plan of development essay example

How to plan an essay: Essay Planning

• What's in this guide
• Essay Planning
• Additional resources

How to plan an essay

Essay planning is an important step in academic essay writing.

Proper planning helps you write your essay faster, and focus more on the exact question.  As you draft and write your essay, record any changes on the plan as well as in the essay itself, so they develop side by side.

One way to start planning an essay is with a ‘box plan’.

First, decide how many stages you want in your argument – how many important points do you want to make? Then, divide a box into an introduction + one paragraph for each stage + a conclusion.

Next, figure out how many words per paragraph you'll need.

Usually, the introduction and conclusion are each about 10% of the word count. This leaves about 80% of the word count for the body - for your real argument. Find how many words that is, and divide it by the number of body paragraphs you want. That tells you about how many words each paragraph can have.

Remember, each body paragraph discusses one main point, so make sure each paragraph's long enough to discuss the point properly (flexible, but usually at least 150 words).

For example, say the assignment is

Fill in the table as follows:

Next, record each paragraph's main argument, as either a heading or  topic sentence (a sentence to start that paragraph, to immediately make its point clear).

Finally, use dot points to list useful information or ideas from your research notes for each paragraph. Remember to include references so you can connect each point to your reading.

The other useful document for essay planning is the marking rubric .

This indicates what the lecturer is looking for, and helps you make sure all the necessary elements are there.

Pathways and Academic Learning Support

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7 Steps for Writing an Essay Plan

Have you ever started writing an essay then realized you have run out of ideas to talk about?

This can make you feel deflated and you start to hate your essay!

The best way to avoid this mid-essay disaster is to plan ahead: you need to write an Essay Plan!

Essay planning is one of the most important skills I teach my students. When I have one-to-one tutorials with my students, I always send them off with an essay plan and clear goals about what to write.

Essay Planning isn’t as dull as you think. In fact, it really does only take a short amount of time and can make you feel oh so relieved that you know what you’re doing!

Here’s my 7-Step method that I encourage you to use for your next essay:

The 7-Step Guide on How to write an Essay Plan

• Figure out your Essay Topic (5 minutes)
• Gather your Sources and take Quick Notes (20 minutes)
• Brainstorm using a Mind-Map (10 minutes)
• Arrange your Topics (2 minutes)
• Write your topic Sentences (5 minutes)
• Write a No-Pressure Draft in 3 Hours (3 hours)
• Edit your Draft Once every Few Days until Submission (30 minutes)

I’ve been using this 7-Step essay planning strategy since I was in my undergraduate degree. Now, I’ve completed a PhD and written over 20 academic journal articles and dozens of blog posts using this method – and it still works!

Let’s go through my 7 steps for how to write an essay plan.

Prefer to Watch than Read? Here’s our video on writing an Essay Plan.

how to write an essay plan

1. figure out your essay topic. here’s how..

Where did your teacher provide you with your assessment details?

Find it. This is where you begin.

Now, far, far, far too many students end up writing essays that aren’t relevant to the essay question given to you by your teacher. So print out your essay question and any other advice or guidelines provided by your teacher.

Here’s some things that your assessment details page might include:

• The essay question;
• The marking criteria;
• Suggested sources to read;
• Some background information on the topic

The essay question is really important. Once you’ve printed it I want you to do one thing:

Highlight the key phrases in the essay question.

Here’s some essay questions and the key phrases you’d want to highlight:

This strategy helps you to hone in on exactly what you want to talk about. These are the key phrases you’re going to use frequently in your writing and use when you look for sources to cite in your essay!

The other top thing to look at is the marking criteria. Some teachers don’t provide this, but if they do then make sure you pay attention to the marking criteria !

Here’s an example of a marking criteria sheet:

Sample Essay Topic: Is Climate Change the Greatest Moral Challenge of our Generation?

Now, if you have a marking criteria you really need to pay attention to this. You have to make sure you’ve ticked off all the key criteria that you will be marked on. For the example above, your essay is going to have to make sure it:

• Takes a position about whether climate change is a serious challenge for human kind;
• Discusses multiple different people’s views on the topic;
• Explores examples and case studies (‘practical situations’);
• Uses referencing to back up your points.

