How to Write Essays
Essay writing
Learning how to write essays is an essential skill that all students need to master. Essays are a fundamental part of most high school, college, and university curricula. Writing essays is a skill that can be acquired by anyone. However, it takes time, practice, and patience to develop this skill. Here are some tips on how you can improve your writing skills:
Read the question
Understand the meaning of key words in an essay question, especially task words. These are words like "compare," "contrast" and "evaluate." They tell you what kind of answer you should provide. If a question asks you to compare two things, make sure your essay compares them; if it asks for a contrast, explain how one thing is different from another; and so on.
Break down the question into its component parts (i.e., those parts that must be dealt with at some point during your essay). This may seem obvious, but it's easy to get caught up in thinking about how many paragraphs there should be or whether or not your ideas are good enough for an essay before remembering that there's still work to do on analysing this particular piece of writing or understanding how it fits into its genre or school curriculum! It's important not just because it helps keep focus but also because having this information written down allows us as writers to have easy access when needed (which will come up again later).
Interpret the question
Now that you've read the question, it's time to interpret what it means. You can do this by underlining key words and phrases in a different colour than the rest of the text. Doing this will help you see how your answer fits into what is being asked by the question.
If a question asks about something that may have multiple answers, check which option is best for answering it correctly without going off-topic or repeating yourself unnecessarily.
Understand the criteria
The tutor will tell you what they are looking for in terms of your essay. This is usually written in the assignment brief, but sometimes tutors may give this information verbally or via email. The criteria should include information about:
● depth of research required (if any)
● referencing style required (for example, MLA or Harvard)
● structure of the essay: title, subheadings, introduction, and conclusion
Research your topic
To avoid plagiarism, you will need to reference and cite your sources. The best way to do this is by using a referencing tool. This can be done manually or automatically, but it's important that you use one method of referencing consistently throughout your essay.
When deciding on the structure of your essay, it's also important that you consider whether or not it should be in MLA format or APA format (or another style). These differ in terms of their citation styles and other stylistic features—for example, MLA uses parenthetical citations while APA uses footnotes and endnotes instead—but they are both acceptable methods of citing references within an academic paper.
Write an essay plan and organize your ideas
Before writing your paper, create an outline of the main points of your essay. This will help you make sure all the necessary information is included in your essay, as well as help to establish the flow of each paragraph.
Remember that "good" structure means different things in different contexts—there are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to writing essays! You may find that starting with a thesis statement doesn't work for every type of essay assignment; some instructors prefer that students begin with background information or even conclusion statements instead. The point here is not "what's best?" but rather: Find out what works best in particular situations by asking questions up front and experimenting with different approaches until one feels right!
Write the first draft to include your introduction, body, and conclusion
The first step to writing an essay is to draft it. This means you should write your introduction, body, and conclusion. The goal of drafting is to get down on paper everything that you want to say about a topic before editing it into its final form.
The next thing you'll want to do is write your thesis statement. A thesis statement is the main point or argument that you're making about your topic and usually appears at the end of your introductory paragraph. It's also known as an 'opinion' or 'thesis'.
Your topic sentence should be strong but not too specific; this shows how well researched and knowledgeable you are in relation to the rest of your essay (and shows off those critical thinking skills). You can include information from both sides of an argument but try not to make them completely balanced – remember there has got to be some bias somewhere! You may need transition words such as however, moreover, or furthermore if there are too many points being made in one paragraph which could confuse readers if left out altogether.
Set the draft aside for a day or two, then re-read and make changes.
Once you're done with a first draft, set it aside for a day or two. Then re-read and make any necessary changes. It's important to take breaks from your writing so that you can come back to it with fresh eyes. This way, you'll be able to detect any flaws in the content or flow of your paper and make improvements accordingly. Be sure to check for silly mistakes as well—a misplaced comma or misspelled word will definitely stand out!
Get some feedback - ask a friend/parent/colleague to read it.
One way to make sure your essay is in good shape is to get some feedback. This could be from a friend, parent, colleague, or tutor. If you are thinking about asking someone for help, try writing down what you need from them and what kind of feedback would be most useful for you:
● What should they look out for?
● Is there anything I've missed?
You can also give them some guidance by explaining what type of feedback would be especially useful: "I think it needs more detail" or "I'm not sure if the argument makes sense". If possible - explain why the feedback will help. It's important that whoever reads your work understands why they're reading it and how their input can improve it.
Edit and redraft your essay
Editing and redrafting your essay is one of the most important steps. You should make sure that every sentence in your draft has a purpose, every paragraph is developed logically, and you are using appropriate evidence to support your points. Remember that there is no such thing as perfect or final drafts—you will always want to edit again after handing in an assignment!
