How to write an essay

Essay Writing

All along with the academic career, frequently, it will be required to write an essay. You may work on an essay for a class or write them for college admissions. This article is focused on the essay writing help and revision process for every type of essay.

Topic research

It could be done by going online, visiting the library, or doing research in an academic database. Also, the reading of newspapers may help. Asking a reference librarian is greeted.

• Sources acceptability requirements must be well-known
• Also the quantity of primary and secondary sources required must be used
• You must be informed about the permission to use a Wikipedia. It is always a good database to start, but in most cases, teachers are asking some deeper information about the topic.
• Make notes. Always keep yourself up-to-date, of which facts are related to which sources. Write sources in the listed and correct citation format to be able to go back and look them in case of need.
• Do not ignore terms or facts that do not approve or disprove your original claim. Valid essay writer includes the contrary points of view and shows why they are not valid, or alters them according to the evidence.

Good examples

Well-written essay analysis. In your research, you will come across different arguments about the topic. Some of them will be well-written when others will not. You must analyze to understand what does so.

• The authors’ key points
• Do they sound well? Are the logic, strategy and the structure chosen well?
• What are the arguments?
• Do they sound authentic? And why? How they are presented? And what is the method chosen of storytelling with facts?
• Does the author support his points of view with examples easy to understand?

Personal ideas brainstorming

Sure, it is a common practice to use the arguments of other people to emphasize and explain what you wanted to say. However, it is required, and the original topic spin that permits to create a unique essay.

• Make a list with short ideas (a mind mapping is also useful).
• There is no hurry. You could go for a walk or visit the places that have a relaxation effect on you and think about the topic. But at the same time be ready for these new ideas, because usually, they are coming when they are not expected.
  Picking the statement of thesis
• Look the generated ideas briefly. You need to choose the strongest one that supports your topic. You could support your idea with arguments and facts.
• Then a thesis statement must be written that will summarize the main idea of the topic to let the reader understand where he is going and why.
• It should include your plan and your topic.

Avoid asking a question in a thesis statement and writing it in the first person.

Planning an essay

Brainstormed ideas could be taken and assembled into an outline. Topic sentences should be written for your leading ides. Then make a list of your arguments to be presented. Generally, a few pieces of evidence are needed to support the main idea.

Writing the essay`s body

A large amount of information is not required when the teacher is asking for 10 paragraphs. However, it should be written freely to make it reveal itself.

• Do not use broad generalizations. A statement like a “_____ is the most frequent problem of all youngsters in the world today,” can make a reader not accept your position if he/she disagrees with you. But, “_____ is a substantive problem of all youngsters in the world today” is more precise and less ample.
• “I” statements like “I suppose” should be avoided. Do not consider to use personal pronouns “you,” “we,” “my,” or “our.” If you state an argument and support it with facts, you will be more persuasive. Instead of writing, “I suppose Bill Gates to be an atheist,” rewrite a statement in the other way through telling why your statement is true: “Bill Gates in his conversation with New York Times journalist said that … “

Choose the right title and intro. They make people want to read your topic.

• First of all you need to skip obvious expressions like “This essay is about…” etc.
• Try to start off with a very broad description and gradually go to the specific points of your topic.

Essay conclusion

Must summarize key points and suggest new ways in which it can be thought of.

• You should answer questions about the implication of your thesis statement, if they were true or not, about next step, and also about unanswered question.
• The argument should push a reader to your conclusion in the way that he understands statements naturally.
• Let the people remember you with your title and first paragraph and make him interested in reading your essay. And with your last sentence reader should remember you, that`s why nail it.

Revising

Waiting a day before reading assay

Get it done a few days before the date to have time to go back and revise it.

Then you could correct errors related to grammar and punctuation. If you are unsure about the usage of quotation marks, colons, commas, etc., consult a style book then.

Check your statements

• Look for mistakes involving than/then, your/you’re, its/it’s, etc. Make sure you know how to use apostrophes

Useless words

Try not to use any repetitive and useless words. You could also vary a language with the help of dictionary-style services like Thesaurus. Also, in case of usage of an unfamiliar words, check it in a dictionary to make sure that you have used it in the right way.

At the same time, be short, clear, and sweet. Dictionary style services are great tools, but you should not use them to sound extravagant. The best essays are clear and easily understood by everybody.

• You should pay attention to writing killer verbs for sentences. Verbs describe some action, and they control the action. Good verb choice can make a difference between flattering and beautiful sentences.
• The adjective must be used lightly. They are great to describe something, but when they are used too much, they can make your essay hard to read. Before making a focus on adjectives let the verbs and nouns do heavy lifting.

Colloquial writing

Better not to use informal writing. Avoid usage of abbreviations. Essays should be written using lyrical style but at the same time should have a serious tone.

Essay flows analysis

Check if each sentence leads to the next and also does paragraph flow logically to the next because a good connection makes your essay more readable.

• When the event is in sequence: I started to understand that I was in the minority when I was in high school… My realization was confirmed when I proceeded to university.
• When sentences elaborate on each other: plants need oxygen to produce glucose… their ability to utilize oxygen depends on the level of the water absorption.
• If two ideas contrast each other: Vegetarians argue that there is no need for eating meat because all nutrition elements are present in plants… Opponents argue that they are not because meat contains unique proteins that cannot be obtained in the other way.
• When you have a cause and effect relationship: I am a cosmonaut… I will be the first person living on the moon.
• In case of connecting some similar ideas: Organic food does not harm the environment with dangerous chemical substances… It is said that local food achieves the same goals.