The reason you need to be really careful to pay attention to this marking criteria is because it is your cheat sheet: it tells you what to talk about!

Step 1 only takes you five minutes and helps you to clearly clarify what you’re going to be talking about! Now your mind is tuned in and you can start doing some preliminary research.

2. Gather your Sources and take Quick Notes. Here’s how.

Now that you know what your focus is, you can start finding some information to discuss. You don’t want to just write things from the top of your head. If you want top marks, you want some deep, detailed and specific pieces of information.

Fortunately, your teacher has probably made this easy for you.

The top source for finding information will be the resources your teacher provided. These resources were hand picked by your teacher because they believed these were the best sources available our there on the topic. Here are the most common resources teachers provide:

• Lecture Slides;
• Assigned Readings.

The lecture slides are one of the best resources for you to access. Lecture slides are usually provided online for you. Download them, save them on your computer, and dig them up when it’s time to write the essay plan.

Find the lecture slides most relevant to your topic. To take the example of our climate change essay, maybe climate change is only discussed in three of the weeks in your course. Those are the three weeks’ lecture slides you want to hone-in on.

Flick through those lecture slides and take quick notes on a piece of paper – what are the most important topics and statistics that are relevant to your essay question?

Now, move on to the assigned readings . Your teacher will have selected some readings for you to do for homework through the semester. They may be eBooks, Textbooks or Journal Articles.

These assigned readings were assigned for a reason: because they have very important information to read ! Scan through them and see if there’s any more points you can add to your list of statistics and key ideas to discuss.

Next, try to find a few more sources using Google Scholar. This is a great resource for finding more academic articles that you can read to find even more details and ideas to add to your essay.

Here’s my notes that I researched for the essay question “Is Climate Change the Greatest Moral Challenge of our Generation?” As you can see, it doesn’t have to be beautiful #Studygram notes! It’s just rough notes to get all the important information down:

Once you’ve read the assigned lecture slides and readings, you should have a good preliminary list of ideas, topics, statistics and even quotes that you can use in step 3.

3. Brainstorm using a Mind-Map. Here’s how.

Do your initial notes look a little disorganized?

That’s okay. The point of Step 2 was to gather information. Now it’s time to start sorting these ideas in your mind.

The best way to organize thoughts is to create a Mind-Map. Here’s how Mind-Maps often look:

For your essay plan Mind-Map, write the essay question in the middle of the page and draw a circle around it.

Then, select the biggest and most important key ideas that you think are worth discussing in the essay. To decide on these, you might want to look back at the notes you took in Step 2.

Each key idea will take up around about 200 – 350 words (1 to 2 sentences).

Here’s a rough guide for how many key ideas you’ll want depending on your essay length:

• 1000-word essay: 3 to 4 key ideas
• 1500-word essay: 5 to 7 key ideas
• 2000-word essay: 6 to 8 key ideas
• 3000-word essay: 9 to 12 key ideas

Once you’ve selected your key ideas you can list them in a circle around the essay question, just like this:

Last, we need to add detail and depth to each key idea. So, draw more lines out from each key ideas and list:

• Two sources that you will cite for each key idea;
• A statistic or example that you will provide for each key idea;
• Any additional interesting facts for each key idea

Here’s how it might look once you’re done:

4. Arrange your Topics. Here’s how.

You’re well and truly on your way to getting your essay down on paper now.

There’s one last thing to do before you start getting words down on the manuscript that you will submit. You need to arrange your topics to decide which to write first, second, third, fourth, and last!

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Start and end with your strongest points;
• Ensure the points logically flow.

To ensure your points logically flow, think about how you’re going to transition from one idea to the next . Does one key point need to be made first so that the other ones make sense?

Do two key points seem to fit next to one another? If so, make sure you list them side-by-side.

Have a play around with the order you want to discuss the ideas until you’re comfortable. Then, list them in order. Here’s my order for my Climate Change essay:

Each of these key ideas is going to turn into a paragraph or two (probably two) in the essay.

