■ A good thesis makes an assertion about the topic; it does not just repeat the topic or ask a question. Make sure your thesis takes a clear position on the issue or argument. ■ Your planning time is probably the most crucial part of an essay exam. Create a detailed outline to organize your ideas. Revise your outline before you begin writing to make sure you have sufficient sup- port and specific examples and that you have addressed all of the elements in the prompt. ■ Make sure you have at least two or three supporting ideas for your thesis. If no other organizational pattern makes sense, put them in order of importance, with your most important idea last. ■ Remember, it’s important to get going and keep moving. If you can’t think of the exact word or phrase you are looking for, approximate. You can come back to fix it later if you have time. For now, writing something that is close enough must be good enough so you can get the rest of your ideas down. ■ Remember to keep it simple. Your time is limited, and your readers will be looking for basic structural and organizational elements. Don’t worry about impressing your readers with sophisticated organiza- tion or style; you don’t need anything out of the ordinary to impress your readers. A formulaic but clear essay will do better than one that is overly complex. ■ Remember that first impressions are important, but it’s more important to finish your essay. Don’t get hung up trying to write a perfect introduction. Simply summarize the argument or issue and state your thesis. If you have time later, you can come back and write a catchier introduction. ■ Signpost, signpost, signpost. Use strong transitions throughout your essay to make the relationships between ideas clear. Remember that both your human reader and E-rater® will be looking for these guides. ■ A specific fact or detail has more power than a general statement. Include specific examples whenever possible. ■ In general, unless you have less than five minutes left, revise first and then edit. Save your grammar and spelling check until after you have made “big picture” changes to your essay. If you are nearly out of time, read through your essay quickly and make any revisions or editorial changes. ■ If a sentence seems unclear to you, it may be that you are trying to do too much in one sentence. Try breaking it up into two simpler sentences that are more clear. ■ Remember the guidelines for effective style: be precise, be concise, use the active voice, vary the sen- tence structure, and avoid jargon and pretentious language. Make sure you use an appropriate level of formality and a serious, respectful tone throughout your essay. ■ Correct punctuation is important, but don’t get hung up on trying to determine whether you need a comma or a semicolon. Make your choice quickly and move on to the next issue. ■ If you are unsure about capitalization, ask yourself whether the word in question is something specific or general. If it is a specific person, place, or thing, then it probably should be capitalized. Remember, in this regard, specific means particular or individual, not detailed. For example, a poodle is a specific type of dog, but it is not capitalized because it doesn’t refer to a specific (individual or particular) dog. Rover, however, should be capitalized because Rover is a specific (individual or particular) dog. ■ If you have the time, read your essay backward line by line. This will enable you to spot errors that you might miss reading straight through. – TIPS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE AWA– 268 Analyzing the Issue ■ Remember that in the Analysis of an Issue essay, there is no correct answer. A good essay will take a clear position and support that position. Don’t be afraid to say what you think. Just be sure to back up your opinion. ■ A strong issue essay will address counterarguments. Take a minute to imagine how someone taking the opposite point of view would support that position. Acknowledge key concerns and then show why your position has more merit. Analyzing the Argument The argument you are presented with on the GMAT exam may have many different problems. To address all of the different possibilities, break down your analysis into two steps: (1) what the argument has and (2) what it might be missing: 1. What is already there? Check the premises and conclusion. Are the premises (stated and unstated) logical? Do they lead logically to the conclusion? Is the evidence strong and convincing? Are there any fallacies in the argument? 2. What might be missing? What alternative explanations or counterarguments are missing from the argument? What evidence would strengthen the conclusion? What missing information would help you better evaluate the argument? – TIPS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE AWA– 269 . already there? Check the premises and conclusion. Are the premises (stated and unstated) logical? Do they lead logically to the conclusion? Is the evidence strong and convincing? Are there any fallacies. not have the option of writing the essays by hand on the AWA, so you must be comfortable composing and revising on the computer. Be sure to turn off the spell check and grammar check; the word-processing program. for the Analysis of an Argument section. Use these prompts to practice your timed writing skills for the AWA. Give yourself 30 minutes for each essay. Sample essay responses are provided after the