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You are a busy student and your time is precious. When you get an essay assignment you need to make the best use of your time to write the essay quickly and efficiently. Essay writing does not need to be a chore. With the proper preparation essay writing can be interesting and even (dare I say it) fun! At first, essay writing may seem overwhelming. But as with any task, if you break it down into smaller stages essay writing will be much easier. Tackling each step one by one makes essay writing much more manageable. There are 6 steps to essay writing: - Step 1 - Choose a Subject
- Step 2 - Find Materials
- Step 3 - Taking Notes
- Step 4 - Writing an Outline
- Step 5 - Writing the First Draft
- Step 6 - Editing
Essay Writing Step 1 - Choosing a Subject This is one of the most difficult parts of essay writing. Believe it or not, once you have chosen a good subject the rest of the essay will fall into place. Many students make the mistake of choosing an essay subject which is too general. This makes it difficult to find appropriate sources and the resulting essay will lack focus. Don't try to write an essay on "World War II" (unless you intend to write a book). Focus on a particular subtopic of the subject - for example, "Native Americans in World War II." Essay Writing Step 2 - Find Materials Now that you have a good subject, it will be much easier to find the material you need. Possible sources for materials include your school library and the Internet. Make a list of books, magazines, news stories, journals, and web pages that relate to your subject. Don't spend too much time examining the material at this stage - that part of essay writing comes in Step 3. Essay Writing Step 3 - Taking Notes Skim through each source to see if it's appropriate for your essay. Aim for at least 3 sources for a short essay - longer essays should have more. After deciding which sources you are going to use, write down the name of each book or periodical, the author and the publishing data for your reference section. Use a new piece of paper for each source. In each source locate the material which relates to your subject and take notes. Just jot down the facts. Sections which are copied word for word need to be enclosed in quotations when you are writing your essay. Also mark down the page numbers where the information is located. Essay Writing Step 4 - Writing an Outline When you are finished gathering notes spend some time thinking about your subject and the information you have gathered. Think about how the subject can be divided into sections and how those sections will relate to each other. This will form the basis for your outline. There can be 2 or 3 main sections to a short paper, and it is possible to divide each of these into subsections. Write down your ideas as a broad outline and include references about the type of material that will be included in each section. Essay Writing Step 5 - Writing the First Draft Essays should start by introducing the subject and providing some background information. This section can be short and should capture the interest of the reader. The introduction is followed by the main body of the essay and the essay finishes with a conclusion that summarizes your main points. A well-organized outline will help you write the essay and keep the various sections distinct from each other. Essay Writing Step 6 - Editing Leave the first draft aside for a day or two before coming back to edit it. This will give you a fresh perspective. Edit the essay for obvious mistakes such as spelling and grammatical errors but also check to see if the essay flows nicely. Try reading it out loud to see if it sounds natural. Editing also involves checking to see if the ideas are presented accurately and without misrepresentation. See if all the questions presented by the essay have been addressed satisfactorily. Congratulations! Your essay is ready to hand in. If you have followed these steps to the letter you can expect an A+! |
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