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How to Write a Comprehensive Essay| Steps and Examples

• Comprehensive Essay
• August 22, 2022
• Ellie Cross

How to Write a Comprehensive Essay| Steps and Examples? If you are planning to write an essay, you will have to follow a set of steps to make the entire process easy. These steps include: Writing a thesis statement, locating sources, drafting an outline, and creating a logical flow of ideas. If you don’t have any idea on how to write an essay, you can always refer to some examples to get some ideas.

Writing a thesis statement

In a comprehensive essay, the thesis statement provides a clear focus and points toward the conclusion of the paper. A weak thesis statement will undermine the entire essay. For example, I would argue that the death penalty is wrong for violent crimes, but not for nonviolent crimes. Furthermore, I would argue that more women should run for political office and become active members of society. These are just some examples of powerful thesis statements.

In addition to a strong thesis statement for an essay , you can also include supporting points in the body of the essay. One example is a book that embodies a social issue. Trust Me by John Updike provides valuable themes that can easily be related to other works. In addition, it is an important addition to the college syllabus and offers a number of easy-to-connect themes. You can also write several paragraphs on different ideas that support the thesis statement.

Finding sources

While it is essential to gather the right information and sources to write a high-quality essay, you should keep in mind that you must also adhere to a deadline. The amount of research required for an essay can take weeks, months, or even years. To help you save time, you can use a two-pronged approach to evaluate your sources: first, read the abstracts and introductions of the articles. Second, read the citations and references. Finally, you should learn how to use the information you have gathered.

Creating an outline

First, create an outline for your paper. Outlines help you organize your ideas and write more easily. Use sequential numbers to represent the major points in your paper. Organize your paragraphs and ideas in the same order and number each one consecutively. You can re-arrange your outline as necessary, but remember that an outline is not a final draft. If you need help creating an outline, visit the Writing Center.

After writing the outline, proofread and edit it thoroughly. Then, go over it one more time to check for errors. Check grammar and style and make sure all references are cited correctly. If you use proper grammar and citation styles, your essay will be a success. Remember to check all sources and check all spellings and grammatical errors! Following proper formatting and referencing style will make your essay look better and will boost your grades.

When writing a comprehensive essay follow a logical flow of ideas

When writing a comprehensive essay, it is imperative that you follow a logical flow of ideas. For example, if your topic is a family problem, your essay structure should move from a student problem to a family problem. The same holds true for an essay that deals with a complex issue. As such, your outline should include topic sentences and a brief summary of each paragraph.

For science articles, logical flow is crucial to the presentation of important results and the whole story. A well-structured, logical flow allows readers to grasp the main message and the argument more easily. In addition, a well-organized piece of writing will foster a valuable exchange of ideas between the author and the reader. The best scientific articles follow a logical flow of ideas.

Creating a conclusion

A comprehensive essay should be rounded out with a powerful conclusion. A conclusion should summarize the main points from the body paragraphs and not repeat them. It should be a clear statement that carries a persuasive message to the audience. It should also be free of quotations and information from outside sources. The conclusion should sound convincing and confident. It should also address the reader’s questions and concerns. Here are a few tips for writing an effective conclusion.

 The most important step in composing a conclusion is to make sure the reader knows the purpose of your paper. You want to capture their attention and make them feel as though they are reading your essay. Using an appropriate ending statement can make your audience feel connected to your argument and will leave a lasting impression. Try to make it as memorable as possible by addressing the most important points of the essay. It also gives the reader a sense of closure.

Ellie Cross is a research-based content writer, who works for Cognizantt, a globally recognised  wordpress development agency uk  and Research Prospect, a  Tjenester til at skrive afhandlinger og essays . Ellie Cross holds a PhD degree in mass communication. He loves to express his views on a range of issues including education, technology, and more.

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How to Write an Essay

Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:

Essay Writing Fundamentals

How to prepare to write an essay, how to edit an essay, how to share and publish your essays, how to get essay writing help, how to find essay writing inspiration, resources for teaching essay writing.

Essays, short prose compositions on a particular theme or topic, are the bread and butter of academic life. You write them in class, for homework, and on standardized tests to show what you know. Unlike other kinds of academic writing (like the research paper) and creative writing (like short stories and poems), essays allow you to develop your original thoughts on a prompt or question. Essays come in many varieties: they can be expository (fleshing out an idea or claim), descriptive, (explaining a person, place, or thing), narrative (relating a personal experience), or persuasive (attempting to win over a reader). This guide is a collection of dozens of links about academic essay writing that we have researched, categorized, and annotated in order to help you improve your essay writing. 

Essays are different from other forms of writing; in turn, there are different kinds of essays. This section contains general resources for getting to know the essay and its variants. These resources introduce and define the essay as a genre, and will teach you what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab

One of the most trusted academic writing sites, Purdue OWL provides a concise introduction to the four most common types of academic essays.

"The Essay: History and Definition" (ThoughtCo)

This snappy article from ThoughtCo talks about the origins of the essay and different kinds of essays you might be asked to write. 

"What Is An Essay?" Video Lecture (Coursera)

The University of California at Irvine's free video lecture, available on Coursera, tells  you everything you need to know about the essay.

Wikipedia Article on the "Essay"

Wikipedia's article on the essay is comprehensive, providing both English-language and global perspectives on the essay form. Learn about the essay's history, forms, and styles.

"Understanding College and Academic Writing" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This list of common academic writing assignments (including types of essay prompts) will help you know what to expect from essay-based assessments.

Before you start writing your essay, you need to figure out who you're writing for (audience), what you're writing about (topic/theme), and what you're going to say (argument and thesis). This section contains links to handouts, chapters, videos and more to help you prepare to write an essay.

How to Identify Your Audience

"Audience" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This handout provides questions you can ask yourself to determine the audience for an academic writing assignment. It also suggests strategies for fitting your paper to your intended audience.

"Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

This extensive book chapter from Writing for Success , available online through Minnesota Libraries Publishing, is followed by exercises to try out your new pre-writing skills.

"Determining Audience" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This guide from a community college's writing center shows you how to know your audience, and how to incorporate that knowledge in your thesis statement.

"Know Your Audience" ( Paper Rater Blog)

This short blog post uses examples to show how implied audiences for essays differ. It reminds you to think of your instructor as an observer, who will know only the information you pass along.

How to Choose a Theme or Topic

"Research Tutorial: Developing Your Topic" (YouTube)

Take a look at this short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to understand the basics of developing a writing topic.

"How to Choose a Paper Topic" (WikiHow)

This simple, step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through choosing a paper topic. It starts with a detailed description of brainstorming and ends with strategies to refine your broad topic.

"How to Read an Assignment: Moving From Assignment to Topic" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Did your teacher give you a prompt or other instructions? This guide helps you understand the relationship between an essay assignment and your essay's topic.

"Guidelines for Choosing a Topic" (CliffsNotes)

This study guide from CliffsNotes both discusses how to choose a topic and makes a useful distinction between "topic" and "thesis."

How to Come Up with an Argument

"Argument" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

Not sure what "argument" means in the context of academic writing? This page from the University of North Carolina is a good place to start.

"The Essay Guide: Finding an Argument" (Study Hub)

This handout explains why it's important to have an argument when beginning your essay, and provides tools to help you choose a viable argument.

"Writing a Thesis and Making an Argument" (University of Iowa)

This page from the University of Iowa's Writing Center contains exercises through which you can develop and refine your argument and thesis statement.

"Developing a Thesis" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page from Harvard's Writing Center collates some helpful dos and don'ts of argumentative writing, from steps in constructing a thesis to avoiding vague and confrontational thesis statements.

"Suggestions for Developing Argumentative Essays" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

This page offers concrete suggestions for each stage of the essay writing process, from topic selection to drafting and editing. 

How to Outline your Essay

"Outlines" (Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill via YouTube)

This short video tutorial from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows how to group your ideas into paragraphs or sections to begin the outlining process.

"Essay Outline" (Univ. of Washington Tacoma)

This two-page handout by a university professor simply defines the parts of an essay and then organizes them into an example outline.

"Types of Outlines and Samples" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL gives examples of diverse outline strategies on this page, including the alphanumeric, full sentence, and decimal styles. 

"Outlining" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Once you have an argument, according to this handout, there are only three steps in the outline process: generalizing, ordering, and putting it all together. Then you're ready to write!

"Writing Essays" (Plymouth Univ.)

This packet, part of Plymouth University's Learning Development series, contains descriptions and diagrams relating to the outlining process.

"How to Write A Good Argumentative Essay: Logical Structure" (Criticalthinkingtutorials.com via YouTube)

This longer video tutorial gives an overview of how to structure your essay in order to support your argument or thesis. It is part of a longer course on academic writing hosted on Udemy.

Now that you've chosen and refined your topic and created an outline, use these resources to complete the writing process. Most essays contain introductions (which articulate your thesis statement), body paragraphs, and conclusions. Transitions facilitate the flow from one paragraph to the next so that support for your thesis builds throughout the essay. Sources and citations show where you got the evidence to support your thesis, which ensures that you avoid plagiarism. 

How to Write an Introduction

"Introductions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page identifies the role of the introduction in any successful paper, suggests strategies for writing introductions, and warns against less effective introductions.

"How to Write A Good Introduction" (Michigan State Writing Center)

Beginning with the most common missteps in writing introductions, this guide condenses the essentials of introduction composition into seven points.

"The Introductory Paragraph" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming focuses on ways to grab your reader's attention at the beginning of your essay.

"Introductions and Conclusions" (Univ. of Toronto)

This guide from the University of Toronto gives advice that applies to writing both introductions and conclusions, including dos and don'ts.

"How to Write Better Essays: No One Does Introductions Properly" ( The Guardian )

This news article interviews UK professors on student essay writing; they point to introductions as the area that needs the most improvement.

How to Write a Thesis Statement

"Writing an Effective Thesis Statement" (YouTube)

This short, simple video tutorial from a college composition instructor at Tulsa Community College explains what a thesis statement is and what it does. 

"Thesis Statement: Four Steps to a Great Essay" (YouTube)

This fantastic tutorial walks you through drafting a thesis, using an essay prompt on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter as an example.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) walks you through coming up with, writing, and editing a thesis statement. It invites you think of your statement as a "working thesis" that can change.

"How to Write a Thesis Statement" (Univ. of Indiana Bloomington)

Ask yourself the questions on this page, part of Indiana Bloomington's Writing Tutorial Services, when you're writing and refining your thesis statement.

"Writing Tips: Thesis Statements" (Univ. of Illinois Center for Writing Studies)

This page gives plentiful examples of good to great thesis statements, and offers questions to ask yourself when formulating a thesis statement.

How to Write Body Paragraphs

"Body Paragraph" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course introduces you to the components of a body paragraph. These include the topic sentence, information, evidence, and analysis.

"Strong Body Paragraphs" (Washington Univ.)

This handout from Washington's Writing and Research Center offers in-depth descriptions of the parts of a successful body paragraph.

"Guide to Paragraph Structure" (Deakin Univ.)

This handout is notable for color-coding example body paragraphs to help you identify the functions various sentences perform.

"Writing Body Paragraphs" (Univ. of Minnesota Libraries)

The exercises in this section of Writing for Success  will help you practice writing good body paragraphs. It includes guidance on selecting primary support for your thesis.

"The Writing Process—Body Paragraphs" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

The information and exercises on this page will familiarize you with outlining and writing body paragraphs, and includes links to more information on topic sentences and transitions.

"The Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post discusses body paragraphs in the context of one of the most common academic essay types in secondary schools.

How to Use Transitions

"Transitions" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill explains what a transition is, and how to know if you need to improve your transitions.

"Using Transitions Effectively" (Washington Univ.)

This handout defines transitions, offers tips for using them, and contains a useful list of common transitional words and phrases grouped by function.

"Transitions" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

This page compares paragraphs without transitions to paragraphs with transitions, and in doing so shows how important these connective words and phrases are.

"Transitions in Academic Essays" (Scribbr)

This page lists four techniques that will help you make sure your reader follows your train of thought, including grouping similar information and using transition words.

"Transitions" (El Paso Community College)

This handout shows example transitions within paragraphs for context, and explains how transitions improve your essay's flow and voice.

"Make Your Paragraphs Flow to Improve Writing" (ThoughtCo)

This blog post, another from academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming, talks about transitions and other strategies to improve your essay's overall flow.

"Transition Words" (smartwords.org)

This handy word bank will help you find transition words when you're feeling stuck. It's grouped by the transition's function, whether that is to show agreement, opposition, condition, or consequence.

How to Write a Conclusion

"Parts of An Essay: Conclusions" (Brightstorm)

This module of a free online course explains how to conclude an academic essay. It suggests thinking about the "3Rs": return to hook, restate your thesis, and relate to the reader.

"Essay Conclusions" (Univ. of Maryland University College)

This overview of the academic essay conclusion contains helpful examples and links to further resources for writing good conclusions.

"How to End An Essay" (WikiHow)

This step-by-step guide (with pictures!) by an English Ph.D. walks you through writing a conclusion, from brainstorming to ending with a flourish.

"Ending the Essay: Conclusions" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This page collates useful strategies for writing an effective conclusion, and reminds you to "close the discussion without closing it off" to further conversation.

How to Include Sources and Citations

"Research and Citation Resources" (Purdue OWL Online Writing Lab)

Purdue OWL streamlines information about the three most common referencing styles (MLA, Chicago, and APA) and provides examples of how to cite different resources in each system.

EasyBib: Free Bibliography Generator

This online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. Be sure to select your resource type before clicking the "cite it" button.

CitationMachine

Like EasyBib, this online tool allows you to input information about your source and automatically generate citations in any style. 

Modern Language Association Handbook (MLA)

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of MLA referencing rules. Order through the link above, or check to see if your library has a copy.

Chicago Manual of Style

Here, you'll find the definitive and up-to-date record of Chicago referencing rules. You can take a look at the table of contents, then choose to subscribe or start a free trial.

How to Avoid Plagiarism

"What is Plagiarism?" (plagiarism.org)

This nonprofit website contains numerous resources for identifying and avoiding plagiarism, and reminds you that even common activities like copying images from another website to your own site may constitute plagiarism.

"Plagiarism" (University of Oxford)

This interactive page from the University of Oxford helps you check for plagiarism in your work, making it clear how to avoid citing another person's work without full acknowledgement.

"Avoiding Plagiarism" (MIT Comparative Media Studies)

This quick guide explains what plagiarism is, what its consequences are, and how to avoid it. It starts by defining three words—quotation, paraphrase, and summary—that all constitute citation.

"Harvard Guide to Using Sources" (Harvard Extension School)

This comprehensive website from Harvard brings together articles, videos, and handouts about referencing, citation, and plagiarism. 

Grammarly contains tons of helpful grammar and writing resources, including a free tool to automatically scan your essay to check for close affinities to published work. 

Noplag is another popular online tool that automatically scans your essay to check for signs of plagiarism. Simply copy and paste your essay into the box and click "start checking."

Once you've written your essay, you'll want to edit (improve content), proofread (check for spelling and grammar mistakes), and finalize your work until you're ready to hand it in. This section brings together tips and resources for navigating the editing process. 

"Writing a First Draft" (Academic Help)

This is an introduction to the drafting process from the site Academic Help, with tips for getting your ideas on paper before editing begins.

"Editing and Proofreading" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page provides general strategies for revising your writing. They've intentionally left seven errors in the handout, to give you practice in spotting them.

"How to Proofread Effectively" (ThoughtCo)

This article from ThoughtCo, along with those linked at the bottom, help describe common mistakes to check for when proofreading.

"7 Simple Edits That Make Your Writing 100% More Powerful" (SmartBlogger)

This blog post emphasizes the importance of powerful, concise language, and reminds you that even your personal writing heroes create clunky first drafts.

"Editing Tips for Effective Writing" (Univ. of Pennsylvania)

On this page from Penn's International Relations department, you'll find tips for effective prose, errors to watch out for, and reminders about formatting.

