Writing the Scholarship Essay, Part II
In Writing the Scholarship Essay, Part I, we talked about using brainstorming techniques to generate ideas for your college scholarship essay. Once you have a body of ideas at your fingertips, the next step is to organize that artistry into a topic outline. Topic outlines have been given a very bad rap, but in reality they are useful tools to get your thinking organized before you start drafting the essay. Never forget, you'll want every advantage you can get when you apply for college scholarships.
The topic header for each main division of your outline should be an important idea or key point. Sub-topics under a divisional heading are used to support, exemplify, or extend that idea by providing greater detail. The outline is a skeletal form of what you will later transform into a full-blown narrative essay. Keep the outline focused and tightly woven together. Link ideas together to create a smooth narrative flow from the introductory paragraph to the conclusion. Learning to write a polished narrative takes work, but you can only benefit from the process.
Provide Descriptive Examples
What are descriptive examples? Let's start by identifying what descriptive language is.
Compare the following two sentences.
(Sentence 1): The car rolled down the hill and exploded.
(Sentence 2): The jet-black Mustang missed the curve at the summit of a dangerous mountain road and rolled helplessly down the hill in a crashing fury of exploding flames.
Which sentence uses descriptive language? Sentence 2.
Descriptive language appeals to our sense of sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing. Non-descriptive language does not allow the reader to "see" or experience the sensation of the action. Descriptive language brings writing alive. Non-descriptive language does not allow the reader to enter the writing at all because it is flat, lifeless, and dull. It makes for a very lackluster college scholarship essay.
Descriptive examples provide illustrations of ideas by showing the reader what happened instead of telling the reader. An example takes the reader beyond the statement of an idea and goes "inside" an event or experience. The purpose of an example is to hold your reader's interest, create a stronger impression, and provide more detailed insight into your world.
Reflection
When we stop to look at our reflection in a pool of water, the slightest agitation creates a series of concentric rings that draw us deeper and deeper inside. Pardon the analogy, but reflecting on how you see yourself and how you want the selection committee to see you requires some quiet time. Ideally, you can draw your portrait from a series of challenging moments that helped make you the person you are today. Don't be discouraged if it takes you several attempts to find the right examples. This isn't work you are asked to do every day. Stories from life are tucked away, safely hidden in your memory. Reflect, listen, and ponder. Where are they? What were they? Ask yourself and listen for the answer.
You do not have to be recorded in Who's Who to complete this task. The measure of a man or woman's worth is not in what others hold to be true about him or her, but in what resonates as value or belief within each individual. Maybe you have not tried out for the Summer Olympics. That is not the point. We all have value and contributions to make in this world. Discover yours.
Proofread, Proofread, Proofread
Check your essay for spelling errors, sentence-construction errors, and typing errors. Do not rely on your spellchecker to catch every error. We all know that a word can be spelled correctly and not be the correct word choice. Ask someone you trust to read your work after you have proofread it several times.
Someone once said that only exhaustion determines when a piece of writing is finished. No one is encouraging you to make yourself sick. Good writing is not the first draft. Good writing may not even be the second draft. Good writing is when the ideas are so completely illustrated and tightly woven together that there is no more room to expand.
Good writing is authentic, driven, and captivating.
Good luck on your college scholarship essay!