When it comes to preparing your application documents, the data mining step is surely a must. You should no more exclude it from the essay-writing process than you would omit to rehearse a piece of music before performing it publicly, or conducting research before writing a dissertation. Yes, it’s that essential.
However, inventorying your own life is a subjective process: stories you consider unexceptional may actually make outstanding essays, and stories that you’re convinced are distinctive and impressive may actually be fairly commonplace. Therefore, at this early stage, the best strategy is to suspend judgment and simply “brain-dump” as much as you can as quickly as you can.
There are many data-mining techniques that might turn out to be helpful at the initial stage of your data research. It is better not to use just a single one of them, but to combine at least 3 or 4 in order to obtain the best results.
1. Recording thoughts or conversations
If you are one of those people who find any kind of writing exercise inhibiting, a voice recorder may enable you to get your thoughts out painlessly. Either record yourself as you extemporize about your life or goals or record a conversation with a friend as he or she probes you with some of the basic questions. Transcribe this recording, and you may find that you have a rough but potentially useful data bank of essay content.
2. Random listing
Instead of shackling your thought to the rules of sentences and paragraphs, first warm up your writing skills by generating simple lists, for instance:
• favorite music
• worst jobs
• greatest accomplishments
• best vacations
• traits that define you
• characteristics your friends admire in you
• most unusual things about your childhood, and so on
Then take these lists a step further by looking for any connections between them. Perhaps your list of defining traits is illustrated by your list of achievements. Maybe certain experiences keep appearing in different lists — an indication they are important or defining for you.
3. Journaling
Nothing will get you into the discipline of writing better than a daily regimen. The operative word here is daily; anything less frequent will prevent you from writing naturally and un-self-consciously. The goal here is to get comfortable with the idea of expressing yourself in words. Pick a time of day when you can write uninterruptedly for 15 to 30 minutes. Record your experiences, victories, complaints from the past day — whatever you want — but do it without fail and without distractions. Avoid the trap of simply recording your comings and goings, however. Make it a practice to close each paragraph by drawing some conclusion or stating its significance.
4. Social media
If it will help you commit to the writing process to post your exercises where anyone and everyone can see them—on the Internet—by all means, go for it. Facebook friends may respond in helpful ways to an anecdote you post. Likewise, tweeting your memory of a defining moment or an idea you have for an essay theme may earn you some interesting feedback. But even if Web posting just gets you in the groove of thinking about your essay’s themes and stories, it will serve a useful purpose. Twitter and other social media may get you into the habit of writing (albeit 140 characters at a time) and earn you feedback on your writing all at the same time.
5. Visual mapping or clustering
Write the four or five themes that constitute your personal brand on separate sheets of paper. Around each of your theme words, begin jotting down whatever events, skills, values, or interests these words suggest to you. Each new term you jot down will suggest other words. Follow them where they lead, and connect each new term with a line back to the related term that prompted it. If you go with the flow here, you may gain insights into what you value most and the inter-connections between your themes. All these may prove useful when you begin writing your essays.
6. Stream-of-consciousness writing
Perhaps the least structured of techniques, stream-of-consciousness or “free” writing simply involves scribbling down whatever comes into your head without stopping, even if it’s nonsense. As odd as this may sound, you’ll find that, for all the useless verbiage you generate, you may also unwittingly produce ideas, phrases, and insights that may actually wind up in your essays. Try to group these ideas, phrases, and insights into related categories. At a minimum, this technique can help you overcome the angst of the empty screen.
If you would like to receive a personalized support in crafting your essays and create a winning application package, you are welcome to review MBA Strategy offers or schedule a free consultation. Good luck!
By Irina Shuvalova
