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How to Write the Perfect Essay
06 Feb, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles
You can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you wonât have time to make a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful to draft a brief one, including a few key words, so that you donât panic and go off topic when writing your essay.
If you donât like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.
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Thanks for signing up, step 2: have a clear structure.
Think about this while you’re planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question.
Start with the basics! It’s best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you’ll be under time pressure.Â
If you agree with the question overall, it can be helpful to organise your points in the following pattern:
- YES (agreement with the question)
- AND (another YES point)
- BUT (disagreement or complication)
If you disagree with the question overall, try:
- AND (another BUT point)
For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question, “To what extent is Curleyâs wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men ?”, as follows:
- YES (descriptions of her appearance)
- AND (other people’s attitudes towards her)
- BUT (her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to her advantage)
If you wanted to write a longer essay, you could include additional paragraphs under the YES/AND categories, perhaps discussing the ways in which Curleyâs wife reveals her vulnerability and insecurities, and shares her dreams with the other characters. Alternatively, you could also lengthen your essay by including another BUT paragraph about her cruel and manipulative streak.
Of course, this is not necessarily the only right way to answer this essay question â as long as you back up your points with evidence from the text, you can take any standpoint that makes sense.
Step 3: Back up your points with well-analysed quotations
You wouldnât write a scientific report without including evidence to support your findings, so why should it be any different with an essay? Even though you arenât strictly required to substantiate every single point you make with a quotation, thereâs no harm in trying.
A close reading of your quotations can enrich your appreciation of the question and will be sure to impress examiners. When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques. For example, you could highlight Curleyâs wifeâs use of a rhetorical question when she says, a”nâ what am I doinâ? Standinâ here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs.” This might look like:
The rhetorical question âanâ what am I doinâ?â signifies that Curleyâs wife is very insecure; she seems to be questioning her own life choices. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to respond to her question, highlighting her loneliness and isolation on the ranch.
Other literary techniques to look out for include:
- Tricolon â a group of three words or phrases placed close together for emphasis
- Tautology â using different words that mean the same thing: e.g. “frightening” and “terrifying”
- Parallelism â ABAB structure, often signifying movement from one concept to another
- Chiasmus â ABBA structure, drawing attention to a phrase
- Polysyndeton â many conjunctions in a sentence
- Asyndeton â lack of conjunctions, which can speed up the pace of a sentence
- Polyptoton â using the same word in different forms for emphasis: e.g. “done” and “doing”
- Alliteration â repetition of the same sound, including assonance (similar vowel sounds), plosive alliteration (“b”, “d” and “p” sounds) and sibilance (“s” sounds)
- Anaphora â repetition of words, often used to emphasise a particular point
Donât worry if you canât locate all of these literary devices in the work youâre analysing. You can also discuss more obvious techniques, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. Itâs not a problem if you canât remember all the long names; itâs far more important to be able to confidently explain the effects of each technique and highlight its relevance to the question.
Step 4: Be creative and original throughout
Anyone can write an essay using the tips above, but the thing that really makes it “perfect” is your own unique take on the topic. If youâve noticed something intriguing or unusual in your reading, point it out â if you find it interesting, chances are the examiner will too!
Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine. Keep the idea that youâre writing a speech or argument in mind, and youâre guaranteed to grab your readerâs attention.
Itâs important to set out your line of argument in your introduction, introducing your main points and the general direction your essay will take, but donât forget to keep something back for the conclusion, too. Yes, you need to summarise your main points, but if youâre just repeating the things you said in your introduction, the body of the essay is rendered pointless.
Think of your conclusion as the climax of your speech, the bit everything else has been leading up to, rather than the boring plenary at the end of the interesting stuff.
To return to Of Mice and Men once more, here’s an example of the ideal difference between an introduction and a conclusion:
Introduction
In John Steinbeckâs Of Mice and Men , Curleyâs wife is portrayed as an ambiguous character. She could be viewed either as a cruel, seductive temptress or a lonely woman who is a victim of her societyâs attitudes. Though she does seem to wield a form of sexual power, it is clear that Curleyâs wife is largely a victim. This interpretation is supported by Steinbeckâs description of her appearance, other peopleâs attitudes, her dreams, and her evident loneliness and insecurity.
Overall, it is clear that Curleyâs wife is a victim and is portrayed as such throughout the novel in the descriptions of her appearance, her dreams, other peopleâs judgemental attitudes, and her loneliness and insecurities. However, a character who was a victim and nothing else would be one-dimensional and Curleyâs wife is not. Although she suffers in many ways, she is shown to assert herself through the manipulation of her femininity â a small rebellion against the victimisation she experiences.
Both refer back consistently to the question and summarise the essayâs main points. However, the conclusion adds something new which has been established in the main body of the essay and complicates the simple summary which is found in the introduction.
Hannah is an undergraduate English student at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and has a particular interest in postcolonial literature and the Gothic. She thinks literature is a crucial way of developing empathy and learning about the wider world. When she isn’t writing about 17th-century court masques, she enjoys acting, travelling and creative writing.Â
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Essay Writing Tips: 10 Steps to Writing a Great Essay (And Have Fun Doing It!)
by Joe Bunting | 117 comments
Do you dread essay writing? Are you looking for some essay tips that will help you write an amazing essayâand have fun doing it?
Lots of students, young and old, dread essay writing. It's a daunting assignment, one that takes research, time, and concentration.
It's also an assignment that you can break up into simple steps that make writing an essay manageable and, yes, even enjoyable.
These ten essay tips completely changed my writing processâand I hope that they can do the same for you.
Essay Writing Can Be Fun
Honestly, throughout most of high school and college, I was a mediocre essay writer.
Every once in a while, I would write a really good essay, but mostly I skated by with B's and A-minuses.
I know personally how boring writing an essay can be, and also, how hard it can be to write a good one.
However, toward the end of my time as a student, I made a breakthrough. I figured out how to not only write a great essay, I learned how to have fun while doing it .
And since then, I've become a professional writer and have written more than a dozen books. I'm not saying that these essay writing tips are going to magically turn you into a writer, but at least they can help you enjoy the process more.
I'm excited to share these ten essay writing tips with you today! But first, we need to talk about why writing an essay is so hard.
Why Writing an Essay Is So Hard
When it comes to essay writing, a lot of students find a reason to put it off. And when they tackle it, they find it difficult to string sentences together that sound like a decent stance on the assigned subject.
Here are a few reasons why essay writing is hard:
- You'd rather be scrolling through Facebook
- You're trying to write something your teacher or professor will like
- You're trying to get an A instead of writing something that's actually good
- You want to do the least amount of work possible
The biggest reason writing an essay is so hard is because we mostly focus on those external rewards like getting a passing grade, winning our teacher's approval, or just avoiding accusations of plagiarism.
The problem is that when you focus on external approval it not only makes writing much less fun, it also makes it significantly harder.
Because when you focus on external approval, you shut down your subconscious, and the subconscious is the source of your creativity.
The subconscious is the source of your creativity.
What this means practically is that when you're trying to write that perfect, A-plus-worthy sentence, you're turning off most of your best resources and writing skills.
So stop. Stop trying to write a good essay (or even a “good-enough” essay). Instead, write an interesting essay, write an essay you think is fascinating. And when you're finished, go back and edit it until it's “good” according to your teacher's standards.
Yes, you need to follow the guidelines in your assignment. If your teacher tells you to write a five-paragraph essay, then write a five-paragraph essay! If your teacher asks for a specific type of essay, like an analysis, argument, or research essay, then make sure you write that type of essay!
However, within those guidelines, find room to express something that is uniquely you .
I can't guarantee you'll get a higher grade (although, you almost certainly will), but I can absolutely promise you'll have a lot more fun writing.
The Step-by-Step Process to Writing a Great Essay: Your 10 Essay Writing Tips
Ready to get writing? You can read my ten best tips for having fun while writing an essay that earns you the top grade, or check out this presentation designed by our friends at Canva Presentations .
1. Remember your essay is just a story.
Every story is about conflict and change, and the truth is that essays are about conflict and change, too! The difference is that in an essay, the conflict is between different ideas , and the change is in the way we should perceive those ideas.
That means that the best essays are about surprise: “You probably think it's one way, but in reality, you should think of it this other way.” See tip #3 for more on this.
How do you know what story you're telling? The prompt should tell you.
Any list of essay prompts includes various topics and tasks associated with them. Within those topics are characters (historical, fictional, or topical) faced with difficult choices. Your job is to work with those choices, usually by analyzing them, arguing about them, researching them, or describing them in detail.
2. Before you start writing, ask yourself, “How can I have the most fun writing this?”
It's normal to feel unmotivated when writing an academic essay. I'm a writer, and honestly, I feel unmotivated to write all the time. But I have a super-ninja, judo-mind trick I like to use to help motivate myself.
Here's the secret trick: One of the interesting things about your subconscious is that it will answer any question you ask yourself. So whenever you feel unmotivated to write your essay, ask yourself the following question:
“How much fun can I have writing this?”
Your subconscious will immediately start thinking of strategies to make the writing process more fun.
The best time to have your fun is the first draft. Since you're just brainstorming within the topic, and exploring the possible ways of approaching it, the first draft is the perfect place to get creative and even a little scandalous. Here are some wild suggestions to make your next essay a load of fun:
- Research the most surprising or outrageous fact about the topic and use it as your hook.
- Use a thesaurus to research the topic's key words. Get crazy with your vocabulary as you write, working in each key word synonym as much as possible.
- Play devil's advocate and take the opposing or immoral side of the issue. See where the discussion takes you as you write.
3. As you research, ask yourself, “What surprises me about this subject?”
The temptation, when you're writing an essay, is to write what you think your teacher or professor wants to read.
Don't do this .
Instead, ask yourself, “What do I find interesting about this subject? What surprises me?”
If you can't think of anything that surprises you, anything you find interesting, then you're not searching well enough, because history, science, and literature are all brimming over with surprises. When you look at how great ideas actually happen, the story is always, “We used to think the world was this way. We found out we were completely wrong, and that the world is actually quite different from what we thought.”
These pieces of surprising information often make for the best topic sentences as well. Use them to outline your essay and build your body paragraphs off of each unique fact or idea. These will function as excellent hooks for your reader as you transition from one topic to the next.
(By the way, what sources should you use for research? Check out tip #10 below.)
4. Overwhelmed? Write five original sentences.
The standard three-point essay is really made up of just five original sentences surrounded by supporting paragraphs that back up those five sentences. If you're feeling overwhelmed, just write five sentences covering your most basic main points.
Here's what they might look like for this article:
- Introductory Paragraph: While most students consider writing an essay a boring task, with the right mindset, it can actually be an enjoyable experience.
- Body #1: Most students think writing an essay is tedious because they focus on external rewards.
- Body #2: Students should instead focus on internal fulfillment when writing an essay.
- Body #3: Not only will focusing on internal fulfillment allow students to have more fun, it will also result in better essays.
- Conclusion: Writing an essay doesn't have to be simply a way to earn a good grade. Instead, it can be a means of finding fulfillment.
After you write your five sentences, it's easy to fill in the paragraphs for each one.
Now, you give it a shot!
5. Be “source heavy.”
In college, I discovered a trick that helped me go from a B-average student to an A-student, but before I explain how it works, let me warn you. This technique is powerful , but it might not work for all teachers or professors. Use with caution.
As I was writing a paper for a literature class, I realized that the articles and books I was reading said what I was trying to say much better than I ever could. So what did I do? I quoted them liberally throughout my paper. When I wasn't quoting, I re-phrased what they said in my own words, giving proper credit, of course. I found that not only did this formula create a well-written essay, it took about half the time to write.
It's good to keep in mind that using anyone else's words, even when morphed into your own phrasing, requires citation. While the definition of plagiarism is shifting with the rise of online collaboration and cooperative learning environments, always err on the side of excessive citation to be safe.
When I used this technique, my professors sometimes mentioned that my papers were very “source” heavy. However, at the same time, they always gave me A's.
To keep yourself safe, I recommend using a 60/40 approach with your body paragraphs: Make sure 60% of the words are your own analysis and argumentation, while 40% can be quoted (or text you paraphrase) from your sources.
Like the five sentence trick, this technique makes the writing process simpler. Instead of putting the main focus on writing well, it instead forces you to research well, which some students find easier.
6. Write the body first, the introduction second, and the conclusion last.
Introductions are often the hardest part to write because you're trying to summarize your entire essay before you've even written it yet. Instead, try writing your introduction last, giving yourself the body of the paper to figure out the main point of your essay.
This is especially important with an essay topic you are not personally interested in. I definitely recommend this in classes you either don't excel in or care much for. Take plenty of time to draft and revise your body paragraphs before attempting to craft a meaningful introductory paragraph.
Otherwise your opening may sound awkward, wooden, and bland.
7. Most essays answer the question, “What?” Good essays answer the “Why?” The best essays answer the “How?”
If you get stuck trying to make your argument, or you're struggling to reach the required word count, try focusing on the question, “How?”
For example:
- How did J.D. Salinger convey the theme of inauthenticity in The Catcher In the Rye ?
- How did Napoleon restore stability in France after the French Revolution?
- How does the research prove girls really do rule and boys really do drool?
If you focus on how, you'll always have enough to write about.
8. Don't be afraid to jump around.
Essay writing can be a dance. You don't have to stay in one place and write from beginning to end.
For the same reasons listed in point #6, give yourself the freedom to write as if you're circling around your topic rather than making a single, straightforward argument. Then, when you edit and proofread, you can make sure everything lines up correctly.
In fact, now is the perfect time to mention that proofreading your essay isn't just about spelling and commas.
It's about making sure your analysis or argument flows smoothly from one idea to another. (Okay, technically this comprises editing, but most students writing a high school or college essay don't take the time to complete every step of the writing process. Let's be honest.)
So as you clean up your mechanics and sentence structure, make sure your ideas flow smoothly, logically, and naturally from one to the next as you finish proofreading.
9. Here are some words and phrases you don't want to use.
- You (You'll notice I use a lot of you's, which is great for a blog post. However, in an academic essay, it's better to omit the second-person.)
- To Be verbs (is, are, was, were, am)
Don't have time to edit? Here's a lightning-quick editing technique .
A note about “I”: Some teachers say you shouldn't use “I” statements in your writing, but the truth is that professional, academic papers often use phrases like “I believe” and “in my opinion,” especially in their introductions.
10. It's okay to use Wikipedia, ifâŚ
Wikipedia is one of the top five websites in the world for a reason: it can be a great tool for research. However, most teachers and professors don't consider Wikipedia a valid source for use in essays.
Don't totally discount it, though! Here are two ways you can use Wikipedia in your essay writing:
- Background research. If you don't know enough about your topic, Wikipedia can be a great resource to quickly learn everything you need to know to get started.
- Find sources . Check the reference section of Wikipedia's articles on your topic. While you may not be able to cite Wikipedia itself, you can often find those original sources and cite them . You can locate the links to primary and secondary sources at the bottom of any Wikipedia page under the headings “Further Reading” and “References.”
You Can Enjoy Essay Writing
The thing I regret most about high school and college is that I treated it like something I had to do rather than something I wanted to do.
The truth is, education is an opportunity many people in the world don't have access to.
It's a gift, not just something that makes your life more difficult. I don't want you to make the mistake of just “getting by” through school, waiting desperately for summer breaks and, eventually, graduation.
How would your life be better if you actively enjoyed writing an essay? What would school look like if you wanted to suck it dry of all the gifts it has to give you?
All I'm saying is, don't miss out!
Looking for More Essay Writing Tips?
Looking for more essay tips to strengthen your essay writing? Try some of these resources:
- 7 Tips on Writing an Effective Essay
- Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement
How about you? Do you have any tips for writing an essay? Let us know in the comments .
