How to write a Simple Essay |
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| Writing an essay is not difficult and can be successfully done if you know the basic format. An essay can be argumentative or compare-contrast or may simply be narrative or reflective. Although the content of the essays will be different, the format of an essay remains the same. Each essay has a structure and by following a series of steps, writing a winning essay becomes extremely simple. |
Topic Selection |
- If the topic has already been assigned to you then you save time and begin with the essay writing purpose. However, in case you do not already have a topic, choose one which is of interest to you so that it reflects in your essay.
- Make sure that you choose a topic which has enough resources and references.
- Once you have decided the basic topic, narrow down the topic and make it more specific. For example, if your topic is ‘Computers’, then narrow it down to something like ‘Importance of computers in the classroom to aid learner and teacher education’. Alternately, if you are given a broad topic like ‘Academic Stress’, narrow it down to something like ‘The Impact of Academic Stress on College Students’.
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Outline |
- Prepare an outline for your essay by writing down the main points of your essay.
- The essay will be divided equally between three important sections –
- Introduction with Thesis Statement
- Main body with paragraphs
- Conclusion or End
- Each section will have about three or four points and the main body of the essay will have the most number of points. The main body of the essay will ideally be divided into three or five paragraphs.
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Introduction |
The introduction is the opening section of your essay and must be interesting enough to invite and retain the attention of the reader. Besides giving the reader an idea of what the main topic or subject of the essay, the introduction serves the dual purpose of leading the course of your essay. Write an introduction which grabs the reader’s attention which can be done in several ways:
- Begin with information which may shock or surprise readers and draw them to read further. Do not use fake information and back up any statement with statistics or verifiable evidence.
- You could also begin by quoting a famous personality or an anecdote which relates to your essay.
- An effective way of inviting the attention of readers is to introduce your essay with the help of a dialogue between two speakers.
- Begin with general information and transition towards specific until it finally leads to the thesis statement which is the final and concluding part of your introduction.
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Devise a Thesis Statment |
- Writing a thesis statement is the next most important part of your essay and informs readers about the main intention and topic of your essay.
- The Thesis statement is the final sentence written at the end of the introduction.
- The Thesis statement is ideally a single sentence but has two ideas –
- The first part informs the reader about the basic subject of the essay – in this case importance of computers.
- The Second part tells the reader about the specific aspect of your topic – in this case, the impact of computers on education. You could also make this topic more detailed by writing about the influence of computers on online education or tele-mental health.
- The thesis statement will be the main guide to your essay and all of your main points and arguments will focus on proving your thesis statement.
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Main body Paragraphs |
- The main body of the essay comprises of well defined paragraph in which you prove your thesis with the help of appropriate arguments, explanations and resources.
- Every paragraph begins with a new point, followed reasons supporting it.
- Each point is then analysed and elaborated, preferably with the help of authentic and scholarly sources.
- Citing and acknowledging sources is an essential aspect of writing an essay, making it free of plagiarism.
- Ideally, there should be about three to five body paragraphs but these can vary and increase in case of research papers with increased word or page count.
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Conclusion |
Conclusion is the final and concluding part in writing your essay in which you sum up all the important points and prove that the thesis has been substantiated.
- The conclusion should be about a paragraph with not more than four or five sentences.
- All the main points written in the body of the essay should be reviewed and briefly stated.
- The final statements should be a restating of the thesis statement, which should be reworded.
- Like the introduction, the conclusion can be innovatively written and can include a quote, a saying or even an anecdote.
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Revise and Edit |
Revision and editing are as important aspects of the essay as the writing process of the main essay. It is essential that you check each and every part of your essay before submitting it so that it is free of any grammatical, spelling or formatting errors.
- Check the formatting instruction and ensure that the title page, font, spacing, page numbers and margin settings are all correct.
- Read the essay aloud slowly to yourself so that you can detect any errors which you may miss when reading silently.
- Check the introduction to see if it can be revised and made any stronger to grab the attention of the reader.
- Check the thesis statement and whether it needs to be revised.
- Check the body paragraphs and ensure that they each body paragraph of the essay begins with a new topic which is appropriately proven.
- Check for coherence and logical transition from one point to another. You may need to shuffle paragraphs so that there is a logical flow.
- Finally, check the final essay for word-count and any spelling errors.
- Your draft is now ready for submission.
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