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By this point, you should have a simple outline that includes:

1. A potential topic

2. 4-7 different examples for your topic

3. At least one value for each example

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, or just want to go back to the examples to refresh your memory, click here.

Assuming you have this, the next question is: What do you need to write a great first draft of a montage essay? I believe a first draft of a montage essay requires three things:

1. A simple, clear opening

2. 4-7 paragraphs with specific examples and values

3. An ending

In a later lesson, I'll walk you through what a great final draft requires. But first things first.

Step 1: Write a simple, clear opening.

Your goal with your first draft isn't necessarily to blow our minds with the most clever opening ever. I say this because lots of students get stuck because they try to do just that. But actually, I think it's best to figure out if the middle of the essay (i.e., the 4-7 paragraphs of examples and values) can work first. And how can you do that if you're waiting for the perfect opening?

So my advice is to remove the mental barrier of writing "the perfect opening" by writing a simple, clear opening that will serve as a placeholder. (Keep in mind you can always come back and edit this later once you know the essay topic as a whole can work.)

Here are some examples of clear openings for "Career" essays:

• "As a kid I was always curious. I was unafraid to ask questions and didn't worry how dumb they would make me sound."

• "As a little girl, I wanted to know everything. More specifically, I wanted to try everything."

One option is to begin your essay by simply leading into an example of one of the qualities that will serve you in your career. If you start by naming the value (like the students above do), you'll likely want to follow up with a specific example or two.

Another option for your opening might be to describe an early or formative experience that led to you choosing your future career.

Here's an example from a prospective business major:

I'll never forget the feeling of my first eBay sale: an old Honeywell thermostat for twelve dollars. After that came a bulky fifty disc CD player, used grill parts, and other items I still don't know why my parents felt the need to store while we lived in Singapore for 12 years.

Here's an example from a prospective engineering major:

As a young child, I was obsessed with flying. I spent hours watching birds fly, noting how the angle of their wings affected the trajectory of their flight. I would then waste tons of fresh printer paper, much to the dismay of my parents, to test out various wing types by constructing paper airplanes.

There are, of course, many other ways to start an essay, a few of which I'll discuss more in the "Ideas for Your Opening" lesson. For right now, though, I want you to keep it simple.

So ask yourself now: How can I lead the reader into my topic in a clear way?

[action_item]

Action Item (2 min): Write a placeholder opening.

It could be as simple as, "As a kid, I loved [then name it]." And boom, we're into the essay. Again, your goal isn't to wow us on this first draft; it's to remove the obstacle of the opening so we can get into writing the examples to see if they'll work.

[And, if you're a perfectionist like me and want to remind yourself to come back and change the opening, you can put your placeholder opening in brackets, like this.]

Step 2: Bring your 4-7 examples to life.

This part is what my friend Mignon Fogarty (a.k.a. Grammar Girl) calls The Meaty Middle. It's really the make-or-break part of your essay. If this part doesn't work, consider brainstorming another topic.

Take a look at your examples---you're about to expand on them a little so you can turn them into paragraphs for your essay. And let's use the "Endodontics" essay as a model, since you've read that one. The values and examples the author chose were:

• Curiosity → asking questions

• Meticulousness → designing shoes

• Dexterity (i.e., good with his hands) → taking apart phones

• Creativity → working on cars

• Intellectual vitality → studying math

• Desire to help others → math tutoring

For each of your examples, you'll write down 2-3 details that might help illustrate the value or quality you want to show. Here's how that author did it:

• Curiosity → asking questions

  • Ex: " I was unafraid to ask questions and didn't worry how dumb they would make me sound. ... Should I paint the oven black to absorb more heat? What about its shape?"

• Meticulousness → designing shoes

  • Ex: "A few years later I designed my first pair of shoes, working for hours to perfect each detail, including whether the laces should be mineral white or diamond white."

• Dexterity (i.e. good with his hands) → taking apart phones

  • Ex: "In high school I moved on to more advanced projects, teaching myself how to take apart, repair, and customize cell phones ... adjusting the flex cords that connect the IPS LCD to the iPhone motherboard, or replacing the vibrator motor ..."

• Creativity → working on cars

  • Ex: "Many nights you'll find me in the garage replacing standard chrome trim with an elegant piano black finish or changing the threads on the stitching of the seats to add a personal touch, as I believe a few small changes can transform a generic product into a personalized work of art."

• Intellectual vitality → studying math

  • Ex: "I'm the math geek who marvels at the fundamental theorems of Calculus, or who sees beauty in A=(s(s-a)(s-b)(s-c))^(1/2)."

• Desire to help others → math tutoring

  • Ex: "I also love sharing this appreciation with others and have taken it upon myself to personally eradicate mathonumophobiconfundosis, my Calculus teacher's term for 'extreme fear of Math.'"

[action_item]

Action Item (10-15 min): Brainstorm 2-3 details for each example.

This may take more than 10-15 minutes. If so, that's okay.

Here are two tips as you brainstorm your content:

1. Use specific, visual examples to show your values. Example: "I like to make things" is vague on its own. But note how the author of the "Magic" essay expands with specifics: "I also invent to make people happy. Cooking three course meals is my way of spending uninterrupted time with my parents. When we have cause for celebration, I grill veggie burgers topped with my signature sriracha-sour cream sauce. When we want to relax, I whip up fluffy scrambled eggs on sourdough bread with veggie turkey. Food, like magic, is my offering to my community." These details help us see how he "invent[s] to make people happy." In short, he shows us.

2. Can you provide a few examples instead of just one? Example: "Details are my thing" is okay, but without an example (or three), we don't quite know what you mean. In the "Endodontics" essay, for example, after the author tells us he used to obsess over the smallest details, he follows up with not one but several examples of questions he'd ask: "Should I paint the oven black to absorb more heat? What about its shape? A spherical shape would allow for more volume, but would it trap heat as well as conventional rectangular ovens? Even then I was obsessed with the details of design." It's not a bad idea to brainstorm multiple examples, even if ultimately you only end up including one in your paragraph.

Step 3: Write an ending.

Remember: It doesn't even have to be a good ending right now; it just has to be an ending. Again, your goal on this first draft is not to write the most mind-blowing conclusion ever; you simply want to land the plane. Your ending could be as simple as, for example, ["Each of these experiences has shaped me into the person I am today."] That's super cheesy, so you'd for sure want to put that in brackets and edit it later, but it would get the job done and get you to the next step.