Need more grammar help? My favorite tool that helps find grammar problems and even generates reports to help improve my writing is ProWritingAid . Works with Word, Scrivener, Google Docs, and web browsers. Also, be sure to use my coupon code to get 20 percent off: WritePractice20
Coupon Code:WritePractice20 Âť
Ready to try out these ten essay tips to make your essay assignment fun? Spend fifteen minutes using tip #4 and write five original sentences that could be turned into an essay.
When you're finished, share your five sentences in the comments section. And don't forget to give feedback to your fellow writers!
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Joe Bunting
Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).
Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.
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What makes a good essay?
Typical essay structure, 7 steps to writing a good essay, a step-by-step guide to writing a good essay.
Whether you are gearing up for your GCSE coursework submissions or looking to brush up on your A-level writing skills, we have the perfect essay-writing guide for you. đŻ
Staring at a blank page before writing an essay can feel a little daunting . Where do you start? What should your introduction say? And how should you structure your arguments? They are all fair questions and we have the answers! Take the stress out of essay writing with this step-by-step guide â youâll be typing away in no time. đŠâđť
What is an essay?
Generally speaking, an essay designates a literary work in which the author defends a point of view or a personal conviction, using logical arguments and literary devices in order to inform and convince the reader.
So â although essays can be broadly split into four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive â an essay can simply be described as a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. đ¤
The purpose of an essay is to present a coherent argument in response to a stimulus or question and to persuade the reader that your position is credible, believable and reasonable. đ
So, a âgoodâ essay relies on a confident writing style â itâs clear, well-substantiated, focussed, explanatory and descriptive . The structure follows a logical progression and above all, the body of the essay clearly correlates to the tile â answering the question where one has been posed.
But, how do you go about making sure that you tick all these boxes and keep within a specified word count? Read on for the answer as well as an example essay structure to follow and a handy step-by-step guide to writing the perfect essay â hooray. đ
Sometimes, it is helpful to think about your essay like it is a well-balanced argument or a speech â it needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question in a coherent manner. âď¸
Of course, essays can vary significantly in length but besides that, they all follow a fairly strict pattern or structure made up of three sections. Lean into this predictability because it will keep you on track and help you make your point clearly. Letâs take a look at the typical essay structure:
#1 Introduction
Start your introduction with the central claim of your essay. Let the reader know exactly what you intend to say with this essay. Communicate what youâre going to argue, and in what order. The final part of your introduction should also say what conclusions youâre going to draw â it sounds counter-intuitive but itâs not â more on that below. 1ď¸âŁ
Make your point, evidence it and explain it. This part of the essay â generally made up of three or more paragraphs depending on the length of your essay â is where you present your argument. The first sentence of each paragraph â much like an introduction to an essay â should summarise what your paragraph intends to explain in more detail. 2ď¸âŁ
#3 Conclusion
This is where you affirm your argument â remind the reader what you just proved in your essay and how you did it. This section will sound quite similar to your introduction but â having written the essay â youâll be summarising rather than setting out your stall. 3ď¸âŁ
No essay is the same but your approach to writing them can be. As well as some best practice tips, we have gathered our favourite advice from expert essay-writers and compiled the following 7-step guide to writing a good essay every time. đ
#1 Make sure you understand the question
#2 complete background reading.
#3 Make a detailed plan
#4 Write your opening sentences
#5 flesh out your essay in a rough draft, #6 evidence your opinion, #7 final proofread and edit.
Now that you have familiarised yourself with the 7 steps standing between you and the perfect essay, letâs take a closer look at each of those stages so that you can get on with crafting your written arguments with confidence .
This is the most crucial stage in essay writing â r ead the essay prompt carefully and understand the question. Highlight the keywords â like âcompare,â âcontrastâ âdiscuss,â âexplainâ or âevaluateâ â and let it sink in before your mind starts racing . There is nothing worse than writing 500 words before realising you have entirely missed the brief . đ§
Unless you are writing under exam conditions , you will most likely have been working towards this essay for some time, by doing thorough background reading. Re-read relevant chapters and sections, highlight pertinent material and maybe even stray outside the designated reading list, this shows genuine interest and extended knowledge. đ
#3 Make a detailed plan
Following the handy structure we shared with you above, now is the time to create the âskeleton structureâ or essay plan. Working from your essay title, plot out what you want your paragraphs to cover and how that information is going to flow. You donât need to start writing any full sentences yet but it might be useful to think about the various quotes you plan to use to substantiate each section. đ
Having mapped out the overall trajectory of your essay, you can start to drill down into the detail. First, write the opening sentence for each of the paragraphs in the body section of your essay. Remember â each paragraph is like a mini-essay â the opening sentence should summarise what the paragraph will then go on to explain in more detail. đď¸
Next, it's time to write the bulk of your words and flesh out your arguments. Follow the âpoint, evidence, explainâ method. The opening sentences â already written â should introduce your âpointsâ, so now you need to âevidenceâ them with corroborating research and âexplainâ how the evidence youâve presented proves the point youâre trying to make. âď¸
With a rough draft in front of you, you can take a moment to read what you have written so far. Are there any sections that require further substantiation? Have you managed to include the most relevant material you originally highlighted in your background reading? Now is the time to make sure you have evidenced all your opinions and claims with the strongest quotes, citations and material. đ
This is your final chance to re-read your essay and go over it with a fine-toothed comb before pressing âsubmitâ. We highly recommend leaving a day or two between finishing your essay and the final proofread if possible â youâll be amazed at the difference this makes, allowing you to return with a fresh pair of eyes and a more discerning judgment. đ¤
If you are looking for advice and support with your own essay-writing adventures, why not t ry a free trial lesson with GoStudent? Our tutors are experts at boosting academic success and having fun along the way. Get in touch and see how it can work for you today. đ
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Writing a great essay
This resource covers key considerations when writing an essay.
While reading a student’s essay, markers will ask themselves questions such as:
- Does this essay directly address the set task?
- Does it present a strong, supported position?
- Does it use relevant sources appropriately?
- Is the expression clear, and the style appropriate?
- Is the essay organised coherently? Is there a clear introduction, body and conclusion?
You can use these questions to reflect on your own writing. Here are six top tips to help you address these criteria.
1. Analyse the question
Student essays are responses to specific questions. As an essay must address the question directly, your first step should be to analyse the question. Make sure you know exactly what is being asked of you.
Generally, essay questions contain three component parts:
- Content terms: Key concepts that are specific to the task
- Limiting terms: The scope that the topic focuses on
- Directive terms: What you need to do in relation to the content, e.g. discuss, analyse, define, compare, evaluate.
Look at the following essay question:
Discuss the importance of light in Gothic architecture.
- Content terms: Gothic architecture
- Limiting terms: the importance of light. If you discussed some other feature of Gothic architecture, for example spires or arches, you would be deviating from what is required. This essay question is limited to a discussion of light. Likewise, it asks you to write about the importance of light – not, for example, to discuss how light enters Gothic churches.
- Directive term: discuss. This term asks you to take a broad approach to the variety of ways in which light may be important for Gothic architecture. You should introduce and consider different ideas and opinions that you have met in academic literature on this topic, citing them appropriately .
For a more complex question, you can highlight the key words and break it down into a series of sub-questions to make sure you answer all parts of the task. Consider the following question (from Arts):
To what extent can the American Revolution be understood as a revolution ‘from below’? Why did working people become involved and with what aims in mind?
The key words here are American Revolution and revolution ‘from below’. This is a view that you would need to respond to in this essay. This response must focus on the aims and motivations of working people in the revolution, as stated in the second question.
2. Define your argument
As you plan and prepare to write the essay, you must consider what your argument is going to be. This means taking an informed position or point of view on the topic presented in the question, then defining and presenting a specific argument.
Consider these two argument statements:
The architectural use of light in Gothic cathedrals physically embodied the significance of light in medieval theology.
In the Gothic cathedral of Cologne, light served to accentuate the authority and ritual centrality of the priest.
Statements like these define an essay’s argument. They give coherence by providing an overarching theme and position towards which the entire essay is directed.
3. Use evidence, reasoning and scholarship
To convince your audience of your argument, you must use evidence and reasoning, which involves referring to and evaluating relevant scholarship.
- Evidence provides concrete information to support your claim. It typically consists of specific examples, facts, quotations, statistics and illustrations.
- Reasoning connects the evidence to your argument. Rather than citing evidence like a shopping list, you need to evaluate the evidence and show how it supports your argument.
- Scholarship is used to show how your argument relates to what has been written on the topic (citing specific works). Scholarship can be used as part of your evidence and reasoning to support your argument.
4. Organise a coherent essay
An essay has three basic components - introduction, body and conclusion.
The purpose of an introduction is to introduce your essay. It typically presents information in the following order:
- A general statement about the topic that provides context for your argument
- A thesis statement showing your argument. You can use explicit lead-ins, such as ‘This essay argues that...’
- A ‘road map’ of the essay, telling the reader how it is going to present and develop your argument.
Example introduction
"To what extent can the American Revolution be understood as a revolution ‘from below’? Why did working people become involved and with what aims in mind?"
Introduction*
Historians generally concentrate on the twenty-year period between 1763 and 1783 as the period which constitutes the American Revolution [This sentence sets the general context of the period] . However, when considering the involvement of working people, or people from below, in the revolution it is important to make a distinction between the pre-revolutionary period 1763-1774 and the revolutionary period 1774-1788, marked by the establishment of the continental Congress(1) [This sentence defines the key term from below and gives more context to the argument that follows] . This paper will argue that the nature and aims of the actions of working people are difficult to assess as it changed according to each phase [This is the thesis statement] . The pre-revolutionary period was characterised by opposition to Britain’s authority. During this period the aims and actions of the working people were more conservative as they responded to grievances related to taxes and scarce land, issues which directly affected them. However, examination of activities such as the organisation of crowd action and town meetings, pamphlet writing, formal communications to Britain of American grievances and physical action in the streets, demonstrates that their aims and actions became more revolutionary after 1775 [These sentences give the ‘road map’ or overview of the content of the essay] .
The body of the essay develops and elaborates your argument. It does this by presenting a reasoned case supported by evidence from relevant scholarship. Its shape corresponds to the overview that you provided in your introduction.
The body of your essay should be written in paragraphs. Each body paragraph should develop one main idea that supports your argument. To learn how to structure a paragraph, look at the page developing clarity and focus in academic writing .
Your conclusion should not offer any new material. Your evidence and argumentation should have been made clear to the reader in the body of the essay.
Use the conclusion to briefly restate the main argumentative position and provide a short summary of the themes discussed. In addition, also consider telling your reader:
- What the significance of your findings, or the implications of your conclusion, might be
- Whether there are other factors which need to be looked at, but which were outside the scope of the essay
- How your topic links to the wider context (‘bigger picture’) in your discipline.
Do not simply repeat yourself in this section. A conclusion which merely summarises is repetitive and reduces the impact of your paper.
Example conclusion
Conclusion*.
Although, to a large extent, the working class were mainly those in the forefront of crowd action and they also led the revolts against wealthy plantation farmers, the American Revolution was not a class struggle [This is a statement of the concluding position of the essay]. Working people participated because the issues directly affected them – the threat posed by powerful landowners and the tyranny Britain represented. Whereas the aims and actions of the working classes were more concerned with resistance to British rule during the pre-revolutionary period, they became more revolutionary in nature after 1775 when the tension with Britain escalated [These sentences restate the key argument]. With this shift, a change in ideas occurred. In terms of considering the Revolution as a whole range of activities such as organising riots, communicating to Britain, attendance at town hall meetings and pamphlet writing, a difficulty emerges in that all classes were involved. Therefore, it is impossible to assess the extent to which a single group such as working people contributed to the American Revolution [These sentences give final thoughts on the topic].
5. Write clearly
An essay that makes good, evidence-supported points will only receive a high grade if it is written clearly. Clarity is produced through careful revision and editing, which can turn a good essay into an excellent one.
When you edit your essay, try to view it with fresh eyes – almost as if someone else had written it.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Overall structure
- Have you clearly stated your argument in your introduction?
- Does the actual structure correspond to the ‘road map’ set out in your introduction?
- Have you clearly indicated how your main points support your argument?
- Have you clearly signposted the transitions between each of your main points for your reader?
- Does each paragraph introduce one main idea?
- Does every sentence in the paragraph support that main idea?
- Does each paragraph display relevant evidence and reasoning?
- Does each paragraph logically follow on from the one before it?
- Is each sentence grammatically complete?
- Is the spelling correct?
- Is the link between sentences clear to your readers?
- Have you avoided redundancy and repetition?
See more about editing on our editing your writing page.
6. Cite sources and evidence
Finally, check your citations to make sure that they are accurate and complete. Some faculties require you to use a specific citation style (e.g. APA) while others may allow you to choose a preferred one. Whatever style you use, you must follow its guidelines correctly and consistently. You can use Recite, the University of Melbourne style guide, to check your citations.
Further resources
- Germov, J. (2011). Get great marks for your essays, reports and presentations (3rd ed.). NSW: Allen and Unwin.
- Using English for Academic Purposes: A guide for students in Higher Education [online]. Retrieved January 2020 from http://www.uefap.com
- Williams, J.M. & Colomb, G. G. (2010) Style: Lessons in clarity and grace. 10th ed. New York: Longman.
* Example introduction and conclusion adapted from a student paper.
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Get tailored advice from an Academic Skills Adviser by booking an Individual appointment, or get quick feedback from one of our Academic Writing Mentors via email through our Writing advice service.
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How To Write An Essay: Beginner Tips And Tricks
Many students dread writing essays, but essay writing is an important skill to develop in high school, university, and even into your future career. By learning how to write an essay properly, the process can become more enjoyable and youâll find youâre better able to organize and articulate your thoughts.
When writing an essay, itâs common to follow a specific pattern, no matter what the topic is. Once youâve used the pattern a few times and you know how to structure an essay, it will become a lot more simple to apply your knowledge to every essay.Â
No matter which major you choose, you should know how to craft a good essay. Here, weâll cover the basics of essay writing, along with some helpful tips to make the writing process go smoothly.
Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash
Types of Essays
Think of an essay as a discussion. There are many types of discussions you can have with someone else. You can be describing a story that happened to you, you might explain to them how to do something, or you might even argue about a certain topic.Â
When it comes to different types of essays, it follows a similar pattern. Like a friendly discussion, each type of essay will come with its own set of expectations or goals.Â
For example, when arguing with a friend, your goal is to convince them that youâre right. The same goes for an argumentative essay.Â
Here are a few of the main essay types you can expect to come across during your time in school:
Narrative Essay
This type of essay is almost like telling a story, not in the traditional sense with dialogue and characters, but as if youâre writing out an event or series of events to relay information to the reader.
Persuasive Essay
Here, your goal is to persuade the reader about your views on a specific topic.
Descriptive Essay
This is the kind of essay where you go into a lot more specific details describing a topic such as a place or an event.Â
Argumentative Essay
In this essay, youâre choosing a stance on a topic, usually controversial, and your goal is to present evidence that proves your point is correct.
Expository Essay
Your purpose with this type of essay is to tell the reader how to complete a specific process, often including a step-by-step guide or something similar.
Compare and Contrast Essay
You might have done this in school with two different books or characters, but the ultimate goal is to draw similarities and differences between any two given subjects.
The Main Stages of Essay Writing
When it comes to writing an essay, many students think the only stage is getting all your ideas down on paper and submitting your work. However, thatâs not quite the case.Â
There are three main stages of writing an essay, each one with its own purpose. Of course, writing the essay itself is the most substantial part, but the other two stages are equally as important.
