage + a conclusion.

Next, figure out how many words per paragraph you'll need.

Usually, the introduction and conclusion are each about 10% of the word count. This leaves about 80% of the word count for the body - for your real argument. Find how many words that is, and divide it by the number of body paragraphs you want. That tells you about how many words each paragraph can have.

Remember, each body paragraph discusses one main point, so make sure each paragraph's long enough to discuss the point properly (flexible, but usually at least 150 words).

For example, say the assignment is

Fill in the table as follows:

Next, record each paragraph's main argument, as either a heading or  topic sentence (a sentence to start that paragraph, to immediately make its point clear).

Finally, use dot points to list useful information or ideas from your research notes for each paragraph. Remember to include references so you can connect each point to your reading.

The other useful document for essay planning is the marking rubric .

This indicates what the lecturer is looking for, and helps you make sure all the necessary elements are there.

Pathways and Academic Learning Support

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Academic Writing

• Introduction

How to Plan an Essay

• Writing Paragraghs
• Plagiarism This link opens in a new window
• Essay Planning
• Video Explanation

Essay planning is an important step in academic essay writing.

Effective planning can speed up the essay writing process, and give the essay direction and precision.  As you are working through the process of drafting and writing your essay, you can record any changes you make on your essay plan, so that your essay and the plan develop side by side.

One way to start planning an essay is with a "box plan."

First, decide how many stages there are in your argument – how many important points do you want to make? Then divide up a box into an introduction, one body paragraph for each part of your argument, and a conclusion.

Next, figure out how many  words per paragraph  you will need. This depends on the  word count  and  how many paragraphs  you want. Remember you need one paragraph to discuss each main point you are making. The introduction and conclusion are both usually 10% of the word count and what is left is divided into how many body paragraphs you have.

Let's use the following example: Discuss how media can influence children. Use specific examples to support your view.

1200 words 

Next, in each body paragraph box record your main argument, either as a heading or as your topic sentence. 

Finally, use dot points to list useful information or ideas from your research notes for each paragraph. Remember to include references so you can cite each idea in your essay.

Remember, a useful document for essay planning is the marking rubric (also known as the marking checklist or marking criteria). This indicates what the lecturer is looking for, and helps you make sure that all the necessary elements are there.

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• Writing Tips

How to Write a Perfect Essay Plan

• 4-minute read
• 9th December 2019

Every good essay starts with a good essay plan. And planning your essay is important, as it will help you express each point you need to make clearly and in a logical order. But what goes into a good essay plan? And how can you write one? Join us for a quick look at how this works.

1. Read the Question Closely

The first step in any essay plan is to look at the question you’ve been set. It should provide some clue as to the kind of essay required, such as whether it is an open or closed question . These differ as follows:

• An open question permits various answers. For instance, if you were set an English literature essay, you might be asked What are the main social themes in the writing of Charles Dickens? This would allow you to discuss a range of concepts in response. Writing you essay plan would then involve narrowing down your subject matter so you can focus on one issue.
• A closed question focuses on a specific issue, often asking you to agree or disagree with something. For instance, a closed question could be Is technology a destructive force in the writing of Charles Dickens? In this case, the question dictates the form of the essay, as you would need to look at arguments for and against the claim and, finally, come to a conclusion.

Keep in mind that both question types require an in-depth answer! Some closed questions could technically be answered by writing ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on a piece of paper, but this won’t get you great marks. Instead, think of the question as a prompt for you to show off what you know on the topic.

And if you’re not sure about anything, such as how a question is worded, you will want to check this with whomever set the assignment.

2. Brainstorm Ideas and Organise Your Research

After studying the essay question, the next step is to brainstorm ideas for answering it. And the starting point for this is to organise your research.

In other words, it’s time to get out those lecture notes! In fact, you should make a mind map of everything you know on the essay topic.

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Look for anything that is relevant to the essay question. You can then narrow down the possible answers to the topics that interest you most. This should also help you identify any gaps in your knowledge, so you can make notes on what else you may need to research for your essay.

3. Draft an Essay Outline

The last step in writing an essay plan is to outline your essay. This means breaking it down section by section, paragraph by paragraph, so you know exactly what you need to write to answer the essay question.

The exact content will depend on the topic and word count . But, as a rule, most essays will have a basic structure along the following lines:

• Introduction – A paragraph or two that sets out your main argument.
• Main Body – This is the main chunk of your essay. To plan this, break down your argument into paragraphs or sections, sticking to one main idea per paragraph. Once you’ve done this, note down how each point supports your argument, plus any quotes or examples you will use.
• Conclusion – A brief summary of your arguments and evidence.
• References – A list of sources you plan to use in your essay.

This will then guide the writing process, making sure you always stay on topic.

Expert Essay Proofreading

Planning your essay is just the first step: you then need to write it! And to make sure it’s the best it can be, you’ll want to have it proofread . Our expert editors can help with that, making sure that your writing is always academic in tone and completely error free. Just let us know how we can help!

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Planning an Essay

• How to Write an Essay
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This page is the first of two that describe the processes involved in producing an essay for academic purposes, for school, college or university and covers the planning stages of essay writing, which are important to the overall process.

The second page, Writing an Essay , provides more information on the steps involved in actually writing an essay. We recommend you read both pages to gain a full understanding.