5. Write your topic Sentences in just 5 minutes. Here’s how.

All good essays have clear paragraphs that start with a topic sentence . To turn these brainstormed key points into an essay, you need to get that list you wrote in Step 5 and turn each point into a topic sentence for a paragraph.

It’s important that the first sentence of each paragraph clearly states the paragraph’s topic. Your marker is going to want to know exactly what your paragraph is about immediately. You don’t want your marker to wait until the 3 rd , 4 th or 5 th line of a paragraph before they figure out what you’re talking about in the paragraph.

So, you need to state what your key idea is in the first sentence of the paragraph.

Let’s have a go at turning each of our key ideas into a topic sentence:

6. Write a No-Pressure Essay Draft in just 3 Hours. Here’s how.

Okay, now the rubber hits the road. Let’s get writing!

When you write your first draft, don’t put pressure on yourself. Remind yourself that this is the first of several attempts at creating a great essay, so it doesn’t need to be perfect right away. The important thing is that you get words down on paper.

To write the draft, have a go at adding to each of your topic sentences to turn them into full paragraphs. Follow the information you wrote down in your notes and Mind-Map to get some great details down on paper.

Forget about the introduction and conclusion for now. You can write them last.

Let’s have a go at one together. I’m going to choose the paragraph on my key idea “Is climate change caused by humans?”

I’ve already got my first sentence and my brainstormed ideas. Let’s build on them to write a draft paragraph:

• “Most scientists believe climate change is caused by humans. In fact, according to the IPCC, over 98% of climate change scientists accept the scientific data that climate change is caused by humans (IPCC, 2018). This figure is very high, signalling overwhelming expert consensus. This consensus holds that the emission of carbon from burning of fossil fuels in the 20 th Century is trapping heat into the atmosphere. However, a minority of dissenting scientists continue to claim that this carbon build-up is mostly the fault of natural forces such as volcanoes which emit enormous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere (Bier, 2013).”

Your turn – have a go at your own draft paragraphs based on your Mind-Map for your essay topic! If you hit a rut or have some trouble, don’t forget to check out our article on how to write perfect paragraphs .

Once you’ve written all your paragraphs, make sure you write an introduction and conclusion .

Gone over the word count? Check out our article on how to reduce your word count.

7. Edit your Draft Once every Few Days until Submission. Check out this simple approach:

Okay, hopefully after your three hour essay drafting session you’ve got all your words down on paper. Congratulations!

However, we’re not done yet.

The best students finish their drafts early on so they have a good three or four weeks to come back and re-read their draft and edit it every few days.

When coming back to edit your draft , here’s a few things to look out for:

• Make sure all the paragraph and sentence structure makes sense. Feel free to change words around until things sound right. You might find that the first time you edit something it sounds great, but next time you realize it’s not as good as you thought. That’s why we do multiple rounds of edits over the course of a few weeks;
• Check for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors;
• Print out your draft and read it on paper. You notice more mistakes when you read a printed-out version;
• Work on adding any more details and academic sources from online sources like Google Scholar to increase your chance of getting a top grade. Here’s our ultimate guide on finding scholarly sources online – it might be helpful for this step!

Before you go – Here’s the Actionable Essay Plan Tips Summed up for you

Phew! That essay was tough. But with this essay plan, you can get through any essay and do a stellar job! Essay planning is a great way to ensure your essays make sense, have a clear and compelling argument, and don’t go off-topic.

I never write an essay without one.

