Prepare a Winning Essay 
How can you increase your chances of writing a winning essay? There are several things to consider before you begin:
- Choose a topic that truly interests you. Any piece of writing will have more energy, more clarity, more of a feeling of a person behind the writing, if that person really cares about the topic.
- Have a point and develop it in a clear, organized way. Essays can either be expository (explaining a concept, theory, experiment, etc.) or persuasive (arguing for an explanation, approach, or course of action), but all of them need to have a point, illustrate it with good evidence from a variety of sources, and develop it in a logical way. Don’t assume the reader knows as much about your subject as you do—in fact, don’t assume the reader knows anything about it at all! Think, “If I knew nothing about this, or even why it is important, what would I need to read in order to understand?” Answer that question for yourself. Then, that is what you should write.
- Show why your subject matters. The essay readers will be interested in why your subject is important to “the real world”—today’s world, or tomorrow’s. It is part of your challenge to address this issue directly.
- Write more than one draft. Some successful writers have said that grinding out the first draft is the difficult part of writing—and then revising it is the “fun” part. Revision is fun because it is the part of the writing process in which you turn your raw material into something that truly communicates. When you revise, make sure you catch all those errors in grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and so on that we all make in first drafts. Also, look with a critical eye at the organization of your essay: Is the information presented in a clear order? Do transitions help the argument to flow smoothly?
- Use the help your teacher can offer. No one is a good editor for his or her own writing. We know too well what we were “trying to say.” Your teacher can read your work at any stage and offer useful comments that will sharpen your essay and make it more effective. Your teacher can also suggest research sources that may help you to back up your points more effectively.
Check out our Research and Writing Tips for more advice on the essay-writing process. Be sure to see the detailed list of Student Awards, and learn more about the 1986 Challenger Crew, the heroes who inspired this competition.