"Editing the Essay" (Harvard College Writing Center)

This article, the first of two parts, gives you applicable strategies for the editing process. It suggests reading your essay aloud, removing any jargon, and being unafraid to remove even "dazzling" sentences that don't belong.

"Guide to Editing and Proofreading" (Oxford Learning Institute)

This handout from Oxford covers the basics of editing and proofreading, and reminds you that neither task should be rushed. 

In addition to plagiarism-checkers, Grammarly has a plug-in for your web browser that checks your writing for common mistakes.

After you've prepared, written, and edited your essay, you might want to share it outside the classroom. This section alerts you to print and web opportunities to share your essays with the wider world, from online writing communities and blogs to published journals geared toward young writers.

Sharing Your Essays Online

Go Teen Writers

Go Teen Writers is an online community for writers aged 13 - 19. It was founded by Stephanie Morrill, an author of contemporary young adult novels. 

Tumblr is a blogging website where you can share your writing and interact with other writers online. It's easy to add photos, links, audio, and video components.

Writersky provides an online platform for publishing and reading other youth writers' work. Its current content is mostly devoted to fiction.

Publishing Your Essays Online

This teen literary journal publishes in print, on the web, and (more frequently), on a blog. It is committed to ensuring that "teens see their authentic experience reflected on its pages."

The Matador Review

This youth writing platform celebrates "alternative," unconventional writing. The link above will take you directly to the site's "submissions" page.

Teen Ink has a website, monthly newsprint magazine, and quarterly poetry magazine promoting the work of young writers.

The largest online reading platform, Wattpad enables you to publish your work and read others' work. Its inline commenting feature allows you to share thoughts as you read along.

Publishing Your Essays in Print

Canvas Teen Literary Journal

This quarterly literary magazine is published for young writers by young writers. They accept many kinds of writing, including essays.

The Claremont Review

This biannual international magazine, first published in 1992, publishes poetry, essays, and short stories from writers aged 13 - 19.

Skipping Stones

This young writers magazine, founded in 1988, celebrates themes relating to ecological and cultural diversity. It publishes poems, photos, articles, and stories.

The Telling Room

This nonprofit writing center based in Maine publishes children's work on their website and in book form. The link above directs you to the site's submissions page.

Essay Contests

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards

This prestigious international writing contest for students in grades 7 - 12 has been committed to "supporting the future of creativity since 1923."

Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest

An annual essay contest on the theme of journalism and media, the Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest awards scholarships up to $1,000.

National YoungArts Foundation

Here, you'll find information on a government-sponsored writing competition for writers aged 15 - 18. The foundation welcomes submissions of creative nonfiction, novels, scripts, poetry, short story and spoken word.

Signet Classics Student Scholarship Essay Contest

With prompts on a different literary work each year, this competition from Signet Classics awards college scholarships up to $1,000.

"The Ultimate Guide to High School Essay Contests" (CollegeVine)

See this handy guide from CollegeVine for a list of more competitions you can enter with your academic essay, from the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards to the National High School Essay Contest by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Whether you're struggling to write academic essays or you think you're a pro, there are workshops and online tools that can help you become an even better writer. Even the most seasoned writers encounter writer's block, so be proactive and look through our curated list of resources to combat this common frustration.

Online Essay-writing Classes and Workshops

"Getting Started with Essay Writing" (Coursera)

Coursera offers lots of free, high-quality online classes taught by college professors. Here's one example, taught by instructors from the University of California Irvine.

"Writing and English" (Brightstorm)

Brightstorm's free video lectures are easy to navigate by topic. This unit on the parts of an essay features content on the essay hook, thesis, supporting evidence, and more.

"How to Write an Essay" (EdX)

EdX is another open online university course website with several two- to five-week courses on the essay. This one is geared toward English language learners.

Writer's Digest University

This renowned writers' website offers online workshops and interactive tutorials. The courses offered cover everything from how to get started through how to get published.

Writing.com

Signing up for this online writer's community gives you access to helpful resources as well as an international community of writers.

How to Overcome Writer's Block

"Symptoms and Cures for Writer's Block" (Purdue OWL)

Purdue OWL offers a list of signs you might have writer's block, along with ways to overcome it. Consider trying out some "invention strategies" or ways to curb writing anxiety.

"Overcoming Writer's Block: Three Tips" ( The Guardian )

These tips, geared toward academic writing specifically, are practical and effective. The authors advocate setting realistic goals, creating dedicated writing time, and participating in social writing.

"Writing Tips: Strategies for Overcoming Writer's Block" (Univ. of Illinois)

This page from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Center for Writing Studies acquaints you with strategies that do and do not work to overcome writer's block.

"Writer's Block" (Univ. of Toronto)

Ask yourself the questions on this page; if the answer is "yes," try out some of the article's strategies. Each question is accompanied by at least two possible solutions.

If you have essays to write but are short on ideas, this section's links to prompts, example student essays, and celebrated essays by professional writers might help. You'll find writing prompts from a variety of sources, student essays to inspire you, and a number of essay writing collections.

Essay Writing Prompts

"50 Argumentative Essay Topics" (ThoughtCo)

Take a look at this list and the others ThoughtCo has curated for different kinds of essays. As the author notes, "a number of these topics are controversial and that's the point."

"401 Prompts for Argumentative Writing" ( New York Times )

This list (and the linked lists to persuasive and narrative writing prompts), besides being impressive in length, is put together by actual high school English teachers.

"SAT Sample Essay Prompts" (College Board)

If you're a student in the U.S., your classroom essay prompts are likely modeled on the prompts in U.S. college entrance exams. Take a look at these official examples from the SAT.

"Popular College Application Essay Topics" (Princeton Review)

This page from the Princeton Review dissects recent Common Application essay topics and discusses strategies for answering them.

Example Student Essays

"501 Writing Prompts" (DePaul Univ.)

This nearly 200-page packet, compiled by the LearningExpress Skill Builder in Focus Writing Team, is stuffed with writing prompts, example essays, and commentary.

"Topics in English" (Kibin)

Kibin is a for-pay essay help website, but its example essays (organized by topic) are available for free. You'll find essays on everything from  A Christmas Carol  to perseverance.

"Student Writing Models" (Thoughtful Learning)

Thoughtful Learning, a website that offers a variety of teaching materials, provides sample student essays on various topics and organizes them by grade level.

"Five-Paragraph Essay" (ThoughtCo)

In this blog post by a former professor of English and rhetoric, ThoughtCo brings together examples of five-paragraph essays and commentary on the form.

The Best Essay Writing Collections

The Best American Essays of the Century by Joyce Carol Oates (Amazon)

This collection of American essays spanning the twentieth century was compiled by award winning author and Princeton professor Joyce Carol Oates.

The Best American Essays 2017 by Leslie Jamison (Amazon)

Leslie Jamison, the celebrated author of essay collection  The Empathy Exams , collects recent, high-profile essays into a single volume.

The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate (Amazon)

Documentary writer Phillip Lopate curates this historical overview of the personal essay's development, from the classical era to the present.

The White Album by Joan Didion (Amazon)

This seminal essay collection was authored by one of the most acclaimed personal essayists of all time, American journalist Joan Didion.

Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (Amazon)

Read this famous essay collection by David Foster Wallace, who is known for his experimentation with the essay form. He pushed the boundaries of personal essay, reportage, and political polemic.

"50 Successful Harvard Application Essays" (Staff of the The Harvard Crimson )

If you're looking for examples of exceptional college application essays, this volume from Harvard's daily student newspaper is one of the best collections on the market.

Are you an instructor looking for the best resources for teaching essay writing? This section contains resources for developing in-class activities and student homework assignments. You'll find content from both well-known university writing centers and online writing labs.

Essay Writing Classroom Activities for Students

"In-class Writing Exercises" (Univ. of North Carolina Writing Center)

This page lists exercises related to brainstorming, organizing, drafting, and revising. It also contains suggestions for how to implement the suggested exercises.

"Teaching with Writing" (Univ. of Minnesota Center for Writing)

Instructions and encouragement for using "freewriting," one-minute papers, logbooks, and other write-to-learn activities in the classroom can be found here.

"Writing Worksheets" (Berkeley Student Learning Center)

Berkeley offers this bank of writing worksheets to use in class. They are nested under headings for "Prewriting," "Revision," "Research Papers" and more.

"Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism" (DePaul University)

Use these activities and worksheets from DePaul's Teaching Commons when instructing students on proper academic citation practices.

Essay Writing Homework Activities for Students

"Grammar and Punctuation Exercises" (Aims Online Writing Lab)

These five interactive online activities allow students to practice editing and proofreading. They'll hone their skills in correcting comma splices and run-ons, identifying fragments, using correct pronoun agreement, and comma usage.

"Student Interactives" (Read Write Think)

Read Write Think hosts interactive tools, games, and videos for developing writing skills. They can practice organizing and summarizing, writing poetry, and developing lines of inquiry and analysis.

This free website offers writing and grammar activities for all grade levels. The lessons are designed to be used both for large classes and smaller groups.

"Writing Activities and Lessons for Every Grade" (Education World)

Education World's page on writing activities and lessons links you to more free, online resources for learning how to "W.R.I.T.E.": write, revise, inform, think, and edit.

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The writer of the academic essay aims to persuade readers of an idea based on evidence. The beginning of the essay is a crucial first step in this process. In order to engage readers and establish your authority, the beginning of your essay has to accomplish certain business. Your beginning should introduce the essay, focus it, and orient readers.

Introduce the Essay.  The beginning lets your readers know what the essay is about, the  topic . The essay's topic does not exist in a vacuum, however; part of letting readers know what your essay is about means establishing the essay's  context , the frame within which you will approach your topic. For instance, in an essay about the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech, the context may be a particular legal theory about the speech right; it may be historical information concerning the writing of the amendment; it may be a contemporary dispute over flag burning; or it may be a question raised by the text itself. The point here is that, in establishing the essay's context, you are also limiting your topic. That is, you are framing an approach to your topic that necessarily eliminates other approaches. Thus, when you determine your context, you simultaneously narrow your topic and take a big step toward focusing your essay. Here's an example.

The paragraph goes on. But as you can see, Chopin's novel (the topic) is introduced in the context of the critical and moral controversy its publication engendered.

Focus the Essay.  Beyond introducing your topic, your beginning must also let readers know what the central issue is. What question or problem will you be thinking about? You can pose a question that will lead to your idea (in which case, your idea will be the answer to your question), or you can make a thesis statement. Or you can do both: you can ask a question and immediately suggest the answer that your essay will argue. Here's an example from an essay about Memorial Hall.

The fullness of your idea will not emerge until your conclusion, but your beginning must clearly indicate the direction your idea will take, must set your essay on that road. And whether you focus your essay by posing a question, stating a thesis, or combining these approaches, by the end of your beginning, readers should know what you're writing about, and  why —and why they might want to read on.

Orient Readers.  Orienting readers, locating them in your discussion, means providing information and explanations wherever necessary for your readers' understanding. Orienting is important throughout your essay, but it is crucial in the beginning. Readers who don't have the information they need to follow your discussion will get lost and quit reading. (Your teachers, of course, will trudge on.) Supplying the necessary information to orient your readers may be as simple as answering the journalist's questions of who, what, where, when, how, and why. It may mean providing a brief overview of events or a summary of the text you'll be analyzing. If the source text is brief, such as the First Amendment, you might just quote it. If the text is well known, your summary, for most audiences, won't need to be more than an identifying phrase or two:

Often, however, you will want to summarize your source more fully so that readers can follow your analysis of it.

Questions of Length and Order.  How long should the beginning be? The length should be proportionate to the length and complexity of the whole essay. For instance, if you're writing a five-page essay analyzing a single text, your beginning should be brief, no more than one or two paragraphs. On the other hand, it may take a couple of pages to set up a ten-page essay.

Does the business of the beginning have to be addressed in a particular order? No, but the order should be logical. Usually, for instance, the question or statement that focuses the essay comes at the end of the beginning, where it serves as the jumping-off point for the middle, or main body, of the essay. Topic and context are often intertwined, but the context may be established before the particular topic is introduced. In other words, the order in which you accomplish the business of the beginning is flexible and should be determined by your purpose.

Opening Strategies.  There is still the further question of how to start. What makes a good opening? You can start with specific facts and information, a keynote quotation, a question, an anecdote, or an image. But whatever sort of opening you choose, it should be directly related to your focus. A snappy quotation that doesn't help establish the context for your essay or that later plays no part in your thinking will only mislead readers and blur your focus. Be as direct and specific as you can be. This means you should avoid two types of openings:

• The history-of-the-world (or long-distance) opening, which aims to establish a context for the essay by getting a long running start: "Ever since the dawn of civilized life, societies have struggled to reconcile the need for change with the need for order." What are we talking about here, political revolution or a new brand of soft drink? Get to it.
• The funnel opening (a variation on the same theme), which starts with something broad and general and "funnels" its way down to a specific topic. If your essay is an argument about state-mandated prayer in public schools, don't start by generalizing about religion; start with the specific topic at hand.

Remember.  After working your way through the whole draft, testing your thinking against the evidence, perhaps changing direction or modifying the idea you started with, go back to your beginning and make sure it still provides a clear focus for the essay. Then clarify and sharpen your focus as needed. Clear, direct beginnings rarely present themselves ready-made; they must be written, and rewritten, into the sort of sharp-eyed clarity that engages readers and establishes your authority.

Copyright 1999, Patricia Kain, for the Writing Center at Harvard University

How to Write an Essay - A Professional Step-By-Step Guide

• How to write an A+ grade Essay

19 common types of Essays students write

Phrases that dictate the type of essay you will write.

• Tips for writing a comprehensive essay

The standard format of an academic essay

• Great essay checklist
• 9 Common essay writing mistakes and how to avoid them
• FAQs about writing an essay

Here is a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to write a good essay. We cover this topic because essay writing is an important practice that equips you with writing skills to survive academics and the real world.

As a student, you are forever condemned to write good essays, contributing to your GPA. While a good deal might consider the process easy, many students need guidance on writing a good essay.

If your main worry is how to write an essay that scores you a good mark on the Rubric, this in-depth, step-by-step essay writing tutorial will be useful. Any student who wishes to achieve an A+ in their essay must ensure that they utilize this detailed guide.

We believe that this comprehensive guide on how to write a good essay will help any student easily score an A. It does not matter the topic you've chosen; so long as you follow these ten steps to writing, check samples of well-written essays, and proofread your papers well, you will succeed. If you are a parent seeking a great essay writing resource, this tutorial is the best on the internet.

We make writing essays such an easy task that all you have left is to ask when you are being assigned an essay next. Our website offers reliable essay help services, which you could use. However, if you want to take the bull by its horns, here is our comprehensive beginner's guide to writing an essay.

10 Steps to write an A+ Grade Essay: The Essay Writing Process

The following steps will help you write an essay, starting with nothing but the essay instructions (prompt and Rubric) and ending with a well-crafted comprehensive essay. We are determined to share this tips so that you make a top-quality essay that has clarity, wonderful organization, and a good flow of ideas.

Step 1: Read the essay prompt and instructions

Although overlooked, getting familiar with any assignment is vital to understanding what your professor, instructor, or teacher is asking for before even starting to write your essay.

Most students give in to the temptation of skipping this step and then end up with a low grade on an essay they probably spent a lot of time on or had high hopes of scoring a better grade. The primary source of poor essay grades is consistently failing to read the instructions.

Take some time to go over the assignment, understand it, and ask your professor/instructor for clarification early enough. You must carefully go through the prompts, grading Rubric, or any material given alongside the essay assignment. The better if you can highlight and take brief notes on your essay assignment.

Reading the instructions helps you understand how the essay will be graded and what your instructor wants to see for them to give you the best grades. With the instructions understood, you are on the right track to writing a good essay.

Step 2: Select a suitable topic for your essay

Understanding what you are being asked to write in your essay is now time to decide what to write about. Typically, you can't just begin writing about everything; an essay is a specific paper that focuses on a single topic.

