Writing an essay in 12 steps

Writing an essay is a messy, complex, often frustrating process that, nevertheless, can be ordered and managed in several stages. Remember that it is usually a circular rather than a linear process, that your argument will help develop your writingand that the process of writing will develop your argument and your use of evidence.

1. Analyse and define the topic or question

While an essay question will always have a topic, your first hurdle is to identify and then explore the underlying question/debate/problem within that topic that is central to your course. For example, a Political Science question such as: What were the causes of the Second World War? is not asking for a list of causes that you then describe. It is asking: in what way or to what extent did various factors contribute and how were they interrelated? Understanding how the task is situated within your discipline/field/courses is crucial to developing a comprehensive answer.

2. Identify some key ideas

Remember that any essay question does not stand alone: its purpose is to assess how well you understand some key concepts, theories or conflicts in your current course. Consider these concepts, theories or conflicts while you are preparing your essay. Look at course outlines, lecture notes, seminar readings to identify key themes of the course. Use brainstorming or mind-mapping techniques to identify key ideas.

3. The first literature search

Initially it is often difficult to find readings: search library catalogues, abstracts and databases for material (do a course in the library to learn how). However, when you find sources the amount of reading is often overwhelming. Ask yourself: what is relevant? What is more central and what is less important? Think strategically: who are the key writers in the field? How can you identify these? Do the course readings contain useful articles? Start with the key writers in the field that your lecturer recommends, and then progress to articles, books and journals as you narrow your search for more specific or specialised material.

4. Read
Initially, one of the greatest challenges at university and in essay writing is learning how to read academically. When you read, read for a specific purpose: what is the writers argument (in the

research phase)? How does this writer refute the position of another writer (later in the research phase)? Are the elements of grammar correct in my essay (in the later stages of editing)? Consciously select and apply a reading strategy (see later in the handbook). Read to obtain an overview of what people are writing on the topic: where are the debates within this topic? What are the key issues of these debates? Are there any key theorists writing on the topic? What evidence is being used to justify each position or interpretation of the topic? Consciously select and apply a note-taking strategy.

5. Work towards constructing an argument

Try to express your argument or position in one clear sentence. For example: This paper argues... Select, from your readings, evidence and ideas that might support your argument. Next, consider what things you need to do to persuade the reader of your position. Will you need to define key terms, compare and contrast, critically evaluate the literature, provide background context, analyse a case study, and so on? Once you have thought of the things you will do, this is called the structure of your argument and it provides a potential outline of the main sections of the essay.

6. Construct your argument around an outline

The first division of your topic into parts represents your view of what is important in these debates: this is your preliminary analysis. Remember this may change as you write, as you read more, and as your essay evolves. Keeping the required length of the essay in mind, transfer key ideas and supporting ideas from the brainstorm session to a linear structure (outline). This outline is the bare bones of the essay. Prepare a more detailed outline with a section and sub-section plan. Expand or contract the outline to suit the length required. Add or delete main points, supporting points, the evidence you will use to explain and support them, potential responses to counterarguments or challenges to your position. Remember: you may need to read more in order to flesh out your ideas.

7. Write the first draft

The purpose of this draft is to work out what you think about the question, in relation to what you have read. Follow your outline. Resist the temptation just to summarise the ideas you have read, by

exessively quoting for example; rather, use these ideas to answer your question. Try to write it all in one go, but do not be too concerned about the order of paragraphs or the quality of the writingyou can develop and polish the essay once you have something down worth developing and polishing. Focus on one section of your essay at a time. You can have a go at writing your introduction but come back and rewrite it after your first draft.

8. Do some more focused reading

Identify where you need more information. It is easy sometimes to find a position and just follow that argument in your essay. Read more critically than this: what are the different positions or the strengths and weaknesses of each? Identify where you need more information. Widen/extend/narrow your literature search for more material. Find examples to support your main points.

9. Take a break
Put some critical distance and time between yourself and your work. This will help you to return to your essay with fresh eyes.

10. Revise your first draft; work on a second draft

As you write your first draft your ideas and arguments clarify and often the focus of your argument comes together in the last sections of the essay or in the conclusion. In your second draft make sure your argument also appears in your introduction and builds consistently throughout the sections of your essay. Give this draft to someone else for comments and feedback, for example, a friend, your partner, a fellow student, or an ASLC adviser. Take note of their comments.

