Read the prompt – seriously.
In the Frederick Honors College Office of National Scholarships, we practice writing as an iterative process that is exploratory, often messy, but ultimately liberatory—an important mechanism through which thinking happens. During the act of writing, writers often end up in an entirely different place from where they set out. When composing fellowships applications, make sure that you re-read the prompt after you have written an essay draft to ensure that you’ve responded to what is being asked. All too often, writers “lose the plot” in their effort to generate their initial responses. Simply reading the prompt again will help you focus your revision process and clarify your writing.
For example, you may encounter a multifaceted essay prompt like this one from the Voyager Scholarship:
Describe a recent challenge or failure you have experienced. As you look back on this experience, what did you learn? How did you overcome it? What role did values play in how you overcame it?
In many of the first drafts we see, writers often spend most of their space addressing the first part of the question (here, describing the recent challenge or failure), but far less time focusing on the subsequent facets of the prompt. In this case, those subsequent facets are among the most important parts of the essay. In a closer reading, it becomes apparent that the writer’s reaction to the challenge or failure is the real question that the selection committee is interested in, not the description of the challenge or failure. Always make sure to read the prompt, seriously!