essay by jordan peterson

Essay Writing Guide

Jordan b. peterson.

First published January 1, 2014

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The primary reason to write an essay is so that the writer can formulate and organize an informed, coherent and sophisticated set of ideas about something important

An essay, like any piece of writing, exists at multiple levels of resolution, simultaneously. First is the selection of the word. Second is the crafting of the sentence. Each word should be precisely the right word, in the right location in each sentence. The sentence itself should present a thought, part of the idea expressed in the paragraph, in a grammatically correct manner. Each sentence should be properly arranged and sequenced inside a paragraph, the third level of resolution. As a rule of thumb, a paragraph should be made up of at least 10 sentences or 100 words. This might be regarded as a stupid rule, because it is arbitrary. However, you should let it guide you, until you know better. You have very little right to break the rules, until you have mastered them. All of the paragraphs have to be arranged in a logical progression, from the beginning of the essay to the end. This is the fourth level of resolution. Perhaps the most important step in writing an essay is getting the paragraphs in proper order. Each of them is a stepping stone to your essay’s final destination. The fifth level of resolution is the essay, as a whole. Every element of an essay can be correct, each word, sentence, and paragraph – even the paragraph order – and the essay can still fail, because it is just not interesting or important. It is very hard for competent but uninspired writers to understand this kind of failure, because a critic cannot merely point it out. There is no answer to their question, “exactly where did I make a mistake?” Such an essay is just not good. An essay without originality or creativity might fall into this category. Sometimes a creative person, who is not technically proficient as a writer, can make the opposite mistake: their word choice is poor, their sentences badly constructed and poorly organized within their paragraphs, their paragraphs in no intelligible relationship to one another – and yet the essay as a whole can succeed, because there are valuable thoughts trapped within it, wishing desperately to find expression. Additional levels You might think that there could not possibly be anything more to an essay than these five levels of resolution or analysis, but you would be wrong. This is something that was first noticed, perhaps, by those otherwise entirely reprehensible and destructive scholars known as postmodernists. An essay necessarily exists within a context of interpretation, made up of the reader (level six), and the culture that the reader is embedded in (level seven), which is made up in part of the assumptions that he or she will bring to the essay. Levels six and seven have deep roots in biology and culture. You might think, “Why do I need to know this?” but if you don’t you are not considering your audience, and that’s a mistake. Part of the purpose of the essay is to set your mind straight, but the other part, equally important, is to communicate with an audience. For the essay to succeed, brilliantly, it has to work at all of these levels of resolution simultaneously. That is very difficult, but it is in that difficulty that the value of the act of writing exists.

When you write your first draft, it should be longer than the final version. This is so that you have some extra writing to throw away. You want to have something to throw away after the first draft so that you only have to keep what is good. It is NOT faster to try to write exactly as many words as you need when you first sit down to write. Trying to do so merely makes you too aware of what you are writing. This concern will slow you down. Aim at producing a first draft that is 25% longer than the final draft is supposed to be.

A thousand-word essay requires a ten-sentence outline. However, the fundamental outline of an essay should not get much longer than fifteen sentences, even if the essay is several thousand words or more in length. This is because it is difficult to keep an argument of more than that length in mind at one time so that you can assess the quality of its structure. So, write a ten to fifteen sentence outline of your essay, and if it is longer than a thousand words, then make suboutlines for each primary outline sentence.

Here is an example of a good longer outline (for a three thousand word essay): • Topic: What is capitalism? • How has capitalism been defined? o Author 1 o Author 2 o Author 3 • Where and when did capitalism develop? o Country 1 o Country 2 • How did capitalism develop in the first 50 years after its origin? o How did capitalism develop in the second 50 years after its origin? o (Repeat as necessary) • Historical precursors? o (choose as many centuries as necessary) • Advantages of capitalism? o Wealth generation o Technological advancement o Personal freedom • Disadvantages of capitalism? o Unequal distributiono Pollution and other externalized costs • Alternatives to capitalism? o Fascism o Communism • Consequences of these alternatives? • Potential future developments? • Conclusion

So, now you have your outline. Now, write ten to fifteen sentences per outline heading to complete your paragraph. You may find it helpful to add additional subdivisions to your outline, and to work back and forth between the outline and the sentences, editing both. Use your notes, as well. Use single spacing at this point, so that you can see more writing on the paper at once. You will format your essay properly later. Don’t worry too much about how well you are writing at this point. It is also best at this point not to worry too much about the niceties of sentence structure and grammar. That is all best left for the second major step, which is editing.