Developing the skill of essay writing takes practice, time and patience , your essay writing skills will improve and develop the more you write.

With the help of your course tutor (teacher or lecturer) and peers (other students) and from constructive feedback from the marker of your work, writing an essay will become easier as you progress through your studies and your confidence increases.

This page details general good practice in essay planning, including what you should do and what you should try to avoid. It is important however, that you understand the specific requirements of your school, college or university.

Writing an essay helps you to consider the issues raised in your course and to relate them to your own experience, way of thinking, and also any wider additional reading and research you may have undertaken in order to tackle the essay topic. 

Writing an essay (or other assignment) is an important part of the learning process.  In the writing of an assignment, learning occurs as you think through and interpret the points raised (together with those of other writers on the subject).

Presenting your experience and showing understanding within your assignment will, from the marker's point of view, demonstrate your knowledge of the subject area.

The Purpose of an Essay

The original meaning of an essay is ' an attempt ', or a try, at something. It is therefore appropriate to consider writing an essay as a learning exercise.

Essays, and other academic writing, focus the mind and encourage you to come to conclusions about what you are studying.

Writing is often the best possible way to assimilate and organise information. Writing helps to highlight any areas that you have not fully understood and enables you to make further clarifications. It develops your powers of criticism, analysis and expression, and gives you a chance to try out your and other writers' ideas on the subject.

The feedback you receive from the marker of your essay should help to advance your study skills, writing, research and  critical thinking skills .

What is the Marker Looking For?

As an essay - in the context of this page - is an assessed piece of work, it can be very useful to consider what the person who will be assessing the work, the marker, will be looking for.

Although different types of essays in different subject areas may vary considerably in their style and content there are some key concepts that will help you understand what is required of you and your essay.

When marking an assignment, a marker will look for some of the following elements, which will demonstrate you are able to:

Find relevant information and use the knowledge to focus on the essay question or subject.

Structure knowledge and information logically, clearly and concisely.

Read purposefully and critically. (See our page: Critical Reading for more)

Relate theory to practical examples.

Analyse processes and problems.

Be persuasive and argue a case.

Find links and combine information from a number of different sources.

Answer the Question

One main factor, always worth bearing in mind, is that a marker will usually only award marks for how well you have answered the essay question.

It is likely that the marker will have a set of criteria or marking guidelines that will dictate how many marks can be awarded for each element of your essay.

Remember it is perfectly possible to write an outstanding essay, but not to have answered the original question.  This will, in all likelihood, mean a low mark.

Planning Your Essay

Planning is the process of sorting out what you want to include in your essay.

A well-planned and organised essay indicates that you have your ideas in order; it makes points clearly and logically.  In this way, a well-planned and structured essay enables the reader, or marker, to follow the points being made easily.

Essay assignments are usually formulated in one of the following ways:

As a question

A statement is given and you are asked to comment on it

An invitation to ‘ outline’ , ‘ discuss’ or ‘ critically assess’ a particular argument or point of view

Remember always write your essay based on the question that is set and not on another aspect of the subject. Although this may sound obvious, many students do not fully answer the essay question and include irrelevant information. The primary aim of an academic essay is to answer the task set, in some detail.

To help you do this, you might find the following list of stages helpful.

Producing an Essay Plan

The essay plan below contains ten steps.

It is often useful to complete the first six steps soon after receiving your essay question. That way information will be fresh and you are more likely to be thinking about your essay plan as you do other things.

Study the essay question intently.

Write the essay question out in full.

Spend some time, at least half an hour, brainstorming the subject area.

Write down your thoughts on the question subject, its scope and various aspects.

List words or phrases that you think need to be included.

Note the main points you should include to answer the question.

If, at this point, you feel unsure of what to include, talk to your tutor or a peer to clarify that you are on the right track.

Once you have finished the first six steps and you feel sure you know how to proceed, continue to expand on your initial thoughts and build a more in-depth essay outline.

Skim through any course material or lecture handouts and start to build up a more detailed outline. Scan through your own lecture notes, and if anything strikes you as relevant to the assignment task, write where to find it on your detailed outline

Write down where you will find the necessary information on each of the points in your detailed outline (lecture notes, course handouts etc.).  Indicate on the outline where you feel that some further research is necessary.

Be careful not to allow your outline to become too complicated; stick to main points and keep it relevant to the question.

If you have been given a reading list or a core text book then check the relevant sections of that.

See our page: Sources of Information for more ideas of where you can find relevant information for your essay.

Academic essays usually have a word limit and writing within the word limit is an important consideration. Many institutions will penalise students for not writing the correct amount of words – for example, the essay question may call for a 2,000 word essay, there may be a 10% grace, so anything between 1,800 and 2,200 is acceptable.

Think about the main elements that need to be covered in the essay. Make sure you allocate the greatest number of words to the 'main body of the essay' and not to a subsidiary point.

Decide how much space you can devote to each section of your outline.  For example, a third of a page for the introduction, half a page for point 1 which has two sub-points, one and a half pages for point 2 which has five sub-points etc.  Although you will not follow such a space scheme rigidly, it does enable you to keep things under control and to know how much detail to put in, keeping the balance of the essay as you originally planned.

Of course, you will make minor adjustments to your essay plan as you actually write. However, do not make major adjustments unless you are absolutely certain about the alternative and how it fits into your original scheme.

