2012

How to write an essay that rocks

How to Write an Essay that Rocks?

Are you afraid to fight one on one with your academic essay? Do not worry – with this

guide by your side, victory will be yours!

All essays are pretty much the same. They are all about finding, critically evaluating and

properly presenting evidence to answer a given question.

The main steps in essay writing:

1. Understand assignment

Sure, you can have your own personal strategy for essay writing. However, no matter

what your strategy is, you definitely cannot skip the first step of understanding the

assignment. Otherwise, your essay can go terribly wrong.

For better understanding the question your essay must answer:

search in dictionaries and/or encyclopedias for all unknown words (even

Wikipedia or Britannica can sometimes be a perfect start);

identify keywords (usually verbs which tell you what to do);

see the following table of top 17 assignment verbs.

No more confusion!

Analyze Divide a whole into parts and explain how they work together.

Comment on Find the main aspects and write what you think of them, adding course or lecture materials.

Compare Discuss both differences and similarities between the things and conclude which one is better and why.

Contrast Discuss the differences between things and tell whether these differences are significant.

Critically evaluate Find arguments for and against something. Conclude which of them are stronger.

Define Discuss the different meanings of a term. If necessary, explain why defining this term is not that easy.

Describe Discuss shapes, colors, textures and your impressions of something

Distinguish between Discuss what makes objects or phenomena different.

Evaluate Briefly describe and give your feedback on something – is it bad or good?

Explain Show the reasons why something happens.

Illustrate Explain something using vivid examples.

Interpret Show your personal view of a situation or phenomenon

Justify Give reasons why certain decisions have (or should) be made. Think of the main objections to this solution and answer them.

Outline Discuss the main principles and features; show the inner structure and relations.

Relate Show connections between phenomena or theories.

Summarize Cut a long story short – tell only about the most important facts, omitting details.

Trace Tell about events in a chronological order to see how they develop.

If you do not see any of the above keywords, it is possible that your teacher mentions

an essay type instead:

Analytical Divide a whole into parts and explain how they work together.

Cause and effect Explain why something happens and what results it brings.

Comparison Discuss differences and similarities.

Contrast Discuss only differences.

Critical View a problem from different perspectives - offer your feedback and arguments for and against a certain solution.

Definition Explain the different meanings of one word.

Descriptive Describe different qualities (including colors, shapes, textures and smells) and your feelings about them.

Division and classification

Find a classification principle – a rule to split the given subjects into groups and use it to classify the given subjects.

Narrative Tell a story about how something happened.

Persuasive/ argumentative

Find a controversial question and take a particular position regarding it; find arguments to defend your opinion.

2. Do a research

The next step in essay writing process is a scrupulous research of the topic. You can

brainstorm for fresh ideas, read through course materials, dig through the Internet or

combine some or all of these strategies.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to go an extra mile to not only collect, but also critically evaluate

the evidence you find. The time proven formula of a good essay is:

If your essay were a muffin, citations could be raisins in it – important and absolutely

necessary, but only a part of it. The rest of your essay consists in your opinions, logical

conclusions, transitions and recommendations.

To generate your own ideas, do not take anything you read for granted and become as

curious as a 5 year old. Ask yourself all kinds of questions:

WHAT? WHO? WHY? HOW? WITH WHAT RESULTS? IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP?

IS IT POSSIBLE?

Search your brain – storms vs. muses

Brainstorming is like legal doping for increasing your inspiration and being better at

essay writing. Here's how to do it:

Relax and think about your question.

Generate as many ideas for your essay as possible.

Write down all (even the silliest) ideas coming to your mind.

Test your ideas and sort them out.

Choose the best ones for your essay.

Scan course materials – details are not welcome

Scan course materials instead of reading them in full:

Look through the contents and check out only the chapters you need.

Use the Ctrl+F combination to find your keywords in your course guides.

Decide whether you will cite in your paper the info you found in your

course materials.

Dig through the Internet like a pro

Just like any other area of modern life, essay writing is impossible without the Internet.

You can find some precious gems on the web if you use it right:

1) Use Google to the fullest:

Enter your keywords (not the whole question) into the search engine.

Look at Google‟s suggestions – some of them can come in handy:

Search for information on educational (.edu) and/or governmental

(.gov) sites by adding the words site:.edu or site:.gov to your query:

Use Googe Books to view excerpts from books. Press the “search tools”

button to see and change settings to find exactly what you need:

* You can use a simple trick to view a page that is omitted from a book preview. If

you can see only the first sentences from this page, use good old Google to find the

rest. Copy and paste these first sentences you can see into Google's search box,

surround them with quotation marks and you will find the whole page from the same

book in the search results. Voila! In this way, most pages are usually available for

preview.

Use Google Scholar to find peer-reviewed or scholarly articles (or at

least their abstracts):

*If you like an article, but only a brief abstract is available in Google Scholar, you can search for

the full text somewhere else. Why not try your college library or… Google? It sometimes happens

that the full text is available in Google, but not in Google Scholar. Search for the article's title

surrounded with quotation marks and enjoy the result.

2) Use BottleNose – an engine that searches for information on social networks

only. Bottlenose does for social networks what Google does for the entire

Internet. You will find out what people are saying about your question on

Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ right now.

3) Visit HelpAReporter.com. It is a free platform where you can ask any

questions and receive expert answers and advice.

4) Organize polls on Facebook and/or LinkedIn. Ask questions and lots of

people will readily share their knowledge and opinions with you. It will help

you view the problem from various perspectives. The best of these answers

you can even cite in your papers (as personal communication – check your

citation style for doing it right).

3. Make a plan

After you have plenty of ideas and materials, it‟s time to put them in order and make

a plan for your essay.