Copy the first paragraph of your first draft, Now, place each sentence on its own line. Now, write another version of each sentence, under each sentence. Read each sentence aloud, and listen to how it sounds. If it’s awkward, see if you can say it a different, better way. Listen to what you said, and then write it down. Rewrite each sentence. Once you have done this with all the sentences, read the old versions and the new versions, and replace the old with the new if the new is better. Then copy the new paragraph.

So now you should have produced a pretty decent second draft. You have identified the appropriate sources, written the proper notes, outlined your argument, roughed in a first draft (paragraph by paragraph), rewritten your sentences to make them more elegant, and re-ordered those sentences, as well as the paragraphs themselves. This is much farther than most writers ever get. You may even think you’re finished – but you’re not. The next step will take you from a “B” essay to an “A” essay. It may even help you write something that is better than you have ever produced (better meaning richer in information, precise, coherent, elegant and beautiful). Copy what you have written so far here: Read it. Then go to the next page. This part of the process will probably strike you as unnecessary, or annoying, or both, but what do you know? This is the step that separates the men from the boys, or the women from the boys, or the men from the girls, or whatever version of this saying is acceptably non-sexist and politically correct.You have just finished reading your essay. Try now to write a new outline of ten to fifteen sentences. Don’t look back at your essay while you are doing this. If you have to, go back and re-read the whole thing, and then return to this page, but don’t look at your essay while you are rewriting the outline. If you force yourself to reconstruct your argument from memory, you will likely improve it. Generally, when you remember something, you simplify it, while retaining most of what is important. Thus, your memory can serve as a filter, removing what is useless and preserving and organizing what is vital. What you are doing now is distilling what you have written to its essence.

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Jordan Peterson’s 10-step process for stronger writing

Clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson poses during a photo shoot in Sydney, New South Wales. (Photo by Hollie Adams / Newspix / Getty Images)

• The best way to improve your thinking is to learn how to write, says Jordan Peterson.
• His 10-step process for writing an essay is time consuming, but the benefits are worth it.
• From the granular to the macro, every facet of writing a solid essay is covered in his template.

Becoming a better writer is a means for becoming a better thinker, says Canadian professor Jordan Peterson . Arranging your thoughts on a page in a coherent fashion organizes your thinking process so you can better understand it, which translates into efficiently communicating your ideas to others. Just as Marie Kondo inspires fans to declutter their homes in order to transform their emotional and mental life, Jordan Peterson’s 10-step essay writing template is a way of empowering you to achieve mental clarity.

1. Introduction

The introductory step qualifies the importance of essay writing. Peterson summarizes:

“The primary reason to write an essay is so that the writer can formulate and organize an informed, coherent and sophisticated set of ideas about something important.”

Actions based on thinking through consequences are more productive and less painful than those based on ignorance. Peterson believes in no better means for living an effective life than writing, which forces you to confront inconsistencies, paradoxes, and novel ideas. By rejecting substandard notions uncovered by your essays, you can choose to take action on those that matter most. Organizing your thoughts verbally, he concludes, allows you to think abstractly, granting access to higher-order cognitive processes.

2. Levels of Resolution

First, select a word; then craft a sentence; finally, sequence sentences inside of a paragraph. Peterson suggests that each paragraph consist of at least 10 sentences or 100 words. Over time such numbers are arbitrary. In literature, José Saramago’s sentences run thousands of words while Philip Roth’s later novels include numerous single-sentence paragraphs. Learn form before mastering it, Peterson writes. Strict adherence to structure is helpful.

“Rules are there for a reason. You are only allowed to break them if you are a master. If you’re not a master, don’t confuse your ignorance with creativity or style. Writing that follows the rules is easier for readers, because they know roughly what to expect. So rules are conventions.”

The final two levels of resolution are arranging the paragraphs in a logical progression (with each paragraph presenting a single idea) and understanding the essay as a whole. Creative people sometimes miss the mark by failing to organize their thoughts in a clear manner. Successful essays generally achieve these five levels, from the granular to the macro. Brevity and beauty can be achieved using this guideline, reminiscent of V.S. Naipaul’s rules for writing .

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Jordan Peterson on how to improve your writing

3. the topic and the reading list.

Choosing a topic occurs in one of two ways: you’re assigned it (remember, this guide is for Peterson’s students) or you can list 10 topics that you’re interested in exploring and choose one. The next step is to pick your reading list for researching the topic. Peterson suggests five to 10 books per thousand words of essay. He eschews highlighting books; instead, take notes. There is evidence that writing down (and not typing) information is the best way to remember information.

