Although students face a plethora of academic challenges in school, learning how to write an excellent essay is typically one of the most significant hurdles. From coming up with a topic to ensuring that one’s argument is adequately defended, the essay-writing process can seem difficult and tedious. However, accessing tips and tricks that teach you how to write an essay can provide you with the information and confidence necessary to complete the task with skill and speed. Here are just some of numerous essay-writing systems and strategies that you can start implementing now:
1. Select Your Essay Topic
If you find that you are unable to come up with an essay topic on your own, it can be helpful to ask your instructor for assistance.
When it’s time to write an essay, people tend to find the process of coming up with a topic to be the most difficult. Although many people find this task difficult, it can be simplified and even made fun in several ways. One great way to get started is to brainstorm. If you’ve been given relative freedom regarding the topic, it’s a good idea to think about subjects and ideas that you find uniquely intriguing. To get the ball rolling, simply sit down at your computer and start a free flow of thought in which you type up basic themes from a novel or go over the instructions and outline for the essay given by your instructor. This process should empower you to develop and fine-tune a clear, concise essay topic.
If you find that you are unable to come up with an essay topic on your own, it can be helpful to ask your instructor for assistance. In many cases, instructors will provide you with essay prompts that you can use to formulate your topic. And in some cases, the instructors will even give you a thesis topic. From that point, you will simply be required to defend the idea when you write an essay introduction, body, and conclusion.
2. Create An Outline
Once you’ve come up with your essay topic, it’s a good idea to create an outline before you write an essay. The outline should separate the essay into an introduction, body, and conclusion. In the traditional five-paragraph essay, you will actually have an introduction, three supporting paragraphs that defend the thesis, and a conclusion.
When it comes to creating an outline, remember that you are not limited in terms of its form and content. The outline is designed to give you structure and a basic understanding of what you’re going to discuss in the thesis. In this way, the outline can be thought of as the “skeleton” for your essay. A sample outline might look like this:
I. Introductory Paragraph
a. first sentence: “Although most people have made animal products an integral aspect of their
lifestyle, this mode of eating has negative effects on living creatures, the planet, and the
human body.”
b. Thesis: Because veganism is the most ethical way to eat, everyone should
adopt this eating style.
II. Body
a. statistics about veganism
b. information regarding how consuming meat and dairy causes
cancer
c. research regarding how vegans suffer from less disease, mood swings, etc.
d.
data regarding how poorly animals are treated before and during slaughter
III. Conclusion
a. restate the thesis and supporting arguments
3. Write an Essay
After you’ve developed the outline, your next course of action will be to write the paper. At this point, the goal is not to get things “perfect” but rather to pour all of your ideas out in a first draft. After you’ve completed the first draft, you can refine the work and eliminate things such as grammatical errors and logical fallacies.
Tips And Tricks
Although knowing the steps to take in order to write essay is helpful, it’s also important that you gain access to tips and tricks that will enable you to develop incredible content.
Although knowing the steps to take in order to write an essay is helpful, it’s also important that you gain access to tips and tricks that will enable you to develop incredible content. Here are several such strategies you can implement:
1. Get A Second Opinion.
Oftentimes, people will write an essay and feel completely satisfied with their work. While it’s good to be confident about what you’ve written, it’s also important to get a second opinion. In many cases, there will be errors or oversights in the paper that you can’t see. Luckily, there are usually many people who can provide you with another perspective. This includes instructors, tutors, and the individuals who work in writing workshops.
2. Consider Counterarguments.
When you write an essay, remember that the primary point is to defend the idea you’ve proposed in the thesis. To complete this task thoroughly, you need to consider the primary objections and counterarguments that could be made. For example, your thesis could be something along the lines of: “Because veganism is a more ethical way of eating, each individual should adopt this food style.” One primary counterargument to veganism is that the food style is deficient in protein. Thus to make your essay as strong as possible, you would need to provide information regarding how vegans can attain more than enough protein from sources like beans, tofu, and nuts. You can make your argument even more sophisticated by citing research indicating that humans require more carbohydrates than protein.
3. Do Not Procrastinate.
Although many people think the key to writing great essays is to have a natural gift with language, this is not the case. In fact, people who simply allow themselves enough time to complete each part of the writing process tend to be the most successful at it. For this reason, it’s critically important that you not procrastinate. Attempting to write the entire essay the night before it is due will typically result in substandard work. Individuals who have taken the time to learn how to write an essay know that they will need sufficient time to brainstorm, develop a thesis, construct an outline, create a rough draft, revise the paper, have someone review it, and then create the final draft. You will need time to complete all these steps as well.
4. Make Your First Sentence Absolutely Amazing.
If you’re serious about learning how to write an essay, remember that one of the most important things to remember is the power of your first sentence. Your opening line provides your reader with a quick overview of things like your topic and writing style. When you use clever, compelling, concise language, you can get your reader really interested in the topic you plan to cover. In the writing world, the first sentence is so important that authorities have constructed the phrase “the hook” to describe it. Essentially, “the hook” refers to how writers can use the first sentence to hook the reader and keep her or him intrigued enough to read the entire piece. As you start to write an essay, keep in mind how compelling the following first sentences are and why:
1. As a child, Charles Dickens had to work in a shoe polish factory.
This opening line is powerful because it includes the citation of an interesting fact.
2. Mitochondria excite me.
This is a great opening line for a personal essay because it cites an interesting fact about the author and does so in a unique way. Typically, we don’t think about biological realities like mitochondria as exciting, so this opening line likely causes the reader to think about the writer and her interests in a new way.
3. Although many people think that exercise is the key to weight loss, science now demonstrates that diet may play a more integral role in helping people shed excess pounds.
This opening line is effective and excellent for numerous reasons. One of them is that it includes the citation of new information. Additionally, the information referenced contradicts “common knowledge” about weight loss. Finally, many people are seeking to lose weight, which means that the topic will likely interest the reader.
Summing It All Up
If you want to know how to write an essay, the short reference guide provided above can be of great use to you. Each of the strategies and systems outlined above will help you work with excellence and expedience as you write an essay. Keep in mind that practice makes perfect, meaning that individuals who get in the habit of writing essays tend to be able to complete the task with increasing proficiency as time goes on. With this idea in mind, make sure that you practice so that you can gain more confidence and efficiency when you write an essay. Good luck!