Having a strong essay plan makes the actual task of writing an essay much more efficient.

Continue to: Writing an Essay Sources of Information

See also: Essay Writing Tips Note-Taking for Reading Finding Time To Study

GKT103: General Knowledge for Teachers – Essays

Pre-Writing

Sitting down for an exam and reading an essay prompt can be intimidating. One way to ease your nerves and help you focus on the task is to pre-write. Pre-writing is a way to think through the essay question, gather your thoughts, and keep yourself from becoming overwhelmed. This resource explains pre-writing and shows strategies you can practice now and use on exam day to help ensure that you start your essay writing off on the right foot!

Planning the Structure of an Essay

Planning based on audience and purpose.

Identifying the target audience and purpose of an essay is a critical part of planning the structure and techniques that are best to use. It's important to consider the following:

• Is the the purpose of the essay to educate, announce, entertain, or persuade?
• Who might be interested in the topic of the essay?
• Who would be impacted by the essay or the information within it?
• What does the reader know about this topic?
• What does the reader need to know in order to understand the essay's points?
• What kind of hook is necessary to engage the readers and their interest?
• What level of language is required? Words that are too subject-specific may make the writing difficult to grasp for readers unfamiliar with the topic.
• What is an appropriate tone for the topic? A humorous tone that is suitable for an autobiographical, narrative essay may not work for a more serious, persuasive essay.

Hint: Answers to these questions help the writer to make clear decisions about diction (i.e., the choice of words and phrases), form and organization, and the content of the essay.

Use Audience and Purpose to Plan Language

In many classrooms, students may encounter the concept of language in terms of correct versus incorrect. However, this text approaches language from the perspective of appropriateness. Writers should consider that there are different types of communities, each of which may have different perspectives about what is "appropriate language" and each of which may follow different rules, as John Swales discussed in "The Concept of Discourse Community". Essentially, Swales defines discourse communities as "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals".

Writers (and readers) may be more familiar with a home community that uses a different language than the language valued by the academic community. For example, many people in Hawai‘i speak Hawai‘i Creole English (HCE colloquially regarded as "Pidgin"), which is different from academic English. This does not mean that one language is better than another or that one community is homogeneous in terms of language use; most people "code-switch" from one "code" (i.e., language or way of speaking) to another. It helps writers to be aware and to use an intersectional lens to understand that while a community may value certain language practices, there are several types of language practices within our community.

What language practices does the academic discourse community value? The goal of first-year-writing courses is to prepare students to write according to the conventions of academia and Standard American English (SAE). Understanding and adhering to the rules of a different discourse community does not mean that students need to replace or drop their own discourse. They may add to their language repertoire as education continues to transform their experiences with language, both spoken and written. In addition to the linguistic abilities they already possess, they should enhance their academic writing skills for personal growth in order to meet the demands of the working world and to enrich the various communities they belong to.

Use Techniques to Plan Structure

Before writing a first draft, writers find it helpful to begin organizing their ideas into chunks so that they (and readers) can efficiently follow the points as organized in an essay.

First, it's important to decide whether to organize an essay (or even just a paragraph) according to one of the following:

• Chronological order (organized by time)
• Spatial order (organized by physical space from one end to the other)
• Prioritized order (organized by order of importance)

There are many ways to plan an essay's overall structure, including mapping and outlining.

Mapping (which sometimes includes using a graphic organizer) involves organizing the relationships between the topic and other ideas. The following is example (from ReadWriteThink.org, 2013) of a graphic organizer that could be used to write a basic, persuasive essay:

Outlining is also an excellent way to plan how to organize an essay. Formal outlines use levels of notes, with Roman numerals for the top level, followed by capital letters, Arabic numerals, and lowercase letters. Here's an example:

• Hook/Lead/Opener: According to the Leilani was shocked when a letter from Chicago said her "Aloha Poke" restaurant was infringing on a non-Hawaiian Midwest restaurant that had trademarked the words "aloha" (the Hawaiian word for love, compassion, mercy, and other things besides serving as a greeting) and "poke" (a Hawaiian dish of raw fish and seasonings).
• Background information about trademarks, the idea of language as property, the idea of cultural identity, and the question about who owns language and whether it can be owned.
• Thesis Statement (with the main point and previewing key or supporting points that become the topic sentences of the body paragraphs): While some business people use language and trademarks to turn a profit, the nation should consider that language cannot be owned by any one group or individual and that former (or current) imperialist and colonialist nations must consider the impact of their actions on culture and people groups, and legislators should bar the trademarking of non-English words for the good of internal peace of the country.
• Legislators should bar the trademarking of non-English words for the good and internal peace of the country.
• Conclusion (Revisit the Hook/Lead/Opener, Restate the Thesis, End with a Twist - a strong more globalized statement about why this topic was important to write about)

Note about outlines: Informal outlines can be created using lists with or without bullets. What is important is that main and subpoint ideas are linked and identified.

How to Plan an Essay

One of the most important steps to writing an essay is the planning phase. When planning a composition, it is recommended to consider the topic, length, format, intent, resources, audience, and depth of topic of the composition. Each of these factors can change the essay. The following are some planning exercises that may help you plan out your future essays: Listing, which is the process of writing out facts, opinions, ideas, and questions about your topic and writing based on this list; Take notes while researching your topics; Develop a concept map, which entails setting up a main topic and having sub-topics branching off of the main topic; and Outlining, which is similar to the concept map, but less visual and organized a little more similarly to an actual paper where there is a written main topic and the sub-topics are written below the main topic.

