One of the most anxious moments of going through the application process for a college would be the scholarship essay part. Many people aren’t sure of how to write a scholarship essay. The whole idea of entering college is quite intimidating to the recent high school graduate. When determining how to write a scholarship essay, one needs to keep in mind that everyone else writing this essay is also just out of high school, and therefore, everyone else is intimidated by the process as well. College may be intimidating but you’re going into this along with everyone else that’s at the same level as you are. Once you have this firmly entrenched in your mind, you’ll have a much easier time determining how to write a scholarship essay.
Remember when you are sitting down and thinking of how to write a scholarship essay that many people have failed at this simply because they didn’t take it seriously enough. It’s that simple. These are individuals that may have been on the top of their schools with great grades and achievements but if they didn’t put their minds on the task at hand then they most likely aren’t even in the running against you. So, sit down and put your mind to the task and determine how to write a scholarship essay.
The first thing one needs to do before deciding how to write a scholarship essay is to analyze the essay question and understand the motivating factor behind the ones asking the question. Thoroughly understand the question and what they are asking for in the essay. Figure out if the question requires one to do research on a topic or if this is strictly based upon your own personal analysis on a feeling or subject. Then find out everything you can about the organization that is giving out the scholarships. Who are they and what are they all about, why are they giving out scholarships? Once you have this completely analyzed, you’re already halfway there in figuring out how to write a scholarship essay.
Now the next process to go through in determining how to write a scholarship essay is to set your goals for writing the essay. Use your knowledge of the organization that is awarding scholarships to set your goals. You want to present your essay in such a way that it portrays you in a positive light and make them realize that you are such an individual who would highly benefit from a scholarship.
Now it’s time to develop the basic theme of your essay. As soon as you begin thinking of how to write a scholarship essay, you may already have the theme in mind. For others, it may not be so clear. This is where the goals you’ve set and all the information you’ve been able to glean from the motivation behind the essay question comes into play. By taking all those factors and studying them, your theme for the essay should become clear.
The next step in how to write a scholarship essay would be to create an outline. Some may feel that this is a waste of time, as they prefer to write in a free flowing way. This may be true for some but in most cases an outline will help to tie the whole manuscript in a tightly controlled manner. You’ll be able to present your ideas in the proper order and cover all the important areas. By referring to this outline in the process of writing, you’ll find that you will stay much more organized and focused on the immediate point at that time.
Now, the last but most important step in understanding how to write a scholarship essay is to edit and rewrite. This is probably the step that will make or break your scholarship essay. For those who take the time to thoroughly read the essay from front to back and not be afraid to slash, edit and rewrite again and again, their work will be the ones that grab someone’s notice. The key, when you are wondering how to write a scholarship essay, is to spend as much time researching the organization behind the scholarship and the essay question itself as writing it.