This is the most daunting of the essay writing processes, but do not get agitated. Although some instructors will give you essay topics to write about, it is usually never given. Instead, in most cases, instructors prefer that students write essays on topics of their choice, leaving you with an elephant hill to climb. Trust us, none of the two options is a walk in the park.

Given that students mostly have to choose from a myriad of ideas when generating topics and get limited to specific topics from the instructors. It becomes a quagmire either way. But let that not confuse you, not with this comprehensive essay guide, never!

Let's crunch the process of choosing a suitable topic for your essay.

Simple steps to choose a pleasant topic for your essay

We can sum up the process of choosing an excellent topic to this statement: Choose a topic that can reasonably address the essay length and one you will most likely have fun writing your essay. A reasonable topic is not too narrow or too broad; it interests you and has research resources that can support your arguments or thesis.

If you are wondering how to choose a good topic, here are some critical seven steps to follow:

• Re-read the assignment instructions. Although you are probably familiar with the instructions, skim them and your notes. This way, you can visualize the structure of the paper and choose an exciting topic that befits the essay you are about to write. In addition, you can go back to the clarification your professor or instructor gave in case you sent a clarification email or messaged them over Canvas.
• Brainstorm your topics. If you are to select the best topic, brainstorm by developing different ideas and looking up general information. This is a stage where you can comfortably use sources such as Wikipedia, which are forbidden to be cited in academic essays. Information search when developing a topic helps you widen your scope of understanding and visualize your essay's thesis or main arguments. When you have all the information, select a suitable topic that appeals to you and meets the essay requirements.
• Focus on a single topic. You only have limited words to write an essay, so you would technically want to keep everything focused. As you select the topic, focus on a narrow topic, but not too narrow to impact your research. Do not choose too broad topics, because you will struggle to write without overgeneralizing.
• List the valuable keywords. When you've settled for a topic or a given direction, list the words that matter when describing, explaining, or analyzing a topic. Then, you can use them in crafting a title for your essay.
• Close in on one topic. You'll probably end up with many topics and have 2-3 topics of preference. At this point, you select one among those and die with it to the end of your essay or change it if you experience challenges.
• Research about the topic. Now that you have the topic, you should research more about it and proceed to the last step below.
• Formulate a title. After you've narrowed it down to a topic, use the keywords you found when researching to formulate a good title for your essay.

Guidelines/tips when choosing essay topics

In academic writing, two events are likely when choosing a topic: (i) you are assigned a specific topic or asked to choose among several, and (ii) you can be asked to come up with a topic and write your essay or send the topic for approval.

When you have to choose your own topic, keep these five tips in mind:

• Select a topic that is appropriate to the essay's length. We have seen students pick topics that are too broad to cover in a short or long essay, which denies them the chance of scoring an A+ on an essay. We urge you to select narrow topics that often lead to close observation instead of broad topics resulting in overgeneralization . This applies to every essay you write: five-page, two- or three-page, six- or ten-page, descriptive , or personal essays . But, again, don't choose a topic that is too narrow that you lack enough to write about or have difficulty finding research sources.
• Choose a topic that interests you. If you suck at writing about cigarettes and alcohol and lean more towards history, go for essay topics on history and run with the topic to an excellent grade. If you pick a topic that interests you, you will probably have more to say. Chances also are that you will write better. Ultimately, you impress the reader: your professor or instructor, and take the best grades home.
• Do not summarize but analyze and discuss. If, for instance, you are writing about The Great Gatsby , avoid the temptation of choosing the entire plot. Instead, choose specific characters, actions, or plot parts that display a given theme. The latter allows you to narrow down to a specific and reasonable thesis.
• Choose a topic you can find material. Even when writing a personal narrative essay or personal statement, you need to ensure that you have the right content to fulfill the requirements of the essay. If you have to use research, although you are not writing a research paper, select a topic where you can find good scholarly sources to support the ideas and develop coherent claims and arguments.
• Be flexible with your topic . After picking a topic, be open to changing it if it seems not working. Instructors love it when you write a good essay rather than grinding out pages and sweating over something with a regrettable topic: a reflection of a poor choice.

Step 3: Research your chosen topic

The moment of truth is finally here: research! Although different people have their own research approach, making it the most flexible essay writing process, you must remain focused and do it fast. After all, you do not have forever to write your essay.

Three quick things about researching your topic: skim, find reliable scholarly sources, and do not ignore/overlook any information.

By skimming, we mean that you do not have to read the entire internet, book, journal, or articles about everything that has been written about your topic. The truth is, you probably can't: technically, it is impossible. So, you should scan things and identify the major points or arguments without bogging down and reading every word you find.

You should find reliable sources to use in your essay. As mentioned, non-scholarly sources like Wikipedia can be used when writing an essay. However, you cannot use them as a definitive source. Instead, you use such general sources as Wikipedia to familiarize yourself with the topic, generate keywords that drive your research, and get a summary of a large pool of information available. However, for the information you will cite in your essay, you must find reliable sources such as books, journals, articles, etc.

After seeding the keywords from general sources, dig deeper into the internet and academic databases or ask an expert where you can find reliable sources: a librarian can come in handy.

Note: You can use Wikipedia for your initial research, but you should never use it as a source for your essay.

Lastly, avoid overlooking or ignoring information. Any article will say whatever it says. Just because an article claims something is wrong or true does not mean it is a proven fact to use in your essay. So, it would help if you verified by researching deeper to find the right facts. Correlate findings from one author with those of authors writing on the same topic for the information's relevance, credibility, and authenticity.

Step 5: Organize your Research

So now that you have all the information you would need, you need to have it organized to make work easier. This is also another essay process that allows flexibility: most people have diverse preferences for organizing information. After all, the end justifies the means here.

You can create a bibliography now that you've selected the best resources. MS Word document allows you to enter bibliography information. Alternatively, you can use online citation tools to organize your bibliography. Online digital bibliography tools help link to sources you found online and can always refer to.

Organizing research helps you to cite every idea as you read and write your essay. For example, instead of writing a paper and then citing later, which often leads to poor in-text citations. Therefore, citing the essay as you write the first draft is advisable.

Besides, it is also a great idea if you have to submit or turn in a bibliography alongside an outline or an annotated bibliography before getting the go-ahead to write your essay.

Either way, create a bibliography that meets the requirements of your essay. Another organization strategy is having your articles bookmarked, downloaded, and saved in a specific folder. Other people prefer writing and printing a list of resources; if it is your thing, go for it!

Step 6: Formulate a strong thesis: the working thesis

At this stage, you have owned your essay writing process. You know what is required of you, have the right topic, and have researched and organized your research. You are ready to formulate your argument, assertion, claim, or opinion. Even when there is nothing apparent to argue against, your paper needs a strong thesis statement.

Find out more about writing a thesis statement for your essay .

You must create a specific, arguable, and strong thesis statement for your essay. Our professional essay writers agree that this is the most critical part after choosing a topic because it defines the direction and scope of your essay.

A thesis is a succinct statement, usually a sentence or two, that you put forward to your readers as to what you are writing about or proving. It is the central argument or idea of your essay. It simply defines what the essay is all about.

A good thesis statement helps you to develop solid arguments and allows you the flexibility to test your ideas. For example, when developing the thesis, you can begin with a one-sentence answer: what is my essay about?

Suppose, for example, you are writing an animal testing essay. In that case, the answer could be something like this: My paper is about the abuse of animal rights by including them in research when there are alternative methods to animal testing.

Suppose you are writing about university policies on freshmen living on campus. In that case, it could read: My essay is about university policies on freshmen students living on campus.

Your essay can be about how media influences children, which means your one-sentence statement can be: My essay is about how media can influence children.

That does not sound hard, does it? However, this is just the beginning. Most students stop here and present this as a thesis statement, only to be disgruntled when an instructor grades their essays poorly.

The truth is that you have to have a definitive thesis that is not about yourself. So, for example, the above statements would transform to:

• Research has proven that there are better alternatives to animal testing, especially for the cosmetics industry, which can be pursued to save animals from unnecessary pain when used in research.
• Most colleges and universities make it mandatory for freshmen students to live on campus during their first year, which helps keep them out of trouble, enables them to concentrate on their studies for better grades, and improves their social skills.
• Media, specifically television, plays a significant role in the lives of children, so it can influence them positively or negatively depending on the programming content.

You can see the glaring differences between the first two sentences in which we began drafting the essay and the second working thesis statement. The bottom line is to eliminate boring words such as "my paper argues," "my paper is about," "this essay argues that," or "I think." Such will automatically lead to lower grades on your essay.

Avoid being too vague but make a powerful statement that makes a specific point about the topic. When crafting your strong thesis statement, ensure that it is arguable. It does not necessarily mean that you choose a controversial or opinionated thesis; it means that someone could disagree with it altogether. Such an approach helps you to create a powerful thesis. The thesis is called a working thesis because it is possible to tweak it as you write the paper.

Step 7: Create a comprehensive essay outline

You now have great ideas from your research and a working thesis. Besides organizing the research, you must organize the ideas for an impressive presentation. Creating an essay outline is a vital step, lack of which your essay will most likely lose its focus, and you'll probably spend more time revising the draft to make sense of the scattered points and thoughts.

An outline is a blueprint or a roadmap for your essay - it helps you structure your paper. For example, you probably wrote three or five-paragraph essays in high school. Maintaining the same structure when writing college, university, and graduate-level essays is okay. However, the specific format you choose should align with the length requirements, the aim of your essay, and the scope of your thesis.

When creating the outline, think critically about the central idea of your thesis, then structure your essay to organize the flow of ideas.

General Essay Outline

Here is a sample general outline for an essay. You can use it to craft your own based on your topic.

I. Introduction

• Hook statement e.g., statistics, quote, or anecdote
• Thesis statement

II. Body Paragraphs (Three)

• Topic sentence supporting the thesis
• Evidence supporting the argument on (a): data, facts, examples.
• Explain how they relate to the thesis
• Closing sentence and transition to the next paragraph

III. Conclusion

• Restate the thesis
• Summary/Synthesis
• Importance of topic
• Strong closing statement

Typical Structure for an Academic Essay

Remember that most essays follow the five-paragraph format ; when writing an academic essay in English, it will be divided into an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Below is a visual representation of the structure of an ideal essay. You can adapt it when writing your next essay assignment.

Image credit: Bethlehem College and Seminary

Step 8: Write the essay systematically

With everything else done thus far, it is finally the time the rubber meets the road. Although you might feel you should have started writing sooner, your progress so far is critical and rewarding. It will enable you to create a strong, well-organized, interesting essay.

A warning, though: DO NOT be a perfectionist when writing. Do not give in to the hype of finding the perfect words, focusing too much on excellent subtitles or grammar, or at least making everything in your essay perfect. There is time to polish and perfect your essay. But right now, write.

We have outlined in-depth how to write an eye-catching essay introduction in a separate guide to help you craft introductions that stand out and grab the readers' attention. Of course, any essay writer would tell you that your main focus should be on the reader's attention. So, most importantly, begin your introduction with an essay hook or an attention grabbers such as a statistic, alarming fact, general thought, anecdote, or quote. The introduction should also have a background statement and then be finalized with your thesis. Sometimes, your instructor might ask you to write the roadmap of your essay after the thesis, where you highlight how points are laid down in the body paragraphs and conclusion.

You should have a good paragraph when undertaking academic essay writing. An introduction has different parts, including:

• Essay hook: This is your first sentence, also called the attention grabber. It can be a quote, statistic, fact, anecdote, rhetorical question, or unique statement.
• Background information : You should have two sentences explaining the topic.
• Thesis statement : the thesis statement should feature the argument or chief topic of the essay.
• Outline : Your introduction should let the reader know the logical arrangement of the essay.
• Scope : In this introduction section, narrow the essay's focus.

With the outline, it is time to fill the flesh to the skeleton to make sense of it. If you evolve and find out you need to tweak your outline, you have all the freedom on Earth and outer space. The main issue here is to maintain a focus on your thesis by providing evidence, facts, and points that support the thesis.

Each body paragraph begins with a topic sentence, the arguments and relevant evidence to support it, and finally, the closing sentence. The closing sentence transitions your reader to the following body paragraph. As you write, remember only to maintain one key idea/point per each body paragraph: do not jumble up the points to the extent of confusing your readers.

In terms of paragraph length, maintain a word count of 150 words per paragraph or balance 80% of the total essay word count among the paragraphs. Mix short and long sentences as you present evidence, give examples, and illustrate points. The paragraphs can have 5 to 7 sentences each, where you thoroughly support the topic sentence.

When writing the body paragraph, use appropriate sentences to connect the paragraphs. Besides, back your arguments using evidence from literature through in-text citations. Finally, your concluding sentences should summarize a paragraph by restating the central point of the paragraph and including transitions to the next paragraph. Ensure that your body paragraphs have:

• Topic Sentence: This should be the chief argument of the paragraph. It comes first.
• Supporting sentence using evidence: Here, use information from credible sources such as journals, books, government websites, and periodicals to support the topic sentence. Use the relevant transition words to bring flow to your essay.
• The concluding sentence: This sentence winds up the paragraph. It should give a transition to the next paragraph for a good flow.

Wind up the essay by writing a powerful conclusion. Look at our guide to writing solid conclusion paragraphs for your essays. In a nutshell, the conclusion is the final paragraph of your essay. A firm conclusion is neatly written, clear, concise, and elaborate. A strong conclusion is necessary because:

• It shows the value of your argument and why it matters.
• It leaves the readers with a strong impression of your essay writing prowess
• it ties together the focal points in your essay.
• Restates your essay's thesis in a rephrased style to show its development from the introduction through the body paragraphs.
• Reviews the major points in your essay in summary form.

Since your conclusion offers some sense of closure or ends to your argument, it must be written well. In addition, it must show new questions or possibilities that your argument has opened up.

When writing a conclusion, never introduce new evidence. Any evidence supporting the thesis is expected to be already in the body paragraphs. Therefore, you are not allowed to introduce new ideas or sources that need further explanation.

Also, avoid cliché words like in conclusion to sum up or in summary. Although the statements are not forbidden, they water down your writing, making it sound weak. Immediately you return to your thesis; it becomes clear to a reader that you are concluding the essay .

Another tip, when concluding, do not to undermine your argument. This means that you should avoid using apologetic phrases that are uncertain and appear confusing. Even when exploring many positions, your main argument should be clear to your reader.

To write a great conclusion for your essay :

• Present a rephrased version of the overall thesis statement
• Write a brief review of the key points in your body paragraphs
• Show why your argument matters
• Reflect on the broader implications of your argument, demonstrating how your ideas can be applied in different contexts.
• Ensure it is 10-15% of the total word count for the essay

Step 9: Make your Reference and Title pages

So, you've slain the dragon already; what remains is just a bit, and you are done. Assuming you were writing your essay as you insert the in-text citations, the second last ritual is to set up your reference page, which is the last page of your essay.

When writing the references, reference list, bibliography, or works cited page, strictly adhere to each style's formatting and style requirements. Online bibliography makers allow you to save your organized bibliography and change the format without losing the entries. The same applies to the bibliography feature on MS Word.

If you use the digital bibliography, copy and paste your references and format them accordingly.

After the reference page, create a relevant title page for your essay , depending on whether it is in MLA (Modern Language Association), Harvard, Chicago, or APA (American Psychological Association) format. Ensure you use the latest formatting styles, such as MLA 8 or 9 and APA 7 or otherwise directed.

Step 10: Proofread, edit, and polish your first draft into a final draft

The final ritual in the essay writing process is to review it and edit for content and grammar before submitting your essay.

Usually, you need to pause after creating the first draft of your essay and do the revision and polishing when your mind is free, re-energized, and objective enough to see things from a different view. This is where now you can unleash your perfectionist side because it is a do-or-die stage.

