Essay Writing Basics: Tips for writing an Effective Essay

Creating an essay can seem a little dreadful to a student. Be it an essay for a scholarship, class assignment or competition, most studentstend to shy away from writing one because it’s such an overwhelming experience.

Although writing an essay amounts to working on a huge project, there a couple of steps you can take to help you break down your task into simpler and manageable segments. That way, you will be successful in writing your essay irrespective of its purpose. Here are the steps to creating a winning essay.

Find a topic that you want to write about

You may have got a topic already or you may have been given the freedom to write on a subject you are passionate about. If the topic is provided for you, take some time and decided on the kind of paper you want to write about. You can write a general paper on the subject, or you may prefer to write an analytical paper. Where necessary, try to narrow your paper's focus.

You could also choose to get academic help from someone who is well positioned to create a paper on any subject matter. If the topic isn’t provided, and you have free reign, there’s a little more than you need to do.

If you have free reign, you also have the freedom to pick a subject that you are passionate about. So, begin by defining a purpose. Ask yourself whether you want to write an essay to inform or to persuade your audience.

Once you have your purpose figured out, the next step is to do some digging on the subject you have chosen. Begin by thinking about your whole life. Then, find out the things that interest you and write them all down.

Evaluate all the options at your disposal. If the goal of your essay is to educate the audience, select a subject that you are conversant with. However, if the goal of your essay is to influence, select a topic that you love to talk about.

Prepare an Outline for the Essay

For you to write an interesting essay, organize your thoughts logically. Take whatever you have in your mind and write it down so that you can establish a connection between your ideas. An outline serves as a starting point for the rest of your essay. Therefore, you are free to create a diagram or an outline to help organize your thoughts.

If you opt to use a diagram, place the subject of your essay at the center. Then, draw lines, up to five, branching off your subject then write the key ideas, including all the thoughts you might have.

Alternatively, an outline will do as well. Your subject will be at the top, and then your ideas follow with spacing in between. Within the spaces, list the minor ideas that link to each main idea.

Write the Thesis Statement

Since you have a topic in mind, and all your ideas are fully sorted, the next step is to write a thesis statement. A thesis statement is used to communicate your reason for writing an essay. A thesis statement usually has two main parts. A portion that communicates the topic and a second one that says the reason for writing the essay.

Write the Body of your Essay

The body in an essay is used to explain, argue or say something about your subject of discussion. So, every key idea will for a separate section within your essay’s body. Each paragraph will have a similar structure to every other paragraph.

Start by with the key ideas as your paragraph’s introduction. Then, write secondary ideas in the form of sentences but be sure to leave some spaces within so that you can support the secondary ideas.

Write the Introduction

Since you have the thesis and the body, you need to create an introduction. You need a very catching introduction so that the reader will want to continue reading your essay. Start with something that will grab your readers’ attention. There are many ways you can do that including using dialogue, shocking information, quote, story or just a modest breakdown of your subject.

The Conclusion

Your conclusion is meant to recap your ideas while giving the last perspective on your chosen subject. The conclusion should have about three solid sentences. Review the key ideas and then reinforce the thesis statement.

Include some Final Touches

Once you are through writing your essay, it easy to think that you are all done. So, before you decide that your work is done, pay special attention to minor details.

Inspect your work and check whether your paragraphs are in the right order. Then, review the essay instructions and be sure that you have followed all the instructions. Lastly, go over your work and find out if it makes sense, then you can submit your work.