Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 4: Preparing to Write an Essay
• Method 2 of 4: Formulate the abstract
• Method 3 of 4: Writing the prologue
• Method 4 of 4: Body and Conclusion
• Tips

Writing a decent essay while in college can be quite challenging, especially if you are not feeling inspired or unable to collect your thoughts. But worry not - a little planning, research, and hard work - and you can easily write any college essay. The essay should begin with an introduction, in which you need to identify key points in order to attract the reader, these are the points of view that you will consider in the main part. If you want to learn how to write college essays, follow these guidelines.

Steps

Method 1 of 4: Preparing to Write an Essay

1. 1 Clarify for yourself the essence of the assignment. While you might want to dive headlong into essay writing, you need to know exactly what is wanted from you before creating a blank document in Word. Read the assignment carefully and determine what kind of essay is required of you, how much text and how much research will need to be done. Here are a few things you need to figure out before moving on to writing directly.
   • The number of words. If your essay is only 500 words long, it will be very different from a 2000 word essay. Consider the requirements for the volume of the text and try to invest in it, or at least 10%. You don't want to annoy the teacher with too long or too short an essay.
   • The amount of research that needs to be done. Writing an essay on some subjects may require serious research on a problem or phenomenon. Others will be based on training course materials, such as stories, workbooks, on the basis of which you will need to draw your own conclusions. One way or another, to write a good work, you need to do a thorough research of the issue to which it is devoted.
   • If you have any questions, talk to your instructor a few days before submitting your essay to clarify points of concern.
2. 2 Study the classification of essays. There are many types of essays that you will have to write in college, the rules for writing which are worth familiarizing with in order to understand what is required of you. Here are the main types of essays you should look out for.
   • An essay containing reflections. The main purpose of writing is to get the reader to accept your point of view on some issue. For example, if an essay provides reasons why a ban on carrying firearms should be introduced, then this will be an essay-reflection.
   • Composition analysis. This type is widespread in literary circles and subjects devoted to the study of literary works. To write, you will need to read the work and analyze its content, main topics, characters, based on your vision, supplementing it with "criticism" from the course program on this topic.
   • Overview. The main idea is that you need to describe the process or situation in detail, for example, the daily life of students.
   • Scientific analysis. Writing takes a deeper look at the topic to tell readers the story, uses, and attitudes.
   • Comparative analysis. Two themes or phenomena are compared and contrasted to illustrate their similarities or differences. For example, it can be a comparative analysis of the standard of living in Kiev and New York.
3. 3 Decide on your target audience. Are you writing for a professor, fellow students, experts in the field, or for newbies? If you are writing for specialists, you do not need to disclose the meaning of basic concepts and you can use more complex terminology, but if you are writing for people who are "out of topic", for example, if you are writing a film review for those who have not watched it yet, you you need to include more general information in the essay.
   • If you are writing a study on a topic unknown to the reader, you need to describe your discoveries in great detail.
4. 4 Decide on the purpose of your essay. Do you want to convey some information to people, tune in a certain way, compare, analyze some phenomena or facts, share a story or just entertain? It is very important to decide on the purpose of writing in order to find the right arguments and reach out to readers. For example, if your goal is to turn readers against a certain phenomenon, you must choose arguments in a logical sequence to convince them that you are right.
   • If your goal is to analyze a poem or production, you need to find quotes that illustrate your position.
   • If you are writing a comparative analysis, you should be well aware of the differences and similarities of the things that will be discussed in the essay.
   • If your main goal is to write a short message on a topic, you must master it well in order to cover it in an accessible way for readers.
5. 5 Decide on your essay writing style. Writing style is essential for writing a good essay. In most cases, it will be journalistic: neutral, informative and concise. If you use too expressive vocabulary in an attempt to convince everyone that your research is correct, it will not be credible. If you stoop to slang or colloquial speech, your research will not look professional. But if you're writing a memoir, you can use more informal vocabulary.
   • The writing style expresses your attitude towards the research subject. It can be skeptical, enthusiastic, slightly cynical, suspicious, or neutral. But no matter what emotions the object of research evokes in you, the writing style should be appropriate for the writing of the essay.
   • If you are writing an essay on stem cell research, you must be objective in your assessments and choose a neutral writing style and not make any judgments. If you're thinking about online dating, your style may be more casual.

