Essays convey a certain idea or set of ideas about a piece of literature, a film, a period of history or a social issue. The first step in writing an essay is to form an idea or set of ideas about your topic. If you do not yet know what you want to say, read your materials and conduct research to gain insights about your subject. Once you've established an argument, look for evidence to back it up. University essays should utilize direct quotes from your text. It's always best to illustrate your points with quotes. Beginning research early will allow you to really think over your point of view, decide the best ways to argue it, think of any flaws in your argument and find the best quotes.
After researching, you should begin thinking about your thesis. Your thesis sentence should articulate what you intend to prove in your essay. A good thesis should address every part of a question or prompt in some way. During research it's easy to forget exactly what your essay prompt required. Re-reading your prompt before writing your thesis will help you re-focus and ensure that you are answering the exact question or questions you were asked. Not answering the question is a common mistake. If you have a prompt that contains multiple questions, then writing a good thesis becomes more difficult. Begin by writing down how you would respond to the question based on your research, if someone asked you. Then look at what you've written, and think about how you can remove superfluous words without removing the meaning. Next, think about the order for presenting your points. The body of the essay should follow the thesis. Remember that it is often best to end with your most convincing point. Read your essay prompt and thesis out loud to yourself. The thesis should sound like a concise, well-written answer to the prompt.
Organization is a critical element of college-level writing that many students underestimate. Even the most brilliant ideas can be lost in an unstructured essay. Careless writing can make it seem as if you didn't think through your arguments or take the time to fully analyze them. After writing a thesis, you should write a quick outline in which you decide how many paragraphs to include and the topic of each paragraph. The standard five-paragraph essay includes an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. Your introduction should begin with general insight into your topic. It is sometimes useful to grab the reader's attention with a scenario. Each body paragraph should expand on one aspect of your thesis, presenting evidence to back up your idea. The exact argument of each paragraph should be stated in the opening sentence, or topic sentence. Make sure not to introduce any new ideas that weren't presented in your thesis, though you can expand on the ideas in your thesis.
One of the biggest mistakes is using flowery language unnecessarily. Your points should speak for themselves. Good ideas are best conveyed through concise language. Long, complicated sentences will not make a good idea better, and usually will not hide a poorly thought-out or unsupported idea. Each body paragraph should include quotes that support your assertions. Try to keep quotes under two sentences when possible; include only the most important parts. Don't forget to cite direct quotes according to your professor's guidelines. Following every quote, you should provide two to three sentences of analysis, explaining how and why the quote supports your idea.
The conclusion of an essay seems simple, but can often be challenging. The most important thing to remember is not to introduce any new ideas. This can be tempting, especially if you thought of something new over the course of writing. But the conclusion is only meant to synthesize your existing points. Your conclusion should move from the details that were discussed in your body paragraphs to more general ideas. Your conclusion should demonstrate why your paper has meaning. It is sometimes useful to direct your reader towards a global viewpoint or outlook on the future. If the essay is about a political movement or issue, you can hint at how the points you discussed in your essay may influence the future. If your essay is about a film or piece of literature, you may want to make a statement about the global impact of the work. The best conclusion leaves the reader thinking about the bigger picture, and why the points in your essay matter.