How to Write an Essay

The process of essay writing can appear to be very difficult at first, because there are many things to do and you don't know what to start with - topic selection, introduction, excogitation and so forth. A lot of information, much more different resources and hints… As usual, a lot of students give up and give way to despair in this stage. But all you need is to know some steps and rules of good essay writing and have a desire to create something new and personal. Below we can propose you these fundamental steps. It depends only on you to use or not to use them, but it always makes sense to have the ace in the hole.

Before we start writing itself we should define main objectives of any essay:

Good essay is intended for convincing readers of an idea based on proofs
The essay also should answer a particular question or aim
It should contain a thesis formulation and a proof
It should try to produce or examine something: to provide thesis development by using of interconnected points and reasoning of all proofs
A proper essay should contain applicable samples, sustaining evidence and information from academic publications and reliable sources.

Now, after we've defined essay's features, we can indicate basic actions in essay' writing:

To analyze the problem and identify key items
To choose an appropriate thesis/standpoint
To investigate the topic. Try to use reliable academic sources for backing and testimony
Read as much as possible. The more you know the better essay you'll write. Don't forget to note everything important from your reading
Make an approximate plan of your essay and arrange your thoughts
Try to write the first sketch to include introduction, main part and some conclusion
Write some part of your essay and then return to your sketch and make changes for your purpose
Make final revision and write the final variant
Ask your friend/collaborator to read your work and estimate it
Check the correctness of references and bibliography.

Now let's have a good look at the each stage of any essay writing:

Beginning of the Work

Start to work immediately after you've got your task. It is very important to have enough time for good essay creating. And it's impossible to write a proper essay without preliminary preparation: reading, researching, thinking and writing. Don't dawdle and postpone everything until the last day. Sometimes few additional hours or days can salvage the situation.

The other important part of this stage is the objective definition and analyzing. It's not enough just to remember and write down everything you know or have heard about the essay topic. Before you start writing be sure information you've gathered answer the essay's question and help you in reaching essay aim.

Don't forget to make the preliminary plan and sketch.

Topic Investigation

It is not a secret that the process of essay writing involves works of other researchers and writers studying, which means that reading and researching are significant for your future success. A proper studying can give you necessary knowledge and proofs which will allow you to confirm your thesis and give a full answer to the essay question. Before usage of some information make sure this data is useful and consistent.

Don't forget to make notes of what you've read. Note both key points of new information and also any sources of useful information. In this case you'll save a lot of time and won't seek for the source you've already used.

Arrange Your Ideas

After you've finished investigation process and your ideas acquired new and broader features it's high time to write an additional essay plan. It will help you to elaborate the main objective of your essay and to design essay structure. Here you can research the following:

Try to find out a possible answer to the research aim
Select information that would help you with it (p.1)
Review your notes and select the most suitable one that will help you to support your answer
Choose topics for the further discussion
Write down everything previous and it will be your essay plan.

Essay Writing

A. Outlining

Write the sketch of your essay. A preliminary essay will help you to choose the way of question answering and which proofs and sources you will use; you may also determine the framework of your arguments.

B. Structure

The structure is an important part of any essay. As a rule, any essay should include the following elements:

1. Introduction

The first and the main aim of the introduction is to attract readers' attention. You need to generate some interest to your work. To do this you may use:

Interesting or unusual fact
An amazing information
A gripping citation
Provocative question, paradox and so on.

Cut to the chase

The essay isn't a long written work and that's why you don't need to write solid introduction. After you have attracted the reader's attention you should go straight to the point. Make it frankly and specifically. To do this you can describe a concrete situation, event, previous investigation. Don't load the reader with long and ambiguous wordings. Write some preamble and then show a conflict or problem you are going to investigate.

Show your thesis

The introduction should guide the reader to the main point of your essay – the questionable statement and it should be placed in the end of the introduction to clear up for a reader what is the most important in your work.

2. Body

It is the main and the most substantial part of your work. Body usually consists of several paragraphs and includes all possible investigations, analysis of the problem, historical review and literature research and so on.

Depending on your main objective body can include the following steps:

Problem definition
Carrying out investigation
Questions asking
Objectivity examining
Suppositions defining
Proofs examining.

Based on these points we can say that usage of subheadings is of great importance, which will be used in argumentation structuring. The suggested analysis must be grounded here. In the capacity of analytical tool diagrams, graphs and tables can be used where it is necessary.

In the process of essay writing you have to remember that one paragraph should contain only one statement and appropriate evidence supported with graphic and illustrative material.

In this part of the essay you should demonstrate deep and substantial knowledge of the topic. Previous literature investigation was made for this sake. Here you can also use different examples, surveys, scientific researches and reputable citations.

If your essay has more than one topic for investigation - give a separate paragraph for each.

3. Conclusion

This part is of a great importance too. It is similar to the introduction part, but there you represent your objectives and here submit your arguments and conclusions for reader's consideration. You just restate everything you have said before and re-summarize all you main points.

But all these actions are not enough for good conclusion. It will be plain and boring. What you need is to add a final chord and leave good impressions for a reader. Your task is to write something memorable and interesting that will keep in reader's mind for a long time.

The other task is to give as much as possible evidences for further investigations. Give proofs that further research will be useful, interesting and give a lot of positive, essential and valuable results.

The other aim of the conclusion it to prove the audience in importance of the topic you've chose.

Remember that you can't give new ideas or set new goals in this section. Its purpose is to review done work and make a summarizing.

The length of conclusion depends on the essay volume.

C. Essay referencing

All essays should contain references. They will protect you from plagiarism accusations. It will also show how seriously you've worked.

It's important to remember that any educational institution has personal demands for references citation style. Get to know about any special requirements and discuss them with your supervisor.

And in the end there are some additional tips:

Begin your writing early as far as possible. It will give you additional time for thinking and mistakes correction
Don't try to manage with all work at a heat. Allocate your time between essay sections and stages of your work
Write introduction and conclusion after you finish all work, because these parts demand awareness of what you have previously read
Set aside your essay for few days. It allows you to return to it with a fresh eye
Edit your essay personally and then ask someone else to do this. Sometimes the outside opinion is the most valuable.

Pieces of advices, listed before, aren't strict rules or orders for work. All these are intended to help you and make some prompt. Use it where it is necessary, but don't forget to use your own brains and create your own rules.