How to Write an Essay

Writing an essay can be a daunting task, especially if you are an English non-native speaker at college or university. Whenever you write an essay, you should endeavor to learn something new. Think of it as a way to improve your skills. You don’t need to write a perfect first essay.

If you’re intimidated by essay writing, consider it a chance to develop your writing skills. Since you are not alone, we understand essay writing can seem intimidating.

How to Write an Essay

Contents

How to Write An Essay

The purpose of this article is to give you tips on how to write better essays when learning English. You can also find someone to write your essay. There are many professional academic writers available on the internet. Let’s get started.

1. Starting Your Essay

The ability to write a good essay is the foundation of almost all academic work. While none of us are born with the ability to write an essay adequately supporting a specific argument with evidence, some of us are far better at it than others.

There’s more to life than that and, despite what people think, making progress is always possible. This article describes the significant skills you need to acquire to write a good essay, whether you are given an essay topic or choose one yourself.

1.1. Getting Started With Your Essay

Initially, you must examine the essay question before you begin writing an essay. As the basis for a good essay, it cannot be overstated how important it is to analyze the question carefully. The average student writes down everything he or she knows about a subject without considering what the question is asking for.

Studying the essay question thoroughly is one piece of advice. It is extremely important for you to comprehend it completely. Try saying it using different words after you have written it out in full. When you begin the writing process, use keywords that indicate the topic is being examined, developed, analyzed, influenced, or compared, either your own or one that was assigned to you.

Having these points will help you understand how to proceed with your essay & also provide an opportunity to discuss the topic and how it should be written.

1.2. Researching Your Essay Topic

Researching Your Essay Topic

Next, after you have carefully considered what is required, you need to check that you have not committed plagiarism. The issue of plagiarism comes up quite often, and it is difficult to avoid.

So you might want to consider all evidence, including those that seem to contradict your ideas, as well as evidence that supports your own beliefs. Providing balanced arguments and acknowledging others’ point-of-views (within reason) should be the goal of an essay.

Thus, you should write your essay based on what you need to research. Include in your research all relevant textbooks as well as prominent authors whose quotes will be referenced.

You can cite and reference these books more easily later if you maintain an alphabetical list of all the books you referenced during your research stage. As there can be considerable differences between academic styles, make sure your paper fits the style required by your school.

1.3. Essay Planning

Thorough planning will help you save time as you begin writing your essay. You should determine the purpose of your essay or title before you begin writing. You can proceed by organizing your thoughts.

It is helpful to organize and prioritize your ideas after doing research, mind mapping, and writing notes. You can decide in advance which parts of your text to emphasize and what points you want to include in a literature essay by planning.

Having reviewed the question and important “keywords” and considering the evidence you have compiled, you should now analyze how everything compliments one another.

Several statistics and evidence are available, but since all of them cannot be included you must weave them into the topic to give them weight.

Additionally, it will ensure a coherent essay due to the fact that your argument will be clear, develop well, and flow smoothly from one paragraph to another. Furthermore, prior to writing, you will discover if your evidence or links are lacking.

2. Writing Your Essay

Writing Your Essay

The time has come to write. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation must be impeccable. When you misspell an author’s name or a book’s title, nothing is more troubling to examiners than bad spelling and punctuation.

The mistakes you make in your presentation will cost you marks. The meaning of the spelling and grammar checks on your computer is not infallible at all – so don’t rely on them.

In case you are unsure, consult other resources and, in the end, thoroughly proofread your work – or better yet, see if you can get a friend to do it as they will often find errors you have overlooked.

2.1. Writing An Essay Introduction

The first thing your examiner will read is your introduction. Try to be as understanding as you can.

You need to accomplish two things to write an excellent introduction to an essay (or any piece of academic writing) in English:

  • Be sure you comprehend the question
  • Explain clearly what you’re trying to say

Students tend to say too little or too much in their introductions, which sounds obvious, but the majority do so carelessly. You need to clearly state what your response is to the topic and how you are going to present it to the reader. If you think you are not capable enough, you can take the help of PaperWriter as they are the best in writing.