So, what are these three stages of essay writing? They are:
Preparation
Before you even write one word, itâs important to prepare the content and structure of your essay. If a topic wasnât assigned to you, then the first thing you should do is settle on a topic. Next, you want to conduct your research on that topic and create a detailed outline based on your research. The preparation stage will make writing your essay that much easier since, with your outline and research, you should already have the skeleton of your essay.
Writing is the most time-consuming stage. In this stage, you will write out all your thoughts and ideas and craft your essay based on your outline. Youâll work on developing your ideas and fleshing them out throughout the introduction, body, and conclusion (more on these soon).
In the final stage, youâll go over your essay and check for a few things. First, youâll check if your essay is cohesive, if all the points make sense and are related to your topic, and that your facts are cited and backed up. You can also check for typos, grammar and punctuation mistakes, and formatting errors. Â
The Five-Paragraph Essay
We mentioned earlier that essay writing follows a specific structure, and for the most part in academic or college essays , the five-paragraph essay is the generally accepted structure youâll be expected to use.Â
The five-paragraph essay is broken down into one introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a closing paragraph. However, that doesnât always mean that an essay is written strictly in five paragraphs, but rather that this structure can be used loosely and the three body paragraphs might become three sections instead.
Letâs take a closer look at each section and what it entails.
Introduction
As the name implies, the purpose of your introduction paragraph is to introduce your idea. A good introduction begins with a âhook,â something that grabs your readerâs attention and makes them excited to read more.Â
Another key tenant of an introduction is a thesis statement, which usually comes towards the end of the introduction itself. Your thesis statement should be a phrase that explains your argument, position, or central idea that you plan on developing throughout the essay.Â
You can also include a short outline of what to expect in your introduction, including bringing up brief points that you plan on explaining more later on in the body paragraphs.
Here is where most of your essay happens. The body paragraphs are where you develop your ideas and bring up all the points related to your main topic.Â
In general, youâre meant to have three body paragraphs, or sections, and each one should bring up a different point. Think of it as bringing up evidence. Each paragraph is a different piece of evidence, and when the three pieces are taken together, it backs up your main point â your thesis statement â really well.
That being said, you still want each body paragraph to be tied together in some way so that the essay flows. The points should be distinct enough, but they should relate to each other, and definitely to your thesis statement. Each body paragraph works to advance your point, so when crafting your essay, itâs important to keep this in mind so that you avoid going off-track or writing things that are off-topic.
Many students arenât sure how to write a conclusion for an essay and tend to see their conclusion as an afterthought, but this section is just as important as the rest of your work.Â
You shouldnât be presenting any new ideas in your conclusion, but you should summarize your main points and show how they back up your thesis statement.Â
Essentially, the conclusion is similar in structure and content to the introduction, but instead of introducing your essay, it should be wrapping up the main thoughts and presenting them to the reader as a singular closed argument.Â
Photo by AMIT RANJAN on Unsplash
Steps to Writing an Essay
Now that you have a better idea of an essayâs structure and all the elements that go into it, you might be wondering what the different steps are to actually write your essay.Â
Donât worry, weâve got you covered. Instead of going in blind, follow these steps on how to write your essay from start to finish.
Understand Your Assignment
When writing an essay for an assignment, the first critical step is to make sure youâve read through your assignment carefully and understand it thoroughly. You want to check what type of essay is required, that you understand the topic, and that you pay attention to any formatting or structural requirements. You donât want to lose marks just because you didnât read the assignment carefully.
Research Your Topic
Once you understand your assignment, itâs time to do some research. In this step, you should start looking at different sources to get ideas for what points you want to bring up throughout your essay.Â
Search online or head to the library and get as many resources as possible. You donât need to use them all, but itâs good to start with a lot and then narrow down your sources as you become more certain of your essayâs direction.
Start Brainstorming
After research comes the brainstorming. There are a lot of different ways to start the brainstorming process . Here are a few you might find helpful:
- Think about what you found during your research that interested you the most
- Jot down all your ideas, even if theyâre not yet fully formed
- Create word clouds or maps for similar terms or ideas that come up so you can group them together based on their similarities
- Try freewriting to get all your ideas out before arranging them
Create a Thesis
This is often the most tricky part of the whole process since you want to create a thesis thatâs strong and that youâre about to develop throughout the entire essay. Therefore, you want to choose a thesis statement thatâs broad enough that youâll have enough to say about it, but not so broad that you canât be precise.Â
Write Your Outline
Armed with your research, brainstorming sessions, and your thesis statement, the next step is to write an outline.Â
In the outline, youâll want to put your thesis statement at the beginning and start creating the basic skeleton of how you want your essay to look.Â
A good way to tackle an essay is to use topic sentences . A topic sentence is like a mini-thesis statement that is usually the first sentence of a new paragraph. This sentence introduces the main idea that will be detailed throughout the paragraph.Â
If you create an outline with the topic sentences for your body paragraphs and then a few points of what you want to discuss, youâll already have a strong starting point when it comes time to sit down and write. This brings us to our next step…Â
Write a First Draft
The first time you write your entire essay doesnât need to be perfect, but you do need to get everything on the page so that youâre able to then write a second draft or review it afterward.Â
Everyoneâs writing process is different. Some students like to write their essay in the standard order of intro, body, and conclusion, while others prefer to start with the âmeatâ of the essay and tackle the body, and then fill in the other sections afterward.Â
Make sure your essay follows your outline and that everything relates to your thesis statement and your points are backed up by the research you did.Â
Revise, Edit, and Proofread
The revision process is one of the three main stages of writing an essay, yet many people skip this step thinking their work is done after the first draft is complete.Â
However, proofreading, reviewing, and making edits on your essay can spell the difference between a B paper and an A.
After writing the first draft, try and set your essay aside for a few hours or even a day or two, and then come back to it with fresh eyes to review it. You might find mistakes or inconsistencies you missed or better ways to formulate your arguments.
Add the Finishing Touches
Finally, youâll want to make sure everything thatâs required is in your essay. Review your assignment again and see if all the requirements are there, such as formatting rules, citations, quotes, etc.Â
Go over the order of your paragraphs and make sure everything makes sense, flows well, and uses the same writing style .Â
Once everything is checked and all the last touches are added, give your essay a final read through just to ensure itâs as you want it before handing it in.Â
A good way to do this is to read your essay out loud since youâll be able to hear if there are any mistakes or inaccuracies.
Essay Writing Tips
With the steps outlined above, you should be able to craft a great essay. Still, there are some other handy tips weâd recommend just to ensure that the essay writing process goes as smoothly as possible.
- Start your essay early. This is the first tip for a reason. Itâs one of the most important things you can do to write a good essay. If you start it the night before, then you wonât have enough time to research, brainstorm, and outline â and you surely wonât have enough time to review.
- Donât try and write it in one sitting. Itâs ok if you need to take breaks or write it over a few days. Itâs better to write it in multiple sittings so that you have a fresh mind each time and youâre able to focus.
- Always keep the essay question in mind. If youâre given an assigned question, then you should always keep it handy when writing your essay to make sure youâre always working to answer the question.
- Use transitions between paragraphs. In order to improve the readability of your essay, try and make clear transitions between paragraphs. This means trying to relate the end of one paragraph to the beginning of the next one so the shift doesnât seem random.
- Integrate your research thoughtfully. Add in citations or quotes from your research materials to back up your thesis and main points. This will show that you did the research and that your thesis is backed up by it.
Wrapping Up
Writing an essay doesnât need to be daunting if you know how to approach it. Using our essay writing steps and tips, youâll have better knowledge on how to write an essay and youâll be able to apply it to your next assignment. Once you do this a few times, it will become more natural to you and the essay writing process will become quicker and easier.
If you still need assistance with your essay, check with a student advisor to see if they offer help with writing. At University of the People(UoPeople), we always want our students to succeed, so our student advisors are ready to help with writing skills when necessary.Â
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How to Write Your College Essay: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide
Getting ready to start your college essay? Your essay is very important to your application â especially if youâre applying to selective colleges.
Become a stronger writer by reviewing your peersâ essays and get your essay reviewed as well for free.
We have regular livestreams during which we walk you through how to write your college essay and review essays live.
College Essay Basics
Just getting started on college essays? This section will guide you through how you should think about your college essays before you start.
- Why do essays matter in the college application process?
- What is a college application theme and how do you come up with one?
- How to format and structure your college essay
Before you move to the next section, make sure you understand:
How a college essay fits into your application
What a strong essay does for your chances
How to create an application theme
Learn the Types of College Essays
Next, letâs make sure you understand the different types of college essays. Youâll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types. Understanding the types will help you better answer the prompt and structure your essay.
- How to Write a Personal Statement That Wows Colleges
- Personal Statement Essay Examples
- How to Write a Stellar Extracurricular Activity Essay
- Extracurricular Essay Examples
- Tips for Writing a Diversity College Essay
- Diversity Essay Examples
- Tips for Writing a Standout Community Service Essay
- How to Write the âWhy This Majorâ Essay
- How to Write a âWhy This Majorâ Essay if Youâre Undecided
- How to write the âWhy This Collegeâ Essay
- How to Research a College to Write the âWhy This Collegeâ Essay
- Why This College Essay Examples
- How to Write The Overcoming Challenges Essay
- Overcoming Challenges Essay Examples
Identify how each prompt fits into an essay type
What each type of essay is really asking of you
How to write each essay effectively
The Common App essay
Almost every student will write a Common App essay, which is why itâs important you get this right.
- How to Write the Common App Essay
- Successful Common App Essay Examples
- 5 Awesome College Essay Topics + Sample Essays
- 11 ClichĂŠ College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them
How to choose which Common App prompts to answer
How to write a successful Common App essay
What to avoid to stand out to admissions officers
Supplemental Essay Guides
Many schools, especially competitive ones, will ask you to write one or more supplemental essays. This allows a school to learn more about you and how you might fit into their culture.
These essays are extremely important in standing out. Weâve written guides for all the top schools. Follow the link below to find your school and read last yearâs essay guides to give you a sense of the essay prompts. Weâll update these in August when schools release their prompts.
See last yearâs supplemental essay guides to get a sense of the prompts for your schools.
Essay brainstorming and composition
Now that youâre starting to write your essay, letâs dive into the writing process. Below youâll find our top articles on the craft of writing an amazing college essay.
- Where to Begin? 3 Personal Essay Brainstorming Exercises
- Creating the First Draft of Your College Application Essay
- How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay
- What If I Donât Have Anything Interesting To Write About In My College Essay?
- 8 Doâs and Donât for Crafting Your College Essay
- Stuck on Your College Essay? 8 Tips for Overcoming Writerâs Block
Understand how to write a great hook for your essay
Complete the first drafts of your essay
Editing and polishing your essay
Have a first draft ready? See our top editing tips below. Also, you may want to submit your essay to our free Essay Peer Review to get quick feedback and join a community of other students working on their essays.
- 11 Tips for Proofreading and Editing Your College Essay
- Getting Help with Your College Essay
- 5 DIY Tips for Editing Your College Essay
- How Long Should Your College Essay Be?
- Essential Grammar Rules for Your College Apps
- College Essay Checklist: Are You Ready to Submit?
Proofread and edited your essay.
Had someone else look through your essay â we recommend submitting it for a peer review.
Make sure your essay meets all requirements â consider signing up for a free account to view our per-prompt checklists to help you understand when youâre really ready to submit.
Advanced College Essay Techniques
Letâs take it one step further and see how we can make your college essay really stand out! We recommend reading through these posts when you have a draft to work with.
- 10 Guidelines for Highly Readable College Essays
- How to Use Literary Devices to Enhance Your Essay
- How to Develop a Personalized Metaphor for Your College Applications
How to Begin an Essay: 13 Engaging Strategies
ThoughtCo / Hugo Lin
- Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
- M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
- B.A., English, State University of New York
An effective introductory paragraph both informs and motivates. It lets readers know what your essay is about and it encourages them to keep reading.
There are countless ways to begin an essay effectively. As a start, here are 13 introductory strategies accompanied by examples from a wide range of professional writers.
State Your Thesis Briefly and Directly
But avoid making your thesis a bald announcement, such as "This essay is about...".
"It is time, at last, to speak the truth about Thanksgiving, and the truth is this. Thanksgiving is really not such a terrific holiday...." (Michael J. Arlen, "Ode to Thanksgiving." The Camera Age: Essays on Television . Penguin, 1982)
Pose a Question Related to Your Subject
Follow up the question with an answer, or an invitation for your readers to answer the question.
"What is the charm of necklaces? Why would anyone put something extra around their neck and then invest it with special significance? A necklace doesn't afford warmth in cold weather, like a scarf, or protection in combat, like chain mail; it only decorates. We might say, it borrows meaning from what it surrounds and sets off, the head with its supremely important material contents, and the face, that register of the soul. When photographers discuss the way in which a photograph reduces the reality it represents, they mention not only the passage from three dimensions to two, but also the selection of a point de vue that favors the top of the body rather than the bottom, and the front rather than the back. The face is the jewel in the crown of the body, and so we give it a setting." (Emily R. Grosholz, "On Necklaces." Prairie Schooner , Summer 2007)
State an Interesting Fact About Your Subject
" The peregrine falcon was brought back from the brink of extinction by a ban on DDT, but also by a peregrine falcon mating hat invented by an ornithologist at Cornell University. If you cannot buy this, Google it. Female falcons had grown dangerously scarce. A few wistful males nevertheless maintained a sort of sexual loitering ground. The hat was imagined, constructed, and then forthrightly worn by the ornithologist as he patrolled this loitering ground, singing, Chee-up! Chee-up! and bowing like an overpolite Japanese Buddhist trying to tell somebody goodbye...." (David James Duncan, "Cherish This Ecstasy." The Sun , July 2008)
Present Your Thesis as a Recent Discovery or Revelation
"I've finally figured out the difference between neat people and sloppy people. The distinction is, as always, moral. Neat people are lazier and meaner than sloppy people." (Suzanne Britt Jordan, "Neat People vs. Sloppy People." Show and Tell . Morning Owl Press, 1983)
Briefly Describe the Primary Setting of Your Essay
"It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil, was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a pot of drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two." (George Orwell, "A Hanging," 1931)
Recount an Incident That Dramatizes Your Subject
"One October afternoon three years ago while I was visiting my parents, my mother made a request I dreaded and longed to fulfill. She had just poured me a cup of Earl Grey from her Japanese iron teapot, shaped like a little pumpkin; outside, two cardinals splashed in the birdbath in the weak Connecticut sunlight. Her white hair was gathered at the nape of her neck, and her voice was low. âPlease help me get Jeffâs pacemaker turned off,â she said, using my fatherâs first name. I nodded, and my heart knocked." (Katy Butler, "What Broke My Father's Heart." The New York Times Magazine , June 18, 2010)
Use the Narrative Strategy of Delay
The narrative strategy of delay allows you to put off identifying your subject just long enough to pique your readers' interest without frustrating them.
"They woof. Though I have photographed them before, I have never heard them speak, for they are mostly silent birds. Lacking a syrinx, the avian equivalent of the human larynx, they are incapable of song. According to field guides the only sounds they make are grunts and hisses, though the Hawk Conservancy in the United Kingdom reports that adults may utter a croaking coo and that young black vultures, when annoyed, emit a kind of immature snarl...." (Lee Zacharias, "Buzzards." Southern Humanities Review , 2007)
Use the Historical Present Tense
An effective method of beginning an essay is to use historical present tense to relate an incident from the past as if it were happening now.