When you’re getting ready to write a composition, you’re going to have lots of drafts before you come up with your final copy. A good planning stage can get you a nice, full first draft to start working from. When you are planning for your composition, consider the topic, link, format, intent, resources, and audience.

Composition Planning

What is your paper going to be about? How long does it have to be? Is it a required amount or do you get to pick? What’s the format going to be? Is this supposed to be a research paper or a more casual essay? What’s the intent? What’s the purpose of your paper? Are you writing to persuade, to entertain, or to inform? What are you writing for? What are your resources going to be? Are you just going to be writing about your own ideas, or will you have to go out and find more resources? If you’re writing a research paper, you’re probably going to have several credible resources. Who’s your audience intended to be? Is it someone you have to persuade? Is it for your friends and peers? Is it for a supervisor? Is it just for your teacher? Who is your audience? Also, think about space. Whenever you pick your topic, is it too big or too small?

Planning Exercises

If you’re writing a research paper, you can’t have a small topic; you’re going to have to have plenty to write about. If you were writing a small essay, you can’t pick something too big, or you’re not going to be able to fit everything about your topic in that one short essay. Pay attention to all of these things whenever you’re first starting out your planning and thinking process for your writing. Then, you can start working with some planning exercises. One exercise is listing. You can list facts, opinions, ideas, questions, or anything that you can think of that you can quickly jot down as little ideas that might be good for your paper that you can come back to and think on later and expand upon. Write them down. The more you get down on paper or in the computer to begin with, is going to be the more you get to work on that edit and expand on later. Start with as much as you can get here, and then you can work on organizing it once you get it down.

Another planning exercise is “free writing”. This is where you’re going to write quickly until you run out. You’re going to write as fast as you can until you can’t think of anything else to write. Hopefully you get a lot down on paper, but free writing isn’t meant to be grammatically correct. It’s not meant to have all the punctuation or spelling correct. The main point is just to get as much information, as many thoughts on paper (or in the computer if you’re typing) as you can get. Then, you’ve got more to work with later. You can fix the grammar and punctuation in the editing part, but right now you want to get all the information down on paper that you can. If you have it down, then later on you read it and say, “Oh, I forgot about that. I could really use this information now. I could go and research some more information about this and really flesh out my paper.”

Try to get it down in the planning stage before you get too caught up in your other main ideas. Another planning exercise is to take notes. This is mainly with research papers. If you find sources that you like, take notes on what you liked out of them. Make a copy of the specific section you’re interested in, and take notes out to the side or stick a Post-it® note or a piece of paper with the copy of the actual source and write down the notes on it. Write down what you liked about it and what your ideas were about it, because you are in the moment right then. You know what you’re thinking, but later on, when you look at that source, you may say to yourself, “What I want this for? Where was I going to use this in my paper?” So, having those notes handy would really help you out in the future.

The other thing you can do is make a concept map. This is a kind of visual organization. It’s where you have one idea in the center (they’re not all going to look like this), but let’s say we had warm vacations that we were talking about. We might put Florida, and then we might put Hawaii. I might put Cancún, and let’s just go with Texas. All of these are warm spots you could go to for a vacation. Now, within each one of these, you could talk about what you might do there. In Hawaii, you might go to the beach, you might ride horses, you might go on a tour, you might learn how to surf. There are different things that you could do. Having it laid out in more of a visual map, rather than just written out in outline form, may help some people. If you’re a visual learner, you might want to see a map like that where you’ve just got a main tree with all the little branches on it. If you were going to talk about cold vacations, you could come down here and talk about those. You could put Alaska on there. We might put Minnesota. We may put Vancouver. Then, for each one, you might talk about what you would do there. In Alaska, maybe you’ll take a cruise, maybe you’ll go on a hike, and maybe you’ll go fishing. You’ve got these different areas where you’re outlining your different main ideas, and then your sub ideas, and then you’re even more specific details for each one of those. A concept map can really help those who are visually organized or those who are visual learners.

Outline Creation

The last thing that you’re going to work on is an outline. This is going to be at the end of planning, because you don’t know exactly how your paper is going to be organized when you’re starting out. You want to get all these ideas on paper. You want to get every idea, fact, opinion, question, or thought down on paper first. Then, you can organize it better. You can see what all you have and see how you want to group all these different things. You want to wait until you’re at the end of your planning stage to work on your outline, but it’s going to start with your thesis statement. This is like a main idea summary. You’re going to come up with supporting ideas that support that main idea, then supporting details that support each one of these ideas. An outline form is generally going to look like this. Your very big ideas are going to be Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.). You’ll probably need more than three, because this would only be two ideas and you still need a conclusion. You might have “Idea 1”, then here you’ve got “Detail 1”. Each time you go down a step in this, or a level in this outline, you’re going to change the way it’s organized. First, we start with Roman numerals, then we start with capital letters on the next level, then we go to Arabic numerals for the next level down. This would be like where we’re talking about these places over here. You may have “I. Warm vacations”, and then you may have “A. Florida B. Cancún.” “II. Cold vacations”. You might have “A. Alaska 1. Cruise 2. Hike” and you would keep going even further if you had more organization and was broken down into even more details. You could use lower case Roman numerals (i, ii, etc.) You could use lowercase letters to keep going further into the levels if you had details about details about details in your paper, if it was that thorough.

