A common question in the minds of many students, budding professionals, and people wishing to learn academic writing is: how much do I need to know to write an essay, post, or story on a given subject or topic? The concern of how much to know to write or “know how much to write” often becomes real when you are required to write an essay or research paper on topic, concept, or subject that you may not have even heard of. For people engaged in creative writing, their concern about how much knowledge to write may stem from their need to create a narrative or picture in the mind of the reader that is more realistic and not too far-fetched. In this article, we focus on answering the question: How much knowledge do you have to have to write? In other articles, you can learn the important essay writing rules and essential skills for essay writing.
The Amount of Knowledge Required for Essay Writing
If you are a college student and your assignment requires you to write an essay on a topic, subject, or concept that you have almost no knowledge on, you may be tempted to think that your lecturer or professor gave the assignment by mistake. This is especially the case if you were expecting your lecturer or professor to teach you something first and thereafter assess you on what they have taught, and not the other way round. There is no doubt that experiencing a situation in which you have to write an essay, story, or content on a topic or subject that you have little or no information or knowledge on can be quite frustrating and a cause for anxiety. If you are facing such a situation and are wondering how much knowledge you need to have for essay writing, be sure you are not alone. You have a genuine concern.
Will I be able to write an essay on a subject or topic that I do not have prior or adequate knowledge in? The answer to how much knowledge is required for essay writing depends on three main factors; the level of complexity of the essay, the type of essay you are writing, and the circumstances under which you are writing the essay. However, before focusing on the three main factors, is there is a simple yes or no answer to the question?
To answer this question, consider this situation: Everyday newspapers and radio and television stations report news that their representatives or journalists did not personally gather on the ground. A newspaper in Kenya may, for example, report in depth about a terrorist attack that has occurred in the U.S. or the destruction caused by a massive earthquake in Haiti without having a journalist in the location where the event has taken place. What the journalists working with the media house will typically do is search what other media houses and people are reporting about the event, and based on these, come up with their own news article on the story. They can search for relevant information on the Internet, social media, or any other relevant source. It is, however, important that the journalists draw their information from credible sources or verify the accuracy of the information they get from the other (secondary) sources. As a reader or viewer of the news article/ item, you will probably not realise that the media house had no journalist(s) on the ground to capture the news first hand. From this illustration, you realise that the journalist in Kenya writing or reporting on an event that occurred in the US or Haiti did not have prior or first-hand knowledge of what happened. He or she is relying on what others have stated, written, or reported about the event.
Academic writing involves researching (reading what other people have written, professional thoughts and opinions, and facts) and then coming up with content based on what you have read and learnt. Since a lot of what you will write in an academic essay is based on the information you get from your research, you need not have prior knowledge, information or training on a subject to write a research paper or essay on it. This implies that you need not to have undertaken a course in psychology, for example, to write an essay or research paper on a topic in psychology. Similarly, you don’t necessarily need to have attended law classes to answer a question in law. You can be a mechanical engineer by training and yet be able to write an excellent essay on a topic in business, psychology, biology, or strategic management – subjects not directly related to engineering. What you need to do in this case is read what other people (especially experts or scholars) have written or are saying on the subject, digest this information and come up with relevant content for your essay.
Likewise, you may not need to be a subject expert to write an excellent blog post or marketing copy. In any case, majority of bloggers and content creators are not experts in the field they are writing on. You simply need to read extensively what others have written on the subject or product, understand the main issues, and come up with your own content.
In the college and university setting, it is common for students to be required to write on a topic or subject they have not been taught on. This is because they are actually expected to engage in research, which is part of the process of building their knowledge and developing into a well moulded professional. Lecturers and professors understand that one way of ensuring that you engage in own learning is by subjecting you to a situation where you have to accomplish a task that you have to start from a point of not knowing. From this point, the way to know is to research about the subject by finding relevant sources, evaluating the sources, and getting the information that will allow you to write your essay.
Learn what to write in any essay.
Complexity, Essay Type, and Situation
Although it is very possible to write an excellent academic essay, blog post, or marketing copy without any prior knowledge on a given topic or subject, this may not always be the case. There are some subjects or topics that you may not be able to effectively write on without some relevant background education or knowledge. For example, if you have no background knowledge in solid mechanics, you may not be able to effectively write an essay on bending stress analysis especially where calculations are involved as part of the essay. Likewise, if you have no background knowledge about hypotheses and hypothesis testing, you may not be able to handle an essay that requires you to develop and test your own hypotheses on an issue. These two examples indicate that the level of complexity of your essay topic or subject dictates “how much knowledge to write essay”.
While personal reflections, descriptive essays, and narrative essays are relatively easy to write and may not require high level of know how to write, other types such as dissertations and systematic reviews are complex and require a high “level of know to write”. With regard to the circumstances under which you are writing an essay, factors such as the deadline that you have and whether or not you can refer to external sources dictate how much you need to know to write an essay. If you have an extremely short deadline and are not allowed to consult other sources, such as in an examination environment, you really need to have a considerable amount of background knowledge to write a quality essay on the given subject. On the other hand, if you are not constrained by time and are allowed to refer to other sources, such as when writing an ordinary research paper or term paper, you don’t really need to have a lot of background information on the topic or subject. This is because in the latter case, you have the opportunity to research and gain as much knowledge as is relevant during the essay writing process.
Summary
If you’re asking, “How much knowledge do I need to write an essay?” or “How much do I need to know to write well?”— the answer is, it depends. In many cases, you don’t really need to have any background knowledge on the subject, topic, or course to write a great essay. You can start from a point of not knowing anything at all on the subject and end up with an absolutely amazing essay or piece. What you need to do is engage in extensive research to learn about the subject you want to write on. That said, the amount of knowledge required for essay writing often depends on the topic’s complexity, the essay type, and the circumstances under which you are writing the essay. A more detailed piece will need extensive research, while a personal reflection might rely more on your personal experience and insights. But remember, you don’t need to be an expert to write an essay—you just need a solid grasp of the main points and some supporting details to bring your ideas to life.
Do you wish to learn academic writing for free? Read this article for an introduction to academic writing. Here are the important essay writing rules and essential skills for essay writing.