Throughout your academic career, you will usually be asked to write an essay.

You may work on an assigned essay for class, enter an essay contest or write
essays for college admissions. This article will show you the writing and
revision processes for all types of essays. Then, it will explore how to write
narrative, persuasive and expository essays.

1
Research the topic. Go online, head to the library, or search an academic
database or read newspapers. You may ask a reference librarian.
Know which sources are acceptable to your teacher.

Does your teacher want a certain number of primary sources and

secondary sources?
Can you use Wikipedia? Wikipedia is often a good starting point

for learning about a topic, but many teachers won't let you cite it because they
want you to find more authoritative sources.
Take detailed notes, keeping track of which facts come from

which sources. Write down your sources in the correct citation format so that
you don't have to go back and look them up again later.
Never ignore facts and claims that seem to disprove your original

idea or claim. A good essay writer either includes the contrary evidence and
shows why such evidence is not valid or alters his or her point of view in light
of the evidence.

2
Analyze well-written essays. In your research you'll probably come across
really well-written (and not so well-written) arguments about your topic. Do
some analysis to see what makes them work.

What claims does the author make?

Why do they sound good? Is it the logic, the sources, the writing,
the structure? Is it something else?

What evidence does the author present?

Why does the evidence sound credible? How does the author

present facts, and what is his/her approach to telling a story with facts?

Is the logic sound or faulty, and why?

Why is the logic sound? Does the author back up his/her claims
with examples that are easy to follow?

3
Brainstorm your own ideas. Sure, you can use the arguments of others to
back up what you want to say. However, you need to come up with your
original spin on the topic to make it uniquely yours.

Make lists of ideas. You can also try mind mapping.

Take your time. Walk in your neighborhood or local park and think
about your topic. Be prepared for ideas to come to you when you least expect
them.

4
Pick your thesis statement.

Look at the ideas that you generated. Choose one to three of your
strongest ideas that support your topic. You should be able to support these
ideas with evidence from your research.

Write a thesis statement that summarizes the ideas that you plan to
present. Essentially, let the reader know where you're going and why.

A thesis statement should have a narrow focus include both

your topic and what you plan to present. For example, "Although Eli Whitney's
cotton gin ushered in a new era of American prosperity, it also widened the
gap in suffering for African-American slaves, who would soon be more in
demand, and more exploited, than ever."

A thesis statement should not ask a question, be written in first

person ("I"), roam off-topic or be combative.

5
Plan your essay. Take the thoughts that you brainstormed and assemble
them into an outline. Write a topic sentence for your main ideas. Then,
underneath, make bullet points and list your supporting evidence. Generally,
you want three arguments or pieces of evidence to support each main idea.
Topic sentence: "Eli Whitney's cotton gin made life harder on African

American slaves."
Ex: "The success of cotton made it harder for slaves to purchase

their own freedom."

Ex: "Many northern slaves were in danger of being kidnapped

and brought down south to work in the cotton fields."

Ex: "In 1790, before the cotton gin, slaves in America totaled

about 700,000. In 1810, after the cotton gin had been adopted, slaves totaled
about 1.2 million, a 70% increase."

6
Write the body of your essay. You do want to think about length here; don't
write pages and pages if your teacher wants 5 paragraphs. However, you
should freewriteto let your thoughts reveal themselves. You can always make
them more concise later.

Avoid sweeping generalizations. Statements such as "______ is the

most important problem facing the world today," can cause your reader to
dismiss your position out of hand if he/she disagrees with you. On the other
hand, "______ is a significant global problem" is more accurate.

Don't use "I" statements such as "I think." Likewise, avoid the
personal pronouns "you," "we," "my," "your" or "our". Simply stating your
argument with supporting facts makes you sound much more authoritative.
Instead of writing, "I found Frum to have a conservative bias," tell the reader

why your statement is true: "Frum displays a conservative bias when he

writes..."

7
Come up with a compelling title and introduction. Your title and
introduction make people want to read your essay. If your teacher is the
audience, then of course your teacher will read the whole piece. However, if
you're submitting to an essay contest or writing an essay for college
admissions, your title and introduction have to hook the reader if you want to
meet your objectives.
Skip obvious expressions such as, "This essay is about, "The topic of

this essay is" or "I will now show that".

Try the inverted pyramid formula. Start off with a very broad

description of your topic and gradually narrow it down to your specific thesis
statement. Try to use no more than 3 to 5 sentences for short essays, and no
more than 1 page for longer essays.
Short essay example: Every year, thousands of unwanted and abused

animals end up in municipal shelters. Being caged in shelters not only causes
animals to suffer but also drains local government budgets. Towns and cities
could prevent both animal abuse and government waste by requiring
prospective pet owners to go through mandatory education before allowing
them to obtain a pet. Although residents may initially resist the requirement,
they will soon see that the benefits of mandatory pet owner education far
outweigh the costs."

8
Conclude your essay. Summarize your points and suggest ways in which
your conclusion can be thought of in a larger sense.

Answer questions like, "What are the implications of your thesis

statement being true?" "What's the next step?" "What questions remain
unanswered?"

Your arguments should draw your reader to a natural, logical

conclusion. In a sense, you are repackaging your thesis statement in your
concluding paragraph by helping the reader to remember the journey through
your essay.

Nail the last sentence. If your title and first paragraph make the reader
want to read your essay, then your last sentence makes the reader remember
you. If a gymnast does a great balance beam routine but falls on the landing,
then people forget the routine. Gymnasts need to "stick the landing," and so
do essay writers.