To sum up, here are the 7 steps to essay planning one more time:

The 7-Step Guide for How to Write an Essay Plan

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 50 Durable Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 100 Consumer Goods Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 30 Globalization Pros and Cons

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Development in Composition: Building an Essay

Learning to support your main ideas with pertinent details

 Lisbeth Hjort/Getty Images

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In composition , development (also known as elaboration ) is the process of adding informative and illustrative details to support the main idea in a paragraph or essay . Paragraphs and essays can be developed in many different ways. In conventional composition courses, the following patterns of exposition are often presented as the standard methods of development in expository writing :

Observations on Development

"[The] methods of development aren't empty jugs to pour full of any old, dull words. Neither are they straitjackets woven by fiendish English teachers to pin your writing arm to your side and keep you from expressing yourself naturally. The methods are tools for achieving your purpose in writing, whatever that purpose may be. They can help you discover what you know, what you need to know, how to think critically about your subject, and how to shape your writing." —From "The Bedford Reader" by X.J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy

The Importance of Providing Supporting Details

"Possibly the most serious—and most common—weakness of all essays by novice writers is the lack of effectively developed body paragraphs . The information in each paragraph must adequately explain, exemplify, define, or in some other way support your topic sentence . Therefore, you must include enough supporting information or evidence in each paragraph to make your readers understand your topic sentence. Moreover, you must make the information in the paragraph clear and specific enough for the readers to accept your ideas." —From "Steps to Writing Well" by Jean Wyrick

Body-Building

"What the opening of an essay promises, the body of the essay must deliver. This is known as 'developing your ideas,' but I like to use a body-building metaphor because it implies adding not just bulk to a framework, but musculature. In other words, good essay development strengthens , not merely fills out. . . .

"What is the best way to reinforce the main idea of your essay? You can do some by making good use of any combination of the following six methods of development:

• Classification and Division
• Example, case-in-point
• Characterization ,  dialogue

"By using these bodybuilding elements, you are telling your readers, 'I don't expect you to take my word for these claims ; I want you to see for yourself!" —From "LifeWriting: Drawing from Personal Experience to Create Features You Can Publish" by Fred D. White

Multiple Patterns of Development

"Although most short papers may employ one primary pattern with other patterns woven throughout, longer papers may have two or more primary patterns of development . For example, if you are writing a paper on the causes and effects of child abuse in the foster care system, you might, after the causal analysis, shift the primary focus of the essay to prevention, thus continuing the essay with a process analysis of what the state might do to prevent child abuse. Then you might end the essay by addressing the objections from those defending the system, shifting the focus of the essay to argumentation .

"Your decision to include other primary patterns depends on your purpose and audience . Your thesis makes your purpose clear to your reader. Then as you develop your essay, you may integrate other patterns into your paragraphs." —From "Bridges to Better Writing" by Luis Nazario, Deborah Borchers, and William Lewis

Further Resources

• Cause and Effect
• Comparison and Contrast
• Current-Traditional Rhetoric
• Extended Definition
• Models of Composition
• Process Analysis
• Kennedy, X.J.; Kennedy, Dorothy M. "The Bedford Reader," Seventh Edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000
• White, Fred D. "LifeWriting: Drawing from Personal Experience to Create Features You Can Publish." Quill Driver Books, 2004
• Nazario, Luis; Borchers, Deborah; Lewis, William; "Bridges to Better Writing. Wadsworth." 2010
• Unity in Composition
• Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech
• Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
• What Is Expository Writing?
• 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Essay
• How to Structure an Essay
• Paragraph Writing
• The Five Steps of Writing an Essay
• Definition and Examples of Paragraphing in Essays
• An Essay Revision Checklist
• Writers on Writing: The Art of Paragraphing
• How To Write an Essay
• The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay
• Understanding General-to-Specific Order in Composition
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition

The Writing Process

• Introduction
• Writing Process
• How to Understand a College Writing Assignment
• Additional Thesis Statement Info
• Paragraph Development
• Intros & Conclusions
• Transitions
• Revising & Editing

Video: MEAL Plan Paragraph Development from WU Writing Center

Video: MEAL Plan Paragraph Structure (Sample Paragraph)

• Intros & Conclusions and the MEAL Plan Paragraph Development handout

Paragraph Development: The MEAL Plan (Main idea, Evidence, Analysis, Link)

A clear and effective paragraph is constructed like an essay. Just as an essay has a main idea (thesis statement) that is developed and supported with evidence and analysis in the body paragraphs, a paragraph needs to focus on a single idea that is developed and supported with evidence and analysis. Also, just as an essay ends with a conclusion, a paragraph should close by linking the topic sentence to the main idea in the next paragraph. The chart below illustrates the parallel structure between an essay and a paragraph:

To help writers understand how to craft clear and effective paragraphs, writers should remember this formula: MEAL . This stands for M ain idea, E vidence, A nalysis, and L ink.

