How Do I Write A Diagnostic Essay?
What is a diagnostic essay?
The main aim of a diagnostic essay is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a student's writing early in the course of a semester in order to help the instructors get insight into the type of curriculum, feedback, exercises, and other course relaated exercises that they they will need to give to the students holistically and individually in order to enhance the understanding of their students. A diagnostic essay usually consists of a prompt (or prompts) aimed to elicit meaningful writing from the student in a limited amount of time.
Teachers give diagnostic essays to examine the fields of writing where the student strength and weakness lie so that they can address the critical writing issues. Normally, the procedures for these essays are on time limit and the expectation is that students either give a prompt or choose a prompt from a set of two or three. The following are some important tips recommended by iwriteessays.com on how to write a a diagnostic essay.
1. Read the Prompt properly
- This is the most crucial step because if you read it incorrectly or misinterpret what the question is asking you, your thesis and your essay will be incorrect.
- The first step in writing a thesis statement for a diagnostic essay is to read the prompt and to understand what the question is asking you.
Answer the Question
- Because of the short time allotted for diagnostic essays, many students jump right into writing without taking time to formulate a thesis that will help them with their essay.
- Many students trip up on this point. The first thing you should do before you start writing your thesis statement is to write down a simple answer to the question. This actually will be the beginning of the thesis statement.
- If you do not take the time to create a thesis statement for your essay, you could veer off course very easily.
2. Formulate the Thesis
After completing reading the prompt and answering all the questions, review the answer and attach a number of reasons why you think your answer is correct. For example, if a prompt asks you if you put more effort to achieve results it makes you appreciate it more, you answer could be a simple yes. This is not a thesis. However, the statement "Working hard for things makes you appreciate them more because you have to sacrifice, focus and overcome obstacles to get them," is a thesis statement.
Simply jot down a paragraph for every reason and your essay will be fine. Just make sure that you include an introduction and conclusion before being satisfied for the work completion.
3. Consider Time
Lastly, ensure that you allocate enough time for all the steps above. If the time limit is 20 minutes for completion of the essay , then you can organize the time as follows: 2 minutes to finalize the prompt, 5 minutes for thesis formulation and planning, and thirteen minutes to write the actual essay.