Essay Writing Approach for UPSC CSE

Essay Writing Approach for UPSC Civil Services Examination

1. Clearly mention Topic of your essay. Put it in a box.
2. Don’t start an essay with another quotation. You can use quotations in your body part or conclusion part.
3. You can quote Hindi or Sanskrit quotes also, but write them in English only (if your medium/language of essay writing is English) Ex: Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ✅ And not वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्
4. Introduction is the most important part of an essay. You need to hook the examiner to your essay. Simply telling, the overall attention span is less, hence, try to keep your introduction to the point (2-3 paragraphs max). Just after introduction raise specific questions from the essay topic which you are likely to address in your essay — setting thesis)
5. Next most important part is the flow in essay. There shouldn’t be sudden jump. Please use phrases adequately to set in the flow.
6. Paragraphs should be small and to the point.
7. UPSC has outrightly laid out parameters (as to what they are expecting) like closeness to topic, ideas in orderly fashion etc. Please be aware of them while writing your essay.
8. Keep coming to keywords used in essay topic — don’t even use synonyms, yes you can use ideas from all possible directions but they must be reflective of keywords of essay topic.
9. Use anecdotes, examples and quotes etc to enrich essay but make sure you have adequately written arguments— especially in Philosophical essays, we end up writing examples from all walks of life, in doing that we often miss arguments. Similarly, sometimes PESTEL approach doesn’t work in philosophical essays, don’t unnecessarily stretch your essay using that. Use innovative ideas.
10. Anti-thesis is important in your essay. Don’t miss that.

Credit: Kaptan Sir