HOW TO WRITE YOUR ESSAY SUCCESSFULLY

In order to write your essays successfully, you, the essay writer, have to know the steps as the following:

1. DO RESEARCH THE TOPIC

This step is especially important if your paper is a research paper. Go online, head to the library, search an academic database, or read newspapers. You can also ask a reference librarian.

Know which sources are acceptable to your teacher. Does your teacher want a certain number of primary sources and secondary sources?

Can you use Wikipedia? Wikipedia is often a good starting point for learning about a topic, but many teachers won't let you cite it because they want you to find more authoritative sources. Even if your teacher does not allow Wikipedia, you can still use Wikipedia articles as a starting point. If you have very little background knowledge about your research topic, Wikipedia can be a good place to get a general working knowledge of your research topic and find search terms. The "Works Cited" or "Bibliography" section at the bottom of the page can also be a good starting point for finding reliable sources. However, if your teacher forbids even that much, a normal encyclopedia can serve the same function.

Take detailed notes, keeping track of which facts come from which sources. Write down your sources in the correct citation format so that you don't have to go back and look them up again later.

Never ignore facts and claims that seem to disprove your original idea or claim. A good essay writer either includes the contrary evidence and shows why such evidence is not valid or alters his or her point of view in light of the evidence.

2. ANALYZE YOUR ESSAY

Analyze well-written essays. In your research you'll probably come across really well-written (and not so well-written) arguments about your topic. Do some analysis to see what makes them work.

What claims does the author make?

Why do they sound good? Is it the logic, the sources, the writing, the structure? Is it something else?

What evidence does the author present to you?

Why does the evidence sound credible? How does the author present facts, and what is his/her approach to telling a story with facts?

Is the logic sound or faulty, and why?

Why is the logic sound? Does the author back up his/her claims with examples that are easy to follow?

3. CONTENT

Brainstorm your own ideas. Sure, you can use the arguments of others to back up what you want to say. However, you need to come up with your original spin on the topic to make it unique yours.

Make lists of ideas

You can also try mind mapping.

Take your time

Walk in your neighborhood or local park and think about your topic. Be prepared for ideas to come to you when you least expect them.

Pick your thesis statement

Look at the ideas that you generated. Choose one to three of your strongest ideas that support your topic. You should be able to support these ideas with evidence from your research.

Write a thesis statement that summarizes the ideas that you plan to present. Essentially, let the reader know where you're going and why.

A thesis statement should have a narrow focus include both your topic and what you plan to present. For example, "Although Eli Whitney's cotton gin ushered in a new era of American prosperity, it also widened the gap in suffering for African-American slaves, who would soon be more in demand, and more exploited, than ever."

A thesis statement should not ask a question, be written in first person ("I"), roam off-topic or be combative.

Plan your essay

Take the thoughts that you brainstormed and assemble them into an outline. Write a topic sentence for your main ideas. Then, underneath, make bullet points and list your supporting evidence. Generally, you want three arguments or pieces of evidence to support each main idea.

Topic sentence: "Eli Whitney's cotton gin made life harder on African American slaves."

Ex: "The success of cotton made it harder for slaves to purchase their own freedom."

Ex: "Many northern slaves were in danger of being kidnapped and brought down south to work in the cotton fields."

Ex: "In 1790, before the cotton gin, slaves in America totaled about 700,000. In 1810, after the cotton gin had been adopted, slaves totaled about 1.2 million, a 70% increase."

4. FINALIZE

Write the body of your essay. You do want to think about length here; don't write pages and pages if your teacher wants 5 paragraphs. However, you should free write to let your thoughts reveal themselves. You can always make them more concise later.

Avoid sweeping generalizations. Statements such as "______ is the most important problem facing the world today," can cause your reader to dismiss your position out of hand if he/she disagrees with you. On the other hand, "______ is a significant global problem" is more accurate.

Don't use "I" statements such as "I think." Likewise, avoid the personal pronouns "you," "we," "my," "your" or "our". Simply stating your argument with supporting facts makes you sound much more authoritative. Instead of writing, "I found Frum to have a conservative bias," tell the reader why your statement is true: "Frum displays a conservative bias when he writes..."

