Effective Essay Writing Tips and a Step by Step Guide

Sep 04, 2018

An essay is one of the most common and default assignments you can be faced with while studying at school. The matter is that since this task does not always seem to be challenging and demanding, students often neglect its thoughtful preparation, considering this paper a trivial one. Sometimes, you can devote insufficient time to preparing an essay, and it can lead to getting an unsatisfactory grade. Besides, the process of dealing with an essay assignment hides several tricks and features, the study of which may help you master the essay writing skill completely.

To succeed in essay writing, it's important to know the basics. There is a simple instruction that you can follow to easily get an "A," regardless of whether you are concerned about how to write an essay for college or how to prepare a paper for a middle school. Here, we are going to acquaint you with an indestructible strategy of good essay writing. After that, we will study each aspect in detail. Here are 7 steps you are to make on your way to the A-grade essay:

1. Define your essay type that will influence the purpose and content of your writing.
2. Formulate an engaging title for an essay and be sure that the chosen theme is appropriate.
3. Gather all the materials that could be a good background for your essay.
4. Make up an outline and follow it to pursue the logic of your narration.
5. Write an engaging introduction to acquaint your audience with your central topic.
6. Develop all the main ideas in the essay body paragraphs and back it with pertinent materials you have picked.
7. Sum up all the ideas and assumptions, answer all the open questions, and wrap things up with an essay conclusion.

As you can see, all these how-to-write-an-essay steps are quite simple and can be followed easily. However, recalling some particular features of this assignment wouldn't hurt. Let's pay closer attention to the major essay structure elements so that you can prepare absolutely perfect writing with all the requirements met.

1. The Introduction - Catch Your Reader's Attention

Your essay introduction determines the flow of your writing. It should be longer than one simple sentence, but definitely shorter than the whole paper. While writing an introductory paragraph for an essay, you are to make the audience understand what your narration is going to be about. This stage is closely related to the type of your essay, so be sure you know the primary purpose of your writing well. In your introduction, an important part belongs to the thesis statement for an essay. Here, you state a central idea clearly and let the reader understand what viewpoint you are going to discuss, prove, or explain in the paper. It shouldn't be too complicated. Your aim is to present it confidently. To lead your readers to the thesis statement, which usually plays a role of a hook in an essay, you can use the following ideas in your introduction:

• "Nowadays, our life is becoming more and more tense because of..."
• "Have you ever thought about..."
• "There are so many ideas about the..."

Remember that a good start may be a solid guarantee of perfect writing. Therefore, now, when you have recalled how to write an essay introduction, you can proceed to the next part - the essay body.

2. The Body Paragraphs - Analyze and Organize

If you have precisely defined the topic of your essay and understand the purpose of the assigned essay type, you will not encounter difficulties in selecting the material that may be useful for writing your assignment. Your task is to pick interesting and reliable facts that will be relevant for the chosen topic. You collect data to back your primary idea presented in a thesis statement. A body part is crucial since it shows how competent you are in the described issue and proves that your viewpoints are reasonable and meaningful. What types of facts can you use to support your thoughts?

• Historical events that highlight a described theme in a particular aspect;
• Your friend's or your own real-life experience;
• A situation from the book/novel plot that is related to your ideas;
• Previously written works of an outstanding figure where similar thoughts are emphasized.

A body paragraph for an essay (there must be at least 3 of them) should back your point of view from a certain aspect to prevent any "what if" and "so what" questions. And here, your task is to make the transition between body paragraphs smooth and logical. Avoid open questions and incomplete thoughts. Make sure that all the evidence and proofs are really interconnected with your issue. Here are top-3 points you are to be aware of while writing your essay body paragraphs:

1. Maintain your main idea throughout the whole body part.
2. Make sure all the paragraphs are about the same size and informational value.
3. Try to start and finish each paragraph logically.

Be ready to approach writing your essay body part attentively and diligently. In case you have analyzed everything well and made your body paragraphs exciting and informative, it's time to make a point and finish your essay with a bright conclusion.

3. The Conclusion - Dot the i's and Cross the T's

Welcome to the finish line! You are about to complete your writing as you are ready to embark on a good conclusion for an essay. When you have devoted so much time and efforts to the introduction and all of the body paragraphs, it may be challenging to end your paper appropriately without making it dry and short. Basically, your conclusion is about summarizing of all you have written and restating your thesis statement (that should not raise any questions now). A conclusion to an essay, as well as an introduction, make up a logical framework for your paper, and that's why it should be logical and coherent. It's better for you to refrain from using the following patterns:

• "That's why (thesis statement idea)."
• "Now you understand that.."
• "And that's pretty much it."
• "Here, I will finish my essay with..."

If you pay equal attention to all parts of your writing, how-to-write-an-essay-conclusion issue won't be a big deal for you. Speaking simply, that is just some finishing notes written in a more literary language.

4. Some Final Touches

After your essay is completed, don't neglect the proofreading and editing stages. That will help you avoid any minor mistakes and see if there are any logical inconsistencies.

1. See how appropriate the overall formatting is.
2. Make sure there are no typos or punctuation mistakes.
3. Check the sources and make sure all the names (if any) are written correctly.

5. Essay Outline - Its Purpose and Example

An outline is an excellent chance to follow the flow of your thoughts logically and make sure your essay is exciting to read. Outline for an essay reflects what each part of your writing is focused on. Preparing an outline in advance, you become one step closer to a well-structured and coherent essay. Let's try to make up a simple "What is love" essay outline example.

Introduction

• Everyone has their own explanation of the "love" phenomenon.
• Love is the most powerful feeling in the world.

Body Part

• My first love;
• The love between Romeo and Juliet;
• Interpretation of love by Plato.

Conclusion

• Love is powerful enough to change the world around.

Whatever the topic or the type of your essay assignment is, the structure always remains the same. We hope that our easy-to-follow instructions will be helpful for you, and all your essay writings will deserve only the best grades.