Method 2 of 4: Formulate the abstract

1. 1 Do your research. While you may want to start writing an essay without having a clear idea of ​​what exactly you should talk about, it is best to do some research to set the stage for your thinking. Get the materials you need, take notes, and then re-read them to master the topic and get enough information to write an essay or at least decide on the reasoning.
   • Make sure the information comes from a trusted source and comes from experts in the field. Don't rely on Wikipedia articles.
   • Take notes so you don't forget anything.
   • Learn the rules for quoting so you can include them in your essay.
2. 2 After conducting the research, it is necessary to sketch out an essay plan for yourself, i.e. It is not possible to identify the main ideas around which the discussion will be built, or the points of view on which you want to focus attention in the text. This is necessary so that you can clearly understand what exactly you want to convey to the reader through the text, as well as structure your thoughts logically. For example, a thesis may look like this: "The standard of living in New York is higher than in San Francisco due to the peculiarities of the climate, more developed infrastructure and a wider range of opportunities for self-realization." And already from this position, you can further disclose your thought in the text, describing and comparing these cities according to the given indicators. In general, abstracts must meet a number of requirements, such as:
   • Clarity
   • Definition
   • Controversy
   • Illustrativeness
   • Possibility of further specification
   • Thought should be presented from the third person
3. 3 Write a thesis that clearly and clearly expresses a thought that can be used as a contested argument. You will not be able to write a thesis about how unicorns live, because you will not be able to back it up with facts, just as you cannot write about the dangers of smoking, simply because it is difficult to argue with it. Instead, try to find an interesting argumentation on your topic, to which you can lead and counterargument. Here are examples of abstracts for different types of essays:
   • Thesis for the essay-analysis: "The three main themes that permeate the film" The Great Gatsby "are loneliness, the power of wealth over a person and the loss of true love."
   • Essay thesis - reflections: "College admission should not be based on grade point average, since grades are not an IQ, but rather a socio-economic factor."
   • Thesis for review: "Most students spend their free time doing homework, walking with friends and visiting various sections."
4. 4 Think over the structure of the essay. After you have sketched the abstract, think of a canvas that will guide you through the essay and help you clump your thoughts together and break them down into paragraphs. This will make the work thoughtful and logical and will allow you not to deviate from the topic and not change your mind in the middle of the text. The essay plan includes an introductory part, a main part and a conclusion. Here is an example of a plan for an essay on the topic: "Moscow is the best city for young professionals due to its attractions, climate and labor market."
   • Introduction: 1) title and introductory part 2) three main ideas 3) thesis
   • First paragraph: attractions: 1) restaurants 2) clubs and pubs 3) museums
   • Paragraph two: weather: 1) beautiful snowy winters 2) warm spring 3) May thunderstorms
   • Paragraph three: labor market 1) opportunities for doing business 2) opportunities for self-realization in creativity 3) the field of IT specialists
   • Conclusion: 1) conclusions 2) repetition of key points

Method 3 of 4: Writing the prologue

1. 1 Get your readers' attention. The introductory part consists of three parts: "bait", a summary of key points of view and theses. The first part contains a lure that grabs the attention of readers and forces them to read the entire main text of the essay. The bait should relate to your points of view on the topic and generate interest from potential readers.
   • Rhetorical question. Ask a question that will help the reader to grasp the essence of your thoughts and to cling to it. For example, an essay on the topic of same-sex marriage may begin with the phrase: "Can't a person marry someone he loves?"
   • Shocking statement or statistic. If you start with a shocking statement or statistics on a topic, it can grab the attention of your readers. For example, if you are writing an essay about depression among students in college, you might start with something like, "More than ten percent of students suffer from lingering depression."
   • Joke. Start with a short anecdote on the topic. However, remember that this may not always be appropriate. If you are writing an essay about the difficulties of single mothers, you should not say something like: "Anya could hardly make ends meet, trying to look after her son Robert."
2. 2 State the main points of view on the problems of your work. Once you've got your readers' attention, it's worth writing a few lines about the content of the essay so that readers can know what to expect from it. For example, if you started your essay with the phrase: "The three main themes that permeate the novel" The Great Gatsby "are loneliness, the power of wealth over a person and the loss of true love", it is worth giving a few sentences to the topic of loneliness in the novel, then about how wealth spoils a person, and how painful and difficult it is to lose true love.
3. 3 State your theses. Attention was attracted, a brief annotation was made, it's time to move on to the theses. They will look most appropriate at the end of the introductory part, but in some cases they may be indicated in the text earlier, if the essay benefits from this.The introductory part and the theses serve as a kind of bridge connecting the rest of the work together. So, in the introductory part of a good essay should be:
   • "Bait" to attract readers' attention
   • A summary of the main thoughts that will be covered in the main part of the essay
   • Abstracts

Method 4 of 4: Body and Conclusion

1. 1 Write your main body 3-5 paragraphs in size. After you have sketched your theses and introductory part, most of the work on the essay has already been done. It's time to move on to writing the main part of the essay, in which you should develop the main thoughts reflected in the theses in order to convey information to readers or make them accept your arguments in the discussion. Depending on the size of the essay, you will need to write 3-5 or more paragraphs, which should contain:
   • A subheading that allows the reader to understand what this paragraph is about.
   • Supporting details, eyewitness accounts, statistics, or facts to illustrate your point of view.
   • A final sentence that sums up and acts as a "bridge" between paragraphs.
2. 2 Write a conclusion. After the introductory part and three paragraphs in the main part, go to the conclusion, in which you need to summarize and draw conclusions. It concludes with: Restate your thesis
   • To some extent, summarize the theses and draw conclusions from them.
   • Remind the reader of your main ideas
   • Return to jokes, statistics or facts stated in the introductory part of the essay (optional).
   • Leave the reader with food for thought
3. 3 Remember to write your essay in the third person. This is very important for writing good quality work. You do not need to use expressions like: "I think ...", "In my opinion", because your arguments will look subjective. Instead of, “I believe there is no need to enforce a legal ban on abortion,” say, “Abortion must remain legal.” This will make your argument appear more convincing.
   • Avoid speaking in the first or second person. You do not need to address the reader as “you”, speak in an impersonal form using the substituent pronouns “he, she, they”. Instead of writing in an essay: “You need to spend at least 3-5 hours a week on self-study in order to successfully study in college,” say: “University students should spend at least three to five hours a week on self-study if they want to achieve great results. "
4. 4 Check your work. After you have finished the rough draft of the work, you need to return to it and re-read it, checking if there are any logical inconsistencies, unsupported or weak arguments in it. You may also find inconsistencies or repetitions in the text, or feel the need to slightly correct the abstracts - this is quite natural.
   • After the essay is ready, you can check it for grammatical and punctuation errors.

Tips

• If you want to write a good essay, you need to work it out very carefully, make a plan, take a lot of notes, and only in this case you will get the highest score. You must present your thoughts in a logical sequence. Remember that the main purpose of any article or essay writing is to grab the reader's attention. This means that you should have the final say.