Come up with compelling title and introduction.

Your title and introduction make people want to read your essay. If your teacher is the audience, then of course your teacher will read the whole piece. However, if you're submitting to an essay contest or writing an essay for college admissions, your title and introduction have to hook the reader if you want to meet your objectives.

Skip obvious expressions such as, "This essay is about, "The topic of this essay is" or "I will now show that".

Try the inverted pyramid formula. Start off with a very broad description of your topic and gradually narrow it down to your specific thesis statement. Try to use no more than 3 to 5 sentences for short essays, and no more than 1 page for longer essays.

Short essay example: Every year, thousands of unwanted and abused animals end up in municipal shelters. Being caged in shelters not only causes animals to suffer but also drains local government budgets. Towns and cities could prevent both animal abuse and government waste by requiring prospective pet owners to go through mandatory education before allowing them to obtain a pet. Although residents may initially resist the requirement, they will soon see that the benefits of mandatory pet owner education far outweigh the costs."

Conclude your essay. Summarize your points and suggest ways in which your conclusion can be thought of in a larger sense.

Answer questions like, "What are the implications of your thesis statement being true?" "What's the next step?" "What questions remain unanswered?"

Your arguments should draw your reader to a natural, logical conclusion. In a sense, you are repackaging your thesis statement in your concluding paragraph by helping the reader to remember the journey through your essay.

Nail the last sentence. If your title and first paragraph make the reader want to read your essay, then your last sentence makes the reader remember you. If a gymnast does a great balance beam routine but falls on the landing, then people forget the routine. Gymnasts need to "stick the landing," and so do essay writers.

5. REVISING YOUR ESSAYS

1. Wait a day or so and re-read your essay. Get your essay done a couple of days before the due date so that you have time to go back and revise it to make it polished. Avoid turning in a first draft that you haven't double-checked for errors.

2. Correct errors related to grammar, punctuation and spelling. Consult a style book if you are unsure how to properly use quotation marks, colons, semicolons, apostrophes or commas. Avoid using exclamation points.

3. Check your statements.

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

Look for mistakes involving general punctuation. Check for run-on sentences, commas and periods inside quotation marks, as well as sparely-used dashes, colons, and semi-colons.

4. Remove any repetitive or unnecessary words. Vary your language with the help of a thesaurus. Also, consult a dictionary to make sure that you're using unfamiliar words correctly.

At the same time, try to keep your language short, sweet, and to the point. A thesaurus is a great tool, but don't just use big words to sound fancy. The best essays are clear, concise, and easily understood by a wide audience.

Focus on writing killer verbs for sentences. Verbs communicate the action in a sentence and drive the action. A great verb can be the difference between a bland sentence and a beautiful one.

Use adjectives lightly. Adjectives are great descriptive words, but when used indiscriminately, they can burden an essay and make it less readable. Try to let the verbs and nouns do most of the heavy lifting before you focus on adjectives.

5. Avoid colloquial (informal) writing. Do not use contractions or abbreviations (e.g., don't, can't, won't, shouldn't, could've, or haven't). Your essay should have a serious tone, even if it's written in a light or lyrical style.

6. Analyze how your essay flows. Does each sentence lead smoothly to the next? Does each paragraph flow logically to the next? Good connections will help your ideas to flow:

When events happen in sequence: I first started to realize that I was in the minority when I was in middle school...My realization was confirmed when I proceeded to high school.

If sentences elaborate on each other: Plants need water to survive...A plant's ability to absorb water depends on the nutrition of the soil.

When an idea contrasts with another idea: Vegetarians argue that land is unnecessarily wasted by feeding animals to be eaten as food...Opponents argue that land being used for grazing would not be able to be used to create any other kind of food.

If you're relaying a cause and effect relationship: I will be the first person in my family to graduate from college...I am inspired to continue my family's progress through the generations.

When connecting similar ideas: Organic food is thought to be better for the environment . . . local food is believed to achieve the same goals.