Remember, whenever you’re planning your composition writing, don’t stress over it. Don’t think, “Oh my gosh, this is so big. I don’t even know where to start.” Just start. Start listing things, start free writing, take notes on research you’re finding, think about what your topic is going to be, think about how long your paper has to be. You want to pay attention to all of this stuff, because if you’re not sure what you’re going to write about yet, you can at least start writing something. The most important thing is to start writing. Get something on paper, and then start working on some of these planning exercises. You want to be able to get everything organized, but, before you can organize it and create the perfect paper, you have to get something written on that paper.

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What is the essay planning process?

This is the second of four chapters about Essay Writing . To complete this reader, read each chapter carefully and then unlock and complete our materials to check your understanding. 

– Describe an effective essay planning process

– Explain each of the five processes individually

– Provide examples of each process to guide the learner

Chapter 1: What are the basic sections of an academic essay?

Chapter 2: What is the essay planning process?

Chapter 3: What is the essay writing process?

Chatper 4: What is the essay editing and proofreading process?

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Now that you understand the different basic sections of an essay , it’s useful to also consider the more general processes involved when planning an effective essay. It’s very common for students who are new to university and academic English to begin writing their essays before they’re really ready to do so, perhaps costing them time in the long run. Although the stages and steps a writer may take to produce an essay will likely differ from individual to individual, there are some generally agreed upon processes that will increase the likelihood of producing an effective essay.

These steps are often referred to as the writing process , which we’ve split into three stages. These three stages are the planning, writing, and editing and proofreading processes, the first of which is exemplified for you below:

1 . Analyse the Essay Question

Before you begin to write, it’s important that you understand exactly what the essay question is asking of you, how long your essay should be, and what essay type you’re being asked to write.

In the above example essay question , it’s possible to distinguish three clear elements: the topic , the task type and the controlling ideas . These have been separated for you in the following table:

It’s important to deconstruct the essay question in this way and to question each of its parts before you begin researching. It would be quite unfortunate to waste time in the planning or writing stage because you later realised you’d misunderstood the essay question.

2. Ask Questions

Before you begin reading and researching, you should probably have some questions in mind to better guide your investigations, such as ‘What kind of technology?’ or ‘How expensive might such technology be?’. At this early stage, such questions will likely only be vague or broad, but they will perhaps still help to guide you in assessing the first sources  you read for whether or not they are generally relevant or useful. If, for example, you’re researching about language teachers in secondary schools and you find information in a source about geography teachers at university, then you should quickly know that this information is not related to the essay question .

3. Find Appropriate Sources

Now that you’re ready to begin researching, you’ll need to find appropriate sources to use as evidence or examples in your essay . If you’ve been provided with a reading list , use it. The reference lists provided in the sources on the reading list may point you towards other useful articles. Additionally, you may find sources either through an internet or library  search by using key search terms and Boolean operators . And don’t forget to return to stages one and two of the planning process to double check the essay question and make sure that you’ve prepared the right questions to ask of your sources.

4. Read and Take Notes

While you’re researching (and you should do a lot of reading for each essay  that you write), it’s important that you take clear, consistent and accurate notes as you’ll need these to confidently write your essay later. One recommendation is to create a word document for each new source  that you read and then to include in that document any important details such as the referencing information of that source, any useful quotations and page numbers, and any notes that you’ve made about the content contained within. You may also need to return to stage two of the planning process so that you can reformulate your questions or ask new ones for any ideas or arguments that your reading has created.

5. Group the Evidence

The final stage in the planning process is to group your evidence and ideas. Once you feel you have read sufficiently and made sufficient notes, a good idea would then be to thematically group the information that you’ve collected so that it can be better incorporated into an essay plan. Which information might be useful as background to an introduction for example, and which might be useful as supporting details in body paragraphs ? Additionally, don’t forget to consider how the evidence is connected, which evidence might go in the same paragraph, and which evidence is for or against your topic or concept.

The example below shows how evidence might be thematically grouped, therefore becoming useful for distinct body paragraphs :

Don’t forget at this point to return to stage four of the planning process (and perhaps even stage two) if there are gaps in your research that need filling or reconsidering. If, however, you’re confident that you’ve gathered enough information to begin writing your essay, then continue on to Chapter 3.

To reference this reader:

Academic Marker (2022)  About Essay Writing . Available at: https://academicmarker.com/essay-writing/about-essay-writing/ (Accessed: Date Month Year).

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Importance of Setting Goals and Strategic Planning In an Organization Argumentative Essay

Introduction, importance of goal setting and strategic planning to productivity, reference list.

With the ever-increasing competition and changing business environments, proper planning and setting of achievable strategic goals have become an integral part of all organizations, as they are two of the primary determinants of an organization’s level of productivity.

In addition, these factors are also important when it comes to defining an organization’s purpose and business direction that meant to ensure that an organization improves its profit and expands its market segment.

Although sometimes because of the ever-changing economic conditions it may be very hard to predict any changes that are likely to occur in the course of business, it is important for managers to be always prepared to challenge the status quo and put in place necessary systems to facilitate the delivery of desired outcomes.