"Ben and I are sitting side by side in the very back of his motherâs station wagon. We face glowing white headlights of cars following us, our sneakers pressed against the back hatch door. This is our joyâhis and mineâto sit turned away from our moms and dads in this place that feels like a secret, as though they are not even in the car with us. They have just taken us out to dinner, and now we are driving home. Years from this evening, I wonât actually be sure that this boy sitting beside me is named Ben. But that doesnât matter tonight. What I know for certain right now is that I love him, and I need to tell him this fact before we return to our separate houses, next door to each other. We are both five." (Ryan Van Meter, "First." The Gettysburg Review , Winter 2008)
Briefly Describe a Process That Leads Into Your Subject
"I like to take my time when I pronounce someone dead. The bare-minimum requirement is one minute with a stethoscope pressed to someoneâs chest, listening for a sound that is not there; with my fingers bearing down on the side of someoneâs neck, feeling for an absent pulse; with a flashlight beamed into someoneâs fixed and dilated pupils, waiting for the constriction that will not come. If Iâm in a hurry, I can do all of these in sixty seconds, but when I have the time, I like to take a minute with each task." (Jane Churchon, "The Dead Book." The Sun , February 2009)
Reveal a Secret or Make a Candid Observation
"I spy on my patients. Ought not a doctor to observe his patients by any means and from any stance, that he might the more fully assemble evidence? So I stand in doorways of hospital rooms and gaze. Oh, it is not all that furtive an act. Those in bed need only look up to discover me. But they never do." ( Richard Selzer , "The Discus Thrower." Confessions of a Knife . Simon & Schuster, 1979)
Open with a Riddle, Joke, or Humorous Quotation
You can use a riddle , joke, or humorous quotation to reveal something about your subject.
" Q: What did Eve say to Adam on being expelled from the Garden of Eden? A: 'I think we're in a time of transition.' The irony of this joke is not lost as we begin a new century and anxieties about social change seem rife. The implication of this message, covering the first of many periods of transition, is that change is normal; there is, in fact, no era or society in which change is not a permanent feature of the social landscape...." (Betty G. Farrell, Family: The Making of an Idea, an Institution, and a Controversy in American Culture . Westview Press, 1999)
Offer a Contrast Between Past and Present
"As a child, I was made to look out the window of a moving car and appreciate the beautiful scenery, with the result that now I don't care much for nature. I prefer parks, ones with radios going chuckawaka chuckawaka and the delicious whiff of bratwurst and cigarette smoke." (Garrison Keillor, "Walking Down The Canyon." Time , July 31, 2000)
Offer a Contrast Between Image and Reality
A compelling essay can begin with a contrast between a common misconception and the opposing truth.
"They arenât what most people think they are. Human eyes, touted as ethereal objects by poets and novelists throughout history, are nothing more than white spheres, somewhat larger than your average marble, covered by a leather-like tissue known as sclera and filled with natureâs facsimile of Jell-O. Your belovedâs eyes may pierce your heart, but in all likelihood they closely resemble the eyes of every other person on the planet. At least I hope they do, for otherwise he or she suffers from severe myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness), or worse...." (John Gamel, "The Elegant Eye." Alaska Quarterly Review , 2009)
- 'Whack at Your Reader at Once': Eight Great Opening Lines
- What Is a Compelling Introduction?
- How to Structure an Essay
- Hookers vs. Chasers: How Not to Begin an Essay
- Development in Composition: Building an Essay
- Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs
- How To Write an Essay
- How to Write a Good Thesis Statement
- How to Write a Great Essay for the TOEFL or TOEIC
- Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
- How to Develop and Organize a Classification Essay
- 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Essay
- A Guide to Using Quotations in Essays
- What Is Expository Writing?
- The Introductory Paragraph: Start Your Paper Off Right
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40 Best Essays of All Time (Including Links & Writing Tips)
I wanted to improve my writing skills. I thought that reading the forty best essays of all time would bring me closer to my goal.
I had little money (buying forty collections of essays was out of the question) so Iâve found them online instead. Iâve hacked through piles of them, and finally, Iâve found the great ones. Now I want to share the whole list with you (with the addition of my notes about writing). Each item on the list has a direct link to the essay, so please click away and indulge yourself. Also, next to each essay, thereâs an image of the book that contains the original work.
About this essay list:
Reading essays is like indulging in candy; once you start, itâs hard to stop. I sought out essays that were not only well-crafted but also impactful. These pieces genuinely shifted my perspective. Whether youâre diving in for enjoyment or to hone your writing, these essays promise to leave an imprint. Itâs fascinating how an essay can resonate with you, and even if details fade, its essence remains. I havenât ranked them in any way; theyâre all stellar. Skim through, explore the summaries, and pick up some writing tips along the way. For more essay gems, consider âBest American Essaysâ by Joyce Carol Oates or â101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Thinkâ curated by Brianna Wiest.
40 Best Essays of All Time (With Links And Writing Tips)
1. david sedaris â laugh, kookaburra.
A great family drama takes place against the backdrop of the Australian wilderness. And the Kookaburra laughs⌠This is one of the top essays of the lot. Itâs a great mixture of family reminiscences, travel writing, and advice on whatâs most important in life. Youâll also learn an awful lot about the curious culture of the Aussies.
Writing tips from the essay:
- Use analogies (you can make it funny or dramatic to achieve a better effect): âDonât be afraid,â the waiter said, and he talked to the kookaburra in a soothing, respectful voice, the way you might to a child with a switchblade in his handâ.
- You can touch a few cognate stories in one piece of writing . Reveal the layers gradually. Intertwine them and arrange for a grand finale where everything is finally clear.
- Be on the side of the reader. Become their friend and tell the story naturally, like around the dinner table.
- Use short, punchy sentences. Tell only as much as is required to make your point vivid.
- Conjure sentences that create actual feelings: âI had on a sweater and a jacket, but they werenât quite enough, and I shivered as we walked toward the body, and saw that it was a . . . what, exactly?â
- You may ask a few tough questions in a row to provoke interest and let the reader think.
2. Charles DâAmbrosio â Documents
Do you think your life punches you in the face all too often? After reading this essay, you will change your mind. Reading about loss and hardships often makes us sad at first, but then enables us to feel grateful for our lives . DâAmbrosio shares his documents (poems, letters) that had a major impact on his life, and brilliantly shows how not to let go of the past.
- The most powerful stories are about your family and the childhood moments that shaped your life.
- You donât need to build up tension and pussyfoot around the crux of the matter. Instead, surprise the reader by telling it like it is: âThe poem was an allegory about his desire to leave our family.â Or: âMy father had three sons. Iâm the eldest; Danny, the youngest, killed himself sixteen years agoâ.
- You can use real documents and quotes from your family and friends. It makes it so much more personal and relatable.
- Donât cringe before the long sentence if you know itâs a strong one.
- At the end of the essay, you may come back to the first theme to close the circuit.
- Using slightly poetic language is acceptable, as long as it improves the story.
3. E. B. White â Once more to the lake
What does it mean to be a father? Can you see your younger self, reflected in your child? This beautiful essay tells the story of the author, his son, and their traditional stay at a placid lake hidden within the forests of Maine. This place of nature is filled with sunshine and childhood memories. It also provides for one of the greatest meditations on nature and the passing of time.
- Use sophisticated language, but not at the expense of readability.
- Use vivid language to trigger the mirror neurons in the readerâs brain: âI took along my son, who had never had any fresh water up his nose and who had seen lily pads only from train windowsâ.
- Itâs important to mention universal feelings that are rarely talked about (it helps to create a bond between two minds): âYou remember one thing, and that suddenly reminds you of another thing. I guess I remembered clearest of all the early mornings when the lake was cool and motionlessâ.
- Animate the inanimate: âthis constant and trustworthy body of waterâ.
- Mentioning tales of yore is a good way to add some mystery and timelessness to your piece.
- Using double, or even triple âandâ in one sentence is fine. It can make the sentence sing.
4. Zadie Smith â Fail Better
Aspiring writers feel tremendous pressure to perform. The daily quota of words often turns out to be nothing more than gibberish. What then? Also, should the writer please the reader or should she be fully independent? What does it mean to be a writer, anyway? This essay is an attempt to answer these questions, but its contents are not only meant for scribblers. Within it, youâll find some great notes about literary criticism, how we treat art , and the responsibility of the reader.
- A perfect novel ? Thereâs no such thing.
- The novel always reflects the inner world of the writer. Thatâs why weâre fascinated with writers.
- Writing is not simply about craftsmanship, but about taking your reader to the unknown lands. In the words of Christopher Hitchens: âYour ideal authors ought to pull you from the foundering of your previous existence, not smilingly guide you into a friendly and peaceable harbor.â
- Style comes from your unique personality and the perception of the world. It takes time to develop it.
- Never try to tell it all. âAllâ can never be put into language. Take a part of it and tell it the best you can.
- Avoid being clichĂŠ. Try to infuse new life into your writing .
- Writing is about your way of being. Itâs your game. Paradoxically, if you try to please everyone, your writing will become less appealing. Youâll lose the interest of the readers. This rule doesnât apply in the business world where you have to write for a specific person (a target audience).
- As a reader, you have responsibilities too. According to the critics, every thirty years, thereâs just a handful of great novels. Maybe itâs true. But thereâs also an element of personal connection between the reader and the writer. Thatâs why for one person a novel is a marvel, while for the other, nothing special at all. Thatâs why you have to search and find the author who will touch you.
5. Virginia Woolf â Death of the Moth
Amid an ordinary day, sitting in a room of her own, Virginia Woolf tells about the epic struggle for survival and the evanescence of life. This short essay is truly powerful. In the beginning, the atmosphere is happy. Life is in full force. And then, suddenly, it fades away. This sense of melancholy would mark the last years of Woolfâs life.
- The melody of language⌠A good sentence is like music: âMoths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths; they do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and ivy-blossom which the commonest yellow- underwing asleep in the shadow of the curtain never fails to rouse in usâ.
- You can show the grandest in the mundane (for example, the moth at your window and the drama of life and death).
- Using simple comparisons makes the style more lucid: âBeing intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failureâ.
6. Meghan Daum â My Misspent Youth
Many of us, at some point or another, dream about living in New York. Meghan Daumâs take on the subject differs slightly from what you might expect. Thereâs no glamour, no Broadway shows, and no fancy restaurants. Instead, thereâs the sullen reality of living in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Youâll get all the juicy details about credit cards, overdue payments, and scrambling for survival. Itâs a word of warning. But itâs also a great story about shattered fantasies of living in a big city. Word on the street is: âYou ainât promised maĂąana in the rotten manzana.â
- You can paint a picture of your former self. What did that person believe in? What kind of world did he or she live in?
- âThe day that turned your life aroundâ is a good theme you may use in a story. Memories of a special day are filled with emotions. Strong emotions often breed strong writing.
- Use cultural references and relevant slang to create a context for your story.
- You can tell all the details of the story, even if in some peopleâs eyes youâll look like the dumbest motherfucker that ever lived. It adds to the originality.
- Say it in a new way: âIn this mindset, the dollars spent, like the mechanics of a machine no one bothers to understand, become an abstraction, an intangible avenue toward self-expression, a mere vehicle of styleâ.
- You can mix your personal story with the zeitgeist or the ethos of the time.
7. Roger Ebert â Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Probably the greatest film critic of all time, Roger Ebert, tells us not to rage against the dying of the light. This essay is full of courage, erudition, and humanism. From it, we learn about what it means to be dying (Hitchensâ âMortalityâ is another great work on that theme). But thereâs so much more. Itâs a great celebration of life too. Itâs about not giving up, and sticking to your principles until the very end. It brings to mind the famous scene from Dead Poets Society where John Keating (Robin Williams) tells his students: âCarpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinaryâ.
- Start with a powerful sentence: âI know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear.â
- Use quotes to prove your point -ââAsk someone how they feel about deathâ, he said, âand theyâll tell you everyoneâs gonna dieâ. Ask them, âIn the next 30 seconds?â No, no, no, thatâs not gonna happenâ.
- Admit the basic truths about reality in a childlike way (especially after pondering quantum physics) â âI believe my wristwatch exists, and even when I am unconscious, it is ticking all the same. You have to start somewhereâ.
- Let other thinkers prove your point. Use quotes and ideas from your favorite authors and friends.
8. George Orwell â Shooting an Elephant
Even after one reading, youâll remember this one for years. The story, set in British Burma, is about shooting an elephant (itâs not for the squeamish). Itâs also the most powerful denunciation of colonialism ever put into writing. Orwell, apparently a free representative of British rule, feels to be nothing more than a puppet succumbing to the whim of the mob.
- The first sentence is the most important one: âIn Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people â the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to meâ.
- You can use just the first paragraph to set the stage for the whole piece of prose.
- Use beautiful language that stirs the imagination: âI remember that it was a cloudy, stuffy morning at the beginning of the rains.â Or: âI watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with that preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have.â
- If youâve ever been to war, you will have a story to tell: â(Never tell me, by the way, that the dead look peaceful. Most of the corpses I have seen looked devilish.)â
- Use simple words, and admit the sad truth only you can perceive: âThey did not like me, but with the magical rifle in my hands I was momentarily worth watchingâ.
- Share words of wisdom to add texture to the writing: âI perceived at this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his freedom that he destroys.â
- I highly recommend reading everything written by Orwell, especially if youâre looking for the best essay collections on Amazon or Goodreads.
9. George Orwell â A Hanging
Itâs just another day in Burma â time to hang a man. Without much ado, Orwell recounts the grim reality of taking another personâs life. A man is taken from his cage and in a few minutes, heâs going to be hanged. The most horrible thing is the normality of it. Itâs a powerful story about human nature. Also, thereâs an extraordinary incident with the dog, but I wonât get ahead of myself.
- Create brilliant, yet short descriptions of characters: âHe was a Hindu, a puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes. He had a thick, sprouting mustache, absurdly too big for his body, rather like the mustache of a comic man on the filmsâ.
- Understand and share the felt presence of a unique experience: âIt is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious manâ.
- Make your readers hear the sound that will stay with them forever: âAnd then when the noose was fixed, the prisoner began crying out on his god. It was a high, reiterated cry of âRam! Ram! Ram! Ram!â
- Make the ending original by refusing the tendency to seek closure or summing it up.
10. Christopher Hitchens â Assassins of The Mind
In one of the greatest essays written in defense of free speech, Christopher Hitchens shares many examples of how modern media kneel to the explicit threats of violence posed by Islamic extremists. He recounts the story of his friend, Salman Rushdie, author of Satanic Verses who, for many years, had to watch over his shoulder because of the fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini. With his usual wit, Hitchens shares various examples of people who died because of their opinions and of editors who refuse to publish anything related to Islam because of fear (and it was written long before the Charlie Hebdo massacre). After reading the essay, you realize that freedom of expression is one of the most precious things we have and that we have to fight for it. I highly recommend all essay collections penned by Hitchens, especially the ones written for Vanity Fair.
- Assume that the readers will know the cultural references. When they do, their self-esteem goes up â they are a part of an insider group.
- When proving your point, give a variety of real-life examples from eclectic sources. Leave no room for ambiguity or vagueness. Research and overall knowledge are essential here.
- Use italics to emphasize a specific word or phrase (here I use the underlining): âWe live now in a climate where every publisher and editor and politician has to weigh in advance the possibility of violent Muslim reprisal. In consequence, several things have not happened.â
- Think about how to make it sound more original: âSo there is now a hidden partner in our cultural and academic and publishing and the broadcasting world: a shadowy figure that has, uninvited, drawn up a chair to the table.â
11. Christopher Hitchens â The New Commandments
Itâs high time to shatter the tablets and amend the biblical rules of conduct. Watch, as Christopher Hitchens slays one commandment after the other on moral, as well as historical grounds. For example, did you know that there are many versions of the divine law dictated by God to Moses which you can find in the Bible? Arenât we thus empowered to write our version of a proper moral code? If you approach it with an open mind, this essay may change the way you think about the Bible and religion.
- Take the iconoclastic approach. Have a party on the hallowed soil.
- Use humor to undermine orthodox ideas (it seems to be the best way to deal with an established authority).