Here are some tips to polish your draft into the final comprehensive essay (the final draft worth submitting for grading):

• Edit for content . Check your essay's structure, organization, flow, wording, and length. You can check your essay structure against the outline you created. If the paper is too long or too short, either lengthen or shorten it appropriately . A comprehensive essay must meet the ideal length specified in the Rubric. With the changes, counter-check whether the paper makes sense.
• Edit for grammar . It is important to edit for grammar. For this process, you can use grammar editing software such as Grammarly, Ginger, or Hemingway Editor. In addition, you can read Strunk and White's The Elements of Style , which can help you write better, especially punctuations such as commas and semicolons, and how to avoid run-on sentences. Editing might essentially take a few run-throughs. So, you can take breaks to maintain your frame when editing. Returning to the paper with a fresh mind helps focus, which helps identify and fix mistakes.
• Re-read the entire essay . Once you are done editing grammar and content, take a break, then re-read the entire essay. As you read, focus on proofreading to remove the syntax, mechanical, and style errors. Double-check your paper against the Rubric and the instructions as well. Countercheck the flow of the body paragraphs and remove any complex sentences. Also, check the format of your essay, including the indentation, alignment, margins, and page numbers. You can always use online essay grading or editing services if your essay needs more polishing.

When self-editing an academic essay, focus mainly on improving the flow of your essay. Here is a checklist to guide you:

• Subject-verb agreement
• Sentence fragments
• Confusing phrases or words
• Pronoun agreement mistakes
• Spelling mistakes
• Grammatical errors
• Misplaced words
• Run-on sentences
• Missing words
• Passive tense
• Missing references
• Missing citations
• Punctuation mistakes

We hope this makes you a better editor for your essay if you can write one.

Re-cap of how to write a good essay like a pro

We can summarize all the ten steps of writing a good essay into three main stages: preparation, writing, and revision.

• The preparation stage involves deciding on the topic, conducting your research, organizing research, formulating the thesis, ad creating an essay outline.
• The writing stage entails writing the introduction, developing the thesis using evidence in the body paragraphs, and writing a summative conclusion.
• The revision stage entails editing for content, proofreading, and polishing the essay to ensure your essay's style, format, grammar, and organization are okay.

On a typical day, our top-rated essay writers confirm that they religiously follow the steps, which is why we end up with quality written essays. The writers also confirm that once you learn how to maneuver the three stages, you will do them involuntarily when writing essays. No wonder we write last-minute essays that score A+. Equally, all the steps matter and contribute to your final grade.

Now that we know how to write a comprehensive essay that scores the best grades, wouldn't it be an injustice if we failed to cover some common types of essays you will probably encounter to know how to go about each? Well, let's jump to it, then.

There are more than five different types of essays. However, the main types of essays include expository , narrative , compare and contrast , persuasive/argumentative , and descriptive essays . Now, you might only know these five. Still, we bet you there are more than ten variants of essays you will encounter in your high school, college, or university life.

Advantages and Disadvantages Essays

Contrary to argumentative or persuasive essays, advantages and disadvantages explore the pros and cons of a given issue without convincing the audience to adopt the author's side of the argument/perspective. An example of a topic for this essay: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of renewable energy sources or the pros and cons of legalizing medical marijuana.

Analytical Essays

An analytical essay presents an argument or claims on what the author is writing about. For instance, it could involve a movie, film, play, literary work, or a piece of art. It could also entail the analysis of behavior, tendency, occurrence, or event. To write an analytical essay, the author often uses logical reasoning, critical thinking, and sound judgment to achieve some natural flow. The common analytical essays include persuasive analytical essays, analytical expository essays, analytical history essays, and analytical comparison essays. Example of a topic for an analytical essay: Why do teenagers run from home? Or why do stalkers like social media?

Argumentative Essays

Argumentative essays entail the author trying to persuade the readers to adopt their perspective by immaculately presenting the pros, cons, and counterarguments on a given issue. It is among the common types of essays assigned as homework in college. However, all disciplines are likely to write an argumentative essay when it comes to written assignments. Example of an Argumentative Essay Topic: Is social media a surveillance tool than a communication medium?

Classification Essays

The primary role of a classification essay is to group and separate objects, things, events, or places according to salient characteristics. Therefore, finding a unique approach to classifying things is always advisable. For instance, you can be asked to write about the five types of personalities.

College Admission Essays

Every year, students are required to submit a college application essay as part of their application process. In this type of essay, your role is to convince the admission board/committee of the reason they should admit you to the college or university. You could be out there wondering how to choose the best topic for a college essay or how to write it better, but when you are done reading this, it will be history. This is similar to the common APP essays or personal statements.

Compare and Contrast Essays

The name lays bare what a compare and contrast essay is. It simply involves comparing the differences and similarities of phenomena, events, occurrences, physical features, countries, celebrities, comedies, books, vehicles, people, etc. For example, a good topic would be to compare and contrast communism and capitalism.

Critical Essays

In a critical essay , you are meant to criticize and evaluate a piece of art, literature, or anything presented by revealing its strengths and weaknesses. It entails presenting a deep analysis of a given topic critically, logically, and flowingly.

Cause and effect essays

In a cause-and-effect essay, writers aim to explore the causes and consequences of a given phenomenon or event. There are methods or approaches to follow. You can begin by outlining the causes and then the effects or do a cross-comparison in paragraphs. You can choose an appropriate cause-and-effect essay topic from our topics for cause-and-effect essays.

Definition Essays

In this type of essay, you define a term, concept, idea, vocabulary, process, phenomenon, or occurrence by providing in-depth details. When writing one, you should explore the origin/genesis, meanings, applications, and maybe pros and cons, where necessary. For instance, an excellent topic for a definition essay would be Exploring the concept of divorce. Or Define the concept of social media or Hacktivism.

Descriptive/Description Essays

Your role as an author of a descriptive essay is to describe things, people, events, or phenomena. It should be written from a personal perspective point of view and should offer your general impression. For example, describe the appearance, smell, feeling, etc.

Discursive Essays

In a discursive essay , the role of the author is to offer an unbiased and reliable assessment of a given issue. It is close to an argumentative essay in that it requires choosing a controversial topic, only that the discursive essays present a balanced discussion. Common discursive essays include opinion essays and for and against essays.

Expository Essays

An expository essay explores a subject or phenomenon from the author's point of view. It is all about simplifying an explanation to a given topic without trying to prove anything. Your key role is to present the advantages and disadvantages, merits and demerits, or pros and cons to the readers. Example of Expository Essay Topic: Explain why art therapy can be used in mental health hospitals. Or Explore the possibility of using laughter as medicine.

Narrative Essays

In a narrative essay, you must always use the first person to tell a story about yourself. It is like writing an autobiography.

Personal Essays

These are essays you write about yourself. It is almost similar to the narrative essay. It is a variant of a narrative essay. Examples of personal essays are essays about yourself, such as scholarship essays, statements of purpose, transfer letters, appeal letters, and admission essays.

Persuasive Essays

This type of essay is the extreme opposite of an argumentative essay. It is meant to change the readers' point of view so that they adopt that of the author as an axiom. Even though it sounds simple, it is one of the toughest types of essays. Write it well so everyone who reads your essays eventually agrees with your thoughts and reasoning. In a persuasive essay, the reader must find worth in your statements. Here is where your negotiation skills and power of conviction play a role.

Poetry Essays

A poetry analysis essay , as the name suggests, entails discussing the critical components of an essay. For example, it could explore a poem's literary devices, themes, and central claims. Example of a poetry essay topic: Explore the theme of heroism in the Beowulf Poem.

Process Essays

As the name suggests, you offer a step-by-step guide to the readers in this type of essay. It should be loaded with comprehensive information. This article could easily be a process essay as we explore the essay writing process. Example of a process essay topic: Explain the Solvay process. Or Explain how to choose an outstanding essay topic.

Profile Essays

Profile essays are essays where you describe a person, place, event, or anything in detail. It could be an essay you write about yourself or one you write about someone. For instance, you can write an essay about Elon Musk, Bill Gates, President Barack Obama, President Donald Trump, and President Vladimir Putin.

Synthesis Essays

Ranked among the type of essays as advanced-level writing, a synthesis essay explores a unique viewpoint on a central idea, a topic, or a theme.

Problem-solution essays

A problem-solution essay is a persuasive essay where the writer describes a problem, convinces the readers to care about the problem, and proposes the most effective solution while rebutting any objections. It can either describe multiple solutions or focus on a single solution to a problem.

Informative Essay

An informative essay is meant to educate your readers about a specific topic. It can define a term, compare and contrast things, analyze data, demonstrate how-to, or outline processes without presenting opinions or persuading the readers.

There are direction words that guide you on what to do to your essay.

• Describe:  Here, you should write about facts, events, and processes. It should follow a specific order and emphasize the importance of something. It is best if you interpret or explain when writing descriptive essays.
• Explain:  In such essays, you are required to analyze and clarify points. It is a common approach in cause-and-effect essays. This is a common approach to narrative essays.
• Discuss:  Such essays require that you give a point of view or perspective or expound on something. While doing so, use examples, arguments, and evidence from credible sources.
• Compare and contrast:  Just as the name,  compare and contrast essays  require that you find the differences and similarities between events, ideas, or interpretations.
• Critique:  critique essays discuss the strengths and weaknesses of articles, books, or art.
• Argue:  argumentative or persuasive essays require that you systematically or logically reject or support an idea through proper evidence.
• Classify : it should be all about clustering ideas based on given criteria. This is a common practice in  classification essays .
• Critically analyze : it should be a critical analysis. This means it can be an analytical essay.

Check out our guide on the power words to use in your essay to impress your professors and readers. 

Tips for Writing a comprehensive essay

Like any other game, some guidelines guide how essays are written. Here are the rules of academic essay writing.

• Use formal academic English . Disdain using slang when writing your academic essay. On the same note, avoid using tough English words. Instead, use appropriate academic writing phrases to present ideas in your essay. Simplicity is king when writing essays.
• Analyze the questions to ensure you write an essay that answers the prompt or assignment Rubric.
• Everything you write should be well-cited . Back up ideas using evidence from credible sources to avoid plagiarism .
• Wikipedia is never a source in academic essay writing. However, you can use it to familiarize yourself with the topic, brainstorm ideas, and gather useful knowledge on approaching a question or topic.
• Whenever you use information that is not your original idea, reference the source to avoid plagiarism. For instance, when paraphrasing an idea of an article, ensure that you correctly provide the in-text citation and the references.
• Always follow your instructor's particular formatting and citation styles relevant to your field.
• Avoid plagiarism at all costs. Professors love plagiarism-free essays.
• Write your essays in prose. However, use well-balanced paragraphs. A paragraph should never exceed 150 words.
• Always follow the five-paragraph essay format: introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Your introduction and conclusion should each be 10% of the total word count.
• An essay must have a hook and thesis as part of your introduction.

Like writing research papers, term papers, or reports, writing essays differ from the instructions provided. You need to thoroughly check the assignment instructions to get an insight into the formatting guidelines to use. However, most academic essays would require that you use the following:

• 5 by 11-inch paper
• Double spaced
• Font 12 pt. (the standard legible font)
• 1-inch margins on all sides of the paper
• Page number
• Cover page/title page
• First-line indentation for the paragraphs
• Left-aligned paper
• Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri fonts.

The assignment rubric will also contain the headings and subheadings breakdown instructions. Some professors like giving the number of pages and references for academic essays.

How to Cite Ideas in an Essay

The citation format depends on the subject matter. Sometimes, if left with the choice, it is a matter of preference of the student. However, the most common citation styles include MLA, APA, Harvard, Chicago, ASA, and Oxford.

• Academic essays on subjects within social sciences mostly use APA and  ASA style  citations.
• Academic essays are written in humanities subjects, including history and literature, and use Turabian, Chicago, or MLA style citations.
• Most medical, psychology, criminology, and nursing essays or health-related essays such as nursing academic essays are written in AMA style.
• It is good to have a clue about the citation you are using. Otherwise, you should seek essay writing help from Gradecrest. Our essay writers can format, edit, and proofread your essays. All you need to do is to request assistance from our editing and proofreading service.

Features of a Comprehensive Essay

When assigning an essay, instructors, and professors often remind you that they look forward to a comprehensive essay.

• It is thorough, well-composed, and deep. A comprehensive essay is an essay that thoroughly discusses a particular issue or presents compelling arguments that support or prove a thesis statement. Its content focus on explaining issues at a deeper level without deliberate omission of some important facts.
• It is well written. Writing a comprehensive essay is not rocket science. It is like giving your best when preparing, writing, and revising your essay. After all, any well-written essay is a comprehensive essay.
• Easy to spot and understand the main argument. When an audience reads such an essay, they should be able to understand the author's arguments, make up their mind about the topic, and reason with the content.
• Has balanced paragraphs. Depending on the length, a comprehensive essay has a well-balanced introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs.
• Has a substantial, elaborate, and reasonable thesis. The introduction of a comprehensive essay has a strong thesis that informs the readers of the essay's central aim or argument.
• Does not have errors. A perfect essay's structure, presentation, organization, and flow are flawless. Each paragraph has transitions connecting it to the following and knits the entire essay.

Thus far, we hope you will write a perfect essay to score you a better grade. If not, you can buy essays from our website to supplement your writing process. Our bespoke essays are written from scratch following the ten steps outlined above to give you plagiarism-free essays.

9 most common Essay Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Every student writing an essay expects that it will earn them the best grades. However, a thin line exists between a well-written academic essay and garbage. Yes, garbage in the sense that it makes no sense. To avoid corrections with comments from your professor, lower grades, and resubmission requests, you must avoid these nine common mistakes students make when writing their essays.

• Writing vague thesis statements . Writing a good essay depends on coming up with a strong thesis. Having a vague, weak, and unsupported thesis statement is a suicide mission on your grades. State your thesis to be specific as possible.
• Using too many quotes . An essay demonstrates your understanding of the topic and how well you research to back up arguments. Overusing quotes in an essay from the text you are analyzing r from the resources from research denies you the authority on the topic. Use quotations sparingly, and leave them out if they are unnecessary.
• Plagiarism . Avoid directly taking words from a source and using them as your own. Equally, do not reword an entire article or a section of it and claim it as your work. Instead, read, internalize, summarize, paraphrase, and cite ideas. Then, write an essay from your understanding of the topic and use facts from other sources to support your argument. Plagiarism has serious consequences, such as expulsion. There are rigorous university and college anti-plagiarism policies, adhere to them.
• Punctuation mistakes . Mind your Ps and Qs when writing your essays. Also, dot your I's in the essay. In simple terms, ensure that the commas, hyphens, semicolons, colons, quotation marks, full stops, and question marks are placed and used correctly.
• Using hard-to-read sentences. This is a common mistake most students make. They write lengthy, complex sentences, sometimes run-on sentences. Surprisingly, these sentences do not cut it. Write clear, concise, and coherent sentences instead of using complex words (jargon), phrases, and many words. Let the reader see sentence variety in your essay: you can achieve this by mixing short and long sentences.
• Using non-scholarly sources. Yes, you can use Wikipedia and other sources from the internet but do not cite them in your essay: only use them to familiarize yourself with the topic. Use scholarly sources written by academic experts and professionals. When using websites, use credible .edu, .org, and .gov websites.
• Writing descriptively and not analytically . The entire point of writing an essay is to create an argument and defend the thesis. Therefore, it is crucial to be critical. Instead of telling (restating), show your readers.
• Rewording the introduction as your conclusion . Conclusion is not rewording your introduction. Also, students begin concluding paragraphs with cliché words. To avoid this, rephrase the thesis in your opening sentence for the conclusion paragraph, summarize the main points, and reflect on the argument you made: the bigger picture.
• Lacking enough evidence to support the thesis . Students sometimes pick a topic they struggle to understand and write an essay on it. Other times, it focuses too much on the opinions and ideas of the writer rather than the evidence. To avoid this, remain flexible when writing an essay. Also, choose a topic that is narrow and has evidence. Finally, select a topic where you can find information to support ideas.