4. The Outline

Peterson calls this step “the most difficult part of writing an essay.” Also, “it’s not optional.” This step is why I love the word-processing program Scrivener — my outline lives on the left side as I work on longer articles and books. Any outline could shift and transform as you research and write the essay, so being able to constantly reference the skeleton you create is the surest path to success.

5. Paragraphs

One of the hardest pieces of advice to convey to new writers is to just write . Writer’s block doesn’t exist when you’re disciplined. Malcolm Gladwell discusses this point on Tim Ferriss’s podcast. Gladwell spent a decade in the Washington Post newsroom; reporters don’t have the luxury of writer’s block. The first draft is effectively thinking on the page. Success occurs during the editing process, which is why Peterson recommends not worrying about the quality of your work during the paragraph process. Just get the words onto the page. Peterson continues,

“Production (the first major step) and editing (the second) are different functions, and should be treated that way. This is because each interferes with the other. The purpose of production is to produce. The function of editing is to reduce and arrange.”

6. Editing and Arranging of Sentences Within Paragraphs

Once the first draft is complete, Peterson forces you to confront yourself by asking that you rewrite every sentence in a different manner. Then compare the two drafts by reading them aloud. Hearing yourself speak your own words not only causes you to listen to the music of your words, it also helps you understand what is being communicated to the reader. This step also helps you eliminate redundancies and master conciseness.

Jordan Peterson on the Power of Writing

7. re-ordering the paragraphs.

By this stage you’re examining the fluidity of the content in service of the essay as a whole. Just as you examined each individual sentence, now you look at their service to the meaning of each paragraph. From there, you investigate how the jigsaw pieces fit together to construct the puzzle.

8. Generating a New Outline

Many writers believe they’re done once the second draft is tight. Peterson disagrees. After you’ve read through the latter draft, he recommends writing yet another outline. Importantly, do not look back at the essay while doing so. This Jedi mind trick on yourself has utility; you’re making yourself remember what’s most important about the argument you’ve constructed. This will help you eliminate repetitive or unnecessary arguments as well as strengthen the most pertinent points.

“If you force yourself to reconstruct your argument from memory, you will likely improve it. Generally, when you remember something, you simplify it, while retaining most of what is important. Thus, your memory can serve as a filter, removing what is useless and preserving and organizing what is vital. What you are doing now is distilling what you have written to its essence.”

After a few days, if you “really want to take it to the next level,” return to your latest draft to investigate every sentence, every paragraph, and the outline. The space of days will separate what you think you wrote from what you actually wrote. In a more toned-down version of this, I write a draft of every article, edit it at least twice, yet never publish until the next morning. That way I have allowed a night of sleep to pass before blasting it into cyberspace. My favorite time to do this is between 5–7 a.m., after the cats are fed and the caffeine is circulating.

10. References and Bibliography

Peterson saves citations for last. Of course, you’ve been saving your sources as you collect information — another great feature in Scrivener. Citing sources also offers one last opportunity to read the quality of the work and ensure that you’ve properly captured the information you’ve collected. With that, your essay is complete.

Stay in touch with Derek on Twitter and Facebook .

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Essay Writing Guide By Dr. Jordan Peterson

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Articles, advice and tutorials from the Essay team

How to write with Essay

How to use the advanced features of Essay

A collection of articles to help a writer follow Dr. Jordan B Peterson's essay writing process using essay.app

Reviewing Jordan Peterson’s Essay Application

“essay” could help level up your writing skills..

ILLUMINATION

Believe and say what you want about Jordan Peterson. This review of “Essay” will omit any personal opinions about him. I aim to objectively appraise “Essay” and its utility without letting politics cloud the product’s value. I will say only one thing about Peterson in this review. He has always stressed the need for people to learn how to write well. In Peterson’s writing guide , he states:

If you want to have a life characterized by competence, productivity, security, originality and engagement rather than one that is nasty, brutish and short, you need to think carefully about important issues. There is no better way to do so than to write. This is because writing extends your memory, facilitates editing and clarifies your thinking.

I’m a paying customer of what “Essay” calls the beta version, and I’ve used it to compose a few essays. So, I thought it might be helpful to share my experience thus far and do my best to summarize the highs and lows of “Essay.”

What is Essay?

Years ago, Peterson wrote a practical “ Essay writing guide ” for his students. The Essay web application aims to extract the main concepts of the writing guide into an intuitive format that will make it easy to apply the writing guide as you formulate your essays. While Jordan Peterson’s writing guide is the model for the application, Essay’s software has been built by a team led by Peterson’s son, Julian. So, users can trust Essay to stay true to the vision of Peterson’s writing guide as the system continues to grow.

