General Essay Writing Tips - Essay Writing Center (2024)

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Despite the fact that, as Shakespeare said, "the pen is mightier than the sword," the pen itself is not enough tomake an effective writer. In fact, though we may all like to think of ourselves as the next Shakespeare, inspirationalone is not the key to effective essay writing. You see, the conventions of English essays are more formulaic thanyou might think – and, in many ways, it can be as simple as counting to five.

Steps to Writing an Essay

Follow these 7 steps for the best results:

1. Read and understand the prompt: Know exactly what is being asked of you. It’s a good idea todissect the prompt into parts.
2. Plan: Brainstorming and organizing your ideas will make your life much easier when you go towrite your essay. It’s a good idea to make a web of your ideas and supporting details.
3. Use and cite sources: Do your research. Use quotes and paraphrase from your sources, but NEVERplagiarize.
4. Write a Draft: Ernest Hemingway once said, “The first draft of anything is always crap.” Whilethe truth behind this statement is debatable, drafts are always a good place to get any of your “crappy” ideasout of the way and are often required by professors and instructors.
5. Make a strong thesis: The thesis (main argument) of the essay is the most important thingyou’ll write. Make it a strong point.
6. Respond to the prompt: Once you have worked out any kinks in your draft, you can start writingthe final draft of your essay.
7. Proofread: Read your response carefully to make sure that there are no mistakes and that youdidn’t miss anything.

Of course, every essay assignment is different and it’s important to be mindful of that. If one of these steps isn’tapplicable to the essay you are writing, skip it and move to the next one.

The Five Paragraph Essay

Though more advanced academic papers are a category all their own, the basic high school or college essay has thefollowing standardized, five paragraph structure:

Paragraph 1: Introduction
Paragraph 2: Body 1
Paragraph 3: Body 2
Paragraph 4: Body 3
Paragraph5: Conclusion

Though it may seem formulaic – and, well, it is - the idea behind this structure is to make it easier for the readerto navigate the ideas put forth in an essay. You see, if your essay has the same structure as every other one, anyreader should be able to quickly and easily find the information most relevant to them.

The Introduction

The principle purpose of the introduction is to present your position (this is also known as the "thesis" or"argument") on the issue at hand but effective introductory paragraphs are so much more than that. Before you evenget to this thesis statement, for example, the essay should begin with a "hook" that grabs the reader’s attentionand makes them want to read on. Examples of effective hooks include relevant quotations ("no man is an island") orsurprising statistics ("three out of four doctors report that…").

Only then, with the reader’s attention "hooked," should you move on to the thesis. The thesis should be a clear,one-sentence explanation of your position that leaves no doubt in the reader’s mind about which side you are on fromthe beginning of your essay.

Following the thesis, you should provide a mini-outline which previews the examples you will use to support yourthesis in the rest of the essay. Not only does this tell the reader what to expect in the paragraphs to come but italso gives them a clearer understanding of what the essay is about.

Finally, designing the last sentence in this way has the added benefit of seamlessly moving the reader to the firstparagraph of the body of the paper. In this way we can see that the basic introduction does not need to be much morethan three or four sentences in length. If yours is much longer you might want to consider editing it down a bit!

Here, by way of example, is an introductory paragraph to an essay in response to the following question:

"Do we learn more from finding out that we have made mistakes or from our successful actions?"

"No man is an island" and, as such, he is constantly shaped and influenced by his experiences. People learn by doingand, accordingly, learn considerably more from their mistakes than their success. For proof of this, considerexamples from both science and everyday experience.

The Body Paragraphs

The middle paragraphs of the essay are collectively known as the body paragraphs and, as alluded to above, the mainpurpose of a body paragraph is to spell out in detail the examples that support your thesis.

For the first body paragraph you should use your strongest argument or most significant example unless some othermore obvious beginning point (as in the case of chronological explanations) is required. The first sentence of thisparagraph should be the topic sentence of the paragraph that directly relates to the examples listed in themini-outline of introductory paragraph.

A one sentence body paragraph that simply cites the example of "George Washington" or "LeBron James" is not enough,however. No, following this an effective essay will follow up on this topic sentence by explaining to the reader, indetail, who or what an example is and, more importantly, why that example is relevant.

Even the most famous examples need context. For example, George Washington’s life was extremely complex – by usinghim as an example, do you intend to refer to his honesty, bravery, or maybe even his wooden teeth? The reader needsto know this and it is your job as the writer to paint the appropriate picture for them. To do this, it is a goodidea to provide the reader with five or six relevant facts about the life (in general) or event (in particular) youbelieve most clearly illustrates your point.