FAQs about writing a good essay

Here are some questions that students frequently ask when writing their essays. We have provided answers that can point you in the right direction with the right trajectory. Our professional essay writers  brainstormed on these questions and provided some concise answers:

Can I use images in my essay?

Yes, you can use and cite illustrations such as photos, graphs, images, and etch in your essays as long as they are directly related to your essay. However, unless your instructor wants you to use them, leave them out when writing an essay. Do not use them, thinking they will take up space. The use of images is encouraged for ad analysis essays, geography essays, visual analysis essays, or art analysis essays. Still, each image, graph, or illustration must be cited with an appropriate in-text citation.

When do I cite sources in an essay?

At high school, college, university, and graduate-level essay writing, you must properly cite the sources of your essay, just like you do when writing a research paper or a dissertation, or other academic tasks. Citations should be used when paraphrasing, quoting, or summarizing information or ideas from a scholarly source. Apart from in-text citations, you must also provide the full details of the referenced source in your references, reference list, or works cited pages, which come at the end of your essay.

Why does an essay need a thesis statement?

A thesis statement is a sentence or two sentences that summarize the central idea of your essay or any academic paper. It is the main argument you make in the paper. It is essential when writing academic papers because it gives your text's scope, direction, and focus. It equally helps the readers to understand your main point concisely. It is the frame upon which you build your arguments in the essay.

Is the thesis the same as the claim in an essay?

In essay writing, the thesis is synonymous with your central aim, central argument, or main argument since it unifies the rest of the essay.  It is the reason why it should be interpretive or analytical rather than factual or descriptive.

Is a thesis the same as a research question?

No, while a thesis statement is a short and concise sentence or two that summarizes the main point or idea in an essay or research paper, a research question is a question that indicates the direction of research. A research question is often an open-ended query and not a final claim as the thesis. A thesis makes a specific claim or assertion about a topic that can be challenged or debated. On the contrary, a research question helps determine the methodology to use in subsequent stages of inquiry.

Must I write a topic sentence in an essay?

Yes, a topic sentence is a sentence that comes first in your body paragraphs. It is very critical in that it expresses the main idea of your paragraph, meaning that everything else in the paragraph that comes after it is related to it. You develop arguments, provide evidence, and offer examples supporting the topic sentence.

How do I nail the introduction of my essay?

To nail your introduction paragraph:

• Start with an appropriate opening hook or attention grabber to catch your readers' attention.
• Provide clear, concise, and coherent background information about the topic that your readers must know.
• Write a thesis that presents your major argument, main claim, or central idea.

Distribute the word count of your introduction according to the length of your essay.

Where do I find good sources for my essay?

To find good sources for your essay, research on the internet, scholarly databases, google scholar, and trustworthy websites, newspapers, and magazine articles such as the Guardian, TIME, Wall Street Journal, or New York Times . Some online scholarly databases include EBSCO, InfoTrack, ProQuest, LexisNexis, Google Scholar, or JSTOR. Avoid using non-scholarly sources in your essay. Rather, these non-scholarly general sources can be used when developing an understanding of your topic.

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

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How to Write an Essay Introduction (with Examples)   

The introduction of an essay plays a critical role in engaging the reader and providing contextual information about the topic. It sets the stage for the rest of the essay, establishes the tone and style, and motivates the reader to continue reading. 

Table of Contents

What is an essay introduction , what to include in an essay introduction, how to create an essay structure , step-by-step process for writing an essay introduction , how to write an introduction paragraph , how to write a hook for your essay , how to include background information , how to write a thesis statement .

• Argumentative Essay Introduction Example: 
• Expository Essay Introduction Example 

Literary Analysis Essay Introduction Example

Check and revise – checklist for essay introduction , key takeaways , frequently asked questions .

An introduction is the opening section of an essay, paper, or other written work. It introduces the topic and provides background information, context, and an overview of what the reader can expect from the rest of the work. 1 The key is to be concise and to the point, providing enough information to engage the reader without delving into excessive detail. 

The essay introduction is crucial as it sets the tone for the entire piece and provides the reader with a roadmap of what to expect. Here are key elements to include in your essay introduction: 

• Hook : Start with an attention-grabbing statement or question to engage the reader. This could be a surprising fact, a relevant quote, or a compelling anecdote. 
• Background information : Provide context and background information to help the reader understand the topic. This can include historical information, definitions of key terms, or an overview of the current state of affairs related to your topic. 
• Thesis statement : Clearly state your main argument or position on the topic. Your thesis should be concise and specific, providing a clear direction for your essay. 

Before we get into how to write an essay introduction, we need to know how it is structured. The structure of an essay is crucial for organizing your thoughts and presenting them clearly and logically. It is divided as follows: 2  

• Introduction:  The introduction should grab the reader’s attention with a hook, provide context, and include a thesis statement that presents the main argument or purpose of the essay.  
• Body:  The body should consist of focused paragraphs that support your thesis statement using evidence and analysis. Each paragraph should concentrate on a single central idea or argument and provide evidence, examples, or analysis to back it up.  
• Conclusion:  The conclusion should summarize the main points and restate the thesis differently. End with a final statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. Avoid new information or arguments. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to write an essay introduction: 

• Start with a Hook : Begin your introduction paragraph with an attention-grabbing statement, question, quote, or anecdote related to your topic. The hook should pique the reader’s interest and encourage them to continue reading. 
• Provide Background Information : This helps the reader understand the relevance and importance of the topic. 
• State Your Thesis Statement : The last sentence is the main argument or point of your essay. It should be clear, concise, and directly address the topic of your essay. 
• Preview the Main Points : This gives the reader an idea of what to expect and how you will support your thesis. 
• Keep it Concise and Clear : Avoid going into too much detail or including information not directly relevant to your topic. 
• Revise : Revise your introduction after you’ve written the rest of your essay to ensure it aligns with your final argument. 

Here’s an example of an essay introduction paragraph about the importance of education: 

Education is often viewed as a fundamental human right and a key social and economic development driver. As Nelson Mandela once famously said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” It is the key to unlocking a wide range of opportunities and benefits for individuals, societies, and nations. In today’s constantly evolving world, education has become even more critical. It has expanded beyond traditional classroom learning to include digital and remote learning, making education more accessible and convenient. This essay will delve into the importance of education in empowering individuals to achieve their dreams, improving societies by promoting social justice and equality, and driving economic growth by developing a skilled workforce and promoting innovation. 

This introduction paragraph example includes a hook (the quote by Nelson Mandela), provides some background information on education, and states the thesis statement (the importance of education). 

This is one of the key steps in how to write an essay introduction. Crafting a compelling hook is vital because it sets the tone for your entire essay and determines whether your readers will stay interested. A good hook draws the reader in and sets the stage for the rest of your essay.  

• Avoid Dry Fact : Instead of simply stating a bland fact, try to make it engaging and relevant to your topic. For example, if you’re writing about the benefits of exercise, you could start with a startling statistic like, “Did you know that regular exercise can increase your lifespan by up to seven years?” 
• Avoid Using a Dictionary Definition : While definitions can be informative, they’re not always the most captivating way to start an essay. Instead, try to use a quote, anecdote, or provocative question to pique the reader’s interest. For instance, if you’re writing about freedom, you could begin with a quote from a famous freedom fighter or philosopher. 
• Do Not Just State a Fact That the Reader Already Knows : This ties back to the first point—your hook should surprise or intrigue the reader. For Here’s an introduction paragraph example, if you’re writing about climate change, you could start with a thought-provoking statement like, “Despite overwhelming evidence, many people still refuse to believe in the reality of climate change.” 

Including background information in the introduction section of your essay is important to provide context and establish the relevance of your topic. When writing the background information, you can follow these steps: 

• Start with a General Statement:  Begin with a general statement about the topic and gradually narrow it down to your specific focus. For example, when discussing the impact of social media, you can begin by making a broad statement about social media and its widespread use in today’s society, as follows: “Social media has become an integral part of modern life, with billions of users worldwide.” 
• Define Key Terms : Define any key terms or concepts that may be unfamiliar to your readers but are essential for understanding your argument. 
• Provide Relevant Statistics:  Use statistics or facts to highlight the significance of the issue you’re discussing. For instance, “According to a report by Statista, the number of social media users is expected to reach 4.41 billion by 2025.” 
• Discuss the Evolution:  Mention previous research or studies that have been conducted on the topic, especially those that are relevant to your argument. Mention key milestones or developments that have shaped its current impact. You can also outline some of the major effects of social media. For example, you can briefly describe how social media has evolved, including positives such as increased connectivity and issues like cyberbullying and privacy concerns. 
• Transition to Your Thesis:  Use the background information to lead into your thesis statement, which should clearly state the main argument or purpose of your essay. For example, “Given its pervasive influence, it is crucial to examine the impact of social media on mental health.” 

A thesis statement is a concise summary of the main point or claim of an essay, research paper, or other type of academic writing. It appears near the end of the introduction. Here’s how to write a thesis statement: 

• Identify the topic:  Start by identifying the topic of your essay. For example, if your essay is about the importance of exercise for overall health, your topic is “exercise.” 
• State your position:  Next, state your position or claim about the topic. This is the main argument or point you want to make. For example, if you believe that regular exercise is crucial for maintaining good health, your position could be: “Regular exercise is essential for maintaining good health.” 
• Support your position:  Provide a brief overview of the reasons or evidence that support your position. These will be the main points of your essay. For example, if you’re writing an essay about the importance of exercise, you could mention the physical health benefits, mental health benefits, and the role of exercise in disease prevention. 
• Make it specific:  Ensure your thesis statement clearly states what you will discuss in your essay. For example, instead of saying, “Exercise is good for you,” you could say, “Regular exercise, including cardiovascular and strength training, can improve overall health and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.” 

Examples of essay introduction 

Here are examples of essay introductions for different types of essays: 

Argumentative Essay Introduction Example:  

Topic: Should the voting age be lowered to 16? 

“The question of whether the voting age should be lowered to 16 has sparked nationwide debate. While some argue that 16-year-olds lack the requisite maturity and knowledge to make informed decisions, others argue that doing so would imbue young people with agency and give them a voice in shaping their future.” 

Expository Essay Introduction Example  

Topic: The benefits of regular exercise 

“In today’s fast-paced world, the importance of regular exercise cannot be overstated. From improving physical health to boosting mental well-being, the benefits of exercise are numerous and far-reaching. This essay will examine the various advantages of regular exercise and provide tips on incorporating it into your daily routine.” 

Text: “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee 

“Harper Lee’s novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ is a timeless classic that explores themes of racism, injustice, and morality in the American South. Through the eyes of young Scout Finch, the reader is taken on a journey that challenges societal norms and forces characters to confront their prejudices. This essay will analyze the novel’s use of symbolism, character development, and narrative structure to uncover its deeper meaning and relevance to contemporary society.” 

• Engaging and Relevant First Sentence : The opening sentence captures the reader’s attention and relates directly to the topic. 
• Background Information : Enough background information is introduced to provide context for the thesis statement. 
• Definition of Important Terms : Key terms or concepts that might be unfamiliar to the audience or are central to the argument are defined. 
• Clear Thesis Statement : The thesis statement presents the main point or argument of the essay. 
• Relevance to Main Body : Everything in the introduction directly relates to and sets up the discussion in the main body of the essay. 

Writing a strong introduction is crucial for setting the tone and context of your essay. Here are the key takeaways for how to write essay introduction: 3  

• Hook the Reader : Start with an engaging hook to grab the reader’s attention. This could be a compelling question, a surprising fact, a relevant quote, or an anecdote. 
• Provide Background : Give a brief overview of the topic, setting the context and stage for the discussion. 
• Thesis Statement : State your thesis, which is the main argument or point of your essay. It should be concise, clear, and specific. 
• Preview the Structure : Outline the main points or arguments to help the reader understand the organization of your essay. 
• Keep it Concise : Avoid including unnecessary details or information not directly related to your thesis. 
• Revise and Edit : Revise your introduction to ensure clarity, coherence, and relevance. Check for grammar and spelling errors. 
• Seek Feedback : Get feedback from peers or instructors to improve your introduction further. 

The purpose of an essay introduction is to give an overview of the topic, context, and main ideas of the essay. It is meant to engage the reader, establish the tone for the rest of the essay, and introduce the thesis statement or central argument.  

An essay introduction typically ranges from 5-10% of the total word count. For example, in a 1,000-word essay, the introduction would be roughly 50-100 words. However, the length can vary depending on the complexity of the topic and the overall length of the essay.

An essay introduction is critical in engaging the reader and providing contextual information about the topic. To ensure its effectiveness, consider incorporating these key elements: a compelling hook, background information, a clear thesis statement, an outline of the essay’s scope, a smooth transition to the body, and optional signposting sentences.  

The process of writing an essay introduction is not necessarily straightforward, but there are several strategies that can be employed to achieve this end. When experiencing difficulty initiating the process, consider the following techniques: begin with an anecdote, a quotation, an image, a question, or a startling fact to pique the reader’s interest. It may also be helpful to consider the five W’s of journalism: who, what, when, where, why, and how.   For instance, an anecdotal opening could be structured as follows: “As I ascended the stage, momentarily blinded by the intense lights, I could sense the weight of a hundred eyes upon me, anticipating my next move. The topic of discussion was climate change, a subject I was passionate about, and it was my first public speaking event. Little did I know , that pivotal moment would not only alter my perspective but also chart my life’s course.” 

Crafting a compelling thesis statement for your introduction paragraph is crucial to grab your reader’s attention. To achieve this, avoid using overused phrases such as “In this paper, I will write about” or “I will focus on” as they lack originality. Instead, strive to engage your reader by substantiating your stance or proposition with a “so what” clause. While writing your thesis statement, aim to be precise, succinct, and clear in conveying your main argument.  

To create an effective essay introduction, ensure it is clear, engaging, relevant, and contains a concise thesis statement. It should transition smoothly into the essay and be long enough to cover necessary points but not become overwhelming. Seek feedback from peers or instructors to assess its effectiveness. 

References  

• Cui, L. (2022). Unit 6 Essay Introduction.  Building Academic Writing Skills . 
• West, H., Malcolm, G., Keywood, S., & Hill, J. (2019). Writing a successful essay.  Journal of Geography in Higher Education ,  43 (4), 609-617. 
• Beavers, M. E., Thoune, D. L., & McBeth, M. (2023). Bibliographic Essay: Reading, Researching, Teaching, and Writing with Hooks: A Queer Literacy Sponsorship. College English, 85(3), 230-242. 

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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. “Please help me get Jeff’s pacemaker turned off,” she said, using my father’s 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 mother’s station wagon. We face glowing white headlights of cars following us, our sneakers pressed against the back hatch door. This is our joy—his and mine—to 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 won’t actually be sure that this boy sitting beside me is named Ben. But that doesn’t 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 someone’s chest, listening for a sound that is not there; with my fingers bearing down on the side of someone’s neck, feeling for an absent pulse; with a flashlight beamed into someone’s fixed and dilated pupils, waiting for the constriction that will not come. If I’m 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 aren’t 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 nature’s facsimile of Jell-O. Your beloved’s 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
• Writing a Descriptive Essay
• Development in Composition: Building an Essay
• Hookers vs. Chasers: How Not to Begin an Essay
• How To Write an Essay
• Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs
• 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
• Contrast Composition and Rhetoric
• 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?

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How to write a good essay: A Comprehensive step-by-step Guide

Essay writing has become an important activity in all academic work today. Scholars can’t run away from the fact that good essays will impact their academic results. It is, therefore imperative that any student needs to be guided on how to write a good essay. And with a detailed step-by-step tutorial, any student will score an A in the essays he or she writes using this comprehensive guide.

This is a complete guide on how to write a good essay that scores an A on any topic. Learn 9 steps to essay writing and get free examples & outlines. Writing essays has never been an easy thing to do therefore you will appreciate learning how to write essays and perfect your writing skills. We offer essay help services but if you are writing it yourself, here is a comprehensive guide.

