The word “summative assessment” can worry and scare students as they count towards their degree. Some social science students are assessed through various essays and written tasks but not numerical tests. Here is my process on how to plan and write a summative essay. 

Exploring the essay titles would be the first step I take. More often than not, students are given a variety of essay titles to choose from, likely to be representative of distinct topics. Very early on, you might find one title more fascinating or less challenging and lean towards that one. Nonetheless, it can be useful to carefully consider all the questions equally and make a rough brainstorm of what arguments you intend to use and relevant case studies and examples. It would also be useful to look at your lectures and see what your professor has discussed on the topic. This will point you towards the best title to tackle.

The next step would be breaking down the essay title. What are you being prompted to do and answer? What is the key term in the question (e.g. “discuss”, “evaluate”, “critically assess”)? By doing so, you will know precisely what the task is asking you to do, and how to stay on track and maximise your score by answering all parts of the question. 

Once you know the “asks” of the title, it is time to research your essay title (assuming that it is a take-home assignment). Hopefully, when you break down the essay title, you will have an idea of what your main arguments are going to be. By doing so, you can narrow down your research list. It is extremely important that you consistently refer back to the essay title to make sure that what you are writing will strengthen your argument and helps to answer the essay prompt.

Organising your arguments would be the next step. The structure is often, if not always, a criterion for examiners marking your essay. This means that your essay has to be logical and flow smoothly rather than being disconnected. Though this is difficult to get used to initially, you will eventually find your writing “voice” as you continue.

Proper citations are another key aspect of preparing your summative essay. Some teachers may suggest one citation method over another such as Harvard, MLA, APA and so on. Therefore, you should follow the preferred citation method if possible. Again, citations are a skill that students need to develop over time as it may be the first time students encounter citations as part of essay requirements.

The final stage would be proofreading your essay. This step is absolutely essential to evaluate your essay as a complete whole. Consider whether the narrative is smooth and whether all of your arguments answer the essay title. It is also an opportunity to finalise some small details like grammar, spelling mistakes and formatting problems. 

This is simply a rough overview of the stages I use to prepare for summative essays and surely, you may have some additional steps along the way that you find useful. Nonetheless, if you apply the earlier steps suggested, you will have a basic understanding of how to prepare for a summative essay. Good luck!