How to use it —

Go to Essay . Upon arrival to Essay, you’ll notice the UI is clean and straightforward. The dashboard view includes a table view listing all of your essays. The dashboard table comes standard with an article titled “Tutorial • Learn to use Essay” that cannot be deleted. It is helpful at this point to read the tutorial and Peterson’s writing guide before starting your Essay. The simplicity of the application is a feature and can be misinterpreted if you do not understand the overarching concept of the application. It would be best if you appreciated Peterson’s Essay writing philosophy to get the most out of Essay.

The application comes with four main tools, and each of these functions corresponds with Peterson’s writing guide; these tools are as follows:

The “Outline” tool is designed to start the essay writing process. According to the writing guide, writers should develop a central “topic question” and a list of questions they will need to answer about the main topic question to write a comprehensive essay.

The Outline tool gives you a friendly and simple interface for creating the outline of questions that will be assigned by color and allow you to see them organized in the sidebar and the central section, which is your essay.

Building a comprehensive outline is critical to writing an excellent essay. The outline tool does a great job of taking mental and structural organization off your plate and allowing you to focus on writing.

The “Produce” tool allows the writer an unobstructed view of their project without bells and whistles to distract them from producing content. When you initiate the “Produce” tool, the sidebar and organizational color will be removed, and the view will be cleared for the writer’s focus. The produce tool should be used after a comprehensive outline is already created.

In my estimation, the “Rewrite” tool is handy but takes complete dedication to the process to utilize effectively. When the “Rewrite” tool is initiated, it will automatically duplicate each sentence of your essay in the sidebar. This function allows you to rewrite each sentence as often as you would like until you are happy with the result. You can pick between each rewritten sentence, and it will automatically place it within your essay to read along with the rest of the paragraph.

According to Peterson’s writing guide, rewriting is a powerful tool and an essential step in the process, but how do you know when you’ve rewritten enough to be finished? That is a good question, and Peterson addresses it well. Rewrite until you are confident that each rewritten sentence does not improve with each iteration. Continue to improve the sentence repeatedly until you are convinced you can enhance it no further. That sounded arduous to me, but once I attempted an earnest, it was well worth the effort.

The “Reorder” tool allows you to visualize each sentence in the sidebar and reorder it to its most appropriate position in the paragraph. “Reorder” can be used to test out new structures to ensure that every arrangement of your section can be considered thoroughly and efficiently.

Pros & Cons

1. Simple and straightforward design that will allow for optimal focus.

2. Following Peterson’s writing guide closely, this application will undoubtedly improve the overall quality of your work.

3. Quick and easy navigation from one tool to another.

4. Price — Extremely useful tool when implemented properly for $6 a month

1. Organization of projects is lacking.

2. No sharing or communication from user to user.

3. No support for embedded images. I understand that essays do not include pictures, but for blog writing, it would be helpful if the system supported images.

Addressing Possible Improvements

Organization of projects —.

This is a view of the “Dashboard” — It’s practical and looks nice, but lacks organization. I write essays for philosophy, history, psychology, and sports. A hierarchical folder structure for projects would significantly improve usability from an organizational standpoint.

Adding a social component is no small update, I understand, but having the option to share work with friends for help editing would be an awesome upgrade to the system. Not to mention allowing for the posting of essays to the system would be great.

Essay is technically in beta. So, who knows what plans they have for the application in the future? I expect many more exciting updates.

“Essay” is only in its infancy, and its usefulness is already clear and present. If users study the writing guide provided by Jordan Peterson and apply the rules while writing their essays, Essay could become an essential tool for their writing process. I hope the Essay continues to grow and become more widely adopted, as I believe it has room to improve and become even more helpful in the future.

I recommend the usage of Essay to any dedicated writer for at least a trial attempt. It could become an essential tool for you as Essay now has become one for me.

References:

Writing guide:.

https://jordanbpeterson.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Essay_Writing_Guide.docx

Written by Cam Bass

Reading/Writing about Tech, Culture, Politics, Sports, and Book Reviews. I'm interested. cambass.com

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Dr. Jordan B. Peterson is a renowned psychologist, author, and online educator. His bestselling books, including “12 Rules for Life” and “Beyond Order,” have sold millions of copies worldwide. Dr. Peterson’s lectures and podcasts consistently attract large audiences, providing valuable insights into topics such as mythology, psychology, and personal development.

He has taught at prestigious universities, published numerous scientific papers, and developed online programs that help individuals explore their personalities and improve their lives. With a diverse background and adventurous spirit, Dr. Peterson has engaged in various activities and occupations, bringing a wealth of experiences to his work. His influential presence extends across social media platforms, and he continues to make significant contributions to the field of psychology and personal growth… (read more)

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