M ain idea : The main idea of a paragraph is called the topic sentence. Like an arguable thesis statement, the topic sentence is a debatable claim that requires relevant support or evidence. The topic sentence should appear near the beginning of the paragraph since that sentence states the claim or idea to be discussed and developed in the content of the paragraph. This placement assures writers that the audience will not miss the significance of anything being presented and developed in the paragraph.

E vidence : After the main idea (the topic sentence) is stated, relevant evidence must be provided to support the debatable claim made in the topic sentence. The primary tools of evidence in rhetorical construction are definitions, examples, and opposing views. These forms of evidence will typically be presented in the form of studies, reports, data, statistics, interviews, examples or illustrations. Evidence should be relevant and directly support the writer’s topic sentence and the thesis statement for the essay. The writer may choose to present source evidence through summary, paraphrase, or direct quotation, and the writer may also use modes of development such as description, definition, example, analogy, cause and effect, or comparison and contrast.

A nalysis : Following the evidence, the writer must provide an analysis of the evidence that has been provided. Analysis is the writer’s evaluation, interpretation, judgment, or conclusion of how the evidence supports the paragraph’s main idea or topic. The writer should never expect the audience to interpret the evidence provided. In fact, as the leading voice in the paper, the writer is required to explain how the audience is meant to interpret the evidence in the context of the writer's argument. Such an explanation helps the audience to conclude that the topic sentence is a credible claim in the context of the evidence provided.  

L ink : The final sentence or sentences of the paragraph link the current paragraph’s main idea to the main idea in the next paragraph. This type of foreshadowing also prepares the audience for the next main idea. Since most body paragraphs are going to be followed by another body paragraph, the writer should consider using transitional phrases that help to link paragraphs. For example, transitional words such as however , so , thus , still , despite , nonetheless , although , but, even though or in spite of signal relationships between paragraphs and the relationship between the main ideas of all paragraphs.  

Source:  Northcentral University Writing Center http://learners.ncu.edu/writingprogram/writing_center.aspx?menu_id=121

Here’s an example of a paragraph drawn from an essay in Deliberations: A Journal of First­ Year Writing at Duke University; the column on the left maps the parts of the paragraph’s “complete MEAL”

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Essays About Development: Top 5 Examples and 10 Prompts

Would you like to develop your writing skills? Our essays about development plus enriching prompts can help with this goal. 

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “constant development is the law of life.” Hence, the best way to succeed in life is to conform to this law. Once we do, we embrace the vast opportunities and surprises in the never-ending development cycle. Development, whether within ourselves, in a certain field, or the greater world we live in, requires allocating various resources in the form of time, action, and even financial capital. 

5 Essay Examples

1. why intersectional feminism matters for development by aviva stein, 2. how video games are made: the game development process by nadia stefyn, 3. why industrial development matters now more than ever before by li yong, 4. bangladesh really is a climate success story by joyashree roy, 5. what role does culture play in development by augusto lopez-claros, 1. my personal development goals, 2. importance of socialization in childhood development, 3. effects of the digital age on intellectual development, 4. economic growth vs. economic development, 5. united nations’ sustainable development goals, 6. urban development, 7. keeping pace with technological development, 8. winning strategies for career development, 9. challenges and perks of a business development manager, 10. education in development.

“Using an intersectional feminist lens to dig deeper into the factors that affect and hinder efforts for equality also allows us as development professionals to design programs, interventions, and support systems that aim to dismantle systems of inequality.”

This essay looks into intersectional feminism and the importance of inclusion. “Intersectional” means recognizing how different people live different experiences. Integrating an intersectional lens in feminist development work enables experts to design and implement programs that address inequality effectively. You might also be interested in these essays about bad habits .

“Much like a production line, the game development pipeline helps organize the flow of work so that everyone knows what they need to deliver and when. The pipeline also helps manage the game development timeline and budget, reducing inefficiencies and bottlenecks.”