- Use sarcasm and irony when appropriate (or not): âNobody is opposed to a day of rest. The international Communist movement got its start by proclaiming a strike for an eight-hour day on May 1, 1886, against Christian employers who used child labor seven days a weekâ.
- Defeat God on legal grounds: âWise lawmakers know that it is a mistake to promulgate legislation that is impossible to obeyâ.
- Be ruthless in the logic of your argument. Provide evidence.
12. Phillip Lopate â Against Joie de Vivre
While reading this fantastic essay, this quote from Slavoj Ĺ˝iĹžek kept coming back to me: âI think that the only life of deep satisfaction is a life of eternal struggle, especially struggle with oneself. If you want to remain happy, just remain stupid. Authentic masters are never happy; happiness is a category of slavesâ. I can bear the onus of happiness or joie de vivre for some time. But this force enables me to get free and wallow in the sweet feelings of melancholy and nostalgia. By reading this work of Lopate, youâll enter into the world of an intelligent man who finds most social rituals a drag. Itâs worth exploring.
- Go against the grain. Be flamboyant and controversial (if you can handle it).
- Treat the paragraph like a group of thoughts on one theme. Next paragraph, next theme.
- Use references to other artists to set the context and enrich the prose: âThese sunny little canvases with their talented innocence, the third-generation spirit of Montmartre, bore testimony to a love of life so unbending as to leave an impression of rigid narrow-mindedness as extreme as any Savonarola. Their rejection of sorrow was totalâ.
- Capture the emotions in life that are universal, yet remain unspoken.
- Donât be afraid to share your intimate experiences.
13. Philip Larkin â The Pleasure Principle
This piece comes from the Required Writing collection of personal essays. Larkin argues that reading in verse should be a source of intimate pleasure â not a medley of unintelligible thoughts that only the author can (or canât?) decipher. Itâs a sobering take on modern poetry and a great call to action for all those involved in it. Well worth a read.
- Write about complicated ideas (such as poetry) simply. You can change how people look at things if you express yourself enough.
- Go boldly. The reader wants a bold writer: âWe seem to be producing a new kind of bad poetry, not the old kind that tries to move the reader and fails, but one that does not even tryâ.
- Play with words and sentence length. Create music: âIt is time some of you playboys realized, says the judge, that reading a poem is hard work. Fourteen days in stir. Next caseâ.
- Persuade the reader to take action. Here, direct language is the most effective.
14. Sigmund Freud â Thoughts for the Times on War and Death
This essay reveals Freudâs disillusionment with the whole project of Western civilization. How the peaceful European countries could engage in a war that would eventually cost over 17 million lives? What stirs people to kill each other? Is it their nature, or are they puppets of imperial forces with agendas of their own? From the perspective of time, this work by Freud doesnât seem to be fully accurate. Even so, itâs well worth your time.
- Commence with long words derived from Latin. Get grandiloquent, make your argument incontrovertible, and leave your audience discombobulated.
- Use unending sentences, so that the reader feels confused, yet impressed.
- Say it well: âIn this way, he enjoyed the blue sea and the grey; the beauty of snow-covered mountains and green meadowlands; the magic of northern forests and the splendor of southern vegetation; the mood evoked by landscapes that recall great historical events, and the silence of untouched natureâ.
- Human nature is a subject that never gets dry.
15. Zadie Smith â Some Notes on Attunement
âYou are privy to a great becoming, but you recognize nothingâ â Francis Dolarhyde. This one is about the elusiveness of change occurring within you. For Zadie, it was hard to attune to the vibes of Joni Mitchell â especially her Blue album. But eventually, she grew up to appreciate her genius, and all the other things changed as well. This top essay is all about the relationship between humans, and art. We shouldnât like art because weâre supposed to. We should like it because it has an instantaneous, emotional effect on us. Although, according to Stansfield (Gary Oldman) in LĂŠon, liking Beethoven is rather mandatory.
- Build an expectation of whatâs coming: âThe first time I heard her I didnât hear her at allâ.
- Donât be afraid of repetition if it feels good.
- Psychedelic drugs let you appreciate things you never appreciated.
- Intertwine a personal journey with philosophical musings.
- Show rather than tell: âMy friends pitied their eyes. The same look the faithful give you as you hand them back their âliteratureâ and close the door in their facesâ.
- Let the poets speak for you: âThat time is past, / And all its aching joys are now no
- more, / And all its dizzy rapturesâ.
- By voicing your anxieties, you can heal the anxieties of the reader. In that way, you say: âIâm just like you. Iâm your friend in this struggleâ.
- Admit your flaws to make your persona more relatable.
16. Annie Dillard â Total Eclipse
My imagination was always stirred by the scene of the solar eclipse in Pharaoh, by Boleslaw Prus. I wondered about the shock of the disoriented crowd when they saw how their ruler could switch off the light. Getting immersed in this essay by Annie Dillard has a similar effect. It produces amazement and some kind of primeval fear. Itâs not only the environment that changes; itâs your mind and the perception of the world. After the eclipse, nothing is going to be the same again.
- Yet again, the power of the first sentence draws you in: âIt had been like dying, that sliding down the mountain passâ.
- Donât miss the extraordinary scene. Then describe it: âUp in the sky, like a crater from some distant cataclysm, was a hollow ringâ.
- Use colloquial language. Write as you talk. Short sentences often win.
- Contrast the numinous with the mundane to enthrall the reader.
17. Ădouard LevĂŠ â When I Look at a Strawberry, I Think of a Tongue
This suicidally beautiful essay will teach you a lot about the appreciation of life and the struggle with mental illness. Itâs a collection of personal, apparently unrelated thoughts that show us the rich interior of the author. You look at the real-time thoughts of another person, and then recognize the same patterns within yourself⌠It sounds like a confession of a person whoâs about to take their life, and itâs striking in its originality.
- Use the stream-of-consciousness technique and put random thoughts on paper. Then, polish them: âI have attempted suicide once, Iâve been tempted four times to attempt itâ.
- Place the treasure deep within the story: âWhen I look at a strawberry, I think of a tongue, when I lick one, of a kissâ.
- Donât worry about what people might think. The more you expose, the more powerful the writing. Readers also take part in the great drama. They experience universal emotions that mostly stay inside. You can translate them into writing.
18. Gloria E. AnzaldĂşa â How to Tame a Wild Tongue
AnzaldĂşa, who was born in south Texas, had to struggle to find her true identity. She was American, but her culture was grounded in Mexico. In this way, she and her people were not fully respected in either of the countries. This essay is an account of her journey of becoming the ambassador of the Chicano (Mexican-American) culture. Itâs full of anecdotes, interesting references, and different shades of Spanish. Itâs a window into a new cultural dimension that youâve never experienced before.
- If your mother tongue is not English, but you write in English, use some of your unique homeland vocabulary.
- You come from a rich cultural heritage. You can share it with people who never heard about it, and are not even looking for it, but it is of immense value to them when they discover it.
- Never forget about your identity. It is precious. It is a part of who you are. Even if you migrate, try to preserve it. Use it to your best advantage and become the voice of other people in the same situation.
- Tell them whatâs really on your mind: âSo if you want to hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity â I am my languageâ.
19. Kurt Vonnegut â Dispatch From A Man Without a Country
In terms of style, this essay is flawless. Itâs simple, conversational, humorous, and yet, full of wisdom. And when Vonnegut becomes a teacher and draws an axis of âbeginning â endâ, and, âgood fortune â bad fortuneâ to explain literature, it becomes outright hilarious. Itâs hard to find an author with such a down-to-earth approach. He doesnât need to get intellectual to prove a point. And the point could be summed up by the quote from Great Expectations â âOn the Rampage, Pip, and off the Rampage, Pip â such is Life!â
- Start with a curious question: âDo you know what a twerp is?â
- Surprise your readers with uncanny analogies: âI am from a family of artists. Here I am, making a living in the arts. It has not been a rebellion. Itâs as though I had taken over the family Esso station.â
- Use your natural language without too many special effects. In time, the style will crystalize.
- An amusing lesson in writing from Mr. Vonnegut: âHere is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show youâve been to collegeâ.
- You can put actual images or vignettes between the paragraphs to illustrate something.
20. Mary Ruefle â On Fear
Most psychologists and gurus agree that fear is the greatest enemy of success or any creative activity. Itâs programmed into our minds to keep us away from imaginary harm. Mary Ruefle takes on this basic human emotion with flair. She explores fear from so many angles (especially in the world of poetry-writing) that at the end of this personal essay, you will look at it, dissect it, untangle it, and hopefully be able to say âf**k youâ the next time your brain is trying to stop you.
- Research your subject thoroughly. Ask people, have interviews, get expert opinions, and gather as much information as possible. Then scavenge through the fields of data, and pull out the golden bits that will let your prose shine.
- Use powerful quotes to add color to your story: âThe poet who embarks on the creation of the poem (as I know by experience), begins with the aimless sensation of a hunter about to embark on a night hunt through the remotest of forests. Unaccountable dread stirs in his heartâ. â Lorca.
- Writing advice from the essay: âOne of the fears a young writer has is not being able to write as well as he or she wants to, the fear of not being able to sound like X or Y, a favorite author. But out of fear, hopefully, is born a young writerâs voiceâ.
21. Susan Sontag â Against Interpretation
In this highly intellectual essay, Sontag fights for art and its interpretation. Itâs a great lesson, especially for critics and interpreters who endlessly chew on works that simply defy interpretation. Why donât we just leave the art alone? I always hated it when at school they asked me: âWhat did the author have in mind when he did X or Y?â IÄsous Pantocrator! Hell if I know! I will judge it through my subjective experience!
- Leave the art alone: âToday is such a time, when the project of interpretation is reactionary, stifling. Like the fumes of the automobile and heavy industry which befoul the urban atmosphere, the effusion of interpretations of art today poisons our sensibilitiesâ.
- When you have something really important to say, style matters less.
- Thereâs no use in creating a second meaning or inviting interpretation of our art. Just leave it be and let it speak for itself.
22. Nora Ephron â A Few Words About Breasts
This is a heartwarming, coming-of-age story about a young girl who waits in vain for her breasts to grow. Itâs simply a humorous and pleasurable read. The size of breasts is a big deal for women. If youâre a man, you may peek into the mind of a woman and learn many interesting things. If youâre a woman, maybe youâll be able to relate and at last, be at peace with your bosom.
- Touch an interesting subject and establish a strong connection with the readers (in that case, women with small breasts). Let your personality shine through the written piece. If you are lighthearted, show it.
- Use hyphens to create an impression of real talk: âMy house was full of apples and peaches and milk and homemade chocolate chip cookies â which were nice, and good for you, but-not-right-before-dinner-or-youâll-spoil-your-appetite.â
- Use present tense when you tell a story to add more life to it.
- Share the pronounced, memorable traits of characters: âA previous girlfriend named Solange, who was famous throughout Beverly Hills High School for having no pigment in her right eyebrow, had knitted them for him (angora dice)â.
23. Carl Sagan â Does Truth Matter â Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization
Carl Sagan was one of the greatest proponents of skepticism, and an author of numerous books, including one of my all-time favorites â The Demon-Haunted World . He was also a renowned physicist and the host of the fantastic Cosmos: A Personal Voyage series, which inspired a whole generation to uncover the mysteries of the cosmos. He was also a dedicated weed smoker â clearly ahead of his time. The essay that youâre about to read is a crystallization of his views about true science, and why you should check the evidence before believing in UFOs or similar sorts of crap.
- Tell people the brutal truth they need to hear. Be the one who spells it out for them.
- Give a multitude of examples to prove your point. Giving hard facts helps to establish trust with the readers and show the veracity of your arguments.
- Recommend a good book that will change your readerâs minds â How We Know What Isnât So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life
24. Paul Graham â How To Do What You Love
How To Do What You Love should be read by every college student and young adult. The Internet is flooded with a large number of articles and videos that are supposed to tell you what to do with your life. Most of them are worthless, but this one is different. Itâs sincere, and thereâs no hidden agenda behind it. Thereâs so much we take for granted â what we study, where we work, what we do in our free time⌠Surely we have another two hundred years to figure it out, right? Lifeâs too short to be so naĂŻve. Please, read the essay and let it help you gain fulfillment from your work.
- Ask simple, yet thought-provoking questions (especially at the beginning of the paragraph) to engage the reader: âHow much are you supposed to like what you do?â
- Let the readers question their basic assumptions: âPrestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. It causes you to work not on what you like, but what youâd like to likeâ.
- If youâre writing for a younger audience, you can act as a mentor. Itâs beneficial for younger people to read a few words of advice from a person with experience.
25. John Jeremiah Sullivan â Mister Lytle
A young, aspiring writer is about to become a nurse of a fading writer â Mister Lytle (Andrew Nelson Lytle), and there will be trouble. This essay by Sullivan is probably my favorite one from the whole list. The amount of beautiful sentences it contains is just overwhelming. But thatâs just a part of its charm. It also takes you to the Old South which has an incredible atmosphere. Itâs grim and tawny but you want to stay there for a while.
- Short, distinct sentences are often the most powerful ones: âHe had a deathbed, in other words. He didnât go suddenlyâ.
- Stay consistent with the mood of the story. When reading Mister Lytle you are immersed in that southern, forsaken, gloomy world, and itâs a pleasure.
- The spectacular language that captures it all: âHis French was superb, but his accent in English was bestâthat extinct mid-Southern, land-grant pioneer speech, with its tinges of the abandoned Celtic urban Northeast (âbonedâ for burned) and its raw gentilityâ.
- This essay is just too good. You have to read it.
26. Joan Didion â On Self Respect
Normally, with that title, you would expect some straightforward advice about how to improve your character and get on with your goddamn life â but not from Joan Didion. From the very beginning, you can feel the depth of her thinking, and the unmistakable style of a true woman whoâs been hurt. You can learn more from this essay than from whole books about self-improvement . It reminds me of the scene from True Detective, where Frank Semyon tells Ray Velcoro to âown itâ after he realizes he killed the wrong man all these years ago. I guess we all have to âown itâ, recognize our mistakes, and move forward sometimes.
- Share your moral advice: âCharacter â the willingness to accept responsibility for oneâs own life â is the source from which self-respect springsâ.
- Itâs worth exploring the subject further from a different angle. It doesnât matter how many people have already written on self-respect or self-reliance â you can still write passionately about it.
- Whatever happens, you must take responsibility for it. Brave the storms of discontent.
27. Susan Sontag â Notes on Camp
Iâve never read anything so thorough and lucid about an artistic current. After reading this essay, you will know what camp is. But not only that â you will learn about so many artists youâve never heard of. You will follow their traces and go to places where youâve never been before. You will vastly increase your appreciation of art. Itâs interesting how something written as a list could be so amazing. All the listicles we usually see on the web simply cannot compare with it.
- Talking about artistic sensibilities is a tough job. When you read the essay, you will see how much research, thought and raw intellect came into it. But thatâs one of the reasons why people still read it today, even though it was written in 1964.
- You can choose an unorthodox way of expression in the medium for which you produce. For example, Notes on Camp is a listicle â one of the most popular content formats on the web. But in the olden days, it was uncommon to see it in print form.
- Just think about what is camp: âAnd third among the great creative sensibilities is Camp: the sensibility of failed seriousness, of the theatricalization of experience. Camp refuses both the harmonies of traditional seriousness and the risks of fully identifying with extreme states of feelingâ.
28. Ralph Waldo Emerson â Self-Reliance
Thatâs the oldest one from the lot. Written in 1841, it still inspires generations of people. It will let you understand what it means to be self-made. It contains some of the most memorable quotes of all time. I donât know why, but this one especially touched me: âEvery true man is a cause, a country, and an age; requires infinite spaces and numbers and time fully to accomplish his design, and posterity seems to follow his steps as a train of clientsâ. Now isnât it purely individualistic, American thought? Emerson told me (and he will tell you) to do something amazing with my life. The language it contains is a bit archaic, but that just adds to the weight of the argument. You can consider it to be a meeting with a great philosopher who shaped the ethos of the modern United States.
