Some Simple Suggestions How to Write an Essay
The educational institutions and academies require their students write essays often. But writing an essay becomes an extremely tedious task for them. Because it is not as easy as writing some normal assignment or an article. This article is written to help you understand what is an essay and how to write an effective essay.
What is an essay and which essay formats exist
An essay is a long research paper that is written as an effort to convey, prove or expose an idea or an opinion. It requires research, experiment or survey and through analysis of the outcomes. It also requires your arguments to prove your views along with strong and related evidence and resources. This type of assignment is generally required to be submitted by the students of various study levels, i.e. high-school, bachelor and master’s degree.
There are various types of essays, but the main types are Persuasive, Expository, Narrative and Descriptive. There are several sub-types of essay come under each main type. The scale of research, content structure and style depends on the type. But as a common rule, your essay should be smoothly flowing sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph. The text should be easy to read and easy to understand.
How to prepare for an essay and choose topics to write about
1. Topic selection
As a starting point, you have to select a topic if you are given freedom to do so by your professor. If you are given a topic and instructions, then you can start the research.
If you have to select a topic, you have an advantage, because you can choose a topic and subject in which you are knowledgeable and experienced. You know what to write about the topic you have selected, so it will be relatively easy for you. However, the selection will also depend on the purpose or the subject. Make a list of possible topics and analyze them carefully in the context of purpose.
2. Prepare for the research
Once you have a topic, you can start the preparation for the research. You will need to have several things into consideration, i.e.
- Make a list of the tools and resources you will need to conduct the research, experiment, and surveys.
- Ensure you have enough fundsrequired for the expenses to buy equipment and tools required for the research
- Arrange for the resources and references to obtain necessary details which will be used in your essay as arguments and evidence.
- Get in contact with the people who can help you and provide you the help during the research and analysis on your topic.
- Get all necessary permissions from the legal bodies and institutions for your research work if needed.
3. Start with research and analysis
Now as you have a topic to write and all the preparations are done to start, you can start research and analysis.
Read all the informative articles and essays related to your topic and note all your findings. Prepare the outlines of your research and analyze the data you collect. Make detailed notes of the facts and keep track of the source from which you obtained them. Keep your references and sources in proper citation format, so that you can easily refer them again when needed.
You should also refer other well-written essays to understand:
– their style, format and structure.
– what and how the author conveys or claims.
– what evidences are presented to prove their claims.
– how the flow of the ideas goes.
– whether the arguments and evidences presented are capable to support the idea or not.
– if the introduction is clearly forming the base of the essay, that can be a starting point for the readers to read, without revealing the final conclusion.
– if the essay statement is strongly and effectively representing the core idea of the essay.
4. Essay outline examples which may help you
Once you are done with research and analysis, you can prepare a structure of your essay by organizing your findings. You can also draw a diagram to connect your ideas and facts you have found with each other and group them in relevant branches.
Your essay outline will be generally as below.
- Essay introduction
This part contains the introduction and statement.
- Main body
This part contains main content, i.e. your ideas and views, which you can list logically, i.e. First main idea, Second main idea, Third main idea and so on. Each idea will have supporting arguments and evidence.
- Conclusion
This section will give your readers a recap of your essay with an overall idea and your final perception of the topic.
Essay Examples You May Find Useful
You may look for essay samples on our website to come up with your own idea and then write an essay using tips provided in this article.
Read also: How to start off an essay?
How to title an essay to increase your chances of success
A title should be short yet eye-catching. You should consider your main idea and possible outcome. Then you can sum up them in a few words that are easy to read and understand and yet convincing. You should use active voice and should write your title accurately. It should be able to grab the attention and raise the interest of your readers.
How to start an essay correctly
- After having complete preparation and a title of your essay, you can start writing your paper. Consider the guidelines on the essay format given below.
1. Create your essay statement
Now you are going to write the most important part of your essay, i.e. an essay statement. You can create a statement because you have taken all important steps starting from topic selection to research and analysis. It will cover the most important idea of your essay and will give readers the reason to read your essay. So it is very important that you craft your thesis statement very carefully.
It should include the topic and the view or the idea that your essay is going to prove in the next parts. It can be of two to four sentences long and should cover the main viewpoint of your essay. For example, if you are writing a thesis on topic “Artificial intelligence and its effects on human life in the future”, a good example of a statement can be “Artificial intelligence will significantly change our life by making some important college essay writing services automatic without or with but a very little human intervention”. This statement conveys both the topic and the point that you will be trying to prove throughout the essay.
Your essay statement will play a central role in writing your paper and will help define essay structure as well as the paragraphs following it. All the points, facts, arguments and evidence will be written around it. It can be said that you will be able to stay focused when you have a strong and effective essay statement. And it will lead to the desired result, i.e. writing a research paper that will end with a perfect conclusion that can prove your point to the readers.
2. Start writing the body of your essay
As you have an essay statement along with all the materials and information you need, you can start writing the main body of your essay. Start writing the main content in a logical sequence. You can give section headings, make lists, and show graphics and tables where needed. Remember below points while writing the main body of your research paper.