This essay walks readers through the video game development process while also introducing the different critical players of the ecosystem. Overall, the piece provides budding game developers with a comprehensive resource on the basics of the industry. 

“Economists of the 20th century noted that a thriving industrial sector was crucial to the development of a modern economy, and in 2010, Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang observed that development without industrialization is like Shakespeare’s Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.”

Creating a narrative out of data, this essay underscores the need to push for industrialization to further economies’ development. It sheds light on the myriad benefits of manufacturing on social development but also confronts the environmental challenges of the sector. 

Looking for more? Check out these essays about empathy and essays about gratitude .

“In the 50 years since the Bhola cyclone, the nation has carved out a path to development thanks to natural gas. Turning away from that path precipitously would strand the nation’s fossil-fuel assets and undermine its hard-won sovereignty and development gains.”

The essay demonstrates the determination of Bangladesh to bounce back from one of the deadliest cyclones in history. Now the fastest-growing economy in South Asia, Bangladesh marks a unique development journey that runs against the popular belief of patterning development strategies after those of more developed countries in the West. You might also like these essays about your mom .

“Development is not only about reducing poverty and expanding opportunities against the background of rising incomes. It is also in a very fundamental way about adopting a set of values that are compatible with humanity’s moral development.”

Integrating culture in discussions about development has been a longstanding challenge. But this essay points out that we might have been misled to categorize some development factors as cultural and, as a result, missed out on the proper way to resolve problems at their roots.

10 Unique Writing Prompts On Essays About Development

Whether it be acquiring a second language or graduating college with flying colors, use this essay to discuss your personal development goals and proudly share your progress in putting them into action. And then, write a commitment to keep sight of your personal development goals and what you think you should do more to achieve them in the most efficient way you can.

Socialization helps kids learn how to take turns and manage conflicts that arise from their play and interactions with other kids. Look for the latest research studies that show how the development of social skills relates to a child’s overall physical, intellectual, and emotional development.

Then, list the challenges in helping kids socialize more, given how gadgets are becoming a kid’s best friend for entertainment. Finally, include solutions and consider how society can encourage kids to have positive socialization experiences.

Digital technologies have certainly enabled wide-scale access to information and data that can expand our horizons. However, they also discourage the exercise of cognitive and analytical skills because the information is served on a silver platter. 

For this writing prompt, list the pros and cons of digital technologies in improving thinking skills and take the time to assess how each affects our intellectual development, including relevant studies to support your arguments. 

In this essay, aim to find out whether economic growth and economic development are independent or inextricably linked, such that economic development is not possible without economic growth and vice versa. 

For this, you can turn to the innovative insights of economists Simon Kuznets and Joseph Schumpeter. The creation of the Human Development Index is also worth delving into as it is one of the most ambitious metrics that emerged to measure the economy beyond the national income accounting framework . 

The United Nations has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 and targeted to be attained by 2030 to end global poverty while addressing issues such as inequality and climate change. 

In your essay, explain these goals, their origins, and their relevance to today’s challenges. Then find out whether it is on track through the latest SDG report . You can also pick just one SDG close to your personal and get updates on the world’s progress in realizing this goal. Dive into politics in this essay and determine if the UN is on track and adhering to its promises.

True urban development can happen only if security, sanitation, and climate resilience are part of the equation. In this essay, outline the challenges of balancing rapid urbanization with the need to provide people with a decent environment for living. 

Expound on the importance of urban development in reducing poverty. Finally, underscores the enormous role city governments have in steering urban development through a human-centric approach. 

We hear about incredible technological advancements every day, but there has been little development in the regulatory sphere. Elaborate on policy and lawmakers’ challenges in coping with nimble tech companies. 

Some primary challenges include the extraordinary complexity of technologies and the long period it takes to pass a law. In your writing, offer insights into how the government and private sector can join hands and balance strict regulations and self-regulation. 