- You can start with a powerful poem that will set the stage for your work.
- Be free in your creative flow. Do not wait for the approval of others: âWhat I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meannessâ.
- Use rhetorical questions to strengthen your argument: âI hear a preacher announce for his text and topic the expediency of one of the institutions of his church. Do I not know beforehand that not possibly say a new and spontaneous word?â
29. David Foster Wallace â Consider The Lobster
When you want simple field notes about a food festival, you neednât send there the formidable David Foster Wallace. He sees right through the hypocrisy and cruelty behind killing hundreds of thousands of innocent lobsters â by boiling them alive. This essay uncovers some of the worst traits of modern American people. There are no apologies or hedging oneâs bets. Thereâs just plain truth that stabs you in the eye like a lobster claw. After reading this essay, you may reconsider the whole animal-eating business.
- When itâs important, say it plainly and stagger the reader: â[Lobsters] survive right up until theyâre boiled. Most of us have been in supermarkets or restaurants that feature tanks of live lobster, from which you can pick out your supper while it watches you pointâ.
- In your writing, put exact quotes of the people youâve been interviewing (including slang and grammatical errors). It makes it more vivid, and interesting.
- You can use humor in serious situations to make your story grotesque.
- Use captions to expound on interesting points of your essay.
30. David Foster Wallace â The Nature of the Fun
The famous novelist and author of the most powerful commencement speech ever done is going to tell you about the joys and sorrows of writing a work of fiction. Itâs like taking care of a mutant child that constantly oozes smelly liquids. But you love that child and you want others to love it too. Itâs a very humorous account of what it means to be an author. If you ever plan to write a novel, you should read that one. And the story about the Chinese farmer is just priceless.
- Base your point on a chimerical analogy. Here, the writerâs unfinished work is a âhideously damaged infantâ.
- Even in expository writing, you may share an interesting story to keep things lively.
- Share your true emotions (even when you think they wonât interest anyone). Often, thatâs exactly what will interest the reader.
- Read the whole essay for marvelous advice on writing fiction.
31. Margaret Atwood â Attitude
This is not an essay per se, but I included it on the list for the sake of variety. It was delivered as a commencement speech at The University of Toronto, and itâs about keeping the right attitude. Soon after leaving university, most graduates have to forget about safety, parties, and travel and start a new life â one filled with a painful routine that will last until they drop. Atwood says that you donât have to accept that. You can choose how you react to everything that happens to you (and you donât have to stay in that dead-end job for the rest of your days).
- At times, we are all too eager to persuade, but the strongest persuasion is not forceful. Itâs subtle. It speaks to the heart. It affects you gradually.
- You may be tempted to talk about a subject by first stating what it is not, rather than what it is. Try to avoid that.
- Simple advice for writers (and life in general): âWhen faced with the inevitable, you always have a choice. You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your attitude towards itâ.
32. Jo Ann Beard â The Fourth State of Matter
Read that one as soon as possible. Itâs one of the most masterful and impactful essays youâll ever read. Itâs like a good horror â a slow build-up, and then your jaw drops to the ground. To summarize the story would be to spoil it, so I recommend that you just dig in and devour this essay in one sitting. Itâs a perfect example of âshow, donât tellâ writing, where the actions of characters are enough to create the right effect. No need for flowery adjectives here.
- The best story you will tell is going to come from your personal experience.
- Use mysteries that will nag the reader. For example, at the beginning of the essay, we learn about the âvanished husbandâ but thereâs no explanation. We have to keep reading to get the answer.
- Explain it in simple terms: âYouâve got your solid, your liquid, your gas, and then your plasmaâ. Why complicate?
33. Terence McKenna â Tryptamine Hallucinogens and Consciousness
To me, Terence McKenna was one of the most interesting thinkers of the twentieth century. His many lectures (now available on YouTube) attracted millions of people who suspect that consciousness holds secrets yet to be unveiled. McKenna consumed psychedelic drugs for most of his life and it shows (in a positive way). Many people consider him a looney, and a hippie, but he was so much more than that. He dared to go into the abyss of his psyche and come back to tell the tale. He also wrote many books (the most famous being Food Of The Gods ), built a huge botanical garden in Hawaii , lived with shamans, and was a connoisseur of all things enigmatic and obscure. Take a look at this essay, and learn more about the explorations of the subconscious mind.
- Become the original thinker, but remember that it may require extraordinary measures: âI call myself an explorer rather than a scientist because the area that Iâm looking at contains insufficient data to support even the dream of being a scienceâ.
- Learn new words every day to make your thoughts lucid.
- Come up with the most outlandish ideas to push the envelope of whatâs possible. Donât take things for granted or become intellectually lazy. Question everything.
34. Eudora Welty â The Little Store
By reading this little-known essay, you will be transported into the world of the old American South. Itâs a remembrance of trips to the little store in a little town. Itâs warm and straightforward, and when you read it, you feel like a child once more. All these beautiful memories live inside of us. They lay somewhere deep in our minds, hidden from sight. The work by Eudora Welty is an attempt to uncover some of them and let you get reacquainted with some smells and tastes of the past.
- When youâre from the South, flaunt it. Itâs still good old English but sometimes it sounds so foreign. I can hear the Southern accent too: âThere were almost tangible smells â licorice recently sucked in a childâs cheek, dill-pickle brine that had leaked through a paper sack in a fresh trail across the wooden floor, ammonia-loaded ice that had been hoisted from wet Croker sacks and slammed into the icebox with its sweet butter at the door, and perhaps the smell of still-untrapped miceâ.
- Yet again, never forget your roots.
- Childhood stories can be the most powerful ones. You can write about how they shaped you.
35. John McPhee â The Search for Marvin Gardens
The Search for Marvin Gardens contains many layers of meaning. Itâs a story about a Monopoly championship, but also, itâs the authorâs search for the lost streets visible on the board of the famous board game. It also presents a historical perspective on the rise and fall of civilizations, and on Atlantic City, which once was a lively place, and then, slowly declined, the streets filled with dirt and broken windows.
- Thereâs nothing like irony: âA sign- âSlow, Children at Playâ- has been bent backward by an automobileâ.
- Telling the story in apparently unrelated fragments is sometimes better than telling the whole thing in a logical order.
- Creativity is everything. The best writing may come just from connecting two ideas and mixing them to achieve a great effect. Shush! The muse is whispering.
36. Maxine Hong Kingston â No Name Woman
A dead body at the bottom of the well makes for a beautiful literary device. The first line of Orhan Pamukâs novel My Name Is Red delivers it perfectly: âI am nothing but a corpse now, a body at the bottom of a wellâ. Thereâs something creepy about the idea of the well. Just think about the âIt puts the lotion in the basketâ scene from The Silence of the Lambs. In the first paragraph of Kingstonâs essay, we learn about a suicide committed by uncommon means of jumping into the well. But this time itâs a real story. Who was this woman? Why did she do it? Read the essay.
- Mysterious death always gets attention. The macabre details are like daiquiris on a hot day â you savor them â you donât let them spill.
- One sentence can speak volumes: âBut the rare urge west had fixed upon our family, and so my aunt crossed boundaries not delineated in spaceâ.
- Itâs interesting to write about cultural differences â especially if you have the relevant experience. Something normal for us is unthinkable for others. Show this different world.
- The subject of sex is never boring.
37. Joan Didion â On Keeping A Notebook
Slouching Towards Bethlehem is one of the most famous collections of essays of all time. In it, you will find a curious piece called On Keeping A Notebook. Itâs not only a meditation about keeping a journal. Itâs also Didionâs reconciliation with her past self. After reading it, you will seriously reconsider your lifeâs choices and look at your life from a wider perspective.
- When you write things down in your journal, be more specific â unless you want to write a deep essay about it years later.
- Use the beauty of the language to relate to the past: âI have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be; one of them, a seventeen-year-old, presents little threat, although it would be of some interest to me to know again what it feels like to sit on a river levee drinking vodka-and-orange-juice and listening to Les Paul and Mary Ford and their echoes sing âHow High the Moonâ on the car radioâ.
- Drop some brand names if you want to feel posh.
38. Joan Didion â Goodbye To All That
This one touched me because I also lived in New York City for a while. I donât know why, but stories about life in NYC are so often full of charm and this eerie-melancholy-jazz feeling. They are powerful. They go like this: âThere was a hard blizzard in NYC. As the sound of sirens faded, Tony descended into the dark world of hustlers and pimps.â Thatâs pulp literature but in the context of NYC, it always sounds cool. Anyway, this essay is amazing in too many ways. You just have to read it.
- Talk about New York City. They will read it.
- Talk about the human experience: âIt did occur to me to call the desk and ask that the air conditioner be turned off, I never called, because I did not know how much to tip whoever might comeâwas anyone ever so young?â
- Look back at your life and reexamine it. Draw lessons from it.
39. George Orwell â Reflections on Gandhi
George Orwell could see things as they were. No exaggeration, no romanticism â just facts. He recognized totalitarianism and communism for what they were and shared his worries through books like 1984 and Animal Farm . He took the same sober approach when dealing with saints and sages. Today, we regard Gandhi as one of the greatest political leaders of the twentieth century â and rightfully so. But did you know that when asked about the Jews during World War II, Gandhi said that they should commit collective suicide and that it: âwould have aroused the world and the people of Germany to Hitlerâs violence.â He also recommended utter pacifism in 1942, during the Japanese invasion, even though he knew it would cost millions of lives. But overall he was a good guy. Read the essay and broaden your perspective on the Bapu of the Indian Nation.
- Share a philosophical thought that stops the reader for a moment: âNo doubt alcohol, tobacco, and so forth are things that a saint must avoid, but sainthood is also a thing that human beings must avoidâ.
- Be straightforward in your writing â no mannerisms, no attempts to create âstyleâ, and no invocations of the numinous â unless you feel the mystical vibe.
40. George Orwell â Politics and the English Language
Let Mr. Orwell give you some writing tips. Written in 1946, this essay is still one of the most helpful documents on writing in English. Orwell was probably the first person who exposed the deliberate vagueness of political language. He was very serious about it and I admire his efforts to slay all unclear sentences (including ones written by distinguished professors). But itâs good to make it humorous too from time to time. My favorite examples of that would be the immortal Soft Language sketch by George Carlin or the âRomans Go Homeâ scene from Monty Pythonâs Life of Brian. Overall, itâs a great essay filled with examples from many written materials. Itâs a must-read for any writer.
- Listen to the master: âThis mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose.â Do something about it.
- This essay is all about writing better, so go to the source if you want the goodies.
Other Essays You May Find Interesting
The list that Iâve prepared is by no means complete. The literary world is full of exciting essays and youâll never know which one is going to change your life. Iâve found reading essays very rewarding because sometimes, a single one means more than reading a whole book. Itâs almost like wandering around and peeking into the minds of the greatest writers and thinkers that ever lived. To make this list more comprehensive, below I included more essays you may find interesting.
Oliver Sacks â On Libraries
One of the greatest contributors to the knowledge about the human mind, Oliver Sacks meditates on the value of libraries and his love of books.
Noam Chomsky â The Responsibility of Intellectuals
Chomsky did probably more than anyone else to define the role of the intelligentsia in the modern world . There is a war of ideas over there â good and bad â intellectuals are going to be those who ought to be fighting for the former.
Sam Harris â The Riddle of The Gun
Sam Harris, now a famous philosopher and neuroscientist, takes on the problem of gun control in the United States. His thoughts are clear of prejudice. After reading this, youâll appreciate the value of logical discourse overheated, irrational debate that more often than not has real implications on policy.
Tim Ferriss â Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide
This piece was written as a blog post , but itâs worth your time. The author of the NYT bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek shares an emotional story about how he almost killed himself, and what can you do to save yourself or your friends from suicide.
Edward Said â Reflections on Exile
The life of Edward Said was a truly fascinating one. Born in Jerusalem, he lived between Palestine and Egypt and finally settled down in the United States, where he completed his most famous work â Orientalism. In this essay, he shares his thoughts about what it means to be in exile.
Richard Feynman â Itâs as Simple as One, Two, ThreeâŚ
Richard Feynman is one of the most interesting minds of the twentieth century. He was a brilliant physicist, but also an undeniably great communicator of science, an artist, and a traveler. By reading this essay, you can observe his thought process when he tries to figure out what affects our perception of time. Itâs a truly fascinating read.
Rabindranath Tagore â The Religion of The Forest
I like to think about Tagore as my spiritual Friend. His poems are just marvelous. They are like some of the Persian verses that praise love, nature, and the unity of all things. By reading this short essay, you will learn a lot about Indian philosophy and its relation to its Western counterpart.
Richard Dawkins â Letter To His 10-Year-Old Daughter
Every father should be able to articulate his philosophy of life to his children. With this letter thatâs similar to what you find in the Paris Review essays , the famed atheist and defender of reason, Richard Dawkins, does exactly that. Itâs beautifully written and stresses the importance of looking at evidence when weâre trying to make sense of the world.
Albert Camus â The Minotaur (or, The Stop In Oran)
Each person requires a period of solitude â a period when oneâs able to gather thoughts and make sense of life. There are many places where you may attempt to find quietude. Albert Camus tells about his favorite one.
Koty Neelis â 21 Incredible Life Lessons From Anthony Bourdain
I included it as the last one because itâs not really an essay, but I just had to put it somewhere. In this listicle, youâll find the 21 most original thoughts of the high-profile cook, writer, and TV host, Anthony Bourdain. Some of them are shocking, others are funny, but theyâre all worth checking out.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca â On the Shortness of Life
Itâs similar to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam because it praises life. Seneca shares some of his stoic philosophy and tells you not to waste your time on stupidities. Drink! â for once dead you shall never return.
Bertrand Russell â In Praise of Idleness
This old essay is a must-read for modern humans. We are so preoccupied with our work, our phones, and all the media input we drown in our business. Bertrand Russell tells you to chill out a bit â maybe it will do you some good.
James Baldwin â Stranger in the Village
Itâs an essay on the authorâs experiences as an African-American in a Swiss village, exploring race, identity, and alienation while highlighting the complexities of racial dynamics and the quest for belonging.
Bonus â More writing tips from two great books
The mission to improve my writing skills took me further than just going through the essays. Iâve come across some great books on writing too. I highly recommend you read them in their entirety. Theyâre written beautifully and contain lots of useful knowledge. Below youâll find random (but useful) notes that I took from The Sense of Style and On Writing.
The Sense of Style â By Steven Pinker
- Style manuals are full of inconsistencies. Following their advice might not be the best idea. They might make your prose boring.
- Grammarians from all eras condemn students for not knowing grammar. But it just evolves. It cannot be rigid.
- âNothing worth learning can be taughtâ â Oscar Wilde. Itâs hard to learn to write from a manual â you have to read, write, and analyze.
- Good writing makes you imagine things and feel them for yourself â use word pictures.
- Donât fear using voluptuous words.
- Phonesthetics â or how the words sound.
- Use parallel language (consistency of tense).
- Good writing finishes strong.
- Write to someone. Never write for no one in mind. Try to show people your view of the world.
- Donât tell everything you are going to say in summary (signposting) â be logical, but be conversational.
- Donât be pompous.
- Donât use quotation marks where they donât âbelongâ. Be confident about your style.
- Donât hedge your claims (research first, and then tell it like it is).
- Avoid clichĂŠs and meta-concepts (concepts about concepts). Be more straightforward!
- Not prevention â but prevents or prevented â donât use dead nouns.
