How to write a Business Essay

Whether you’re writing an essay for Marketing, Management, Finance, or any other business topic, following certain guidelines can help you develop a piece of work that is well structured, insightful and compelling. The most important considerations for business essays are that it presents relevant content and its arguments are supported by qualified references or examples. Other critical factors include layout, presentation, and the use of appropriate language.

Analyse the essay question

Identify exactly what the essay question/title is asking you to address. Examine the precise wording to work out the approach you’ll need to take. Keywords that appear frequently in business essay questions include: ‘analyse’, ‘discuss’, ‘illustrate’, ‘compare’, ‘describe’, ‘criticise’, ‘interpret’, ‘review’, ‘examine’, or ‘explain’.

Typically, there are two main essay types that you may come across in business courses. Firstly, you may be asked to complete an essay on a business or situation, which is more commonly known as a case study. Secondly, as an alternative, you may be required to complete a discussion type essay. For example, you may be asked to discuss the impact that something has had, and the implications of this. To ‘discuss’ a topic implies that you’ll need to review key arguments and give reasons for and against each one.

If you are composing your own essay question, select a topic that interests you as this will make the essay writing process more enjoyable. Then narrow it down so that only one central idea or point is discussed in relation to that topic.

Make an outline plan for your business essay

Constructing an outline plan for your essay will assist you in organising your main arguments and ideas so that they’ll be presented in a logical sequence when you come to write the essay. Jot down the key points you want to include in your introduction, main body, and conclusion. This process will also spark off ideas and help you to digest and analyse the information you’ve gathered.

Writing your Business Essay

Case study type of essay:

Introduction

Outline your understanding of the essay question and comment on how you’re going to address it. Ensure that you define the objectives of the essay clearly as they determine the scope of your essay, setting out exactly what you are reaching a conclusion for – and be sure to mention the case study. You may want to include definitions of certain business terms here for the understanding of the reader.

Background

Provide background information on the organisation/situation (case-study) to be discussed.

Main body and discussion

Referring to the sources you’ve collected, perform a detailed analysis of the topic at hand. Ensure that you critically examine viewpoints from different authors to provide a rational debate and cover reasons for and against the presented argument. Ensure this links back to the organisation you are writing about.

Conclusion

You should arrive at your final conclusion by logical reasoning, concisely pulling together the discussions undertaken in the main body of the essay. Explicitly state your viewpoint as the final result, ensuring that you answer the question posed in the introduction as fully as possible. This final section should also be taken as an opportunity to express any recommendations, if required, for further investigation or future action. No new arguments should be mentioned here.

Bibliography/List of references

If you’ve used the Harvard method for referencing, display a list of all the references used in your essay in alphabetical order. If you’ve used footnotes on each page, simply include a bibliography here instead.

A discussion type of essay:

Introduction

Outline your understanding of the essay question and comment on how you’re going to address it. Ensure that you define the objectives of the essay clearly as they determine the scope of your essay, setting out exactly what you are reaching a conclusion for. You may want to include definitions of certain business terms here for the understanding of the reader.

Main body and discussion

Referring to the sources you’ve collected, perform a detailed analysis of the topic at hand. Ensure that you critically examine viewpoints from different authors to provide a rational debate and cover reasons for and against the presented argument.

Conclusion

You should arrive at your final conclusion by logical reasoning, concisely pulling together the discussions undertaken in the main body of the essay. Explicitly state your viewpoint as the final result, ensuring that you answer the question posed in the introduction as fully as possible. No new arguments should be mentioned here.

Bibliography/List of references

If you’ve used the Harvard method for referencing, display a list of all the references used in your essay in alphabetical order. If you’ve used footnotes on each page, simply include a bibliography here instead.

Editing and Proofreading your Business Essay

Print out a copy of your first draft and read it through. Use a checklist to help you mark up any grammatical and stylistic errors, weak arguments, and areas for improvement. An example checklist could include the following questions:

1. Have you answered the essay question?
2. Is your material presented in a logical order?
3. Is the content accurate and relevant?
4. Have you supported your main points with arguments and examples?
5. Have you referenced all your sources?
6. Is the language clear and precise?
7. Is the spelling and punctuation up to standard?

Amend the parts of the essay that you’re not happy with and correct any punctuation and spelling errors. Continue to proofread and edit your essay until you feel that you can no longer add value to it. The essay is then complete.

Other business sections:

Business Essays

Business Dissertations

Business Dissertation Proposals

More how to write guides: