The Student’s Guide to Essay Writing

There it is, your teacher has finally given you an essay assignment, and you are about to panic. How are you going to write an excellent essay? That is the question that will follow you through your entire high school and college education, but at some point, you need to get it right. Essays usually have different goals, and, depending on the assignment you will often need to describe or explain a topic, idea, opinion, or notion. An essay is supposed to present your view concisely and compellingly, it has to provide analysis, arguments, discussion, and conclusion. All of this can seem or tends to become rather complicated. Therefore, there are some basic rules every student needs to follow in order to write an excellent essay. Regardless of the topic, the basic formula needs to be applied.

Preparing and Planning

This is the most challenging part of essay writing; coming up with a topic, researching, outlining, preparing and planning. Prior to the actual writing, you need to gather a variety of information and relevant sources that are going to serve as examples and argument to the topic. Make sure to look into the academic database, the library books, encyclopedias, comprehensive summaries, etc. All of this can help you acquire relevant and factual information that are going to be acceptable sources to cite in the essay.

Introduction

According to International Student, the principal purpose of an introduction is to present the central question of your essay, also known as the thesis, or the main argument. The opening needs to be effective in grabbing the reader’s attention and presenting compelling evidence of what your essay is going to be. So, an excellent essay should always begin with a so-called ‘hook,’ that will leave the reader want to read on. Then, the essay should continue with a preview of the examples that will support the main argument, and finally, a transition into the main part of the essay. An introduction is your chance to give the reader the best first impression, so make sure to put effort into it.

The Body of the Essay

The body of your essay is where you elaborate on all the information about the point you presented in the introductory part. Each point in the outline needs to be explained and argumented in the body paragraphs, discussion each one individually and then in accordance with the central question of the essay. Regardless of what the topic of the essay is, you need to make sure to be persuasive and cover each point in detail, offering several angles of discussion and points of view. There need to be examples that support your thesis, as well as appropriate context and explanation stating why an example is relevant to your essay. In case you need more help in regards to the body paragraphs, turn to free essays examples, online tutors, courses and books on essay writing.

Essay Writing

Conclusion

The conclusion is the part of the essay where you need to summarize all the previously presented information. These thoughts, just like in the introduction, need to be comprehensive, concise and most importantly, not repetitive. The conclusion also shouldn’t be lengthy; it should comprise several concise and direct sentences that benefit the overall essay and zero in on your thesis statement. According to Harvard Writing Center, a conclusion should link the last paragraph to the first one, and it should be composed mainly out of one-syllable words, as simple language can be sometimes more efficient in projecting the main idea and thought. The conclusion of an essay simply shapes the impression that stays with the reader after they’ve finished with your essay.

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