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How to Write an Essay that Scores an A+

To write a good essay, you have to have a good topic for, research it well, create a thesis, detailing a good outline, starting with an introduction and following up with good body paragraphs to draft an essay. After that, conclude the essay and cite your sources as you polish it to a final draft. Here are the steps in brief

• Choose a good topic for your essay
• Do thorough research for the topic
• Formulate a strong thesis you will present
• Make a detailed outline for your essay
• Write an interesting introduction for your essay
• Write strong body paragraphs for a draft essay
• Make a summative conclusion
• Cite your sources and make a reference page
• Revise your rough draft to polish it to the final copy

Of those 9 steps. having a strong thesis is the most important. We asked our professional essay writers about the importance of a thesis statement and they confirmed it as the main thing in an essay. Let us now take a detailed and comprehensive look at each of these steps and how to complete them successfully.

1. Choose a Good Topic for your Essay

Instructors can give essay topics to their students or suggest that the students write essays on topics of their own. None of these situations is simple. Students have to choose from a vast of ideas when topics are theirs to choose and their ideas are locked and limited when instructors give specific topics to them.

How to choose a good topic for your essay

When students are choosing topics of their own, the following are required in order to select a good topic:

• Understand the parameters of the assignment given

This involves knowing what your instructor really wants. The structure of the assignment should guide you on choosing an interesting topic that fits the assignment well. If you don’t understand the parameters you can ask for help from people or the instructor to make sure you don’t write a topic that is not relating what is required.

• Brainstorm your topics of interest that fits the structure of the assignment

Most probably, instructors give a broad topic area that you are expected to chose one topic from. Access the different topics and settle with one topic that you are comfortable with.

Lookup for general information by searching on all available sources. Do not limit yourself when searching for information. The main sources of information are books, journals, and the internet. Gather all topics of study relating to the information and choose a suitable topic of your interest.

• Focus on one topic

Manage your topic well. Too narrow and too broad topics are difficult to research. Broad topics may lead to increased business and too narrow topics may lead to scarcity of information sources.

• Make a list of useful keywords.

Identify the words that are mainly used in your topic of study. Look for them in your information sources and write them down.

• Be Flexible with your topic

This means broadening your information when you have less and narrowing your information when you have excess. Flexibility is mostly determined by the length of the essay.

• Research more about your topic and formulate a title.

Find more information about the topic using keywords identified and come up with a suitable title for your essay.

2. Research the Essay topic Thoroughly

To research is to systematically investigate various topics of study in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Researching is a comprehensive process that requires the following steps for it to be successful:

• Going through the instructions given.

Make sure you are in line with the requirements the instructor has given in the instructions.

These instructions determine the freedom you will have concerning various topics when writing the essay.

When instructions are not clear liaise with the instructor to come up with a solution on the way forward.

• Brainstorm on topics of interest

When an instructor has given a wide and broad topic area, choose your best topic of interest from that category.

• Gather information about the topic

Use sources such as the internet, books, journals, and people to find information on the selected topic of interest. Collect as much relatable information to the topic selected as possible.

Determine the question that you are answering with your research

What issues of concern are under your topic? These issues raise questions that you will use your research to get answers. Identify the question.

• Find Information about your specific question and refine it

Gather information about the specific question and the number of results you get and the quality of the sources you obtained the information. After that, you need to refine your question based on found information. Adjust the question’s scope by looking at who, where and when.

• Find keywords from the topic to guide your research

Brainstorm a list of keywords that usually play part in the success of your research by helping you find initial resources.

• Categorize your information in groups and draft an outline.

Put information about similar categories together. After creating different categories create a rough outline of your essay.

• In case of holes in your research, find additional sources.

If after going through your research you realize that there are points that need further clarification or any point that may be omitted, find new sources that will help fill them.

3. Formulate a strong Thesis Statement for the essay

The third stage of writing a good essay is to formulate a strong and relevant thesis for your essay. A thesis is a position that or a claim that your essay seeks to make by directly answering a certain question. Basically, itis one sentence that contains the main idea of an essay by stating the main argument.

A thesis should clearly state the topic of your paper and comment about your position on what you argue in the essay. Most essay readers rely on thesis statements to get a clue or a guide of what the essay is all about.

At the same time, a thesis statement is important because they help you as the essay writer develop and organize arguments and test your ideas. Having a good thesis should present what you plan to argue and show how you plan to argue it. When developing a thesis, the following steps should be followed.

Steps and Tips of writing a thesis statement for your essay

• Analyze your primary sources.

Look for credible information before formulating a thesis. Access any contradictions of authors, ambiguity tension and controversy in the information you have before formulating the thesis. From the information gathered to come up with ideas about your thesis.

• List the ideas and arguments you will make

To make sure you don’t forget ideas you are obtaining from different types of sources, put them down for reference later.

• Draft the thesis statement

Access logically and clearly the ideas you have and start writing down the thesis. It’s advisable to begin your thesis as rough work because most thesis statements do not become perfect after the first attempt.

• Write your thesis in the introduction part

At the end of your introduction, include your thesis statement. This is where most readers can find it easily. The thesis statement plays an important role in influencing the reader and placing them where readers can easily locate them is a win situation for any essay writer.

• Know the arguments against your thesis

Once you have your thesis statement, you should think of any criticisms that it may face. This will help you argue your ideas in the right way as you continue writing your essay and also assist in refining your essay.

• Avoid vague or combative questions

Thesis statements should never be questions, combative, vague or written in a list. They should be arguable claims that should be specific and clear.

4. Make a detailed Outline for your essay

Outlines are writing plans that aid in organizing ideas and information when writing an essay. A good essay is defined by the quality of the outline because it guides the writer to understand the content they should place in the various essay sections. It is the part that gives the essay structure and gives you a skeleton to fill the essay with.

How to write a good outline for your essay

To make a good outline the following need to be done:

1. Research on the topic.

To write a good outline one should know the topic under study very well. Search for information on available materials and identify the keywords of the topic.

2. Know the objective of the essay.

What is the main thing required in your essay? This can either be a question or a thesis statement that will guide you through the essay for all discussions should be related to the objective of the essay. This makes sure that you don’t go out of topic.

3. List main research points.

A sketch of your paper is required on this stage. On the sketch write the ideas found through research on the introduction, body, and conclusion of your essay. Brainstorm to add more points to each part.

4. Organize your ideas

This helps in polishing your outline by arranging your ideas in the order that will likely make sense. Put ideas that are similar together and summarise them to make sure that you don’t forget on what you want to talk about in each idea.

5. Revise your ideas

Go through your points and determine whether they fulfill the objective of your essay, which is genuine and relevant. Ideas that look similar can be combined to provide much more meaning. This process helps you have topics that will bring out the objective of the essay clearly.

All the irrelevant ideas and points found that do no help in disclosing the objective of the essay should be scrapped out. To organize your ideas well, consider using models of outlining an essay. A famous method is the Jane Schaffer essay method that helps organize your points and ideas logically in support of each other.

5. Write an interesting introduction for your essay

The introduction of an essay is important because its main aim is to grab the reader’s attention in order to make him or her continue reading. When writing the introduction, the essay writer should focus on points that will draw the reader’s attention. The focus should be on the following;

How to write an eye-catching essay introduction?

1. start with interesting facts and sentences.

Tell an interesting story. The story should be relevant to your essay topic and not too long that it will take much space. Consider stories that will entertain the most readers of your essay.

2. Be unique in your ideas

You can begin the essay with statements that one cannot connect the essay with. This will make the reader wonder, gain attention and will want to know how the statement will relate to the topic of the essay.

3. Write a humorously warm introduction

Consider writing an introduction that is not only funny to you but also to the readers of your essay. This makes sure that you don’t embarrass yourself to the readers or confuse them. Laughing is one of the best ways to calm a reader, attract them to your essay and prepare them for what is further written in the essay.

However, jokes are not applicable to all essays. Essays on topics such as hunger, homelessness, political issues, economic issues, diseases, and revolutions requite utmost seriousness for they are matters that may be negatively affecting the reader. For example, writing an introduction for IELTS essay should be much more formal.

4. Write an unusual introduction.

Surprise your reader by using an irregular approach in your essay introduction. Don’t use introductions that the readers could have suggested. Be unpredictable by using your creativity and imagination to write an interesting introduction.

KEY POINT: The introduction is the only attempt to impress the reader first and the writer should utilize it to the fullest. At the end of the introduction, write the thesis statements. For more information, read our guide on the 5 parts of an introduction paragraph , and learn more about each of them.

6. Write strong body paragraphs supporting your thesis

Body paragraphs are written between the introduction part and the conclusion part. They contain the main content of your essay and depend on the length required. The paragraphs number of words should not vary much from one paragraph to the other.

Paragraphs should have the following elements; a topic sentence that carries the content of the paragraph, examples which should provide a detailed explanation about the topic sentence, a clear structure, evidence supporting the topic sentence and a clear connection with the thesis.

How to write strong body paragraphs for your essay

1. prioritize your points.

In order to make a good impression, paragraphs with the strongest points and content should be prioritized and appear before paragraphs with shallow content. Each paragraph should represent one point at a time to avoid confusing your readers.

2. Write paragraphs with optimal length

Paragraphs should be 5 to 7 sentences long. Points in each paragraph need to be thoroughly explained. This cannot be possible with a few sentences. When the paragraphs are too long the reader I likely to get bored and lose interest.

3. Use transition sentences to connect paragraphs

Connect your main body paragraphs by providing a transition from one paragraph to another. For example, if one is writing an essay involving both the advantages and the disadvantages of a product, it is advisable to write the advantages first followed by disadvantages or vice versa.

4. Do not mix points up

Avoid mixing points and arguments. To create a logical flow of issues and arguments, only argue one point per paragraph. Points that are close should follow each other when paragraphed to keep the reader focused and avoid confusion.

5. Use a sub-conclusion paragraph

Sub-conclusion of paragraphs is optional in essay writing and is rarely used by scholars today. This is where one can provide a conclusion at the end of a paragraph concerning the point written in the paragraph.

This may offer contradictions when writing the essay because one paragraph may require a different conclusion and can eventually distract the reader. This makes the overall conclusion at the end of the essay more acceptable.

6. Use evidence to back your arguments

To back your arguments, use evidence from literature and other sources. Use quotes related to the essay you have written or reference one of your sources. This will help stress on your final point and confirm that all you have written is true.

7. Write relevant concluding sentences

At the end of every paragraph, it is good to write a sentence that sums up the main argument of the whole paragraph but also supports the points. The best way to write a concluding sentence for any paragraph is to restate the major point in the paragraph supporting it with reliable facts. After that, include a transition sentence that joins one paragraph to another.

7. Write a Good Conclusion

The conclusion step is the tail-end of the essay writing task. If you have reached here, you should part yourself in the back for a job well done. The conclusion is the part where you give a synthesis of what the reader has already read.

This is arguably the most important part of your essay because it is likely to stick into the reader’s memory. We asked 10 of our homework writing experts and they all stated that the conclusion is key to seal your targeted grade on your assignment. When writing a good conclusion, you should consider the following:

How to write a good conclusion for an essay

Use questions to create conclusive remarks. Asking questions may motivate readers to make readers provide their own research and think over your essay.

Give hints about developments of your topic using aspects that are interesting to the reader. This involves some further important information that your essay is related to, which is not under the topic given.

In addition, give an extremely thorough answer to the question within your conclusion. Hit the nail on the head by combining all the information on all the paragraphs and coming up with one common point that your conclusion will encompass.

Paraphrase your thesis statement or give the main idea of the first, second or third body paragraph as a conclusion for your essay. This will also help stress the essay points on the conclusion

The number of sentences or length of your conclusion depends on the length of the body paragraphs. The conclusion should not be bigger or smaller compared to the body paragraphs of your essay.

At the same time, an essay conclusion should end with something specific and unique as opposed to the introduction where general statements begin the essay.

Conclusions should not have the following; more data and facts that are not stated in the body paragraphs, new ideas, unnecessary details, changed essay tone as that used in your essay and any kind of an apology or limitation for not considering a certain fact in your essay.

8. Cite and Reference the Sources in your Essay

Citing involves the identification of the original sources of information and ideas in your essay in order to avoid plagiarism. It is important because it provides evidence for your arguments and helps people find more information on the cited sources. Citing also shows that you have researched and found out what experts have had to say about your topic and show that you understand writing ethics well.

Citations for the sources used in the essay should be done in the body paragraphs. After that, you should create a reference page at the end of your paper. One should cite quotes, information that is not common and formats. Citing varies depending on the writing style you are using.

How to cite your sources and make a references page 

Different disciplines have different approaches to writing academic papers. These approaches are the formatting styles and are supposed to be standardized and accepted by various research and educational institutions. There are no widely accepted formats because different institutions prefer different approaches. These approaches include:

How to Cite your essay in APA

The acronym APA was the short form of an organization, the American Psychological Association which created this format. Most essays that require this format are behavioral and social discipline essays. The 7th APA edition requires a title page and has a running head at the top of every page. The reference page includes the page that shows the information sources.

How to cite when Paraphrasing a source

When paraphrasing, reference the author, the year of publication and the page number.

For example: According to Jane (2000)

How to cite multiple authors

Each time you cite work done by two authors name both the authors in the signal phrase. Use an ampersand in parentheses and use the connector “and” in between the words. For example research by (Carlos and Isaac, 2004)

When three to five authors are involved, cite the source by listing all the authors in parentheses or signal phrases. For example: (Courtney, Ken, Janet, Albert & Japhet,1999)

When citing information, where six or more authors are involved, use the first author’s name followed et al. in parenthesis and signal language. For example: (Janice et al.,2006)

Citing two or more works by the same author in the same year requires one to use small letters of the alphabets in their order. For example: (Caleb, 2003a), (Caleb, 2003b)

If two or more different works appear in the same parenthesis cite them in the order they appear separated by a semicolon. For example: (Ferdinand, 2004; Mercy, 2005)

When a source you obtain information is cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase and include the secondary source in parenthesis. For example, Wycliffe argued that…. (as cited in Warren,1997, p. 108)

In works that the authors are unknown cite the work by its title, by underlining or italicizing the book titles and using quotation marks for titles of articles and magazines.

Use the words in the parenthesis or the title in your signal phrase with the abbreviation “n.d” (no date) when no author or date is indicated in the source. For example: (Wildlife, n.d)

When the source has no page numbers do the citing using the abbreviation “para” followed by the paragraph number. For example: (Rio,2010, para. 6)

How to cite and reference your essay in MLA

Modern Language Association style does not require a title page and is mainly used in humanity and liberal arts essays. Italics are allowed for emphasis. On the first page include your name, instructor’s name, the course, and date on the upper left Conner.

Double spacing is required when using the MLA 8th Edition . There is an order in MLA citing that one should apply based on the type of source information is obtained. The order is as follows:

• Last name of the author, First Name
• The title of the source
• The title of the container
• Other various contributors
• The version of the source
• The number of publication
• The publisher
• The publication date
• The location of the source.
• The accessed date. This is only applicable to online sources.

In MLA citations capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and subordinating conjunctions in the titles of books, journals, and articles. Do not capitalize articles such as “a” or” an”, coordinating conjunctions such as “but” and “nor”, prepositions and “the” used in infinitives. MLA citations are done in the following ways:

How to cite authors in MLA

When citing sources of authors with the same last names use the first name initials. For example, (Mount 46) and (Mount 37)

When citing a text, use the name of the author and the page the information is found. For example: ‘Criminals can be identified by their physical appearance (Lombrosso 230).

When citing work done by different authors, not more than three, list the authors’ last names in the text. For example: “Crime causation can be explained” (Emille, Ceasare and Watson 45). When listing four authors and above use the abbreviation “et al.” and only one name of the authors for example: (Smith et al 5).

When you need to cite multiple works by the same author include the title of the source you have obtained the information to make it different from the other. Titles of articles should be quoted and those of books should be italicized.

