Essay Writing with Kashif

How to Check if Your Thesis Statement is Workable?

I had developed this guide for my students in online class, along with various other tools that I gave them.

But I thought to share this with everyone since I believe it’s one of the most important of all my tools.

Let me know what you think.

Regards.

Here is a task for you all.

Essay: Dynastic Politics is the Worst Mockery of Democracy. (CSS 2025)

Task:

A) Identify what genre is this topic.
B) What could be the thesis statement?
C) What angles would you cover?

Let’s see who gets this right.

So I prepared a lecture for my last class on Thesis Statement for the September batch of my students, and then turned it into this small guide for everyone’s benefit.

I know it’s not as detailed as my class, but due to paucity of time and space, I could write only this much.

Please enjoy reading and share with others.

If you have any questions about it, do let me know.

Regards

PS. Next batch starts from 22nd September.

In my last class, I gave a topic to them for writing their essays.

The topic was:

Gender Equality and National Development: Role of Women’s Inclusion in Achieving SDGs in Pakistan

What do you think would be the most difficult task in this essay?

Let me know in the comments?

How to Write an Outline for Essay: Revised and Made Simple

Please see the question attached below. One of the followers asked this question in my inbox.

Here is my answer:

So, there are benefits as well as limitations of both the approaches.

If you dedicate separate time for building content, you will definitely imbibe a lot of information. But then, you’d obviously face the time constraint since you have to prepare for other subjects too.

On the contrary, if you relied only on your subjects, you’d save a lot of time but your information related to any topic would be limited. Your compulsory and optional subjects might not cover several topics in detail. Although there would be some information here and there, but you wouldn’t have deeper insights into that.

So what’s the best strategy for that?

I tell my students to mix both approaches. I ask them to take out a few hot topics, and dedicate some special time for those. Obviously, there would be an overlap between those topics and current affairs, so you’d do two things in one go. One, you’d prepare your essays and two, your current affairs topics will also be covered comprehensively.

A word of advice, though. Don’t waste too much time on too many topics. Just stay focused and narrow down the list. You should be able to manage it easily.

I hope I answered your question.

Regards.

A question in my inbox. Answering this so that all of you can get the answer.

Q: What type of language should I use in my essays?

A: Many of the students I have mentored overcompensate for insecurity by stuffing their essays with complex words and ornamental language. They believe that writing flowery and archaic language “proves” that they are strong writers. Ironically, the opposite happens. Rather, it makes the essay feel artificial, and the examiner loses trust.

So what should we do? See, courage is not hiding behind heavy words. Courage is writing with simplicity and clarity. In my opinion, a simple, precise sentence is far more powerful than a decorative one that conveys nothing. Examiners are not impressed by confusion; they are impressed by conviction.

Once my students understand and accept this after the rigorous writing exercises I give them, they start feeling relaxed. They stop fearing that plain language makes them look weak. They realize that true strength in essay writing is clarity, and clarity almost always comes from practice.

Weightless Paragraphs? 😱

One student asked me a question in yesterday lecture:

Question: I feel like my paragraphs are empty, and feel like carrying no weight. So, what is the requirement of paragraphs? Tell us something unconventional.

It was a hard question, but here is how I answered. Let me know if you think it’s the right approach.

My Answer:

Fear of writing often grows when students feel their essays “go nowhere.” The reason? Their paragraphs lack purpose. They meander, touching on too many ideas, and eventually lose track of the argument.

The cure is simple: one paragraph = one idea. State it clearly at the start, support it with reasoning and examples, then connect it back to the thesis. That’s it. A paragraph is not a playground for random thoughts; rather, it is a container for one clear argument.

If you learnt this technique, suddenly you would feel in control. You would no longer fear “rambling.” You’d know each paragraph is a step forward, not a circle. In this way, fear of weightlessness in your paragraphs will turn into confidence when structure becomes habit.

Question and Answer Session:

Today’s theme of Questions: What part of essay writing process do you find the most difficult?

Only one question, specifically asked, and no follow up questions. Also read the questions asked by others, may be someone has already asked that question, or I might have already answered your question.

Let me know. I’ll try to help.

Do you dread the first line? Here is the way to overcome this fear.

From Friday’s class. You can put your questions in comments, I’ll try to answer in the evening.