Having done that, you then need to explain exactly why this example proves your thesis. The importance of this step cannot be understated (although it clearly canbe underlined); this is, after all, the whole reason you are providing the example in the first place. Sealthe deal by directly stating why this example is relevant.

Here is an example of a body paragraph to continue the essay begun above:

Take, by way of example, Thomas Edison. The famed American inventor rose to prominence in the late 19th centurybecause of his successes, yes, but even he felt that these successes were the result of his many failures. He didnot succeed in his work on one of his most famous inventions, the lightbulb, on his first try nor even on hishundred and first try. In fact, it took him more than 1,000 attempts to make the first incandescent bulb but, alongthe way, he learned quite a deal. As he himself said, "I did not fail a thousand times but instead succeeded infinding a thousand ways it would not work." Thus Edison demonstrated both in thought and action how instructivemistakes can be.

A Word on Transitions

You may have noticed that, though the above paragraph aligns pretty closely with the provided outline, there is onelarge exception: the first few words. These words are example of a transitional phrase – others include"furthermore," "moreover," but also "by contrast" and "on the other hand" – and are the hallmark of good writing.

Transitional phrases are useful for showing the reader where one section ends and another begins. It may be helpfulto see them as the written equivalent of the kinds of spoken cues used in formal speeches that signal the end of oneset of ideas and the beginning of another. In essence, they lead the reader from one section of the paragraph ofanother.

To further illustrate this, consider the second body paragraph of our example essay:

In a similar way, we are all like Edison in our own way. Whenever we learn a new skill - be it riding a bike,driving a car, or cooking a cake - we learn from our mistakes. Few, if any, are ready to go from training wheels toa marathon in a single day but these early experiences (these so-called mistakes) can help us improve ourperformance over time. You cannot make a cake without breaking a few eggs and, likewise, we learn by doing and doinginevitably means making mistakes.

Hopefully this example not only provides another example of an effective body paragraph but also illustrates howtransitional phrases can be used to distinguish between them.

The Conclusion

Although the conclusion paragraph comes at the end of your essay it should not be seen as an afterthought. As thefinal paragraph is represents your last chance to make your case and, as such, should follow an extremely rigidformat.

One way to think of the conclusion is, paradoxically, as a second introduction because it does in fact contain manyof the same features. While it does not need to be too long – four well-crafted sentence should be enough – it canmake or break and essay.

Effective conclusions open with a concluding transition ("in conclusion," "in the end," etc.) and an allusion to the"hook" used in the introductory paragraph. After that you should immediately provide a restatement of your thesisstatement.

This should be the fourth or fifth time you have repeated your thesis so while you should use a variety of wordchoice in the body paragraphs it is a acceptable idea to use some (but not all) of the original language you used inthe introduction. This echoing effect not only reinforces your argument but also ties it nicely to the second keyelement of the conclusion: a brief (two or three words is enough) review of the three main points from the body ofthe paper.

Having done all of that, the final element – and final sentence in your essay – should be a "global statement" or"call to action" that gives the reader signals that the discussion has come to an end.

In the end, then, one thing is clear: mistakes do far more to help us learn and improve than successes. As examplesfrom both science and everyday experience can attest, if we treat each mistake not as a misstep but as a learningexperience the possibilities for self-improvement are limitless.

More tips to make your essay shine

Planning Pays

Although it may seem like a waste of time – especially during examswhere time is tight – it is almost always better to brainstorm a bit before beginning your essay. This should enableyou to find the best supporting ideas – rather than simply the first ones that come to mind – and position them inyour essay accordingly.

Your best supporting idea – the one that most strongly makes your case and, simultaneously, about which you have themost knowledge – should go first. Even the best-written essays can fail because of ineffectively placed arguments.

Aim for Variety

Sentences and vocabulary of varying complexity are one of the hallmarks of effective writing. When you are writing,try to avoid using the same words and phrases over and over again. You don’t have to be a walking thesaurus but alittle variance can make the same idea sparkle.

If you are asked about "money," you could try "wealth" or "riches." At the same time, avoid beginning sentences thedull pattern of "subject + verb + direct object." Although examples of this are harder to give, consider our writingthroughout this article as one big example of sentence structure variety.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

In the end, though, remember that good writing does not happen by accident. Although we have endeavored to explaineverything that goes into effective essay writing in as clear and concise a way as possible, it is much easier intheory than it is in practice.

As a result, we recommend that you practice writing sample essays on various topics. Even if they are notmasterpieces at first, a bit of regular practice will soon change that – and make you better prepared when it comesto the real thing.

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