For example, Garry argued that glaring at computers are dangerous to our eyes (“Effects of Computers” 37), though he suggested several methods of preventing the damage (“Control Measures” 48)

If you need to cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, use a semi-colon to separate the citations. For example: (Mark 4; Craig 7)

How to make a reference page for your essay

1. how to make a reference page in apa.

A reference page is a page that has all the list of sources you used in your essay. References are also arranged in order of the alphabet appearing in the last name of the author.

At the end of the paper move to a clean page and type References at the top. Leave some margins as in the rest of your essay by double-spacing the whole page. Alphabetize the references and indent line of each reference. Remember all references must be from the work cited in your essay.

2. How to make a Works Cited page in MLA

In this format, it is mostly referred to as a Works Cited page. All sources sited here must be the same as those in your essay.

On a clean page at the end of your essay begin the Works Cited page with the title Works Cited at the center of your page. Do not skip places within the entry and create a 0.5 inches ident between the second and subsequent lines.

List the page numbers of the sources you obtained information and type the online database in italics for online sources. Each word of the titles of books and articles need to be in uppercase except prepositions and conjunctions and use quotations in titles of short works and italics in titles of broad works.

Other referencing styles to format your essay

There are other styles used to format and cite sources for your essay. The one you apply depends on the instructions given by your instructor and the subject of the essay. For instance, ASA is used by sociologists, while APA by psychologists.

Another unique one is the Chicago format, also known as Turabian. It is mainly used by Americans to format essays on different disciplines. Reference is done using footnotes and headnotes and the use of bibliography pages. This formatting style is therefore preferable for papers that mostly concentrate and focus on the source of origin.

9. Revise and Polish your essay into a Final Draft

Before submitting your essay, you must go through it again and again and edit places where mistakes could be.

Before handing in your essay you need to ask yourself a number of questions to interrogate the quality of your current draft.

Such questions include;

• Has my essay responded to the question?
• Did I follow the essay’s guidelines?
• Is my essay explaining the thesis?
• Am I within the submission deadline?
• What grade can my essay score as it is?
• Where can I improve in the current draft essay?

How to Polish your Draft into a Final Comprehensive Essay

Confirm that you followed the instructions and guidelines.

These guidelines include following the format the instructor specified, the word limit that was provided, reading materials that were provided, referencing the essay correctly and meeting all the requirements needed.

2. Check is the structure of your essay is perfect

These include assessing the introduction and conclusion and knowing if they talk about what was entailed, accessing the thesis statement in your introduction, checking if the topic sentences in paragraphs are clear, and checking whether the ideas in paragraphs link with each other from the previous to the next.

3. Proofread the language to ensure it is correct

This includes determining whether you have used formal language, reading through the sentences and determining whether they make sense.

Also, be keen to ensure that you check the spelling of the words and the correct use of conjunctions and abbreviations.

4. Review the structure of your paragraphs

This involves checking whether sentences in paragraphs relate to the title of the essay, whether the topic sentence determines the content of the paragraph and if each paragraph in your essay develops only one idea.

5. Read the essay aloud to ensure the sentences are correct

Proofread again by reading the essay aloud. This involves checking whether the sentences express themselves clearly grammatically and if they are complete. This step will tell you whether the length of the sentences does not vary too much and whether the punctuation of the sentence and use of articles is correct.

6. Format your paper

You can also make your final draft more perfect by doing the following:

• Numbering the pages in your essay.
• Attaching the cover sheet requested with correct information.
• Formatting your essay where necessary.

12 common Types of Essays that you may encounter

There are different types of essays. Some essays may require different approaches than others.

1. Narrative essays

These are essays that tell stories about events that have occurred in one’s personal life experiences. The writers are free to express a personal feeling of things that affected them.

Examples of such topics include;

• Why I have decided to quit alcohol.
• Narrate how you decided to pursue the career you have
• Why schools have been forced to close early.

It is like writing a story; the paper is organized according to the sequence of events or chronology. The primary objective of this type of essay is to ascertain your story-telling ability. 

2. Descriptive Essays

As the name suggests, these essays describe details of the topic given. You can describe the smell, looks or working aspects of the object under study. Examples of descriptive essay topics for your essay include;

• My troubling school life.
• Describe your childhood diary.
• My high school experience.

3. Definition essays

These essays main goal is to define subjects and review their origins. They aim at providing a more extensive definition than what is provided in dictionaries. Examples of definition essays may include;

• Define the term “judicial precedence.”
• Describe and discuss the term “ethnocentrism.”
• Define the term “forensic criminology.”

4. Analytical essays

As the name suggests these essays requires logical reasoning and structure to analyze the behaviors, tendency, events, people, among other examples. Below are a few examples of analytical essay topics.

• Why do universities have security check-ups at the entrance gates?
• Explain why most teenage boys get violent?
• Why do university students fail their main exams?

Sometimes, this type of essay needs you to focus on the methodology, conclusions or findings of previous researchers. You should conclude your research by summarizing the results and recommending a framework for use in further studies on the issue.

5. Cause and effect essays

These are essays that explain how a certain problem occurred and the consequences of the occurrence. The essay writer investigates the cause and shows the effects of the problem. Examples of common topics for Cause and effect essays include;

• What are the main causes of cholera?
• Did post-election violence sabotage the Kenyan economy?
• How do drugs affect the mental stability of an addict?

6. Process essays

These essays provide instructions on how something is done. One is required to perform the process for easier identification of the process. Example of topics fit for process essays can be as below;

• How to control your ego?
• Ways of solving your anti-social problem?
• How to take care of the environment?

7. Advantages and disadvantages essays

These are essays that show both the pros and cons of a given topic. The opposite opinions make sure that the writer doesn’t defend any side. Foe example;

• Pros and cons, of course, outlines in university studies.
• Advantages and disadvantages of being a die-hard football fan.
• Pros and cons of critical thinking before decision making.

8. Classification essays

These are essays that require the writer to put together ideas, objects, and other things into particular groups. examples of such essays are;

• Five types of crime
• Seven types of police forces.
• Types of anti-social behavior.

9. Argumentative essays

These are essays that persuade the readers to side with the writer’s viewpoint. One is supposed to use proved facts and correct illustrations in order to manipulate the reader.

Here you required to present both sides of a controversial issue objectively and factually. The examiner expects you to present valid arguments on each side without bias. You must include the arguments for and against each case. 

10. Critical essays

These essays provide the reader with weak and strong characteristics of the subject for them to determine the good and bad of the subject. Examples include;

• Access separation of powers in the building bridges initiative.
• What role does humor play in the novel “Don Quixote.”
• Access the theme of mystery in the movie “Manifest”

11. Compare and contrast essays

These are essays that require the writer to show the similarities and differences of two tendencies, devices, organs, etc. Below are examples of compare and contrast essays;

• Literature vs Real life happenings
• Waterborne diseases vs Airborne diseases.
• College students’ performances vs University students’ performances.

12. Persuasive essays

These are essays whose main aim is to change the thinking and view of the reader completely. It should be influential and deal with topics that are relevant today. Some examples include;

• Are football video games good for young boys?
• Are beauty contest and modeling practices more important to children than they are to adults
• Does marrying an older wife affect one’s marriage eventually?

13. Expository essays

These essays are aimed at estimating the subject of study in your own study view. Here are some examples of expository essays;

• Explain how lecturers influence student grades.
• Explain how fear affects one’s self-confidence
• What are the symptoms of mental illness?

Check our guide to writing a good TOK essay and learn more of another type.

Other Types of Essays

We have written a detailed guides on how to write other types of essays whose format may not necesarilly follow the flow we have taught in this comprehensive guide. This guide mostly applies for the types of essays discussed in the columns above. However, read our lessons how how to write the following types of essays.

• A guide how to write a Theory Of Knowledge (TOK) essays
• Detailed steps how to write an opinion essay
• Read more on writing a good issue paper or essay .

What is a Comprehensive Essay

A comprehensive essay is one that exhaustively discusses an issue or a topic to a deeper extent so as to prove the thesis that a writer wants to put across. It is an essay whose content explains the issue in its entirety, thereby leaving no doubt of unresolved facts. This is achieved through extensive research on an issue or a topic. After reading it, the audience will understand everything the author was discussing and agree with him or her.

A comprehensive essay has a good introduction that opens the issue being discussed in detail. That sets a place for a good thesis that is given in the last sentence of the introduction paragraph. This is followed by well researched paragraphs that deeply explain the issue to support the thesis. The conclusion paragraph of a comprehensive essay summarizes all the points and gives conclusive support to the thesis.

Common mistakes students make in Essay Writing and how to Solve them

The readers can judge the writing skills of a writer after reading an essay. To write good essays writers must avoid several mistakes when writing essays. These mistakes are:

1. Lack of concentration.

This occurs when the writer is not focused on the essay and mixes thoughts.

For an essay to be good one must be able to organize thoughts and be logical in arguments.

2. Omitting the thesis statement

If your essay doesn’t have its foundation in the introduction paragraph, then it loses the structure. The thesis statement is the origin of your writing and it makes your essay logical.

3. Writing unsupported ideas

Your readers may judge you as thoughtless and unreliable if your ideas are unsupported by the use of facts, examples and available statistics

4. Punctuation mistakes

The writer should take note of using punctuation marks correctly because they play a part in making the reader understand the meaning of your essay. Use commas, colons, semi-colons question marks and full stops correctly.

5. Misuse of words

Writers should be careful with words that have the same pronunciations and different meanings for they may distort the meaning you want to put across. Some examples of these words are “hit and heat” or “had and heard.

How to find Credible Sources for your Essay

It is very important that you use credible and authoritative sources when writing your essay. If you don’t and use weak ones, your essay will not be authoritative. In fact, readers will demean your work if you use dubious sources to obtain the information you will write in your essay. To determine the credibility of sources , you need to ask whether some kind of information is reliable, at least several sources must have talked about it.

1. Use the Internet

The internet today is the main source of information and sometimes it’s hard to differentiate credible sources with mediocre sources. When obtaining data from the internet consider the trustworthiness of the domain. .edu domain is used by education institutions and information obtained here is most reliable.

2. Follow credible domains

In addition, .org is mostly used by non-profits organizations and is reliable for they are not concerned with cheating or tricking you. .gov is used by governmental institutions and information is mostly credible but can be biased considering the political views of the different institutions.

3. Be Cautious with commercial websites

Be careful when using online sources from a .com domain. They are mostly used by commercial institutions and one must be careful when obtaining information from them because they may contain hidden content and are not careful about data provided. Learn if your source is credible from a guide by the University of Maryland.

4. Use Libraries and Journals

Other credible sources of information include online news agencies and newspapers that are well known, scientific journals, public libraries, online encyclopedias, non-fictional books, and academic libraries. Writers should avoid sources such as Wikipedia, personal blogs, word of mouth, fiction books and glossy magazines. You can also go old school and look for books in your library.

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Brief Summary of this Guide on writing Essays

To help you know how to write essays that improve your GPA, we have put a comprehensive step-by-step guide for you on any subject or topic. The guide gives you examples and free outlines on how to organize and write your essay. However, if you like guidance from our essay writing experts , feel free to ask us and we will respond and guide your essay homework.

• How to choose a good essay topic
• Making good research for a topic for an essay
• How to write a strong thesis
• How to make an outline for your essay
• Writing a good introduction for an essay
• How to write strong body paragraphs?
• How to write a good conclusion?
• Citing sources and how to make a reference page?
• How to polish the final and review key points?
• Types of essays and common examples of each
• Common mistakes in essay writing
• Credible sources for your essay

Alternatively, you can watch how to write a good essay below,

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Guide to Writing a Comprehensive Essay Introduction

Table of Contents

Today, essay writing has become a crucial component of all academic work. The importance of strong essays on academic performance is something that students cannot ignore.

A comprehensive essay introduction prepares the audience for what they are about to read. It piques readers’ curiosity and compels them to continue reading.

This article will guide you to write an enticing intro and make your reader hang on to every word.

What Is a Comprehensive Essay?

A comprehensive essay is an academic writing assignment that requires you to use everything you learned in your course to explain something. This is the opposite of the common type of essay, which aims to convince the reader of a certain point of view.

Don’t write a long or fancy introduction; instead, go right to the point. Your essay should have a clear thesis at the beginning and an orderly structure where you provide enough evidence to support your thesis.

Comprehensive essays often require the learner to present more details and use more supporting evidence to back up their argument. This is to make the essay stronger and more convincing to the reader.

What Is the Purpose of an Essay Introduction?

Writing introductory paragraphs can be very challenging for students, let alone making sure they capture the reader’s attention. It is usually difficult to start something than continue something already underway.

The importance of the essay introduction is continuously stressed to you. But it is even more important to understand its purpose. The introduction serves as the roadmap to your essay. It introduces the topic and clarifies the context by providing background information.

Therefore, it is crucial to start your essay right and give a perspective and purpose to your paper.

How to Write a Comprehensive Essay Introduction?

There isn’t a single best approach to begin an essay. Some people like to begin writing the essay right away and then compose the introduction at the end. Whenever you write the introduction, make sure to focus on the tone and purpose of your essay. Here is a quick instruction on how to construct a comprehensive essay introduction .

Start With an Engaging Hook

Instead of beginning the introduction with a long buildup, use a short, catchy opening sentence or two. Start with something engaging, clear, and concise to pique the reader’s interest. A hook will help the reader understand the main idea you’re trying to convey. It will also keep them interested until you get to the main points of your paper.

Provide Background Information

Provide some background information on the topic before deciding on the theme. The introduction always begins with a clear direction. It includes statements about how the subject relates to more significant concerns covered in the next sections of the essay.

The information you provide here should be concise and related to your essay’s main thesis. You can make reference to issues you’ll cover in the body section. However, don’t give away a lot of details.

Set the Limitations of Your Essay

You must limit the discussion of your essay topic. It’s essential to keep your talk to a reasonable scope because you can’t cover everything relevant to the topic. Narrow your focus and explain to the audience why and how you chose the suggested topic or issue.

State the Thesis Statement

The introduction must establish your thesis to write a cohesive and coherent essay. The introductory paragraph ends with the thesis statement. A brief summary of the entire essay is provided in the thesis statement. This illustrates the writer’s central concept and method of approaching the essay topic.

It’s important to write a thorough, engaging introduction for your essay to capture your audience’s attention. You want to create an essay that will hold their interest, so they will be eager to explore the rest of your essay.

The introduction of your essay should contain an attention-grabbing hook . It should also state the thesis statement and leave the audience wanting to delve further into your paper. This article aims to explain the importance of your essay introduction and how to write one.

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

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How to write an Essay Introduction (5-Step Formula)

One of my friends – a high-up professor in an English university – told me he can tell the grade a student will get within the first 90 seconds of reading a paper.

This makes the introduction the most important paragraph in your whole paper.

The introduction orients your reader to how well you understand academic writing, your skills in critical thinking, your ability to write professionally with minimal errors, and the depth of knowledge you have on the topic.

All in one fantastic paragraph! No pressure.

No wonder introductions are so difficult to write. If you’re like me, you find that you can sit and stare at a blank page as the moments tick by. You’re just not sure how to write an introduction!

After reading the top 30 online articles on how to write an essay introduction, I synthesized the five most common steps that universities give on how to write an introduction.

The five steps I am going to introduce to you in this paragraph are from my I.N.T.R.O. method. The intro method provides an easy-to-use acronym for how to write an introduction that the top universities recommend.

The INTRO method’s steps are:

• [I] Interest: Provide an opening sentence that shows why the topic is of interest to everyday human beings
• [N] Notify: Notify the reader of background or contextual information
• [T] Translate: Translate the essay topic or question by paraphrasing it
• [R] Report: Report on your position or argument
• [O] Outline: Provide an outline of the essay structure

Below, I go through each step one by one. Each step is designed to be written in order, although you may feel free to mix them up after you’ve written each sentence to make it feel and read just the way you like.