Career development is the journey of finding your place in the professional world. Flesh out the importance of having a career development game plan and how to implement them. Then take a glimpse at the sea shift in career development amid our present VUCA world. Specifically, analyze how younger professionals are carving out their careers and how companies design professional development plans within a VUCA environment. 

With the fierce competition in today’s markets, how should business development managers think and act to drive their company’s sales growth? Strive to answer this by researching business journals and news articles to discover today’s most pressing challenges business development managers face. But also look on the bright side to flesh out the job’s pros, such as gaining new experiences and expanding your connections. 

This writing prompt highlights the critical role of schools in a child’s overall development and what teaching techniques are proven to be most effective in training a child. To expand your essay, add COVID-19’s long-term debilitating impact on human capital development and how this translates to economic losses. Then, write about the lessons teachers and parents can learn from the pandemic to arrest future global disruptions from affecting the accessibility, delivery, and quality of education.

Tip: When editing for grammar, we also recommend improving the readability score of a piece before publishing or submitting it. If you’d like more help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Professional Development Plan: Opportunities for Growth Essay

Self-assessment, professional development plan.

Exploring one’s personal development is critical to determining issues that could hamper the progress and ensuring continuous psychological and emotional growth. Thus, it is necessary to assess one’s learning abilities and determine possible areas of concern, outlining the further course of personal improvements. The proposed self-assessment tool is a perfect means of locating the direction in which one can develop professionally and personally (Skela-Savič & Kiger, 2015).

Due to the multilateral nature of the assessment and its ability to define one’s strengths and weaknesses in several domains of learning, the test should be seen as a valid instrument for determining the directions for one’s personal growth. Based on the outcomes of the analysis, it will be important for me to participate in cross-disciplinary teams and understand how theory is translated into practice, thus analyzing the available evidence to ensure high-quality clinical practice.

According to the test results, there is a lack of ability to link theory to practical experiences, which is why the specified area should be the focus of my efforts this semester. An NP student must be able to translate theoretical information into practice to address patients’ needs (Saifan, AbuRuz, & Masa’deh, 2015). For this purpose, I will have to learn how to integrate the available evidence into clinical practice and connect it to the acquired theoretical knowledge. The specified objective should also be connected to the promotion of continuous improvement of my professional skills so that I could broaden the area of my expertise.

The issue described above should be correlated with the problem of maintaining the continuum of care, which I may have according to the test results. Moreover, the significance of culturally diverse care that implies recognizing patients’ culture-specific needs should also be mentioned as the scope of my further studying. Indeed, in the ever-changing setting of the global community, a nurse needs to learn how to target different types of patients and provide culture-specific care.

Thus, improving my cultural competency is the key issue that I should explore during this semester. For example, sociological aspects of health should make an important aspect of my learning (Ebrahimi, Eklund, Dahlin-Ivanoff, Jakobsson, & Wilhelmson, 2017). Learning how to change patients’ behaviors and habits by appealing to their cultural background will allow me to practice culturally competent care.

The importance of offering the full spectrum of care and giving a full range of services, including health promotion, disease prevention, and management of health issues, should also be on the list of my priorities in learning. As an NP, one should maintain competency in a range of domains from medicine prescription to counseling to anticipatory guidance (Ebrahimi et al., 2017). Therefore, I will need to coordinate the process of learning by building a knowledge system in which every element of nursing practice is linked to the rest of the components, and where collaboration and knowledge sharing are crucial for maintaining the quality of care high.

To start my learning, I will need to prioritize my needs as a learner. For instance, at present, I need to develop the skills of cross-disciplinary cooperation and a culturally sensitive approach toward meeting the needs of diverse patients. Therefore, the study of interdisciplinary collaboration and culturally sensitive nursing care currently the core phenomena that I will need to attain.

Determining the essential learning objectives is another important stage of the professional development plan. To improve my current skills, I will need to split the task of building cultural competence and interdisciplinary collaboration skills into several objectives. First and foremost, I will need to explore strategies for information sharing and negotiation in the nursing setting. Thus, the levels of stress during interdisciplinary cooperation will be reduced (Islam, Hutchinson, & Bucknall, 2018).

