How to Write a Good Essay

By Janice Chan

Have you ever been annoyed by writing a good essay? I am not good at or interested in writing. Instead, I suppose that writing is everything in our world and it builds up a specific community network of exchanging or promoting ideas--it is like a deep, wide ocean which contacts different areas and helps us to transfer something all over the world. A paragraph is a tool that helps us in participating in this ocean. Sometimes it can be a boat, carrying our products. Sometimes it will be a light house, leading our way. If you do not know how to write an essay, you cut yourself off from this large community. That is why writing a good essay is so important. However, writing a good essay is not as difficult as what you think if you follow these introductions instructions.

In the first place, you have to spend ten minutes for pre-writing, which is the way to warm up your brain, help you in finding to find the focus of your essay and make it specific. First, write down everything you know about the topic and try to answer these questions: What? How? When? Where? Why? Who? They can help you generate ideas. Then, look at the items that you have written down, choose a subject that you know well, and identify the purpose and audience of your essay. It helps you decide the focus of your essay. Next, cross out the items which are not necessary, and then organize the items you need into three or more categories. After that, make the outline of your essay.

At this point, you have to know the format of an essay: an essay can be divided into three parts. A good essay must follow this format. If not, it is garbage no matter how specific an idea you have formed.

The first part is the introductory paragraph, which captures the reader’s interest and gives an overview of the subject. Rely on this rule. There are several techniques that can help you get the reader’s attention: use a question, quotation, or story at the beginning of the introductory paragraph. Mostly, the common techniques that writers will use are some sentences that present facts and statistics, or start at a very general idea about the subject at the first sentence and then move to specific. However, there are no specific rules of writing the beginning of the introductory paragraph. You can use everything which can attract reader’s attention. Then, you should present some background information or an overview of the essay to give readers an abstract idea about the essay. Lastly, you must write a thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph which presents the main idea and introduces the aspects or things that are going to be talked about.

The second part is the body of the essay, which consists of three or more supporting paragraphs to support the topic. Normally, each supporting paragraph focuses on one point about the subject and presents specific details, facts, examples and reasons. Firstly, a supporting paragraph is different from the introductory paragraph: supporting paragraphs do not have a thesis statement but do have a topic sentence, which is the first sentence of each paragraph to state the main idea and identify the focus. Secondly, the other sentences are supporting sentences, which present specific details, facts, examples and reasons to support the topic sentence. Start at a general idea and move to specific details. Meanwhile, combine your sentences and ideas by using transitions and conjunctions to make the essay move more smoothly from one thing to another.

The last part is the conclusion, which ties the whole essay together and summarizes the main points of the essay without using the same words. Generally, you restate your points, make a brief summary and state your opinion, recommendation or prediction. Indeed, you should also leave some questions and let your readers think about it.

The last step of writing an essay is revising and editing, which is the best and the last way to improve the essay. Before you reread your first draft, you should take a break of about few minutes to refresh your brain. To begin with, read once and check every topic sentence and the thesis statement to make sure they are related to the whole essay and clearly identify the focus. As you read, check the organization and grammar. You should cross out the sentences not related to the topic or add new details in your essay. Furthermore, you should mark down something which you want to pay attention to; hence, the next time you will have a check list as a guide when you are revising.

In summary, writing is an essential study and job skill nowadays. Writing an essay is no longer hard work if you know the process and the rules of building an essay. There are three main steps: spending ten minutes on listing a bunch of items which are related to the topic, identifying the focus of the essay, and organizing your ideas before you write. Based on the format of an essay, plan the outline of your essay. After you finish your first draft, reread it and correct the mistakes; nevertheless, the best way to improve your writing is to write more. Everybody is able to be a good writer if he spends time on it. Enjoy your writing time!