Cutting information

You are cutting information that is not related to your topic. Any information presented in a question that is directly or indirectly not related should be cut out.

Additional reading

Ask someone to read a paper aloud to you. Sources acceptability requirements must be well known.

Rewriting problematic passages

In case of need, rearrange sentences or paragraphs in the other way. But always make sure that conclusion and introduction both math your body.

Persuasive Essay

Clear purpose

The essay should have a clear purpose. A persuasive essay must convince a reader to adopt your point of view. There are few examples of persuasive essay topics:

• Whether private companies should have a right to make research in the cancer disease area or not.
• Why everybody should be forced to vote and to be active as a participant of social life.

Conducting a debate

Write your essay as though you are conducting a debate. When you speak in a discussion, you introduce your point of view and conclude the people who are listening. A persuasive essay has the same structure.

Sources

Facts must be collected only from good sources to make you be able to justify your opinion. You should support your argument only with reasonable facts. A well-written essay is good, but a well-argued essay is better.

• , Besides, you could perform empirical experiments, interviews, or conduction experiments.
• You should not tell only the list of the fact, tell the story about them. For example,
  discuss conflicting opinions: “Since the death penalty has been reinstated, 280 inmates on death row have been released after evidence proved them innocent. Ask yourself: would you like to be one of those 280 inmates?”

Other opinions

Present the other side of your argument and use logic and facts to show why the other side’s opinion is either inaccurate or not up-to-date.

• For example: “Some people argue that the death penalty acts as a deterrent to crime. Time after time, evidence has disproved this theory. The death penalty does not act as a deterrent to crime: the South accounts for 80% of US executions and has the highest regional murder rate.”

Discussion of conflicting opinions

Present the different sides of your topic or argument and use quantitative or qualitative analysis to show other`s side imprecision and outdatedness.

• For example: “Some people argue that electronic cigarettes are better and healthier respect to the standard cigarettes. But 90% of the dangerous substances are present as normal as in electronic cigarettes. So they are better, but not as much as expected”.

Gripping conclusion

Tie all your ideas together in a gripping conclusion. Use the information that you have discussed or the story that you have told to conclude.

Expository essay

Choosing a subject for essay

Firstly you search for a topic and then present an argument about its pieces of evidence.

• For example, you could write a descriptive essay about diabetic types and the ways of their development.
• Descriptive essays differ from persuasive because the former does not state an opinion, it states only facts that can be proved with research.

Strategy and structure selection

The common structures and strategies for descriptive writing include:

• Definitions, usually are essays, that explain the concept and term meaning.
• Classification essays, organize a topic into categories, starting from a general ones and narrowing down to a specific categories.
• Contrast and comparison type of essay describes either the similarities and differences or both, between the topic key points.
• Cause and effect essays explain the interdependence and interaction of the topics.
• How-to essays goals to instruct the reader through the explanation of the steps required for achieving a task or completing a procedure.

Be unprejudiced

Expository essays are not compatible with someone`s opinion. They are only about the correct facts and terms. This means focusing only on the fact`s logical conclusions, without an imbalanced perspective. If you have started out writing about the harmless electronic cigarettes, but came across a bunch of proved facts about its damage to the brain, then you should revise the main topic of your essay.

• Don’t mess with structure in expository essays. In narrative essays, you can twist and turn the structure to make the essay more interesting. Be sure that your structure in expository essays is very linear, making it easier to connect the dots.

Narrative essays

Story telling

The facts will tell everything itself just if you let them do it

• In narrative essay, you can twist and turn the structure to make it more interesting, but in expository essay make sure that it is linear.

Good storytelling

It includes an introduction, setting, plot, characters, climax, and conclusion.

• Introduction is the general description of the key points of the story.
• Setting is where all action takes place. What is it? What words you should use to make readers feel like the main heroes when it is read.
• Plot: the key action of the story, explains the reasons for telling it.
• Characters: main heroes of the story. What does it tell us about the main heroes? And what do they tell us about the story?
• Climax: The suspensive bit before everything is clear. Are you impatient to know what will happen next and how it will be resolved?
• Conclusion: The solution of the story, its meaning at the end, and the way it impacts people now that the end is revealed.

The importance of a clear point of view

Usually, telling essays are written from the author`s perspective, but you could also consider other points of view.

• You may utilize the pronoun “I” in case of storytelling, narrative essay permits you in case of a need to use the first person. But be careful and make attention not to overdo it. In every essay, you look more influential when you state terms, facts or opinions in third person.

Do not forget to make a point

Because you are telling a story, the purpose of which is to make attention to a specific point. You should always introduce key points in the thesis statement, and control that, all the mentioned points tie back to your thesis.

• What is learned? Does your essay explore things that you have learned?
• What is changed? The difference between “you” before the essay working on, and “you” now? And the most common question: “what did you have to learn during the process of exploration?”.

Language choice

Make great attention to a language choice. Words in the essay are used to provoke the reaction (emotions) in a reader, so they must be chosen carefully.

The essay is a very hard working task for most students, so if you cannot assimilate all the above information, it is better to offer professional help in your essay writing.