How do I go about answering an essay question?

To answer an essay question you first need to decide what the question is actually asking - pay attention to the question words (explore, discuss, to what extent, how etc) and use this to choose how to answer. For example, 'discuss' suggests that you may want to look at two sides of an argument, whereas 'how' would imply that you need to look at the methods or techniques the author uses. Sometimes it's useful to underline or highlight the key words in a title to focus your thinking. For example: 'How does Steinbeck use the relationship between George and Lennie to present what working life was like for some men in that time?' In this question the key parts are 'how', 'relationship', 'working life' and 'in that time'. Stopping to think what the key parts are can be really helpful in keeping your essay focussed on the question and stopping you from going off on a tangent.

Decide which aspects of the text you want to talk about - characters, themes, writing techniques etc. You don't want to pick too many things to write about because it's far better to do a few things in detail than to just touch on a lot.

I like to use the PEE (point, evidence, evaluation) paragraph structure when writing on one text or PEACE (point, evidence, analysis, comparison, evaluation) for more than one. These are easy to remember and ensure that you cover all the aspects of examining a text, both in exam and coursework situations. For a GCSE or A Level essay you probably wouldn't want to write more than 2 or 3 PEACE points or about 4 or 5 PEE points, depending on the time or word count.

Writing an introduction and conclusion can be tricky. Your introduction needs to invite the reader to read your essay and make it sound interesting without giving away all your key points. Sometimes it's OK to be very formulaic about your introduction and say 'in this essay I will use the texts A and B to discuss the X, Y and Z'. Throughout the body of your essay, use signposting which references what you mention in your introduction to guide your reader and show that you've written a planned and thought out essay.

Your conclusion should draw your essay to a nice close and prove the point you have been arguing. Like your introduction, it should reference the body of your essay but be careful to not simply repeat something you've already said; this is a common mistake. If your essay has been persuasive, the reader should have arrived at the same conclusion as you anyway and so by writing your conclusion, you are consolidating your reasoning and argument for your reader.