Facts and figures

Introduction and conclusion are separate paragraphs which take up to

10% of the total word count.

The main body should have 3 or more almost equal paragraphs.

The thesis statement is usually placed at the end of the introduction.

A few simple calculations can help you avoid troubles with the size of your paragraphs.

There is nothing worse than putting your soul into a paragraph only to have to delete

half of it afterwards. For instance, if you need to write a 550 word essay, it can be

structured as follows:

Introduction - 50 words

Main body 1st paragraph – 150 words

Main body 2nd paragraph – 150 words

Main body 3rd paragraph – 150 words

Conclusion – 50 words

Outline

After you have a great plan for your essay, you should put it on paper in more detail and

create an outline. The 2 golden rules of outlining are the following:

use similar constructions for all parts (choose between full sentences or

phrases and verbal or noun phrases);

choose whether to write at least two subparts for every part or to not use

any subparts at all.

Sample outline 1 (full sentences)

1) Global warming is an underestimated global problem.

2) Main body

The current climate changes lead to species extinction, the disappearance

of Arctic ice and an increase in the number of extreme weather disasters.

Human activities are the main causes of global warming.

States and individuals should fight the causes of global warming.

3) States and individual citizens should unite their efforts to solve the problem of

climate change.

Sample outline 2 (noun phrases)

1) Global warming: fact or fiction.

2) Main body

Climate changes: disappearing Arctic ice, extinct animals, extreme

weather disasters.

Human activities leading to global warming.

Measures to be taken on individual and state levels.

3) Best solutions for the problem of global warming.

4. Write

Ta da! The moment has come – you are ready to start writing. Your great essay is now

only a question of time and paper work.

Here is how you do it, step by step:

Introduction

A good introduction is like a funnel leading the readers to your thesis statement.

The gateway to the question is a general but

not too broad statement about the subject

matter;

the attention grabber is what makes readers

continue reading – striking statistics,

interesting fact, paramount importance of

the problem;

the road map – shows the main points that

your paper will discuss;

thesis statement – the main idea of the

paper.

Thesis statement

The thesis statement is your whole essay squeezed into one strong sentence. It is your

main message to readers, which will echo throughout your entire essay.

If you find a sentence which does not support your thesis – delete that unfortunate

sentence. Period.

Features of a good thesis statement are:

Disputability (it is not obvious – readers can agree or disagree with it.)

Focus (it expresses the author‟s position clearly.)

Relevance (nobody will read it and exclaim „so what?‟)

A good example of a thesis statement:

Government funding should be utilized for enhancing citizens‟ awareness of the existing

problem of global warming and the need to protect the planet from its dramatic effects.

Topic sentence

The topic sentence is the first sentence of each body paragraph. It outlines the main

argument of the entire paragraph, but does not disclose it in full.

A good example of a topic sentence:

After years of debate concerning the actual existence of global warming, most scholars

agreed that this phenomenon poses serious risks for the future.

Supporting evidence

Major types of supporting evidence:

citations from external sources;

comparisons;

vivid examples;

your own ideas.

Concluding sentence + transition

The last sentence in every paragraph repeats the topic sentence using different words.

It makes the paragraph complete. Moreover, psychologists claim that repeating the

same idea several times is an absolute necessity, because it makes it more persuasive.

One additional advice is to use this sentence to make the transition to the next

paragraph, so that the new argument does not sound like thunder striking from the blue

sky.

Transition words

Addition and expansion: furthermore, moreover, in addition, equally important, more

importantly, so too, what is more.

Development of idea and conclusion: therefore, consequently, for this reason, because,

accordingly, as a result, in this regard, thus.

A turn in argumentation line: however, nonetheless, on the contrary, conversely, on the

other hand, alternatively, in contrast, instead, yet.

Similarities: similarly, likewise, in the same way, much like, is comparable to, just as…

so too.

Differences: unlike, another approach, contrasts with, differs from, instead, in a different

way.

Conclusion

The conclusion briefly summarizes the main arguments and repeats the thesis

statement using different words. No new information in this part, please.

Don’t you forget to include citations?

A good essay always has relevant citations from credible sources, as well as a properly-

formatted reference list at the end. Sure, all citation styles have different rules.

However, automatic citations from online tools would suit just any of them:

BibMe;

KnightCite;

CiteULike;

Son of Citation Machine.

If you do not trust online tools, you can create the citations on your own. The clear

explanations and examples for different citation styles from these online workshops can

help you:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/

http://www.library.arizona.edu/search/reference/citation.html

5. Edit and

proofread

Avoid common mistakes:

1) Unnecessary use of the passive voice. This makes your paper weak and unclear.

It sounds like you are hiding the doer and events miraculously happen on their

own. (It is argued that…)

2) Too general phrases. Unclear statements can kill the logic and credibility of your

paper. (People believe that…)

3) Too many direct quotes. In most cases, direct quotes are only a waste of space.

A better idea is to paraphrase the authors‟ words and use citations reasonably.

Do not forget to comment every single citation you use. Do not place citations in

some random places, only because “the teacher said to use citations”. Make

them an integral part of your essay.

Check the format

Font 12 Arial or Times New Roman;

1 inch (2.54 cm) margins on all sides;

double spacing;

separate pages for the title, outline and bibliography;

at least 3 lines of text under each heading (if you use headings at the bottom of

the page).

Check citations

All borrowed ideas are properly cited.

Every in-text citation has an entry in the reference list.

Every entry in the reference list has at least 1 in-text citation.

Direct quotes and citations with specific information (stats and figures)

have page numbers stated.

Citations comply with the rules of the citation style used.

Wow! You‟ve gone this far and your essay already rocks. Good job! Isn‟t it time to have

a good rest?