- Be more vivid while using your mother tongue â donât use passive where itâs not needed. Direct the readerâs gaze to something in the world.
- The curse of knowledge â the reader doesnât know what you know â beware of that.
- Explain technical terms.
- Use examples when you explain a difficult term.
- If you ever say âI think I understand thisâ it probably means you donât.
- Itâs better to underestimate the lingo of your readers than to overestimate it.
- Functional fixedness â if we know some object (or idea) well, we tend to see it in terms of usage, not just as an object.
- Use concrete language instead of an abstraction.
- Show your work to people before you publish (get feedback!).
- Wait for a few days and then revise, revise, revise. Think about clarity and the sound of sentences. Then show it to someone. Then revise one more time. Then publish (if itâs to be serious work).
- Look at it from the perspective of other people.
- Omit needless words.
- Put the heaviest words at the end of the sentence.
- Itâs good to use the passive, but only when appropriate.
- Check all text for cohesion. Make sure that the sentences flow gently.
- In expository work, go from general to more specific. But in journalism start from the big news and then give more details.
- Use the paragraph break to give the reader a moment to take a breath.
- Use the verb instead of a noun (make it more active) â not âcancellationâ, but âcanceledâ. But after you introduce the action, you can refer to it with a noun.
- Avoid too many negations.
- If you write about why something is so, donât spend too much time writing about why it is not.
On Writing Well â By William Zinsser
- Writing is a craft. You need to sit down every day and practice your craft.
- You should re-write and polish your prose a lot.
- Throw out all the clutter. Donât keep it because you like it. Aim for readability.
- Look at the best examples of English literature . Thereâs hardly any needless garbage there.
- Use shorter expressions. Donât add extra words that donât bring any value to your work.
- Donât use pompous language. Use simple language and say plainly whatâs going on (âbecauseâ equals âbecauseâ).
- The media and politics are full of cluttered prose (because it helps them to cover up for their mistakes).
- You canât add style to your work (and especially, donât add fancy words to create an illusion of style). That will look fake. You need to develop a style.
- Write in the âIâ mode. Write to a friend or just for yourself. Show your personality. There is a person behind the writing.
- Choose your words carefully. Use the dictionary to learn different shades of meaning.
- Remember about phonology. Make music with words .
- The lead is essential. Pull the reader in. Otherwise, your article is dead.
- You donât have to make the final judgment on any topic. Just pick the right angle.
- Do your research. Not just obvious research, but a deep one.
- When itâs time to stop, stop. And finish strong. Think about the last sentence. Surprise them.
- Use quotations. Ask people. Get them talking.
- If you write about travel, it must be significant to the reader. Donât bother with the obvious. Choose your words with special care. Avoid travel clichĂŠs at all costs. Donât tell that the sand was white and there were rocks on the beach. Look for the right detail.
- If you want to learn how to write about art, travel, science, etc. â read the best examples available. Learn from the masters.
- Concentrate on one big idea (âLetâs not go peeing down both legsâ).
- âThe reader has to feel that the writer is feeling good.â
- One very helpful question: âWhat is the piece really about?â (Not just âWhat the piece is about?â)
Now immerse yourself in the world of essays
By reading the essays from the list above, youâll become a better writer , a better reader, but also a better person. An essay is a special form of writing. It is the only literary form that I know of that is an absolute requirement for career or educational advancement. Nowadays, you can use an AI essay writer or an AI essay generator that will get the writing done for you, but if you have personal integrity and strong moral principles, avoid doing this at all costs. For me as a writer, the effect of these authorsâ masterpieces is often deeply personal. You wonât be able to find the beautiful thoughts they contain in any other literary form. I hope you enjoy the read and that it will inspire you to do your writing. This list is only an attempt to share some of the best essays available online. Next up, you may want to check the list of magazines and websites that accept personal essays .
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Choose Your Test
Sat / act prep online guides and tips, the best toefl writing practice: 300+ topics to study with.
Writing is the last section youâll complete on the TOEFL. Youâre so close to finishing, yet you still have two essays to write before you can celebrate completing the exam. In order to finish the test on a high note, youâll need to be prepared for this section.
In this guide, we explain the ins and outs of the Writing section and the materials you need to do well. We then go over all the best TOEFL Writing practice resources available , including free and official practice Writing topics. We'll end with final tips to keep in mind in order to ace the TOEFL Writing section.
Overview of TOEFL Writing
The TOEFL Writing section is 50 minutes long (broken into two parts) and contains two tasks: Integrated Writing and Independent Writing. Youâll type both essays on the computer.
The Integrated Writing task requires you to use listening, reading, and writing skills. For this task, you will have three minutes to read a short passage, then you will listen to a short (approximately two-minute long) audio clip of a speaker discussing the same topic the written passage covers. You will have 20 minutes to plan and write a response that references both of these sources. You wonât discuss your own opinion.
For the Independent Writing task, youâll receive a question on a particular topic or issue. Youâll have 30 minutes to plan and write a response to that topic that explains your opinion on it. Youâll need to give reasons that support your decision.
Each essay will receive a score from 0-5. The sum will then be scaled to a score from 0-30, which is your official Writing score. The Writing section makes up 25% of your total TOEFL score (from 0-120).
What Youâll Need to Be Prepared for the TOEFL Writing Section
As you likely expect, youâll spend most of your time on the TOEFL Writing section, well, writing. However, youâll also need to have solid reading and listening skills for the Integrated task. Since the Writing section requires multiple skills, youâll need multiple study tools in order to be completely prepared. Some of the most important things youâll need to prepare for TOEFL Writing include:
- Complete practice Writing sections
- Individual practice questions or TOEFL Writing topics
- Opportunities to practice your writing skills
- Opportunities to practice your listening skills
In the next section, we'll go over the best TOEFL Writing practice tests and questions.
The Best TOEFL Writing Practice Materials
This section contains links to the top practice materials to use while preparing for TOEFL Writing. What makes a practice material the best?
- First, the practice questions must be similar in content and format to the real TOEFL Writing section to give you the best preparation for the real exam.
- Second, itâs a major plus if the practice questions come with answer explanations that help you understand how to answer an essay prompt well.
- Finally, prep materials that include useful tips and strategies for answering Writing questions are useful because they give you advice on how to raise your score on this section.
Official Prep Materials
Official resources are the best to use since you can be confident theyâll be very similar to the real TOEFL Writing section. The topics will be much more realistic in format and content.
Below are all the official TOEFL Writing practice materials available, both free and paid resources. ETS doesnât provide just Writing questions, so each of these resources also have practice resources for the other sections of the TOEFL. Be sure to include at least some of these materials in your studying. The next section has more tips on how to make the most of official practice resources.
TOEFL iBT Sampler
The TOEFL iBT Sampler is a program you can download with official practice questions, and itâs a great free and official resource to use. In addition to other TOEFL sections, it includes a complete TOEFL iBT Writing practice section (two tasks). Sample answers for both tasks are included so you can get an idea of what a good essay looks like. Unfortunately, the Sampler only works with Windows; you canât download it with a Mac.
TOEFL iBT Sample Questions
This PDF is another free and official resource. In addition to other question types, it includes two Writing tasks: one TOEFL Integrated Writing practice question and one Independent Writing practice question. Each sample TOEFL Writing topic is followed by a sample essay as well as an in-depth score explanation, which is a great tool for studiers.
TOEFL iBT Quick Prep
The Quick Prep contains four different volumes, each of which contains one or two Writing prompts. The first volume is the best for TOEFL iBT Writing practice, since it contains two tasks (the others each only contain one) and also has an in-depth explanation of what your essays should include. The other three volumes only contain the essay rubrics without any advice on how to answer the specific essay prompt given.
TOEFL Practice Online (TPO) Tests
TPO tests are retired TOEFL exams now offered for test prep. They give the closest experience to the real TOEFL, and, because of that, they arenât cheap. Youâll have to pay $45 for each complete TOEFL you buy (you canât just buy individual TOEFL iBT Writing practice sections).
Your exam will be automatically graded after you finish it, although I was not particularly impressed with how the Writing section was graded when I took it. For the actual TOEFL, two human graders and a computer program review your essays and assign grades to each one. For this exam, a computer grades your Writing section within less than a minute of you completing the exam, and there is no explanation of how that grade was determined.
This is a useful resource, but if you donât want to spend that much money on a practice test, itâs completely possible to do well just using the above practice resources.
Official TOEFL Prep Books
There are several official TOEFL prep books for sale by ETS. The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test , in addition to explaining the types of questions on the test, contains numerous practice questions and three full-length exams. This is also the only official prep book that includes sample essays of varying scores along with scoring explanations, which can be a big help if youâre trying to guess what score your essays would get.
Thereâs also the Official TOEFL iBT Tests Volumes 1 and 2. Each of these books contains five unique practice tests, available on paper and the computer. However, no sample responses are given for Writing questions, which make them a less useful resource compared to The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test.
Unofficial Prep Materials
You have to be more careful when using unofficial prep resources since not all of them are reliable. Some are high-quality and very similar to the TOEFL, others are not. For the Writing section in particular, because itâs so easy to make up essay prompts, there are many sites that claim to offer TOEFL Writing practice when their practice questions are actually low-quality. Below are some of the top unofficial prep resources out there. All of them (except the prep books, if you buy them) are free.
English Club
This site contains one TOEFL Integrated Writing practice task and five Independent Writing practice tasks. All six TOEFL Writing topics are similar to the real test, and the Integrated task as well as one of the Independent tasks have sample responses you can compare your answers to. At the bottom of the web page is a checklist of things your essays should include to help give you a guideline of what you should be aiming for when you write.
Magoosh offers one TOEFL Integrated Writing practice task. Thatâs not a lot of practice, but it is a high-quality question that includes a sample response. Magoosh also offers three complete TOEFLs, so you can use those Writing questions as well.
Good Luck TOEFL
This site has a huge number (several hundred) of Independent Writing tasks, separated into five different categories depending on question type. Some of the questions are more simplistic than youâll see on the real TOEFL , and thereâs no scoring information or sample responses, but there are a good source if you need more TOEFL Writing topics to write about.
Beat the Test
This site contains 155 Independent Writing tasks. Like Good Luck TOEFL, some of these TOEFL Writing topics are easier than youâll find on the TOEFL, and there are no sample responses included, but they do give you the opportunity to practice writing.
Unofficial Prep Books
Prep books, even unofficial ones, often are a great resource for practice questions. Most books include sample Writing questions, along with scoring explanations , and then contain one or more complete practice TOEFLs at the end of the book. You can learn all about the best TOEFL prep books by reading our guide .
Other TOEFL Writing Practice Materials
There are other ways to practice besides just answering sample Writing questions. TOEFL Writing is designed to measure how strong your English writing skills are, so, any practice you get writing English will help you with this section, even if youâre not directly answering practice exam questions. There are many ways to get writing practice; several of them are described below.
Duolingo is a popular free language-learning site. Users answer different types of questions, including writing questions. You canât choose to only answer writing questions, so this isnât the best resource for targeted writing practice, bu t itâs a good way to strengthen your overall English skills.
For advanced English learners, many of Duolingoâs beginning problem sets will likely be too easy, but you can take a quiz to figure out where in the program you should start.
Free Writing
Finally, you can also practice writing about topics that have nothing to do with the TOEFL. As long as youâre writing in English, youâre getting good practice. Writing about something that interests you can also encourage you to write more. Some ideas for free writing include:
- Keeping a journal
- Getting an English-speaking pen pal
- Starting a blog about a topic that interests you
How to Get the Most Out of Your TOEFL Writing Practice
Now that youâre an expert on the best practice resources for TOEFL Writing, the next step is to put those materials to use in the most effective way in order to see results on test day. Follow these four tips in order to get the most out of your practice.
Practice Writing in English Regularly
The most important thing you can do to practice for the Writing section of the TOEFL is to practice writing English regularly. If you can practice every day, that would be ideal, but at the very least you should aim to practice writing 1,000 words in English a week.
Remember, this writing practice doesnât only have to consist of answering TOEFL Speaking questions; any free writing, even just jotting down what you did that day in your diary, counts as writing practice.
Make Use of Official Materials
As mentioned above, official TOEFL resources have the best practice questions out there, so you want to make the most of them. Spread these questions throughout your TOEFL studying; donât use them all up at the beginning or save them all for the end. You want to be regularly seeing these questions as you prepare.
Also, when you answer official practice questions, make sure you set enough time aside to devote your full attention to them. Practice them in a quiet room with no distractions, and carefully compare your responses to the sample responses. These arenât the questions to practice when you have a few minutes to spare and need some quick practice while scrolling through your phone.
Time Yourself When Writing Practice Essays
When you are writing practice essays, you should also time yourself. Give yourself 20 minutes to plan and write each Integrated Writing task and 30 minutes for each Independent Writing task.
Timing yourself when you write will help you be better prepared for test day because youâll have practice planning and writing essays within a limited time frame. When you first begin writing practice essays, it can be easy to spend too much time preparing and run out of time before you finish writing. Taking timed practice essays will help you avoid this. You should also count how many words each of your essays contain after youâve finished writing them. Integrated tasks should be 150-225 words and Independent tasks should be at least 300 words.
Review Your Practice Essays
After you write each TOEFL practice essay, you should also review it and think about how well it answered the question. This is easier to do if the practice question comes with sample answers that you can compare your answer to, but you should do this step for all practice essays you write, even if they donât come with any answer explanation. You can also assign your essays a score or have a tutor or friend whoâs also studying for the TOEFL score your essay.
Itâs tempting to take a break from TOEFL studying as soon as youâve finished your essays, but itâs important to do this step because it will get you thinking about what great essays look like and how yours can be improved. The ETS provides the rubric it uses to grade TOEFL writing tasks which you can use to evaluate your essays.
Conclusion: Getting the Most Out of Your TOEFL Writing Practice
In order to write two awesome essays for the TOEFL Writing section, youâll likely have to put in some practice. Once you know what to expect from this section and how youâll be graded, use a variety of official and unofficial practice resources during your studying.
As youâre preparing for the Writing section, you should also practice writing in English regularly, use official resources wisely, time yourself when writing practice essays, and review your essays after you write them.
What's Next?
Looking for more information on the TOEFL Writing section? Learn all the tips you need to know in order to ace TOEFL Writing !
What score should you be aiming to get on the TOEFL? Learn what a good TOEFL score is based on the schools you're interested in attending.
Looking for a great TOEFL prep book? A good prep book can be the most important study tool you use, and we have information on all the best TOEFL prep books you should consider .
Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.
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How to Take Your Business Writing From âAverageâ to âGreatâ
- Elizabeth Danziger
Ask: Is my purpose to inform, request, or persuade?
A simple three-question framework will help you jump-start your writing process — whether you’re tackling an email, a formal document, social post, or another form of written communication.
- Purpose: Think of purpose as the intention — the result you want to achieve. The most common purposes of business documents, ranging from brief emails to voluminous reports, are to inform, to request, or to persuade. Knowing your purpose in advance creates the context for your whole document.
- Person: Your document will not generate any outcome until the readers understand your message. They may agree or disagree, like or dislike, but unless they understand you, your efforts are in vain. For that you have to speak the reader’s language, anticipate the answers to questions they might have, and target their emotional trigger topics.
- Point: The point is your essential message. It is closely connected to your purpose and may at times overlap with it. If you imagine that communication is like shooting an arrow, then the purpose is the direction in which the arrow is aimed. The person is the target. The point is the arrow: It is the message you are sending to your reader. Get to the point very early in your document, preferably within the first 40 to 50 words, while your reader is still paying attention (and before they delete or archive your email).