Use the INTRO method as a guide for how to write an introduction and get words down on paper. As I often argue on this website, just writing something is often the hardest part .

You may also find that some essay introductions work better without one or more of these 5 steps. That is okay, too. Use these 5 steps as advice on points to include in an introduction and adjust them as you need. You may find in your specific area of study you need to add or remove other sentences. Play around with your introduction until you feel comfortable with it.

So don’t be too hard on yourself: have a go at a draft of your introduction with no pressure to use it in the end. You’ll find by the time you’ve written these five sentences you’ll have the creative juices flowing and a compelling introduction will be down on paper in no time.

1. Interest

Provide an opening sentence that shows why the topic is interesting to everyday human beings

Nearly every source on how to write an introduction that I found online recommended that your first sentence be an engaging ‘hook’ . Most sources highlight that the ‘hook’ sentence should draw in the reader’s interest in order to make your piece stand out.

The marker wants to see if you understand why this topic is of interest is in the first place. They want to see if you ‘get it’ from the very start.

I also recommend that you view the hook as an opportunity to show why the topic is interesting to everyday human beings . This makes it relevant to your reader.

To show you understand why the topic is of interest in the first place, aim to do one of the following things:

• Show what makes the topic worth discussing. Your ‘Interest’ sentence might help show why someone should care about the topic. Will it affect our livelihoods? Will it harm us? Make our work lives easier? The more relatable this point is to real human lives, the better.
• Highlight the single most interesting point in the essay. You might notice that you have already pointed out this interesting ‘hook’ somewhere in your essay. Find that interesting, relatable point and make it the opening sentence of your introduction.
• Use an interesting fact or figure to show the topic’s importance. Percentages or real numbers about how many people are or would be impacted by the issue help to show the topic’s importance. This will create reader interest with a ‘wow’ factor.
• Show how the essay topic is relevant to today’s world. If you’re struggling to identify this interesting ‘hook’, go onto google and find news reports related to your topic. How has the topic made it into the news recently? The news report will help you to brainstorm why this topic is of interest to the everyday lives of real human beings.

However, do not overstate the issue. You should provide a clear, reasonable perspective in this first sentence rather than an over-the-top claim. For example, aim to avoid hyperbolic or overly emotional phrases:

To find out more about retracting over-the-top emotion and hyperbole, we have put together a guide on academic language that you may like to read.

To summarize, I recommend that your first step in how to write an introduction is to write a ‘hook’ sentence that focuses on why the topic is interesting to everyday human beings . Use sober, clear facts about the importance of the topic to real human lives to get yourself started.

Read Also: My Suggested Best Words to Start a Paragraph

Notify the reader of background or contextual information

Nearly every source I found also recommended that you provide brief ‘background’ or ‘contextual’ information.

‘Background’ or ‘contextual’ information shows your depth of knowledge and understanding of the topic.

Here are some examples of ‘context’ for a few topics:

Hopefully, you can see here that giving ‘context’ is a way of showing that you have a really strong or deep knowledge of the history or background story of the topic. This is your chance to differentiate your depth of knowledge from other students. A sentence or two giving some of this context also helps to show off your knowledge right from the start.

Most sources recommend only providing one or two sentences of background information. This will help you to show off your knowledge without stealing content from the body of your essay. The body of the essay will add depth and detail to your points in the introduction, so feel free to leave out examples and explanations beyond your engaging sentence or two: you will have time in the body of the essay to elaborate.

3. Translate

Translate the essay topic or question

This point was mentioned by more than half the websites I found giving advice on how to write an introduction.

Many universities recommend re-stating the essay topic or question in your own words. This helps your marker to see that you understand the topic and are directly addressing it.

Here are some examples of essay questions and ways you can re-state the essay question in your introduction:

Something to keep in mind is that you do not want to appear to be re-stating the essay question simply to take up extra words. We call this ‘padding’. An example of padding is when a student drops the essay question in as a question, word-for-word:

• How can knowledge about history help us to improve our lives in the future? This is the question that will be answered in this essay.
• This essay will answer the question “What is the lasting impact of European Colonisation in the 21 st Century?”

Do not drop the essay question into the introduction without paraphrasing or surrounding explanation. If you do this, your marker will think you’re just trying to add words to the introduction because you’re not sure of anything interesting to say

Report your position or argument

Most essays do not require you to take a stance on an issue.

Essays that do require you to take a stance are called either ‘argumentative essays’ or ‘persuasive essays’.

If you are writing a persuasive essay, you will need to include Step 4: Report. For this step, you’ll need to state where you stand on the issue:

Keep in mind that essays should never leave a reader confused. Essay writing is not like creative writing: your reader must always know what’s going to be said right from the start. When reading to gather information, readers don’t like to be surprised. They want the facts up-front. Therefore, your marker will expect to know what your stance is on the issue right from the introduction onwards.

Provide an outline of the Essay Structure

This last point on how to write an introduction is important and separates average students from top students.

Introductions should always highlight the key points that will be made in an essay. Academic writing should never surprise the reader.

The fact that steps 4 and 5 both highlight that you should orient your marker reinforces the importance of this. Always, always, guide your marker’s reading experience.

Your essay should signpost all key concepts, theories, and main sections that make up your essay. If an important point is made in the essay but not signposted in the introduction, you are likely to confuse your marker. A confused marker very rapidly lowers your mark.

Too often, students fail to outline key points of their essays in the introduction. Make a habit of signposting your key ideas, points, theories, or concepts you will cover in the introduction in order to gain marks.

It is always easier to write this outline once the essay plan is written. You will then be able to gather together the key points that you listed in your essay plan and include them in the introduction.

The outline of the essay structure can only be one or two sentences long. You can state as your last sentence in your introduction:

• “Firstly, this essay … then, …, and finally …”
• “The essay opens with …, then, …, and then closes with …”
• “After exploring …, … and …, this essay will conclude with …”

Try to outline the issues you will cover in order. Providing an orderly outline of your essay is very helpful for your reader.

Now, I know that some people don’t like this method. Let me reassure you with this study from Theresa Thonney in 2016. Thonney examined 600 top-ranking articles in fields including Literature, Music, Environmental Sciences, Nutrition, Inter-Cultural Studies, and more to see how many articles used this method. In other words, she completed a comprehensive study of whether professional, published authors use this method of orientating the reader to the structure of the article.

Thonney found that 100% of top-ranking articles she looked at in the Astronomy field used this method. 98% of articles in Sociology journals used this method. In fact, the field with the lowest amount of authors who use this method is Art, which had 76% of authors use this method. In other words, even the lowest result she found showed that three in every four professional authors use this method.

So, you should too.

Let’s sum point 5 up by reinforcing this very important rule: your marker should always be very clear about what they will read, and in what order, to improve their reading experience.

A short list of things to Avoid in Introductions

I want to conclude this post with an outline of some of the worst things you can do in an introduction. The introduction sets the scene, so you want to make a good impression. You don’t want your marker taking away marks due to one of these top mistakes:

• Rhetorical Questions.
• Vague padding.
• Dictionary definitions.

Sometimes, teachers also recommend avoiding referencing in introductions. I have colleagues who absolutely refuse to let students include references in their introductions. Personally, I think that’s absurd – if a reference is required, include it! However, check with your teacher on their personal preferences here as I know this is a point of contention in faculty lounges.

The introduction is important for creating a strong first impression, especially since markers often make up their mind about your grade very early on in the marking process.

Introductions are best written last. That way, you will be able to include all the signposting you need to do (step 5), have a good understanding of the context (step 2), and be more certain about what your stance is on the issue (step 4).

Here’s the five INTRO steps I’d encourage you to use every time:

Once you have written your introduction, it is a good idea to put it away for a few days and then come back to edit it with fresh eyes . Remember that grammar and punctuation are important in the introduction. You want to leave a good impression.

If you have a friend who can read the draft for you and give you tips, or if your teacher has drop-in hours, use them to get some tips on how to write an introduction, what sounds right, want sounds off, and how you might be able to improve your introduction.

Once you have written your introduction, you might want to have a look at our guidance on how to write conclusions in order to end your piece as strongly as you started! People often think conclusions are just like introductions. That’s not true. Conclusions are unique paragraphs, so head over to our guidance on conclusions now to get the support you need on writing the best conclusion you can.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University

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MLA Format Essays: A Comprehensive Guide

Finishing an essay is one thing, but formatting it is a completely different affair. There are many style guides out there, so it can be hard to understand the differences between them. Today, you will learn about MLA format writing, what it is, when it’s used, and how to write MLA format essays.

What is an MLA Style Essay?

An MLA format essay is a piece of writing created in accordance with the MLA Style Handbook. This guide was developed by the Modern Language Association, the leading professional organization for scholars of language and literature in the United States.

The MLA style was primarily invented for writers who needed to present new findings in a uniform and credible way. As a result, the MLA created a set standard that writers can use to document information and provide their audience with references and sources.

When should the MLA format writing be used?

The MLA format writing is generally applied to academic texts from the Language, Arts, and other Humanities disciplines. This helps writers properly credit the authors of the source materials, avoid plagiarism, and ensure consistency of style across the document.

While the MLA style is usually associated with citations, it also addresses the overall formatting of the text. Maintaining stylistic consistency adds clarity and credibility to a text and highlights an author’s professionalism.

How to write MLA format papers

To create an exemplary MLA style essay, you need to follow rules established by the MLA Handbook which can be bought on the Association’s official website. However, the main requirements for formatting essays written by students can be found in open access.

Here, we will talk about the key formatting issues you will need to take into account if you aim to write a perfect MLA format essay.

Finishing your essay

It’s much more convenient to make changes to work that has already been completed. This way, you can edit the whole text at once without worrying about forgetting to adjust the format for the next portion of your writing.

MLA essay: general formatting rules

Before we dive into the particulars of the MLA standard, it’s important to focus on the overall formatting of your document. While the distance between your text margins and the edge of the document might not seem significant, it’s part of your essay presentation. You should always remember that how you present your paper impacts your grade as well.

Now, let’s look at the general formatting rules, like the MLA paragraph format, the MLA Handbook sets out for essays:

• Margins . A margin is a distance between the text and the page edges. According to the MLA format, your text margins should be set to 1 inch from all sides. This way, if you have to print your essay, the text won’t be cropped in the process.
• Font . There isn’t a hard requirement for fonts in the MLA handbook. The only thing you should remember is to choose a legible font with a distinct italics style like Times New Roman or Arial . Interestingly, Times New Roman is considered a better choice for texts printed on paper while Arial is a good font for reading off the screen. Make sure to set the size of the font to 12.
• Spaces . Spaces help the readers better comprehend the text. For an MLA format paper, set your line spacing to 2 . Use it for the entire document, including the title and works cited pages.
• Indents . Indents are important as they help to separate a text into paragraphs and improve the overall readability. In MLA style essays, always indent the first line of your paragraph by ½ of an inch .
• Titles . The title of your essay should be positioned in the center of the page. Use the MLA Title Case to set it apart from the rest of the text. To do this, capitalize all principle words like nouns, verbs, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, etc. If you struggle with this, you can use essay-generator Aithor to format your title in accordance with the MLA style.

These are the general rules you must follow to write MLA format essays.

MLA heading example

While the MLA format doesn’t require a separate title page, creating a heading is a must. Your work’s heading should include your full name, your professor’s or instructor’s name, the course name, and the due date of your essay. Each of these should start with a separate line and be aligned along the left margin of the text. After the heading is written, press Enter and write the title of your paper.

MLA citation: example in essays

Writing proper citations is arguably the most difficult part of MLA format writing. Citations allow you to give credit to original authors and avoid plagiarism, so this part is essential.

When it comes to MLA citations, there are two separate sets of rules:

• In-text citations . These are indicators you live in the body of your essay to show which part of the text is sourced from someone else. Place the citation within parentheses at the end of a sentence or paragraph. Use the author’s last name and the page number from where you took the information. If the source doesn’t have a page number (website, etc.) use the author's last name or the first significant word of the source entry.
• “Works Cited” page . At the end of your document, add a new page titled “ Works Cited .” This is where you’re supposed to list all references used in your essay in alphabetical order . If an entry takes more than one line, each line after the first should be indented by ½ of an inch. Note that there are distinct rules for formatting different types of sources.

Books : author's last name, first name. Title of Book . Publisher, Publication Year.

Articles : author's last name, first name. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical , vol. #, no. #, Publication Year, page range.

Websites : author's last name, first name. "Title of Webpage." Title of Website , Publisher (if available), Publication Date (if available), URL.

If you remember these simple requirements, the issue of how to write MLA format papers will no longer be a problem for you.

Summary: MLA style essays

In this article, you learned how to write MLA format essays. If you still have trouble understanding the rules, use our essay generator Aithor. Aithor will help you properly format headings, titles, and even the list of citations. Save your time and energy with Aithor!

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How to write informative essays.

Informative essays are one of the main types of academic writing students must complete as part of the educational process. While this is a typical assignment in any curriculum, it can be hard to distinguish between different types of essays and how to write them. In this article, we’ll delve into the genre of this essay type, learn the definition of an informative essay, and how to write an informational essay. What is an informative essay? An informative essay is a piece of academic writin ...

Master the Art of Paraphrasing with This Comprehensive Guide

In academic writing, you often need to process a large number of sources to compile a thorough and credible examination. However, you can’t simply copy and paste all information into your text document. In such instances, paraphrasing becomes essential. In this short article, we’ll define paraphrasing, talk about why it’s important, and provide guidance on how to paraphrase in an essay. What is paraphrasing? Paraphrasing is a technique that involves rewriting the source text in a way that pr ...

How to Write an Essay in APA Format

There are a few styles of organizing and formatting material in an academic essay. To get high grades it is necessary to learn specific characteristics of each one. After reading this article students are certain to figure out how to write in APA format. What is APA format for an essay? It was the American Psychological Association who offered to use the APA style when formatting articles and academic papers. The specialists described all its aspects in a special Publication Manual, printed i ...

How To Write Reflection Essays

How often do you contemplate how the tapestry of your experiences shapes your thoughts? A reflection paper lets you explore that. It's like deep diving into your life’s precious moments, examining how stories, books, events, or even lectures have influenced your views. This type of academic essay integrates a personal perspective, allowing you to openly express your opinions. In this guide, we will delve into the specifics of reflective writing, share some tips, and show some self-reflection es ...

Synthesis Essay Examples

A synthesis essay is another piece of academic discourse that students often find difficult to write. This assignment indeed requires a more nuanced approach to writing and performing research. It’s particularly relevant to students taking an AP English Language and Composition exam, so learning how to write a synthesis essay is crucial to getting a high score. This article will explore the definition of a synthesis essay, its functions, and objectives, and provide a tutorial on how to write a ...

Learn How to Write a Problem Solution Essay in No Time

For centuries, essays have been used as a creative outlet for expressing one’s thoughts on a variety of topics. Nowadays, these texts help students learn to articulate complex ideas in writing and develop their analytical skills. The most common educational essay is a problem solution essay. This essay type seems straightforward and easy to write. However, students often struggle to plan and how to structure their essays in the most compelling way. This article will help you learn more about t ...

What Is Chat GPT?

AI GPT chats have been getting a lot of attention over the last year. Not surprising since this new technology promises to change our future completely. The first and most well-known AI GPT chat software is ChatGPT officially released on November 30, 2022. In this article, we will answer the question “What is Chat GPT?”, explore how it works, and find out where to use the Chat GPT model. Chat GPT: definition As the name implies, ChatGPT is a chatbot that uses generative AI to process input p ...

APA or MLA: Choosing the Right Citation Style for Your Paper

When it comes to academic writing, properly citing your sources is crucial. It not only helps you avoid plagiarism but also adds credibility to your work by showing that you've done your research. However, with various citation styles out there, it can be tricky to know which one to use. Two of the most common styles are APA (American Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Language Association). In this article, we'll take a closer look at the APA vs MLA format to help you decide which is ri ...