How to Write an Essay

If you want to know how to write an essay, check out several different sources of advice.

There are as many ideas on how to write an essay as there are essays. So do not spend too long looking for advice on how to write an essay before plunging in and actually writing the essay. The best time to look for advice is when you are stuck. Otherwise the best advice is, write the essay!

General essay writing guidelines

The first essay writing guideline is simple. Don’t stick rigidly to essay writing guidelines. If you agree with a guideline, then fine, follow it. But don’t just passively follow instructions. As with everything you read, you should read critically.

The most important guideline is: make your essay well structured. It should be organised in a way that makes it easy for the reader to follow your ideas. This doesn’t mean you should just write it down as if you were talking to the reader. Unless you are very talented, you will need to re-order any download from your stream of consciousness.

Writing an essay is about putting your thoughts on a particular topic down on paper. It might be a comment on a literary text, or your presentation of a classic philosophical argument. In either case, both should be written in your own words. If you can’t think of a better sentence than that given in the text you are commenting on, don’t worry. You may have found something worth quoting.

Ideas for persuasive essay writing

The best idea on how to do an essay paper, is to pursue persuasive essay writing. In persuasive essay writing, the author takes a position for or against an issue. He or she tries to convince the reader to believe in his or her position. It is a general form of essay writing that can be applied to many situations. Before looking more closely at persuasive writing, you need to be clear about what are the two types of essay.

What are the two types of essay?

Any essay should be a presentation of your own thinking backed up by ideas and information from others. But your essay can be analytical or argumentative. If it is analytical it provides a dispassionate account of all sides of an issue. If it comes down on on one side, it does so tentatively and gives equal weight to all other views. An argumentative essay attempts to convince the reader of the writer’s stance on a topic. Nothing interests and excites a reader more than passion and a strongly stated point of view. So be argumentative, but don’t get carried away.

Argumentative topics for an essay

Argumentive essay topics are easy to find; human beings like nothing better than a good argument. For instance, the abortion debate provides polarised positions which can make for a great essay. Remember to take a persuasive position. For example, if you are pro-abortion then write the essay by arguing strongly for this position.

How do you write a persuasive essay?

Try analysing a selection of essays that you find persuasive. Model your own essays on them. You will often find that they state their case strongly in the introduction. For example, the pro-abortion essay might begin: “If abortion is banned then women will again suffer at the hands of back-street abortionists.” Notice there is no “might” or “perhaps” here. Persuasive essays need to state their case strongly.

Of course, you need to follow up with as much factual information as you can find in support of your case. In our example, accounts of back street abortion practices would help. These need to be as objective, scientific, and fully referenced as possible. You also need to counter the main arguments against your position. Finally, finish with a strong conclusion that stresses the main lines of your arguments.

Learn how to write biographical essays

If you want an easy essay-writing life, learn how to write biographical essays. The most difficult part of writing essays is structuring the material. Unless you are taking a very unusual approach, biographies structure themselves.

Most biographies start with the subject’s birth and proceed, in a nice orderly fashion, to her or his demise. There isn’t, in fact, much to learn. Try reading a few short biographies in Encyclopedia Britannic, or similar sources, and learn how to write biographical essays by following the same patterns you find therein. The biggest problem with biographical essays is that they can becomes a dull account of dusty facts. The following section may show you a way of avoiding this problem.

Narritive essays

A narritive essay consists of telling a story, and describes the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events. Stories of our own lives are easy to write because we tell stories about “what we did” almost every day. A typical example is the “what I did during the summer holidays” kind of essay.

The biggest problem in writing personal narritives, unless you lead a very interesting life, is finding something that will interest readers. If you have an active imagination, then fictional narritives might be more your thing. Or, you can write biographical essays in narritive form, thereby gaining the best of both essay types while avoiding the biggest disadvantages. That is, you can liven up the dusty facts with an interesting, personal story. And the person involved can be a leading character from history!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on essay writing

What is an essay?

It is difficult to give a precise definition of what an essay is, because there are many different kinds of essay. But it is often useful to think of essays as organised collections of ideas.

How can i get an answer to my questions about essay writing?

Pointers on how to write good essays

If you need help writing essays there are many sources of useful information on the internet. To find help, you could begin by investigating the links on this page.

Use quotations from other writings sparingly.
Avoid woolly generalizations about the subject you are writing about.
Do not fill or pad.
Use a word processor that has great outlining facilities, and use them!