How To Critique Your Own Scholarship Essay
All that stands between you and free money for college is a scholarship essay. When it comes to essay writing, the scholarship essay is the big one. This is the one that will help you bring together your desire to go to college and financial assistance. In order to impress the college scholarship committee, you will need to write one phenomenal essay. Unfortunately, most phenomenal scholarship essays that actually earn their writers the big bucks need to have more attention paid to them. You will not just write the essay in order to win the scholarship; you will need to edit, revise, critique, and perfect the essay before you submit it. Here are a few tips:
Read aloud. One of the best ways to find your errors and correct them is to read the essay out loud. But, don’t just read it aloud once. If you record yourself and play the recording back, you will certainly notice spots where you have missed words or used the wrong word. If you still cannot hear mistakes, then ask someone else to read the essay aloud to you. When you pick a reader who has never seen your paper, that reader will notice the mistakes and will be able to effectively point them out to you.
Evaluate the requirements. Every scholarship essay has requirements. They usually include word counts and topics. Check that you do not exceed the word count. Be sure you stay focused on the appropriate topic. Most scholarship essay committees will immediately reject the essays that do not meet the requirements. Many of the committees will not even waste their time reading the essays that go over on word count. Meeting the assignment details is an easy thing to do, so do it well.
Include your personality. If your essay is boring, you will not win the scholarship. This does not mean that you need to use all capital letters or write in an overly conversational way. You should not overdo it, because you want to meet the requirements. Your personality can shine through in your word choice and your introduction style.
Notice formatting. Your essay should look like an essay. Your paragraphs should be separated from each other. Your name should be capitalized. Any sources you use should be properly documented. If your essay looks like you threw it together, the committee will pass it by as it looks for essays that have been carefully formatted.