This page contains advice for those submitting to the the FT-APG A Level Essay Competition. This page also contains some discussion of generative artificial intelligence tools.

This essay competition falls within a broader project aimed at fostering engagement between the American Politics Group the Political Studies Association, the Schools Programme of the Financial Times, and A-Level students and tutors.

You can find details of materials that may be useful as you begin work on your essay here.

Reflect on the question: 

• What is the focus of the question, either theme wise or its topic? 

• Does it lend itself to a clear structure? If so, why, and what is this structure? If not, how might you structure your answer? 

• Does it require engagement with any specific parts of the US government? Which one(s)? 

• Do you need to draw links across different parts of the US government? How might you do this? 

Writing your essay: 

• Writing is an incredible skill, and the written word has quite literally changed the world on multiple occasions. Indeed, as an article in The Week put it: 
  • ‘The importance of writing and its impact on the world cannot be overstated. It is perhaps the most crucial tool in recording and sharing history, in advertising, propaganda, distance communications, literature and the arts, and beyond.’ 

• Crafting a piece of writing can also be incredibly satisfying, not to mention the fact that writing (along with the ability to judge the writing of others) is, for many careers, a key skill. 

• However, in our experience, well developed writing requires patience, editing, and reflection. As such, when putting your essay together for this competition, remember to give your writing time to develop.  

• It is unlikely that your first draft will be of the quality that you are happy to submit, and the more space you give to your writing, the more nuanced your argument and narrative will likely become. 

• As such, make yourself a big pot of tea, stick on some contemplative music (these are some examples that work for us: here, here, here, here, and here), and start brainstorming your ideas. 

• Once you have an idea of what you would like to say, start doing a plan. When you have your plan, begin to interrogate your ideas, and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your argument and narrative. Tweak your plan accordingly. 

• When you are happy with your plan, start writing your essay. When you have a full draft, leave it to one side for a couple of days and return to it with fresh eyes. 

• When you are happy with your essay, send it to your tutor/teacher, who can submit it on your behalf.  

• Make sure that you do this in plenty of time, and certainly don’t send it to them on the deadline: remember, they have lives as well and may not be checking their emails every day. You should probably tell them well ahead of time if you plan to submit, so they know to look out for your email 😀 

Generative artificial intelligence tools: 

• There are a large number of generative artificial intelligence tools, with the amount growing all the time. Popular tools include ChatGPT, NotebookLM, and ToolBaz. 

• These tools can, when used correctly, make impressive contributions to knowledge and understanding. 

• However, as students and academics we can only leverage the potential of such tools if we have a developed grasp and understanding of language. Moreover, in this essay competition we are interested in your own knowledge, creativity, and ideas, rather than your ability to engage with such tools. 

• Moreover, there have been concerns in recent years related to academic integrity that might cause pause in terms of your use of such tool (see, for instance, here, here, and here, for a more positive view see here). 

• As such, we ask that you do not use generative artificial intelligence tools when writing your essay, and the submission cover sheet requires that you to confirm that, bar spell and grammar checking features of word processing tools such as Word and Google Docs, you have not used them when putting your essay together. 

• In short, we believe writing is awesome, and are keen for you to use this competition to develop your writing skills.