On the other hand, it is crucial for managers to formulate plans and set goals that are not only executable, but also viable, as this is one of the primary ways of ensuring an organizations business operations are connected and aligned.

Therefore, in any organizational setting proper strategic planning and setting desirable goals are the two primary factors that determine a health care management organization level of goal attainment.

Regardless of any prevailing business condition, every organization has the capacity to perform and achieve its strategic goals, so long as such an organization aligns its strategic goals with its activities.

Therefore goal setting should be one of the primary activities that an organization should do with uttermost care. Goal setting can help to define the parameters that an organization should put in place to achieve an end goal.

Without goals, it is very hard for a team to formulate other plans or to seek any financial aid, as this will be seen of lack of direction. Setting of goals can also act as a motivating factor towards achieving an end goal, because different have set targets, which they must achieve; hence, to avoid being defeated by other teams, they will always remain motivated towards achieving their goals.

Further, goals give teams something to look forward to, as goals are aims that must be achieved, regardless of the prevailing conditions and challenges. Most teams with set goals have a tendency to utilize their time productively; because they know any failure to achieve such goals will not only be a failure in their part, but also to an organization that they pledged to help achieve its mandate (Lawhorne, 2008, p.1).

In addition to setting of achievable goals, strategic planning is another important strategy of increasing the level and quality of work output. With the ever-increasing scarcity of resources and competition in most business scenarios, it is important for an organization to formulate appropriate strategic plans, as they are the first step in any goal setting endeavor aimed at increasing productivity.

Productivity improvement is a crucial part of strategic planning, as this one of the primary gateways to increased profits and meeting of scheduled targets.

Strategic planning is primarily concerned with an organization’s long term goals and the ability of an organization to utilize the available resources to maximize production. Therefore, strategic planning aids in the development of better managerial and working decisions that are coupled with increased energy and capacity to improve customer satisfaction.

Moreover, strategic planning will give an organization some competitive advantage over other organizations, as it provides an organization with better solutions to any emerging business and operational challenges (Lawlor, 2006, pp. 1-2 and Kerzner & Rea, 1997, pp. 264-265).

In conclusion, regardless of the prevailing economic condition, the level of productivity of any healthcare organization will primarily be determined by two primary factors in an organization; these are setting of appropriate goals and formulating appropriate strategic plans.

Through doing this, an organization is guaranteed to achieve its set targets, deal with emerging challenges, optimize resource allocation, and maximize its success chances.

Kerzner, H. & Rea, P. J. (1997). Strategic planning: a practical guide . New York: John Wiley and Sons. Web.

Lawhorne, P. (2008). The importance of setting goals. Divine Caroline. Web.

Lawlor, J. F. (2006). The importance of strategic planning . Web.

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IvyPanda. (2018, May 28). Importance of Setting Goals and Strategic Planning In an Organization. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-setting-goals-and-strategic-planning-in-an-organization/

"Importance of Setting Goals and Strategic Planning In an Organization." IvyPanda , 28 May 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-setting-goals-and-strategic-planning-in-an-organization/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Importance of Setting Goals and Strategic Planning In an Organization'. 28 May.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Importance of Setting Goals and Strategic Planning In an Organization." May 28, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-setting-goals-and-strategic-planning-in-an-organization/.

1. IvyPanda . "Importance of Setting Goals and Strategic Planning In an Organization." May 28, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-setting-goals-and-strategic-planning-in-an-organization/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Importance of Setting Goals and Strategic Planning In an Organization." May 28, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of-setting-goals-and-strategic-planning-in-an-organization/.

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Importance of Planning Essay Example

Plans are quite important to have in our daily life. In our everyday life we always make plans one such example is planning your expenses when buying certain products and more on a list, in this case we plan out how we are going to go about our expenses, what can we afford and how many products can I buy with what I have. As planning is used in everyday life it can of course be used in making businesses thrive if made and done correctly. Based on what I read and my previous knowledge in regard to planning, I can summarize what planning is, its importance, advantages, limitations and most importantly how can one overcome said limitations to give it higher chances of success. 

We know for a fact that businesses be it already existing ones or new ones yet to be made all start with planning. Planning done knowing what we can realistically reach and what we may reach based on results must always be considered when making plans as it will be essential to its success. Basically, planning is a way for us to prepare and take notes on how we should proceed pertaining to a certain goal or task in mind. In a business sense, one of the core reasons for planning is to make a profit by assessing what is possible with our current resources. Making a plan that is impossible with what you currently have is essentially a plan that is no doubt going to fail that is why knowing limitations will help one to organize plans better. Going by this the right mindset should be starting with what we have and then growing it which in turn will let us reach new heights which was something we previously can’t achieve at the time and as such the general logic is that as we grow our businesses, what we can do also rises with it. The importance of planning is that it lets one focus on a goal and with that goal in mind we can make decisions that will help us get closer to that goal as well as having future directions for when we get to that point making new objectives to reach afterwards. 

The advantages of planning is that with it we can identify threats to our business, what opportunities we can take, how we can adapt to certain changes in the environment, what countermeasures do we have for certain scenarios, do we have full control of the situation, how are we going to effectively and efficiently use our manpower so that unnecessary tasks are lessened and lessening of risks we can encounter being some of the more important advantages and there are a lot more to list. That being said, the limitations involving planning heavily leans on the available resources at hand which I have previously reiterated many times throughout this reflection along with the fact that planning is costly, and it will not always go the way we want due to many factors such as time restraints, inflexibility, external factors, and the like. To overcome such limitations, it is imperative that in planning we should consider proper and realistic objectives that can be met and understood by employees, the managers in the business having a means of obtaining accurate information about situations in the business so that it can be addressed properly and them having initiative, careful planning about what may happen in the future and making countermeasures in place so that we can be prepared when issues arise, keeping track of current resources and having a means of having alternatives, having flexibility so that the business can change with regards to external change and lastly making it so that the plan will incur more benefits than the costs made to sustain it. 

My conclusion for this paper would be that all in all planning is the core and preparation of sorts before doing things to reach goals we have in mind and for it to be successful we must always know what is realistic at the moment and knowing our limitations make ways to overcome them and with this mindset will one be able to make an effective and efficient plan.

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What is climate change mitigation and why is it urgent?

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• Climate change mitigation involves actions to reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.
• Mitigation efforts include transitioning to renewable energy sources, enhancing energy efficiency, adopting regenerative agricultural practices and protecting and restoring forests and critical ecosystems.
• Effective mitigation requires a whole-of-society approach and structural transformations to reduce emissions and limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
• International cooperation, for example through the Paris Agreement, is crucial in guiding and achieving global and national mitigation goals.
• Mitigation efforts face challenges such as the world's deep-rooted dependency on fossil fuels, the increased demand for new mineral resources and the difficulties in revamping our food systems.
• These challenges also offer opportunities to improve resilience and contribute to sustainable development.

What is climate change mitigation?

Climate change mitigation refers to any action taken by governments, businesses or people to reduce or prevent greenhouse gases, or to enhance carbon sinks that remove them from the atmosphere. These gases trap heat from the sun in our planet’s atmosphere, keeping it warm. 

Since the industrial era began, human activities have led to the release of dangerous levels of greenhouse gases, causing global warming and climate change. However, despite unequivocal research about the impact of our activities on the planet’s climate and growing awareness of the severe danger climate change poses to our societies, greenhouse gas emissions keep rising. If we can slow down the rise in greenhouse gases, we can slow down the pace of climate change and avoid its worst consequences.

Reducing greenhouse gases can be achieved by:

• Shifting away from fossil fuels : Fossil fuels are the biggest source of greenhouse gases, so transitioning to modern renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power, and advancing sustainable modes of transportation, is crucial.
• Improving energy efficiency : Using less energy overall – in buildings, industries, public and private spaces, energy generation and transmission, and transportation – helps reduce emissions. This can be achieved by using thermal comfort standards, better insulation and energy efficient appliances, and by improving building design, energy transmission systems and vehicles.
• Changing agricultural practices : Certain farming methods release high amounts of methane and nitrous oxide, which are potent greenhouse gases. Regenerative agricultural practices – including enhancing soil health, reducing livestock-related emissions, direct seeding techniques and using cover crops – support mitigation, improve resilience and decrease the cost burden on farmers.
• The sustainable management and conservation of forests : Forests act as carbon sinks , absorbing carbon dioxide and reducing the overall concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Measures to reduce deforestation and forest degradation are key for climate mitigation and generate multiple additional benefits such as biodiversity conservation and improved water cycles.
• Restoring and conserving critical ecosystems : In addition to forests, ecosystems such as wetlands, peatlands, and grasslands, as well as coastal biomes such as mangrove forests, also contribute significantly to carbon sequestration, while supporting biodiversity and enhancing climate resilience.
• Creating a supportive environment : Investments, policies and regulations that encourage emission reductions, such as incentives, carbon pricing and limits on emissions from key sectors are crucial to driving climate change mitigation.

Photo: Stephane Bellerose/UNDP Mauritius

Photo: La Incre and Lizeth Jurado/PROAmazonia

What is the 1.5°C goal and why do we need to stick to it?

In 2015, 196 Parties to the UN Climate Convention in Paris adopted the Paris Agreement , a landmark international treaty, aimed at curbing global warming and addressing the effects of climate change. Its core ambition is to cap the rise in global average temperatures to well below 2°C above levels observed prior to the industrial era, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C.

The 1.5°C goal is extremely important, especially for vulnerable communities already experiencing severe climate change impacts. Limiting warming below 1.5°C will translate into less extreme weather events and sea level rise, less stress on food production and water access, less biodiversity and ecosystem loss, and a lower chance of irreversible climate consequences.

To limit global warming to the critical threshold of 1.5°C, it is imperative for the world to undertake significant mitigation action. This requires a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent before 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by mid-century.

What are the policy instruments that countries can use to drive mitigation?

Everyone has a role to play in climate change mitigation, from individuals adopting sustainable habits and advocating for change to governments implementing regulations, providing incentives and facilitating investments. The private sector, particularly those businesses and companies responsible for causing high emissions, should take a leading role in innovating, funding and driving climate change mitigation solutions. 

