Part 1 : Writing Your Essay
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.
Part2:
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?
Part 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.
·
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.
Part 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.
Part 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."
Part 6:
1. 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..."
Part 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."
Part 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.
