Step by Step Guide to Writing an Essay
There are many situations in life when we lack the skill of essay writing. We face similar tasks at work, university, or even when helping kids cope with their homework. You should not be scared of facing this assignment. The main thing is not just to reveal the topic but to do it excitingly, capturing the reader’s attention from the first sentence. Any essay writer will tell you that 50% of the success of writing a paper is to outline your work plan and follow it. Today, we offer you a handy step-by-step essay writing guide that will help you save your time and write an excellent essay.
Main Idea/ Thesis
Before you start writing, you must have an idea that you will carry through the entire text. If you haven’t been assigned a topic, coming up with your essay topic is easier than you think.
Your best essays will be about things that inspire and interest you. What are you passionate about? What issues make you feel contradictory, and are you ready to argue? Try to take a topic you know the best. Put your idea into one sentence. This will be your thesis statement. In order to outline the thesis statement of the paper, you need to look at the insights you have expressed. You need to write a thesis statement that would be a summary of the key concepts. You do this so that people reading the essay will understand what the author is talking about and why.
As a rule, the thesis statement is not written in the first person, and it should not have the form of a question; it should be narrowly formulated on the chosen topic and what the author wants to say.
Research
Collecting material and research are important stages of working on an essay. Even if you think you are a real expert on the topic, you still should not skip this stage. It is necessary to do this in order to get evidence for your arguments. You can look for information on the Internet, in the library, in the educational database.
It is also essential to find out which sources are acceptable. It also happens that the author is required to specify a particular number of main sources and a certain number of additional sources.
It is also important to detail and correctly indicate where you have found any fact used in your work. At this stage, do not forget to write out all the sources that you will use in your essay as references.
Title
Choose a title for your essay that expresses your main idea. The strongest titles will include a verb. Look at any newspaper, and you will see that every title has a verb in it.
Your headline should make anyone want to read what you have to say. Make it provocative.
Some people advise not writing a headline until you’ve finished your essay. Others find that writing a title helps you focus. You can always revise your title when you complete your essay to make sure it is as effective as possible.
Plan
Next, you need to compile an outline of your essay. You have to write down everything that you have come up with during the research. Afterward, you formulate a topic for your main ideas. Finally, you create a list of arguments in favor of this statement. It is considered correct to give three proofs per one issue.
Start Writing
Your introduction is one short paragraph, just one or two sentences, that states your thesis (your main idea) and introduces your topic to the reader. This is your next best chance to hook the audience and engage them in reading your work.
The main part of your essay is where you develop your story and make arguments for your statements.
You should summarize the arguments and offer options on how the finding can be used in a more global sense.
The arguments given should push the reader to a logical conclusion. Conventionally speaking, in the final part, you restate the thesis, helping your audience recall the text’s main idea.
You need to work on the last sentence. If the task of the title and the introduction serves to convince the reader to continue reading, the task of the last sentence is to make the reader remember the author of the essay.
Proofread and Edit
The proofreading of the first version of the essay is of crucial importance. When writing an essay, your main task is to develop an argument, polish your main thoughts, arrange them in a strict sequence, accompanying them with illustrative material or supporting data, etc. After writing the first draft, let it sit for a day or two and then review and improve it.
It doesn’t matter if you have to write about the global warming of the top university in South America and its racial issues. If you stick to this guide, you will be able to cope with the assignment without any troubles.