The first point should provide an idea of those coming next
Start with an introductory point and write all your ideas and views in short 4 to 6 sentence long paragraphs. You can write your main points at once and leave the space for the description to be added later. This will also help you remember what you have to cover when you are on your way completing your essay.
Paragraphs and sentences should be small and well-organized
Remember one important thing that your points and arguments should not be written in too long sentences. They also should be conveyed in small logical paragraphs. Small sentences make it easy to read and understand for the general readers unless your topic is technical. Small paragraphs will keep readers interested as opposed to long and boring paragraphs.
Avoid being too technical and difficult to understand
You should also try to avoid too complex words and difficult technical jargon if possible so that your readers can easily understand your view. Some obvious expressions like “What I mean is”, or “The essay is all about”, or “The main idea of this essay” etc. should be avoided. It is also advisable not to use contractions and abbreviations like don’t, won’t, haven’t, can’t etc.
Start with an opening that makes your reader curious and eager to read further
You can make your essay introduction interesting and easy to read. You can do so by starting with a detailed explanation of the topic. Then eventually narrow it down to the statement of your essay. This way you take your readers from all to the overall idea.
3. How to write an introduction to your essay
Though this is the starting point of your essay, it is advisable to write it after you have finished writing the main body. This is because you know about your essay better now, and you can give some interesting information to the readers. You can include quotes, story or dialogue at the beginning of this section in order to grab the attention of your readers.
Make sure that the introduction has a connection with your essay statement. Generally, the essay statement is placed at the end of the introduction, so that it can lead the reader to the main body of your research paper.
While writing your introduction section, you should take care that it does not act as a conclusion. So you should avoid revealing your final opinion or overall perspective on your topic. This is very important to keep user exited and interested to read further.
4. How to end an essay with a conclusion
After you finish writing the essay and its introduction, you can write a conclusion. This is as important as an introduction and the essay statement. Because it gives your reader a quick view of your entire essay and your final perspective on the topic.
Ideally, your essay conclusion is better written in up to 5 sentences. It should be able to convey your main arguments as well as viewpoints in the least possible words and foster the idea you want to prove with your research.
You can write an effective conclusion by keeping in mind the points below.
- Know the implications of your essay statement, what can be done in context and which concerns are still standing uncleared?
- Your conclusion paragraph should reflect your thesis statement. It should present your main idea that can help your readers connect everything that they have read so far in your essay. The flow of your essay should be carefully created so that the reader can be logically led to the conclusion.
- Make your conclusion and its last sentence so thought-provoking that your readers remember it easily. Your essay title and the introduction are the starting points that raise your reader’s interest in reading further. Same way, your conclusion should be so effective that once they finish reading, it should have an unforgettable impact on their minds.
5. Polish your work by reviewing your essay
After completing your essay, you should re-read it after a day or two. This is an effective way to look at your research work with a clean mind. It gives you the chance to read your essay as a reader and find out the mistakes.
Read also: Excellent essay writing service for cheap – get your paper done quickly.
Check if your text is error-free
Proofread yourself or have someone read your essay very carefully in order to find miss-spelled words, punctuation issues or grammatically incorrect sentences. Also avoid the use of special characters, symbols, and exclamation marks. Find repetitive words and remove where possible. Use a variety of words, use dictionary and thesaurus to make sure you use similar words but correctly.
Check if your points and arguments are easy to read and understand
Your readers will easily understand your thoughts if you use easy to understand the style of writing instead of using too complex and long sentence structure, unfamiliar words and ornamental language. At the same time, avoid being too informal or funky in your style. Use formal and serious tone unless you are writing on some art, literature or some light topic and subject.
Check if the crucial parts of your paper are written perfectly
Read your introduction, statement and conclusion paragraphs and look for the spelling or punctuation mistakes. Make sure that you use the words like “then” and “than” on correct places.
Check if the information you provide should be logically sequenced
They should also be sequenced logically. The introduction should tell the basic idea about the topic and points, the essay statement should describe the topic and core idea that prompt reader to read further. And the next paragraphs should clearly present the research, facts, arguments, and evidence in a logical order. And finally, the conclusion should be giving a feel of climax and show an end result of all your research and analytical exercise.
Check that each paragraph and sentence support the next one
Make sure that the paragraphs and sentences are supplementary to those next to them. This is very important because your reader would not like to go back to the previous paragraph or section to understand the point he is reading.
Read also: Who can help me write an essay for affordable prices?
Remove unnecessary and irrelevant information
If any information is not useful in supporting your essay, you can remove it. You wouldn’t want your readers to get distracted and leave without reading further. So it is crucial that everything in your essay is related to the main idea directly or indirectly.
By following these steps carefully, you can write your essay with high quality and standards that can be submitted to your academy on-time with confidence.
Best of luck.
The ultimate guide on how to write a thesis for a research paper and succeed.