The next step will involve expanding my cultural competence and related skills. As a student, I will need to seek all available community resources that shed light on nursing in a multicultural community (Ebrahimi et al., 2017). Specifically, the latest studies on nursing strategies for advancing cross-cultural care, articles that detail the needs of vulnerable groups, and similar resources will be consulted to improve my current level of cultural competence and recognize the need to address the needs of diverse populations. In this regard, the means of building a reciprocal connection with a multicultural community will be explored, including the latest innovations in ICT as the pathway to establishing a nurse-patient dialogue. Thus, I will be ready to address the requirements of a particular cultural group appropriately.

Concerning the connection between theory and practice, as a nurse, I will have to participate in simulations that will guide me through the process of adjusting theoretical principles to nursing practice. Thus, I will learn how to translate the existing theoretical knowledge to practical issues that I will have to face in a nursing setting. Furthermore, the collaborative effort mentioned above will also help me to advance in applying theory to practice since sharing knowledge will enrich my set of skills and inform my choices in future practice.

Simultaneously, analyzing carefully current clinical cases and studying recent research concerning nursing practice will allow me to develop a profound understanding of the essence of nursing practice (Hussein & Osuji, 2016). As a result, I will become prepared for the challenges that await me after I finish my studies and enter the realm of evidence-based nursing.

One should also expect several obstacles that may hinder the process of personal and professional growth. For instance, the lack of peer support should be seen as a potential barrier that may hamper the acquisition of the required skills and information. The specified problem is quite common in the modern nursing environment due to the strenuous setting in which nursing experts are often forced to work (McKenna, Halcomb, Lane, Zwar, & Russell, 2015).

Apart from a reluctance among the rest of the participants to engage in meaningful collaboration, arguments, and conflicts in the workplace can be expected as a result of the described issue. Therefore, one will need to promote the principles of shared knowledge and cooperation to a team, thus encouraging other students to grow professionally and personally.

Practicing nursing implies dealing with an ample number of challenges, yet, with the focus on interdisciplinary collaboration, the needs of culturally diverse patients, and the connection between theory and practice, I will be able to succeed. I expect that, during this course, I will build the platform for becoming a successful nurse. The personal development plan outlined above will help me to become a better expert and meet the needs of my patients. While requiring much effort and numerous resources, the plan provided above will serve as the starting point for my professional improvement.

Ebrahimi, Z., Eklund, K., Dahlin-Ivanoff, S., Jakobsson, A., & Wilhelmson, K. (2017). Effects of a continuum of care intervention on frail elders’ self-rated health, experiences of security/safety, and symptoms: A randomised controlled trial. Nordic Journal of Nursing Research, 37 (1), 33-43. Web.

Hussein, M. T. E., & Osuji, J. (2016). Bridging the theory-practice dichotomy in nursing: The role of nurse educators. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 7 (3), 20-25. Web.

Islam, T., Hutchinson, A. M., & Bucknall, T. K. (2018). Nurse manager risk information management for decision-making: A qualitative analysis. Collegian, 25 (4), 401-407. Web.

McKenna, L., Halcomb, E., Lane, R., Zwar, N., & Russell, G. (2015). An investigation of barriers and enablers to advanced nursing roles in Australian general practice. Collegian, 22 (2), 183-189. Web.

Saifan, A., AbuRuz, M. E., & Masa’deh, R. (2015). Theory practice gaps in nursing education: A qualitative perspective. Journal of Social Sciences/Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11 (1), 20-29. Web.

Skela-Savič, B., & Kiger, A. (2015). Self-assessment of clinical nurse mentors as dimensions of professional development and the capability of developing ethical values at nursing students: A correlational research study. Nurse Education Today , 35 (10), 1044-1051. Web.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, February 5). Professional Development Plan: Opportunities for Growth. https://ivypanda.com/essays/professional-development-plan-opportunities-for-growth/

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Professional Development Plan: Opportunities for Growth." February 5, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/professional-development-plan-opportunities-for-growth/.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Professional Development Plan: Opportunities for Growth." February 5, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/professional-development-plan-opportunities-for-growth/.

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