Brainstorm. Put down on paper all the thoughts that pop into your mind about the essay's contents. Include any information you might potentially need. Keep a record of every idea you can use for the contents of your essay. Outline and organize all of your essay's data.
Review and evaluate your notes to help determine your thesis statement. Come to a decision concerning your thoughts about the topic's contents; choose the side of the issue about which you care to elaborate. An effective thesis statement gives the reader your side of the issue and its analysis, including what you claim, backed up by evidence.
Write on paper your clearly defined thesis statement to help you see it in more logical terms. Looking at the foundation of your paper will help you concentrate, and thoughts will form for your essay's contents.
Diagram your ideas on paper to represent the shape of thoughts for the contents of your essay's body paragraphs. Write your thesis statement in the middle of a piece of paper to begin diagramming. Draw three lines that extend off the thesis statement. Write your major ideas at the end of those lines, and draw more lines off the main ones to depict other associated thoughts for the essay's contents. Each major point of your diagram's three main ideas represents the three separate paragraphs of the body of your essay.
Draft a rough sketch of your first paragraph, the introduction. You can return later for revision. Sum up the major points succinctly that support your thesis. Offer any background data the reader should know about the essay's contents. If you mention key terms in your paper, define them. Make the thesis statement the final sentence of your introduction so the reader can anticipate the essay's contents.
Fabricate each paragraph in the body of your essay similarly; make one of your major ideas the paragraph's first sentence. Put together all of your supportive thoughts in sentence form to shape the paragraphs' contents. Leave out a few lines lines between each main idea, and come back and fill in with smaller backup ideas for your contents. Each separate paragraph in the body of your essay must make sense if it stands by itself.
Inspect paragraph order to make sure your most effective points in the body remain in the first and last paragraphs, with backup contents found in the middle of the body. Connect paragraphs from one thought to the next by adding transitional phrases to enhance the paragraph flow of your contents.
Start your conclusion by returning to your introduction to find a connection to link with the reader. Reiterate your essay's main points briefly, and repeat the thesis statement in your conclusion. Emphasize your subject's strengths, and consider the last impression you leave with the reader. Resolve any loose ends that help tie the entire five-paragraph essay's contents together as a unified composition.