Scholarship essay contests- Some sponsors make them difficult

The sponsors of scholarship are naturally eager to determine who deserves what they offer. They use scholarship essay contests as the ubiquitous tool.

There are many scholarship essay contests restricted to students of particular schools or colleges.  Corporate entities, trusts and other national or international bodies award scholarships for education anywhere, to students of any school or college.  The contestants span a wider geographic area including the whole world. Naturally such scholarships are very hotly contested.

The contestant should strive for the topmost or the first few slots in the order of merit in a scholarship essay contest to win a scholarship.

Most scholarship essay contests require essays limited to a given number of words, to be submitted before the specified date. The topics are either given or can be selected from a list provided.

There are some good articles here about writing a scholarship essay and about the general techniques to win in an essay writing contest.  This website also contains excellent tips for winning in international essay competitions. Samedayessay.com offers essay writing help and custom essay writing services of impeccable quality at an affordable cost.

The purpose of this article is to point out some offbeat essay requirements in scholarship essay contests, which require extra attention.

Essays based on a book

A dealer in used text books sponsors a scholarship where the contestant should write on a given topic based on a book selected. The contestant is expected to even give the ISBN unique code of the book selected.

Copying from the book is not only futile but can also tantamount to plagiarism. The contestants’ perspective of the book should reflect in the treatment of the topic. Quotations from the book should be strictly in accordance with acknowledged referencing styles like APA, MLA etc.

Descriptive topics

The Lincoln forum annual scholarship essay contests follow this format. The forum provides a title and a brief of the sponsor’s perspective and proceeds to ask certain specific questions. The essay is expected to revolve around the contestants’ answers to these questions.

Freestyle or recommended structures will not work in such essays. There is no scholarship if one does not follow the instructions exactly.

Essays based on a case study

A US Government Department requires such essays.  It provides a  hypothetical real life like case scenario and prompts the contestant to play a specified role.  The contestant should state the assumptions regarding  resources available and follow those assumptions throughout the essay.  The topic is highly descriptive and is based on the scenario.

Arbitrary assumptions will not work and the contestant should do a lot of research about the working of the government department and critical aspects of the issues cited.

Essays based on an available product or service

Many reputed corporate houses conduct such scholarship essay contests. They do not expect mere advertisement copies. The essay should focus on the contestants perspective of the product or service and should contain valuable suggestions for market enlargement.