How to Write an Essay

Essays are common in middle school, high school and college. You may even
need to write essays in the business world (although they are usually called
"reports" at that point). An essay is defined as "a short piece of writing that
expresses information as well as the writer's opinion."
7 Steps to Writing an Essay
For some, writing an essay is as simple as sitting down at their computer and
beginning to type. But, a lot more planning goes into writing an essay
successfully. If you have never written an essay before, or if you struggle with
writing and want to improve your skills, it is a good idea to follow a number of
important steps in the essay writing process.
For example, to write an essay, you should generally:
1. Decide what kind of essay to write
2. Brainstorm your topic
3. Research the topic
4. Develop a thesis
5. Outline your essay
6. Write your essay
7. Edit your writing to check spelling and grammar
While this sounds like a lot of steps to write a simple essay, if you follow them
you will be able to write more successful, clear and cohesive essays.
1. Choose the Type of Essay
The first step to writing an essay is to define what type of essay you are
writing. There are four main categories into which essays can be grouped:
Narrative Essay: Tell a story or impart information about your subject in a
straightforward, orderly manner, like in a story.
Persuasive Essay: Convince the reader about some point of view.
Expository Essay: Explain to the reader how to do a given process. You could,
for example, write an expository essay with step-by-step instructions on how
to make a peanut butter sandwich.
Descriptive Essay: Focus on the details of what is going on. For example, if you
want to write a descriptive essay about your trip to the park, you would give
great detail about what you experienced: how the grass felt beneath your feet,
what the park benches looked like, and anything else the reader would need to
feel as if he were there.
Knowing what kind of essay you are trying to write can help you decide on a
topic and structure your essay in the best way possible. Here are a few other
types of essays:
Argumentative Essay: Take a position on a controversial issue and present
evidence in favor of your position.
Compare and Contrast Essay: Identify similarities and differences between two
subjects that are, typically, under the same umbrella.
Problem Solution Essay: Describe a problem, convince the reader to care about
the problem, propose a solution, and be prepared to dismantle objections.
If you've been assigned an argumentative essay, check out these Top 10
Argumentative Essay Topics.

2. Brainstorm
You cannot write an essay unless you have an idea of what to write about.
Brainstorming is the process in which you come up with the essay topic. You
need to simply sit and think of ideas during this phase.
Write down everything that comes to mind as you can always narrow those
topics down later.
Use clustering or mind mapping to brainstorm and come up with an essay idea.
This involves writing your topic or idea in the center of the paper and creating
bubbles (clouds or clusters) of related ideas around it.
Brainstorming can be a great way to develop a topic more deeply and to
recognize connections between various facets of your topic.
Once you have a list of possible topics, it's time to choose the best one that will
answer the question posed for your essay. You want to choose a topic that is
neither too broad nor too narrow.
If you are given an assignment to write a one-page essay, it would be far too
much to write about "the history of the US," since that could fill entire volumes
of books. Instead, you could write about a specific event within the history of
the United States: perhaps signing the Declaration of Independence or when
Columbus discovered the Americas.
Choose the best topic idea from among your list and begin moving forward on
writing your essay. But, before you move forward, take heed of these topics to
avoid.

3. Research the Topic

Once you have done your brainstorming and chosen your topic, you may need
to do some research to write a good essay. Go to the library or search online
for information about your topic. Interview people who might be experts in the
subject.
Keep your research organized so it will be easy for you to refer back to. This
will also make it easier to cite your sources when writing your final essay.

4. Develop a Thesis
Your thesis statement is the main point of your essay. It is essentially one
sentence that says what the essay is about. For example, your thesis statement
might be "Dogs are descended from wolves." You can then use this as the basic
premise to write your entire essay, remembering that all of the different points
throughout need to lead back to this one main thesis. You should usually state
your thesis in your introductory paragraph.
The thesis statement should be broad enough that you have enough to say
about it, but not so broad that you can't be thorough.
To help you structure a perfectly clear thesis, check out these These Statement
Examples.
5. Outline Your Essay
The next step is to outline what you are going to write about. This means you
want to essentially draw the skeleton of your paper. Writing an outline can
help to ensure your paper is logical, well organized and flows properly.
If you've been tasked with an argumentative essay, here's the best formula for
an Argumentative Essay Outline.
Start by writing the thesis statement at the top, and then write a topic
sentence for each paragraph below that. This means you should know exactly
what each of your paragraphs is going to be about before you write them.
Don't jumble too many ideas in each paragraph or the reader may become
confused.
Ensure you have transitions between paragraphs so the reader understands
how the paper flows from one idea to the next.
Fill in supporting facts from your research under each paragraph. Make sure
each paragraph ties back to your thesis and creates a cohesive, understandable
essay.
Does your teacher follow the APA guidelines for writing papers? If so, these
APA Outline Format Examples should help you pull it all together. As you
progress into the meat of the essay (following our tips below), these APA
Format Examples should prove beneficial!
Of, if MLA is your teacher's preferred style, check out these MLA Format
Examples.

6. Write the Essay

Once you have an outline, it's time to start writing. Write based on the outline
itself, fleshing out your basic skeleton to create a whole, cohesive and clear
essay.
You'll want to edit and re-read your essay, checking to make sure it sounds
exactly the way you want it to. Here are some things to remember:
Revise for clarity, consistency, and structure.
Support your thesis adequately with the information in your paragraphs. Each
paragraph should have its own topic sentence. This is the most important
sentence in the paragraph that tells readers what the rest of the paragraph will
be about.
Make sure everything flows together. As you move through the essay,
transition words will be paramount. Transition words are the glue that
connects every paragraph together and prevents the essay from sounding
disjointed.
Reread your introduction and conclusion. Will the reader walk away knowing
exactly what your paper was about?
In your introduction, it's important to include a hook. This is the line or line
that will lure a reader in and encourage them to want to learn more. For more
on this, check out How to Write a Hook.
And, to help you formulate a killer conclusion, scan through these Conclusion
Examples.

7. Check Spelling and Grammar

Now the essay is written, but you're not quite done. Reread what you've
written, looking out for mistakes and typos.
Revise for technical errors.
Check for grammar, punctuation and spelling errors. You cannot always count
on spell check to recognize every spelling error. Sometimes, you can spell a
word incorrectly but your misspelling will also be a word, such as spelling
"from" as "form."
Another common area of concern is quotation marks. It's important to cite
your sources with accuracy and clarity. Follow these guidelines on how to use
quotes in essays and speeches.
You might also want to consider the difference between quoting, paraphrasing,
and summarizing. Quoting is reserved for lines of text that are identical to an
original piece of writing. Paraphrasing is reserved for large sections of
someone else's writing that you want to convey in your own words.
Summarizing puts the main points from someone else's text into your own
words. Here's more on When to Quote, Paraphrase, or Summarize.
Planning Pays Off
A lot goes into writing a successful essay. Fortunately, these tips for writing
essays can help you along the way and get you on the path to a well-written
essay.
Out of all these "how-tos," the worst thing you could do is plagiarize someone
else's writing (intentionally or unintentionally). Take a look at these tips and
techniques for preventing plagiarism. Other than that, we wish you great
success as you work your way to a perfect A!