How to Write an Essay – A Brief Guide by Professor
When writing an essay, it is important to write in a lively tone that carries throughout the entire essay.
You want to keep your reader engaged throughout the entire essay by using active verbs.
If possible, avoid using too many fancy words when write an essay because that can make it harder for teachers to understand what you are trying to say.
The best way around this problem is to use shorter sentences with more action verbs instead of long, complicated ones that make the reader feel lost and confused about what they should be reading next.
Do you want to know how to write a good essay?
Here are 10 steps to writing an essay that professionals recommend:
1) Plan your essay – don't just dive in
Planning your essay is a good idea. It will help you to organize and focus your thoughts on the topic.
If you are writing an essay for a school assignment, it is important to think about the purpose of the
assignment before you start writing.
Why are you writing this essay? What do you want to say? What do you want to achieve?
If your goal is to get good marks in an exam, then it is likely that the topic chosen by your teacher will be very important for this reason.
So try to think about what kind of points you want to make, what examples and arguments can support them, and how they will appear in your essay.
Write down everything that you want to include in your essay and then organize it into sections.
2) Develop a strong argument
Your essay should support your claim by using facts, examples, quotations, and other relevant sources in an organized way that supports your main point.
This means you must support all three parts of the “triangle”: logic (the thesis), evidence (the body), and conclusion (the whole thing).
In other words, you need to prove your point using logic and evidence, then explain why those facts support your argument.
This is where good research comes into play. This is important if you want to learn how to write an essay for better grades.
Start by thinking about what kind of questions would be appropriate for this type of assignment.
Are there any questions that have already been asked or answered in previous assignments?
In some cases, teachers might even give hints at the beginning of an assignment (for example, if they mention that they would like students to write about their favorite holiday destination).
This can help students prepare for the assignment.
3) Present your argument logically
Most importantly, your essay must be logical and well-organized. A logical argument is one that flows smoothly from one point to another.
It should be clear that you've made a strong point at the end of each paragraph, and it should lead up to the next one.
This step is of great significance if you are looking for
how to write essay without getting your readers lost in the middle of the way.
4) Do some critical thinking and write your thesis statement
The next step is to do some critical thinking and write down the thesis statement in one sentence. It should be clear, concise, and relevant to the topic.
This section will help you determine what kind of essay you need to write and how much space you need for it.
Take some time to think about what your essay is going to say before you start writing it.
This will help you organize your thoughts better when you're writing and will also give you an idea of what type of essay you should be writing (informative or persuasive).
Once you have figured out what type of essay it is, put this into one sentence so that you can remember what your topic is when looking back at your paper later on after editing has been done.
5) Check the order of your paragraphs
Checking the order of your paragraphs is on the fifth spot in the list of steps to write an essay.
This part is important because it helps you structure your essay properly so that it flows smoothly from paragraph to paragraph without any confusion or interruptions.
Once again, check if everything makes sense together in relation to each other and whether they flow well with each other.
If there are any links missing between paragraphs or sentences, then fix them as soon as possible, so they don't become confusing later on in the paper.
6) Cite sources and evidence
In every academic piece of work, you need to cite information that supports your argument.
If you want to do well in your college essay, then it is necessary for you to cite reliable sources.
You can use the internet to look for sources when looking for information. However,
if you are writing a formal academic piece of work, then you will have to use books and journals as sources of information.
7) Write clearly and cohesively
In order for your paper to be persuasive, it must be well-written and presented in an organized way that makes sense structurally and grammatically.
An effective writer uses clear language by using active voice instead of passive voice and by avoiding unnecessary run-ons (longer than two sentences together) in sentences.
It’s also important to keep paragraphs short because longer ones tend to confuse readers.
You should also avoid using jargon unless it is absolutely necessary because jargon will alienate your audience rather than help them understand what you are trying to say.
8) Don’t forget to proofread and revise
A well-written essay should be free from grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, and spelling mistakes.
It should also be free from any kind of repetition, which would make it difficult for your readers to understand the main idea or theme of the essay.
9) Include relevant information
The information you include in your essay should be relevant to the topic at hand. In other words, you need to tell about what you are going to write about.
The first sentence of your essay should always be a hook that grabs your reader’s attention so that they will want to read more.
In short, you will have to include all the relevant facts if you want to know how to write a proper essay.
10) Use correct vocabulary and phrases
In writing essays, there are certain phrases and words that are used frequently in everyday life but are not appropriate when used in academic writing because they have no real meaning or impact on the topic at hand.
Therefore, it is important that these phrases or words are replaced with appropriate ones so as not to confuse or mislead readers who might misunderstand what you mean by using these phrases or words in the first place.