That’s all there is to it. You are to state what you need to respond to, not the other person. Therefore, quotations should be avoided from your introduction. Include a ‘feed’ in the opening paragraph of the main body if you can.

2.2. Writing the Main Body of Your Essay

Each paragraph should address a different (but related) aspect of your main topic in the body of your essay. As a result of your pre-planned organization, each paragraph should be written as a sub-heading to the main title, and any points you make should be accompanied by evidence.

When writing a literary essay, it is essential to support your claims with evidence. This means that you need to comment on specific words or phrases that make sense to you. In addition to earning you extra marks, such a review should also give you additional ideas.

You shouldn’t overburden your quotations. If you must quote, ensure you follow the referencing style your instructor has asked you to use, and do not quote more than a few lines.

Try to introduce the topic of the next paragraph with the end of each paragraph in the main body.

You can then use the link in the next paragraph so that your essay flows better and will seem to have a pattern that will ultimately lead you to your conclusion. Continuation of the argument should be the basis of paragraphs. In order to do this, you can do several things:

  • Writing sequentially: The presentation of events in a logical order
  • Writing elaborately: A discussion of a topic previously discussed
  • Comparing/contradicting: A sentence that contradicts or challenges an idea in a previous sentence

The above-mentioned are merely a few ideas. You may select an argument type that best fits the type of essay you are preparing.

2.3. Writing An Essay Conclusion

As the final paragraph of your essay, your conclusion should summarize your argument. This will tie up all your loose ends. In order to reach an effective conclusion, one may:

  • Give a brief summary of your main premise
  • Cite the title or question of the essay directly
  • Briefly describe each point of support
  • An idea or reflection for the readers to remember

When writing a conclusion, it’s helpful to use words or phrases such as: “In conclusion, To conclude, Finally, or in summary”. An abrupt conclusion often leads to students losing marks. Therefore, ensure a flawless outcome.

2.4. Essay Referencing

Referencing is an essential aspect of academic writing. Identifying the sources used in your research, evidence, or argumentation. Additionally, referencing other people’s work correctly is vital to avoid being accused of plagiarism (copying or cheating)!

Many different reference systems exist, including MLA, APA, Harvard, OSCOLA, and MHRA.

References must be used in accordance with the referencing system your academic institute or university uses and accepts. References, in general, are formatted in two ways: author-date or notes-bibliography.

A work described in an author-date system includes the author’s name and publication date. You can find out the correct style for your module from the handbook first and then look at our referencing guide for the required format.

2.5. Essay Writing Styles

Generally, your university will give you more guidelines on how to write your essay, so you don’t have to worry about this one. As valid as that may sound, it is imperative that you take note of the university’s rules outlined in the instructions you received.

It is common for many universities to give instructions on how to format your essays, such as writing your essay in Times New Roman font size 12 and double-spacing.

In general, it is best to stay away from writing in the first person unless specific guidelines indicate that you can, do not copy others’ content, and refrain from using slang expressions.

On your cover sheet, you should include your name, your module ID, your lecturer’s name, and your office address. Unless provided in the guidelines, additional lists may turn out to be insufficient.

3. Final Essay Checks

Final Essay Checks

Once you have completed your essay, check it for errors. Make sure you have not made any grammatical or punctuation errors in your essay, and check your citations and citation style according to the instructions you have received.

Take your time when writing your bibliography, and let it grow as you conduct your research. Including a bibliography provides evidence of your readings and research. If you note all publications you consult at that time, it will be extremely beneficial to you.

Final Words

We understand that creating a good essay is a skill that can be daunting and can even pique your curiosity. As you will have to evaluate your question and explore possible aspects of it to include in it, you either will end up with a lot of paragraphs or you will remain blank.

It does not have to be painful or frightening to write a great essay in English. It will be more straightforward to structure and write an essay if you think about what to include first, especially if you can properly reference it. How about we write that essay right now?