Erica, a staff engineer at a construction consulting firm, was faced with a dilemma. Her manager asked her to follow up with the client about a proposal they had submitted the week before, but she was confused about what her boss meant by âfollow up.â Was she supposed to confirm receipt, request a signed document back, or highlight the firmâs consulting capabilities? As someone new to her role, she wanted to prove that she could figure it out alone. She would type a few words, then press âDelete,â and rewrite the email again. When she finally sent a draft to her manager for approval, they sent back lots of edits, leaving her insecure and discouraged.
- Elizabeth Danziger , founder of Worktalk Communications Consulting, offers webinars and presentations that equip teams to write clearly, confidently, and correctly. She is the author of Get to the Point! , a reader-friendly book on business writing. Danziger also sends Writamins monthly writing tips.
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6 Best Ways To Pay Someone Other Than Writing a Check or Cash
I f youâre looking to pay someone for a job they completed or to settle up any amount that you may owe someone , there are various ways to pay them that donât involve writing a check or handing over cash. Hereâs a look at the numerous options for paying someone to help you decide on the best way to hand over the funds.
Read: 12 Things You Should Start Buying in 2024
See: 6 Genius Things All Wealthy People Do With Their Money
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Payment Apps
âApps like Venmo and Cash App popularized the idea of digital peer-to-peer payments â friends and family in particular,â said Zach Robbins, finance expert and founder at Loanfolk . âThe trend only accelerated after that initial use case to include more types of payments, and theyâre now ubiquitous. Many of the same apps⌠are now also great for paying small businesses to enterprises. Chase and big banks even followed suit by launching Zelle.â
Multiple payment apps have made sending money, splitting a bill or paying an invoice easier than ever. You can transfer the funds with a few taps on your phone, as long as you have the personâs contact information. Youâll just need to ensure that a bank account with adequate funds is connected to the app.
Next: Iâm a Bank Teller: Here Are 10 Mistakes You Are Making With Your Banking
Online Payment Processors
âServices like PayPal, Stripe and Square are widely used for their convenience and security,â said financial advisor Steven Crews . âThey allow you to send money using just an email address or phone number. These services also offer buyer and seller protection for transactions.â
These online payment processors have simplified the way that you can send payments. Once you connect a bank account, you can send money worldwide. You can even send the money as a gift to ensure that the person doesnât have to pay any fees.
Prepaid Cards
âPrepaid cards can be loaded with a specific amount of money and given to the recipient, who can then use the card as they would a debit or credit card,â Crews noted.
You can preload a card, and then the person can treat it like cash when going shopping. This can be an ideal option if the other party isnât willing to share contact information or if they donât want the funds transferred to their bank account for some reason.
âFor a more personal touch, consider giving a gift card for a retailer or service that you know the recipient will appreciate,â Crews suggested.
If youâre splitting a bill and your friend doesnât want the cash, you can load up a gift card with a set amount as your payment. For example, if you know that theyâre a coffee lover, you can put the amount of a Starbucks gift card.
Bank Transfer
âBank transfers are a secure and straightforward way to send money directly from one bank account to another,â said Crews.
This method is particularly useful for large amounts, since youâll want to ensure that everythingâs completed securely. You can visit your bank or log in to your banking app to make a transfer from one account to another.
Cryptocurrencies
âWhile not as widely accepted, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin offer a unique way to send money,â said Crews. âThey offer the advantage of being decentralized, but their value can be volatile.â
Using cryptocurrency to exchange payments is slowly becoming more common, but you have to ensure that this person is familiar with the technology. The good news is that you can transfer bitcoin or ethereum â among many other cryptocurrencies â directly instead of liquidating your asset to cash, if the person youâre paying agrees.
Payment Considerations
âApps like Venmo, Zelle and Cash App are popular for their ease of use,â said Crews. âHowever, they may not offer the same level of protection as online payment processors.â
Youâll want to be careful how you send the money, because you donât want any safety concerns to arise. You also want to think twice before sending over a large sum of money to ensure you have the correct contact information.
âApp-style payments are easy, fast and secure, and because theyâre digital, they are a great way to maintain proof of payment, but itâs two-sided,â warned Robbins. âWhile these payment apps are super easy to use and have excellent security because of their scale, they also tend to be big targets for scammers. Double checking information as you send or entertain a request is critical and will ensure the money gets where it should go.â
When deciding how to pay someone, you should use the method youâre most comfortable with. You should also communicate with the person so that they understand how theyâll be paid. You want to be positive that theyâll understand how theyâll be collecting the money, so there isnât any confusion.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : 6 Best Ways To Pay Someone Other Than Writing a Check or Cash
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How to Write Effective Resume Bullets
The Formula
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Writing resume bullets is often the most challenging aspect of writing a resume. Yes, settling on the best design and format and determining the most relevant experiences to highlight on your resume can take time; however, effectively describing your experience is the most important task. In many ways, this is because your bullets provide the majority of the content and context for your resume, and it is the content of a resume (i.e. the resume bullets) that will distinguish an average resume from a competitive one.
The first step to writing more effective bullet points is to recognize that your bullets can and should be more than just a list of the tasks and responsibilities you managed in a particular role. Donât just copy and paste directly from your position description. While a job description is a great place to start, simply listing your duties doesnât harness the full potential of a resume bullet. It doesnât communicate the skills that you have developed nor does it distinguish you from someone else who has been in the same role or had similar experiences. Most important, it doesnât demonstrate the impact or results of the tasks and the responsibilities you had.
Instead, think of your bullets as accomplishment statements . Using this framework, you are able to focus more on the results of your work and the skills you have developed through your various experiences. Ask yourself: What did you accomplish? Why and how did you complete this task? What was your unique impact or contribution within this role? What sets you apart from others in this or a similar role? The answers to these questions will help you outline the skills you will bring to your next position and demonstrate the results you are likely to produce once you are in the new role.
To help you get started, use the following basic formula to craft your resume bullets:
In addition to the above mentioned formula, many students find it helpful to think about their experiences using the Problem - Action - Result framework. For each task or responsibility, what problem were you seeking to address? What action did you take to address this problem? What were the results of your action? Once you have determined these answers, you can summarize the content into one (or more) bullets.Â
Weâve compiled a list of âbeforeâ and âafterâ resume bullets to help demonstrate how you can transform your bullets from good to great.
If you are having difficulty turning your resume bullets into accomplishment statements or you would like someone to review your newly created bullets, set up an appointment with your Advisor for Career Exploration (ACE) or an industry/field Career Advisor in Handshake ! You can also come to Career Education Drop-In Hours for a quick resume review.
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- How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples
How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples
Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.
A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .
Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.
You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:
- Start with a question
- Write your initial answer
- Develop your answer
- Refine your thesis statement
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Table of contents
What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.
A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.
The best thesis statements are:
- Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweetâdonât use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
- Contentious: Your thesis shouldnât be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
- Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.
Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.
The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .
The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.
You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about itâa clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.
You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?
For example, you might ask:
After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .
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Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.
In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.
The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.
In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.
The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.
A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:
- Why you hold this position
- What they’ll learn from your essay
- The key points of your argument or narrative
The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.
These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.
Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:
- In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
- In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.
If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!
- Ad hominem fallacy
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- Appeal to authority fallacy
- False cause fallacy
- Sunk cost fallacy
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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.
The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:
- It gives your writing direction and focus.
- It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.
Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.
Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :
- Ask a question about your topic .
- Write your initial answer.
- Develop your answer by including reasons.
- Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.
The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .
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Writing from the Heart: Preferences
How can you live without preferences? You have to know what you want in order to get it.
The great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
The first time I read that statement, I was perusing snippets of the third patriarch of Zen, Hsin Hsin Ming.
Before you scratch your head wondering, âWhatâs happened to Nancy; does she really spend time perusing Chinese Zen texts?â let me, in full disclosure, say no. I donât peruse Chinese texts.
But Ram Dass, my teacher in one of his lectures, quoted these words, âThe great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.â And my immediate reaction was, So, who needs to be on the great way? But then, being the good spiritual student, I Googled.
Zen, it turns out, is a state of calm attentiveness in which oneâs actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort. Of course I loved that, because I always think of myself as more intuitive than conscious. Calm is a problem (which Iâm working on), but the great way without preferences is way too difficult for me.
I mean, I have a million preferences. How can you live without preferences? You have to know what you want in order to get what you want, right? You have to make choices: dinner at Offshore Ale, or dinner home. Movie streaming, or movie at the Film Center. Snail mail, or email. I know these aren’t life decisions, but you need to have opinions. How else can you satisfy your basic needs? Luckily, Iâm in touch with all my desires. I desire Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream. I desire it a lot. I desire down pillows. I desire a heated seat. Actually, I love my heated seat. Actually, actually, actually I need my heated seat.
My husband, who I think is a high being from another planet, always says when I say I need anything, âYou don’t need blah blah blah. You need air, you need water, you need food. Thatâs it.â
Obviously he lives on the great way. I just live on State Road.
So I went back to Google, and instead of perusing and grabbing a one-line definition, I actually committed to reading. And here, without being a wiseass, is what it said:
The great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.Â
If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinions for or against anything. To set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind. When the deep meaning of things is not understood, the mind’s essential peace is disturbed to no avail.Â
The way is perfect like vast space where nothing is lacking and nothing in excess. Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things.Â
Be serene in the oneness of things and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.
Thatâs all well and good, and would work in a sweeter time. But I feel we are in the dark night of the political soul, and I donât think my views are erroneous. And I think I am seeing the true nature of things. I want to be Zen and I want to be serene, and honestly, I am really trying. But (and my son Dan used to say everything before the âbutâ is B.S.), but I keep feeling like Iâm fiddling while the planet burns (and not just from carbon dioxide).
But then I go back to Hsin Hisin Ming, and what sentence jumps out at me first? âTo set up what you like against what you dislike is the disease of the mind.â
Me? My mind? Diseased? Oy.
So back to the drawing board. Maybe mint chocolate chip will do.
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Step 2: Have a clear structure. Think about this while you're planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question. Start with the basics! It's best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs.
oConsideration of counterarguments (what Sandel might say in response to this section of your argument) Each argument you will make in an essay will be different, but this strategy will often be a useful first step in figuring out the path of your argument. Strategy #2: Use subheadings, even if you remove themlater.
The basic steps for how to write an essay are: Generate ideas and pick a type of essay to write. Outline your essay paragraph by paragraph. Write a rough first draft without worrying about details like word choice or grammar. Edit your rough draft, and revise and fix the details. Review your essay for typos, mistakes, and any other problems.
Come up with a thesis. Create an essay outline. Write the introduction. Write the main body, organized into paragraphs. Write the conclusion. Evaluate the overall organization. Revise the content of each paragraph. Proofread your essay or use a Grammar Checker for language errors. Use a plagiarism checker.
Body #2: Students should instead focus on internal fulfillment when writing an essay. Body #3: Not only will focusing on internal fulfillment allow students to have more fun, it will also result in better essays. Conclusion: Writing an essay doesn't have to be simply a way to earn a good grade.
This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people's social and cultural lives.
Step 1: Hook your reader. Step 2: Give background information. Step 3: Present your thesis statement. Step 4: Map your essay's structure. Step 5: Check and revise. More examples of essay introductions. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about the essay introduction.
7 steps to writing a good essay. No essay is the same but your approach to writing them can be. As well as some best practice tips, we have gathered our favourite advice from expert essay-writers and compiled the following 7-step guide to writing a good essay every time. đ. #1 Make sure you understand the question. #2 Complete background ...
Intriguing ways to start an essay. There are many different ways to write an essay introduction. Each has its benefits and potential drawbacks, and each is best suited for certain kinds of essays.Although these essay introductions use different rhetorical devices and prime the reader in different ways, they all achieve the same goal: hooking the reader and enticing them to keep reading.
2. Define your argument. As you plan and prepare to write the essay, you must consider what your argument is going to be. This means taking an informed position or point of view on the topic presented in the question, then defining and presenting a specific argument. Consider these two argument statements:
Use transitions between paragraphs. In order to improve the readability of your essay, try and make clear transitions between paragraphs. This means trying to relate the end of one paragraph to the beginning of the next one so the shift doesn't seem random. Integrate your research thoughtfully.
There are three main stages to writing an essay: preparation, writing and revision. In just 4 minutes, this video will walk you through each stage of an acad...
Next, let's make sure you understand the different types of college essays. You'll most likely be writing a Common App or Coalition App essay, and you can also be asked to write supplemental essays for each school. Each essay has a prompt asking a specific question. Each of these prompts falls into one of a few different types.
Most advice about writing looks like a long laundry list of "do's and don'ts." These lists can be helpful from time to time, but they're hard to remember ⌠and, therefore, hard to ...
1. Introductory paragraph. The first paragraph of your essay should outline the topic, provide background information necessary to understand your argument, outline the evidence you will present and states your thesis. 2. The thesis statement. This is part of your first paragraph.
For many, getting started is the hardest part of anything. And that's understandable. First, because it turns whatever you're doing into a reality, which raises the stakes. Second, because where you start can easily dictate the quality of where you end up. College essays have their own special brand of DTDT.
There's more than one way to write a good introductory paragraph. Here are 13 strategies with examples from a wide range of professional writers. ... There are countless ways to begin an essay effectively. As a start, here are 13 introductory strategies accompanied by examples from a wide range of professional writers. State Your Thesis Briefly ...
The chronological approach (sometimes called the cause-and-effect approach) is probably the simplest way to structure an essay. It just means discussing events in the order in which they occurred, discussing how they are related (i.e. the cause and effect involved) as you go. A chronological approach can be useful when your essay is about a ...
1. David Sedaris - Laugh, Kookaburra. A great family drama takes place against the backdrop of the Australian wilderness. And the Kookaburra laughsâŚ. This is one of the top essays of the lot. It's a great mixture of family reminiscences, travel writing, and advice on what's most important in life.
A great way to practice this kind of writing is with short essays. A short essay is any essay that has a word count of fewer than 1,000 words. While getting assigned a short essay might seem preferable to a ten-page paper, writing short poses its own special challenges. Here, we'll show you how to write a convincing short essay in five simple ...
Paragraphs are distinct blocks of text which section out a larger piece of writingâstories, novels, articles, creative writing or professional writing piecesâmaking it easier to read and understand. Good paragraphs are a handy writing skill for many forms of literature, and good writers can greatly enhance the readability of their news, essays, or fiction writing when constructed properly.
Employing such tactics often proves counterproductive. However, if you want to improve your essay writing skills, you must recognize the stages involved, i.e., brainstorming, drafting, revising ...
A good sentence starter is one that easily indicates what the tone and layout of the paragraph is going to be. If the paragraph is going to be a compare and contrast style of content, then it ...
Overview of TOEFL Writing. The TOEFL Writing section is 50 minutes long (broken into two parts) and contains two tasks: Integrated Writing and Independent Writing. You'll type both essays on the computer. The Integrated Writing task requires you to use listening, reading, and writing skills.
Making an all-state team â outstanding achievement. Making an all-state team â counting the cost of saying "no" to other interests. Making a friend out of an enemy â finding common ground, forgiveness. Making a friend out of an enemy â confront toxic thinking and behavior in yourself.
They may agree or disagree, like or dislike, but unless they understand you, your efforts are in vain. For that you have to speak the reader's language, anticipate the answers to questions they ...
Here's a look at the numerous options for paying someone to help you decide on the best way to hand over the funds. Read: 12 Things You Should Start Buying in 2024
Writing resume bullets is often the most challenging aspect of writing a resume. Yes, settling on the best design and format and determining the most relevant experiences to highlight on your resume can take time; however, effectively describing your experience is the most important task. In many ways, this is because your bullets provide the majority of the content and
Placement of the thesis statement. Step 1: Start with a question. Step 2: Write your initial answer. Step 3: Develop your answer. Step 4: Refine your thesis statement. Types of thesis statements. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about thesis statements.
The great way is not difficult. for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent. everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven ...