Many competition essays that miss the shortlist go wrong before the writing starts. The topic gives the student nothing other entrants lack, the reading piles up without testing an answer, and the word count goes on background. The Essay Planner moves those decisions before the first draft, following the method in the Guide to Economics Essay Competitions.
Seven steps
- Competitions and timeline. Choose entries, check eligibility, set deadlines, and get a ten-week timeline worked back from each deadline, with the hours each stage needs. The dates can be added to a calendar.
- Topic and question. Score up to five topics on interest, curiosity and what the student can add that others cannot, then check the question itself.
- Plan your research. Sketch the essay before reading, choose where to start, see where to look for each type of source, keep a log of searches, and work through three rounds of research.
- Sources and notes. One card per source: reference details, a four-question check on how far to trust it, and notes on what it shows and what it does not. Every note is linked to one of the student’s points, and a point-by-point view shows where the evidence is thin.
- Choose your points. Rate each point on importance and strength of evidence, keep the best three or four, and decide how to deal with the strongest argument against the answer.
- Essay plan and word count. A paragraph-by-paragraph plan with words worked out from each competition’s own limit and counting rules, the evidence to use in each paragraph, and a starting reference list.
- Final checks. Each competition’s rules on word counts, file names, references, AI and declarations, checked against the official pages, plus the edits in order and a dated log of help and decisions.
A finished example plan on an invented question shows every step. The plan summary prints, or saves as a PDF, at any stage.
Private by design. Work is saved in the student’s own browser and nothing is uploaded. There is no place for the essay itself, so the essay stays entirely the student’s own. A backup file moves the plan to another computer.
Written by a first-class Cambridge Economics graduate who prepares applicants for economics courses.
The planner helps a student plan and check their own essay. It does not write it, and nothing can guarantee a prize.
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