Flow may feel like an undefined concept; a source of sense that has not been pinned down. This feeling of loftiness does not stem from flow itself but the tendency of tutors and teachers to gloss over it as if it is more myth than fact. In fact there are 5 simple steps you can take to improve the flow of your essays.
1) Understand the role of your introduction and use it appropriately
Readers expect your introduction to act as a roadmap. Readers expect that whatever you mention first in the introduction will also be covered first in the body of the essay. This presents an excellent and easy opportunity to create flow in your essay. Simply present each idea in your introduction in the same same order as in your body paragraphs. Writing the introduction last can help with this.
2) Structure your argument around a logical flow of ideas
Flow is all about the logical flow of ideas one into another. there are 3 key ways to create this flow
- Cover Broad content before specific content
This point is common to every essay you will ever write. If you cover the broad topics first your readers will understand what you're talking about when you reach the specific points later on.
- Use your essay Question
Here's where the structure becomes essay specific. At least 90% of the time the essay question (in combination with the idea of covering broad topics first) will provide the structural skeleton on which your essay can be built. Consider the question below:
Compare and Contrast the Personality Theories of Freud and Rogers
If we order that in terms of broad to specific we get the following:Personality Theories
Freud and Rogers
Compare and Contrast
That is the order in which the topics should be covered.- Use your Introduction (see point 1)
An introduction (and by extension the structure of an entire essay addressing this question) might go something like this:
While there are many personality theories available to the modern researcher two earlier and influential theories were those of Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers. While there were some common points at an ideological level, including a belief in the importance of clinical applications and the idea of the danger of internal conflict, the theories are more marked by their differences. In particular their belief about the core motivations of individuals, sources of conflict, and the means of conflict resolution will be examined.
3) Use paragraphs appropriately
Every time you want to present a new idea it should be presented in a new paragraph. Similarly everytime you start a new paragraph you should be starting a new idea. This may mean that some of your paragraphs end up being very short while others end up being very long. This is fine. It is the presence of a new idea that indicated the need for a new paragraph NOT the length of the current paragraph.
Here is the introduction from before with new ideas indicated by changes in colour. Every colour change from purple to blue and vice verca indicates where we would expect a new paragraph to begin in the body of the essay. This is not to say that these are the only times that a new paragraph would be appropriate. You can think of this as a minimum number.
While there are many personality theories available to the modern researcher two earlier and influential theories were those of Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers. While there were some common points at an ideological level, including a belief in the importance of clinical applications and the idea of the danger of internal conflict, the theories are more marked by their differences. In particular their belief about the core motivations of individuals, sources of conflict, and the means of conflict resolution will be examined.
Within each paragraph you should follow the SEE format:
Statement
Example
Explanation
4) Paraphrase, don't quote
This suggestion may seem surprising at first. Surely quoting is better than paraphrasing as the person you're quoting from is more respected as a writer than you are right?
Wrong.
The words the original author or speaker used were designed for use in the original material. They were selected because they were compatible with that flow of ideas. This means that the word choice may not be compatible with your flow of ideas. In fact it may be downright disruptive. If you use your own words you can keep your essay on track. If you use someone else's your risk taking a detour.5) Practice, practice, practice
Flow is a characteristic of good writing. While the above tips are useful in helping create flow the best way to improve your writing is through practice.
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