Where to look for original Ideas for an Essay

There are many places where you can look for original ideas for an essay. Your local and national newspapers are an excellent source of ideas. Then there is the curriculum content of your particular college or university. Obviously looking at a detailed synopsis of the topics you will study should trigger ideas for original essays. Then you can go online and using a search engine, pinpoint a variety of issues or topics which are relevant to your course. Remember it's not just the idea which needs to be original, you also need to have an original argument or take on the subject. And once you find what you believe is the best original idea for your essay, put the following four steps into practice to make sure your idea bears fruit.

• write about that which you love
• have a plan
• go as fast as you can
• polish until it gleams

If you take a creative writing course, many of the people running such classes will get you started by writing on a subject you know particularly well or for which you have a burning passion. It's the old adage that we write well when we know or like the topic. This same principle applies with your original essay idea. By all means look in a wide variety of places to try and stimulate original ideas. But bear in mind that if you look in an area in which you have a strong interest, your original idea can work and work very well.

Every original essay idea needs a plan. So many students make the basic mistake of selecting an essay topic and then going hell for leather to get it finished. This seldom works. Slow and steady wins the race. So having chosen your original essay idea, now take the time to draw up a timetable, a plan by which you will achieve certain aspects of your essay task. Keep this plan in an easy to read place. If necessary continue to tweak your plan.

Once you have your idea and your plan, write as fast as you can. Don't be careful about your writing. Never go back and correct spelling and grammatical mistakes. All you do is write as much and as fast as you can. The idea is to let the words flow. But if you're not the world's fastest typist, using a simple Dictaphone or recording device on your mobile phone or type/speaking software, will help you get as much information recorded as possible.

And finally choosing the original idea, having a plan, writing as fast as you can are all vitally important but without editing of the project, your work may well fail. You need to know how to edit. You need to learn how to rewrite, how to cut and in some cases how to add text. The polishing part of your essay writing is just as important as any other part. In fact some people argue it is the most important part.