International collaboration and technology transfer is also crucial given the global nature and size of the challenge. As the main platform for international cooperation on climate action, the Paris Agreement has set forth a series of responsibilities and policy tools for its signatories. One of the primary instruments for achieving the goals of the treaty is Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) . These are the national climate pledges that each Party is required to develop and update every five years. NDCs articulate how each country will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhance climate resilience.   While NDCs include short- to medium-term targets, long-term low emission development strategies (LT-LEDS) are policy tools under the Paris Agreement through which countries must show how they plan to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century. These strategies define a long-term vision that gives coherence and direction to shorter-term national climate targets.

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Photo: William Seal/UNDP Sudan

At the same time, the call for climate change mitigation has evolved into a call for reparative action, where high-income countries are urged to rectify past and ongoing contributions to the climate crisis. This approach reflects the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which advocates for climate justice, recognizing the unequal historical responsibility for the climate crisis, emphasizing that wealthier countries, having profited from high-emission activities, bear a greater obligation to lead in mitigating these impacts. This includes not only reducing their own emissions, but also supporting vulnerable countries in their transition to low-emission development pathways.

Another critical aspect is ensuring a just transition for workers and communities that depend on the fossil fuel industry and its many connected industries. This process must prioritize social equity and create alternative employment opportunities as part of the shift towards renewable energy and more sustainable practices.

For emerging economies, innovation and advancements in technology have now demonstrated that robust economic growth can be achieved with clean, sustainable energy sources. By integrating renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and geothermal power into their growth strategies, these economies can reduce their emissions, enhance energy security and create new economic opportunities and jobs. This shift not only contributes to global mitigation efforts but also sets a precedent for sustainable development.

What are some of the challenges slowing down climate change mitigation efforts?

Mitigating climate change is fraught with complexities, including the global economy's deep-rooted dependency on fossil fuels and the accompanying challenge of eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. This reliance – and the vested interests that have a stake in maintaining it – presents a significant barrier to transitioning to sustainable energy sources.

The shift towards decarbonization and renewable energy is driving increased demand for critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth metals. Since new mining projects can take up to 15 years to yield output, mineral supply chains could become a bottleneck for decarbonization efforts. In addition, these minerals are predominantly found in a few, mostly low-income countries, which could heighten supply chain vulnerabilities and geopolitical tensions.

Furthermore, due to the significant demand for these minerals and the urgency of the energy transition, the scaled-up investment in the sector has the potential to exacerbate environmental degradation, economic and governance risks, and social inequalities, affecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and workers. Addressing these concerns necessitates implementing social and environmental safeguards, embracing circular economy principles, and establishing and enforcing responsible policies and regulations .

Agriculture is currently the largest driver of deforestation worldwide. A transformation in our food systems to reverse the impact that agriculture has on forests and biodiversity is undoubtedly a complex challenge. But it is also an important opportunity. The latest IPCC report highlights that adaptation and mitigation options related to land, water and food offer the greatest potential in responding to the climate crisis. Shifting to regenerative agricultural practices will not only ensure a healthy, fair and stable food supply for the world’s population, but also help to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

Photo: UNDP India

Photo: Nino Zedginidze/UNDP Georgia

What are some examples of climate change mitigation?

In Mauritius , UNDP, with funding from the Green Climate Fund, has supported the government to install battery energy storage capacity that has enabled 50 MW of intermittent renewable energy to be connected to the grid, helping to avoid 81,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. 

In Indonesia , UNDP has been working with the government for over a decade to support sustainable palm oil production. In 2019, the country adopted a National Action Plan on Sustainable Palm Oil, which was collaboratively developed by government, industry and civil society representatives. The plan increased the adoption of practices to minimize the adverse social and environmental effects of palm oil production and to protect forests. Since 2015, 37 million tonnes of direct greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided and 824,000 hectares of land with high conservation value have been protected.

In Moldova and Paraguay , UNDP has helped set up Green City Labs that are helping build more sustainable cities. This is achieved by implementing urban land use and mobility planning, prioritizing energy efficiency in residential buildings, introducing low-carbon public transport, implementing resource-efficient waste management, and switching to renewable energy sources. 

UNDP has supported the governments of Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Indonesia to implement results-based payments through the REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries) framework. These include payments for environmental services and community forest management programmes that channel international climate finance resources to local actors on the ground, specifically forest communities and Indigenous Peoples. 

UNDP is also supporting small island developing states like the Comoros to invest in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. Through the Africa Minigrids Program , solar minigrids will be installed in two priority communities, Grand Comore and Moheli, providing energy access through distributed renewable energy solutions to those hardest to reach.

And in South Africa , a UNDP initative to boost energy efficiency awareness among the general population and improve labelling standards has taken over commercial shopping malls.

What is UNDP’s role in supporting climate change mitigation?

UNDP aims to assist countries with their climate change mitigation efforts, guiding them towards sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient development. This support is in line with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related to affordable and clean energy (SDG7), sustainable cities and communities (SDG11), and climate action (SDG13). Specifically, UNDP’s offer of support includes developing and improving legislation and policy, standards and regulations, capacity building, knowledge dissemination, and financial mobilization for countries to pilot and scale-up mitigation solutions such as renewable energy projects, energy efficiency initiatives and sustainable land-use practices. 

With financial support from the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund, UNDP has an active portfolio of 94 climate change mitigation projects in 69 countries. These initiatives are not only aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but also at contributing to sustainable and resilient development pathways.

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