11. Edit
Use a checklist for editing the final draft, which incorporates formatting requirements as well as things you know you often have problems with, eg referencing, expression, etc.

12. Hand it in and reward yourself!

Why is writing an essay so frustrating? Learning how to write an essay can be a maddening, exasperating process, but it doesn't have to be. If you know the steps and understand what to do, writing can be easy and even fun. This site, "How To Write an Essay: 10 Easy Steps," offers a ten-step process that teaches students how to write an essay. Links to the writing steps are found on the left, and additional writing resources are located across the top.

Learning how to write an essay doesn't have to involve so much trial and error.

Brief Overview of the 10 Essay Writing Steps Below are brief summaries of each of the ten steps to writing an essay. Select the links for more info on any particular step, or use the blue navigation bar on the left to proceed through the writing steps. How To Write an Essay can be viewed sequentially, as if going through ten sequential steps in an essay writing process, or can be explored by individual topic. 1. Research: Begin the essay writing process by researching your topic, making yourself an expert. Utilize the internet, the academic databases, and the library. Take notes and immerse yourself in the words of great thinkers. 2. Analysis: Now that you have a good knowledge base, start analyzing the arguments of the essays you're reading. Clearly define the claims, write out the reasons, the evidence. Look for weaknesses of logic, and also strengths. Learning how to write an essay begins by learning how to analyze essays written by others. 3. Brainstorming: Your essay will require insight of your own, genuine essay-writing brilliance. Ask yourself a dozen questions and answer them. Meditate with a pen in your hand. Take walks and think and think until you come up with original insights to write about. 4. Thesis: Pick your best idea and pin it down in a clear assertion that you can write

your entire essay around. Your thesis is your main point, summed up in a concise sentence that lets the reader know where you're going, and why. It's practically impossible to write a good essay without a clear thesis. 5. Outline: Sketch out your essay before straightway writing it out. Use one-line sentences to describe paragraphs, and bullet points to describe what each paragraph will contain. Play with the essay's order. Map out the structure of your argument, and make sure each paragraph is unified. 6. Introduction: Now sit down and write the essay. The introduction should grab the reader's attention, set up the issue, and lead in to your thesis. Your intro is merely a buildup of the issue, a stage of bringing your reader into the essay's argument. (Note: The title and first paragraph are probably the most important elements in your essay. This is an essay-writing point that doesn't always sink in within the context of the classroom. In the first paragraph you either hook the reader's interest or lose it. Of course your teacher, who's getting paid to teach you how to write an essay, will read the essay you've written regardless, but in the real world, readers make up their minds about whether or not to read your essay by glancing at the title alone.) 7. Paragraphs: Each individual paragraph should be focused on a single idea that supports your thesis. Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support assertions with evidence, and expound your ideas in the clearest, most sensible way you can. Speak to your reader as if he or she were sitting in front of you. In other words, instead of writing the essay, try talking the essay. 8. Conclusion: Gracefully exit your essay by making a quick wrap-up sentence, and then end on some memorable thought, perhaps a quotation, or an interesting twist of logic, or some call to action. Is there something you want the reader to walk away and do? Let him or her know exactly what. 9. MLA Style: Format your essay according to the correct guidelines for citation. All borrowed ideas and quotations should be correctly cited in the body of your text, followed up with a Works Cited (references) page listing the details of your sources. 10. Language: You're not done writing your essay until you've polished your language by correcting the grammar, making sentences flow, incoporating rhythm, emphasis, adjusting the formality, giving it a level-headed tone, and making other intuitive edits. Proofread until it reads just how you want it to sound. Writing an essay can be tedious, but you don't want to bungle the hours of conceptual work you've put into writing your essay by leaving a few slippy misppallings and pourly wordedd phrazies..

You're done. Great job. Now move over Ernest Hemingway a new writer is coming of age! (Of course Hemingway was a fiction writer, not an essay writer, but he probably knew how to write an essay just as well.) My Promise: The Rest of This Site Will Really Teach You How To Write an Essay

For half a dozen years I've read thousands of college essays and taught students how to write essays, do research, analyze arguments, and so on. I wrote this site in the most basic, practical way possible and made the instruction crystal clear for students and instructors to follow. If you carefully follow the ten steps for writing an essay as outlined on this site honestly and carefully follow them you'll learn how to write an essay that is more organized, insightful, and appealing. And you'll probably get an A.
Now it's time to really begin. C'mon, it will be fun. I promise to walk you through each step of your writing journey.