How to Write an EssayWhat is the purpose of the article? See if you can write at length about certain topics, in a focused and sustained way. Focused: Don't ramble ramblingly about "everything I know about X," but discuss a specific topic or group of related topics in an integrated way. Supported: following some clear and thorough lines of argument (e.g. arguing not just objections but objections to objections). This still leaves options. You could go “vertically” and dig deeper into a particular issue; or you could go "horizontally" and worry about making connections and showing how different parts of the philosophical landscape fit together - or a bit of both. But whichever way you go, you should aim for a clearly structured story and some concrete arguments.'But typical one-word questions like "Necessity" or "Skepticism" or "Justice" aren't very focused!'True. But they are intended as invitations to write about some specific topic that fits under the one-word heading. What the Faculty Manual says about Essays and Extended Dissertations also applies in this case. “The candidate actually asks his own question [in a given area], and is expected to define this question and then write about it, not about his general philosophical environment.” To emphasize this once again, you cannot construct a good extended essay simply by collecting many points on a topic and making them one after the other. They need to be organized into an argument in favor of a particular conclusion, which you have specified as an objective.'How much should I aim to write?'Quite a bit! If your essay is just longer than a typical answer to a single question on one of the other articles, it is almost certainly too short. (Of course, you might be a Gettier, about to make an important new point in a couple of pages - but, again, probably not...!) On the other hand, you might well write a little less overall than in other three-hour term papers, because you need to spend a little more time reflecting and planning your work. Don't just dive in: plan your response very carefully. And certainly, you should avoid filling your answer with material irrelevant to your main essay (that way, you may end up with lower grades than if you had stopped earlier).'It's a lottery. How can I expect to predict questions??