Quickly Outline Your Major Points
Second, you should outline your major points before you begin writing your essay. When you were in junior high, you may have been required to turn in formal outlines with papers that you submitted for a grade.
That extra step, with all of the Roman numerals and letters and indentations, may have seemed like a real pain at the time - just a lot of extra work. But taking the time to sketch out an outline of your major points when you're writing under time constraints can be invaluable. Luckily, you don't have to do anything formal when you're trying to write an essay quickly. Just jot down some points in the order you think that they should be made. No Roman numerals are required; you can just use bullet points if you'd like.
Let's go back to our soda law example. If you've been asked to put together an argument about whether or not cities should place legal limits on the size of sugary sodas that restaurants and concession stands can serve, you should first sketch out a few major, distinct points that you want to make. If you're using the five-paragraph essay structure, it would make sense to make three major points, for example.
You should pull the strongest points that you find from sources that you have in favor of soda size limits and devote roughly the same amount of space to each one. You've got to remember, too, to address the major points brought up by the proponents of the position that you disagree with, so you might devote a paragraph arguing that the size limit would help combat the obesity epidemic present in many cities and a second body paragraph comparing the size limit to accepted smoking restrictions. You could then use a third body paragraph to note that opponents of the size limit law claim that the limit places unfair burdens on business. You could counter that because there is no outright ban on sugary sodas, any burdens on business are not unreasonable.
By sketching all of this out in outline form - along with some supporting details - before you write your actual essay, you'll have an organized roadmap for where you want to go so you won't get lost or encounter any unexpected detours along the way. You can be sure when you start writing the actual essay that your ideas are all on-point.
Write Your Introduction and Conclusion Last
Third, try writing your introductory paragraph and then your concluding paragraph after you've written the middle, body paragraphs of your essay. Honestly, this is a useful tip even when you have all the time in the world to finish your essay. While we may feel the need to write the first paragraph first, and then the second, then the third, and so on, it can actually be a good idea to hold off on your intro paragraph until after you've already written the body of your essay. You can then know with confidence exactly what it is that you'll be introducing.
You're no doubt familiar with the term
forecast
from weather reports, when the weather person predicts what weather lies ahead. In a good introduction to any essay, you should also forecast for your reader the major points that you'll be making. This is a lot easier to do when you've already made your points. You can simply tick off for the reader in your intro paragraph the major points that you've covered in the body of your essay and in what order you've covered them. Similarly, in your concluding paragraph, you can just sum up the major points that you've made throughout your essay and restate your thesis.
Save Time to Edit Your Essay
Fourth, be sure to edit your essay. No matter how tight your timeline is when writing an essay, it's crucial that you set aside a little time to read through your work and correct any mistakes. As you read back through your essay, in addition to checking for spelling, grammar, and sentence structure mistakes, you should check for one other major thing: does each paragraph serve a clear function that supports the thesis of your essay?
If any paragraph seems a bit muddled, work on clarifying your topic sentence or transitional sentence for that paragraph or add an additional short detail or example. Quick tweaks like that can help shore up a paragraph that might otherwise seem a bit off-track or unclear.