How to write an essay? (Writing)

How to write an essay?

Step-by-step guide to writing an essay

So your teacher assigned another essay to write. Does the mere thought of putting pen to paper - or fingers to the keyboard - send shivers down your spine? For many students, it does, but writing an essay should not be intimidating. As long as you know the basic steps of essay writing, you should be well-equipped to handle any essay topic. 

Determine what type of essay it is

There are many different types of essays you might be asked to write. Some of the most common include narrative, expository, argumentative, persuasive, comparative, and literary. Are you presenting an overview or telling a story about the topic (narrative) or are you providing an analysis (expository)? Do you have to convince the reader to adopt a certain point of view or to take a particular action (persuasive)? Are you writing an essay about a book you read (literary)? Determining the type of essay is the first step to writing a targeted essay. 

Create an essay outline

An essay outline is your road map. It will guide you through to the finished product. When you create an outline, you organize your thoughts about your topic. First, write your topic at the top of the page. Then list all the points or arguments you want to make about the essay topic. Finally, list the facts, examples and statistics that support those points or arguments. 

Develop a Thesis Statement

Your thesis should inform the reader what point you will be making or what question you will be answering about the topic. In other words, it is a prelude to your conclusion. A thesis statement should be as specific as possible and address one main idea. Strong theses also take a stand or illustrate the controversial nature of a topic. 

Introduce your topic

The first paragraph of your essay will introduce your topic and provide direction for the entire essay. The introduction should discuss your main idea, or what the essay is about, then state your thesis and points or arguments that support your thesis. 

The introduction also sets the tone for your essay, and you want to grab the reader's attention with interest and clarity. To capture the reader's attention, you can make a challenging claim about the topic or present some surprising (but factual) information. 

Write the body of the essay

The body of the essay provides details for the points in your introductory paragraph that support your thesis. Take the points you listed in your introduction and discuss each in one body paragraph. First, write a topic sentence that summarizes your point then explain why you feel the topic sentence is true. Finally, support your argument with evidence such as facts, quotes, examples and statistics. 

Present your conclusion

The conclusion summarizes the essay and gives the reader closure. In three or four concise sentences, you should reiterate your thesis and review the main points of the body of the essay. Just be sure not to restate your previous words exactly. You can briefly describe your opinion of the topic. Your final sentence should uphold your main idea in a clear and compelling manner. 

Just remember to tackle each step one at a time. Some people do better when they work backwards from the conclusion. Write a rough draft of your essay first - do not try to get it perfect the first time through. After you finish your rough draft, proofread it thoroughly and revise until you have a strong, informative essay. 

Discover the basic principles of an essay

Topic

It is obvious, that the very first thing you should think of before writing an essay is its topic. Remember, that an essay is not only about writing skills, but it demonstrates your ability to research as well. An essay is not an essay without any research. Good research capability is important to get: you should find all the information needed, use this info wisely, and distinguish the important facts. 

Purpose

Informative and well-styles essays are impossible to write without a purpose. An essay cannot be just a piece of writing about general things everybody knows and understands perfectly. You have to decide upon the purpose an essay. 

When you perfectly understand what you write an essay for, it will be much easier for you to draw the outline and start writing. 

Outline 

The last thing to do before starting to write an essay is to make its outline. Choose some topic and make a list of points you would need to mention if you wrote an essay on it. Such a technique will give you a better understanding of what an essay is, and how it should be written. 

Make sure you perfectly understand the fact you should follow an essay outine, because it will be much easier for you to write this piece of paper. Every point of the outline should start from a new paragraph. Moreover, the smaller these paragraphs are - the more attractive an essay will look for its readers. It is not very comfortable to read very long paragraphs, as it will be more difficult to get the point in such a way.

Introduction

Finally, it is time to start writing an essay. And here comes its most important part that is called an introduction. An essay will not be good without a proper and attractive beginning, so, you should make it eye-catchy and clear for a potential reader. Moreover, an essay introduction should be intriguing a bit. 

The introductory paragraph should also include the thesis statement, a kind of mini-outline for the paper: it tells the reader what the essay is about. The last sentence of this paragraph must also contain a transitional "hook" which moves the reader to the first paragraph of the body of the paper. 

The body

The first paragraph of the body should contain the strongest argument, most significant example, cleverest illustration, or an obvious beginning point. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the "reverse hook" which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the introductory paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the second paragraph of the body. 

The second paragraph of the body should contain the second strongest argument, second most significant example, second cleverest illustration, or an obvious follow up to the first paragraph in the body. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the reverse hook which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the first paragraph of the body. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or the second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional hook to tie into the third paragraph of the body. 

The last paragraph of the body should contain the weakest argument, weakest example, weakest illustration, or an obvious follow up to the previous paragraph. The first sentence of this paragraph should include the reverse hook which ties in with the transitional hook at the end of the previous paragraph. The topic for this paragraph should be in the first or the second sentence. This topic should relate to the thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The last sentence in this paragraph should include a transitional concluding hook that signals the reader that this is the final major point being made in this paper. This hook also leads into the last, or concluding, paragraph. 

Conclusion

We have already mentioned the outline of an essay, that will help you write the body of your essay right. Now it is high time for a conclusion, which is not less important than an introduction by the way. It is real art to finish your writing in a way your reader would feel good and satisfied with everything s/he has read. 

You should conclude your essays appropriately, remember, that it is not good to abrupt a piece of writing. And do not forget that a conclusion of your essay should contain a summary of all the main points you discussed in the body and a restatement of your thesis statement using some of the original language or language that "echoes" the original language!

Collected and adapted by Ayleen Trujillo Ruiz

Web pages: 

http://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/step-by-step-guide-to-writing-an-essay/

http://busyteacher.org/17162-how-to-teach-your-students-to-write-an-essay.html

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/five_par.htm