7. Cut information that's not specifically related to your topic. You don't want your essay to ramble off-topic. Any information that doesn't directly or indirectly support your thesis should be cut out.

8. Have someone read your paper aloud to you, or record yourself reading it aloud and play it back. Your ears are sometimes better than your eyes at picking up mistakes in language. The essay should sound like it has a good flow and understandable words.

9. Rewrite any problematic body passages. If needed, rearrange sentences and paragraphs into a different order. Make sure that both your conclusion and introduction match the changes that you make to the body.

6. ESSAY OUTLINES

What is an outline?

As for the outline of a research paper, there is nothing complicated here. It is necessary to read a couple of paragraphs and determine the main idea, then describe it in the body of the plan using several words. The essay plan is designed to discipline your thoughts. If you pay attention to any article, then you’ll see that it is broken into paragraphs and might even have several sub-headings. The same format can be used in an essay, but instead of the headings of the article, the name of the outline items should be used. In the process of writing, an outline for an essay can be very useful to consistently express one's thinking and not to confuse concepts with each other, especially if the topic is not well known.

How to write an outline?

The structure can be easily thought through. Although, it's better to take a sheet of paper and sketch out a rough outline sample. The essay outline is the "skeleton" of the text, to which you will subsequently fasten the "flesh". The structure is important and necessary just as the title is needed for any text. Any written work, each text has the following sections:

I. INTRODUCTION

With "introduction" and "conclusion" we mean the beginning and last paragraph. The student should not treat these elements of the text formally. The opening paragraph or the first part of the text introduces the reader to the course of the topic, brings him or her to the question the essay is devoted to. The introduction shouldn't be too long - one or two paragraphs is sufficient.

II. THE BODY

This is the main part requires the most attention, especially with writing research papers. It can have a different structure:

Thesis-argumentation structure. In this case, first we establish the thought of the essay, then prove it.

Reverse structure (facts-inference). We describe the situation or give facts then,draw a conclusion. Repeat this action several times.

Thesis and several arguments (facts). One idea is confirmed by several illustrations. The thesis can be both before, and after these illustrations.

By "thesis" we mean a short finished thought which the author wants to convey to the reader of the essay. In other words, proof of the thesis. It can be a situation from life, news, a scientific opinion, a scientific theory or a fact proven by science.

Ideally, one argument should be confirmed by two others. Only one statement may seem unconvincing to the reader, and three will overload the text. However, you are free to develop your thesis any number of arguments - much depends on the very thought, the logic of the narrative, the volume, and the plan of the text. It is important to maintain consistency, laconism, and imagery of the text.

III. CONCLUSION

In summary, as a rule, the conclusion summarizes everything that was said in the essay. The author sums up the results together with the reader. It is important that the conclusions are not contrived and do not arise "out of nowhere". A conclusion is characterized by only what the reader should come to understand, having familiarized himself with the main part of the writing.

THE OUTLINE EXAMPLE I. Introduction Sentence attract the attention of your readers One-sentence statement to be proved II. Body First main idea: Corroborative evidence for the main idea One or two more supporting shreds of evidence Second main idea: Corroborative evidence for second main idea One or two more supporting shreds of evidence Third main idea: Corroborative evidence for third main idea One or two more supporting shreds of evidence       III. Conclusion Revision of your thesis Insightful sentence to end your essay. Where to begin? The best place to start is with the body of the text. The introduction and conclusion are easier to complete after you ensure that the basis of your essay is logical and understandable to the reader. If you took care to think of a detailed plan, it would be easy. If it occurs that you are too idle and can't find the motivation for writing an essay. Structure of the main body of the text. Be aware to build the main part according to the laws of logic. You can move from simple to complex, you can conduct analysis or synthesis, use the method of deduction and induction. In order to build a logical text: - record the abstract; - choose several arguments for each thesis; - line up the theses in a logical sequence: one thought must flow from the other. After these operations, you will have to expand the text - and your essay will be almost ready. But before you start working on the text, check whether the theses are arranged in a logical sequence and whether the evidence is convincing enough.