PROCESS ESSAY

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A process is a series of events or steps, one taking place after the other. If these events and steps are
explained one by one in an order, you have to write a process essay. In a process essay, the purpose of the
writer is to describe how to do something or how something works; that is, he or she has to write the process
step by step- for example, how to make chocolate at home, how to learn a foreign language, etc. Moreover, it is
essential that all the steps in the process should be explained clearly. The order most commonly used in a
process essay is chronological order. However, for some topics, order of importance is required.
e.g.
§ how to make chocolate at home - chronological order
§ how to learn a foreign language - order of importance

How to write a process essay

While writing a process essay,
• the first thing the writer should do is to determine what the process is.
Then,
• make a list of the tools/ equipment / ingredients which are necessary (if there are any) and the steps as a
simple outline.
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e.g.
Outline
Topic: How to cook pasta with tomato sauce
Ingredients: onion /garlic / tomato / tomato purée / olive oil / water /pepper / salt / cheese
Steps:
- cooking pasta
- preparing the sauce
- serving the pasta
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After that, use this outline to construct your essay. However, while you are writing the process, if there is
more than one step, try to organize the ideas into three paragraph groups.
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As has been mentioned in the introduction to an essay structure, this kind of essay has usually an
introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs and a conclusion paragraph.
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The Introduction Paragraph

In the introduction paragraph, you should state why the process is important to the reader, why the reader
should be interested in this process or give background information; that is, it is written only to give an
overview to the reader about the topic of your essay and establish its purpose. It contains NO steps. It prepares
the reader for the topic of the essay. When the introductory paragraph ends, the reader should clearly know
what the process is. They should not guess what you’re going to talk about.
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The thesis statement of a process essay
In the thesis statement the topic states which process you will be explaining and the controlling
idea expresses either the number of steps in the process or an attitude, opinion, or judgment about the process.
Your thesis statement patterns might look like the following ones:
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1. It is (not difficult, easy, fun, possible) to……………if you have the right materials/ingredients/ equipment.
§It is easy to wash a car if you have the right equipment.
§It is fun to cook pizza if you have the right ingredients.
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2. It is (not difficult, easy, fun, possible) to……………….if (when) you follow my advice/ these steps/ these
instructions.
§It is not difficult to improve your speaking skills if you follow these instructions.
§It is simple to get over disappointment when you follow my advice.
§It is possible to set up your computer if you follow these steps.
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3.There are (three, four, several, some, etc.) main / important / major /
crucial steps involved in…………………….(Ving.)
§There are some important steps involved in making chocolate at home.
§There are some crucial steps involved in taking a good photograph.
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4.The following sentence types are also possible thesis statements.
-How to cook pasta has three steps, namely cooking pasta, preparing the sauce and serving the pasta.
-By following these practical steps, you can move into a new home.
- According to fashion designers, there are three stages of looking fashionable on a limited budget.
- Writing a research paper requires three well-developed stages.
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The Body Paragraphs
In each body paragraph of a process essay, you should state one major stage of the process. These
paragraphs must focus on one main step or a group of homogenous steps. They all start with a topic sentence
and then relevant details are added. Furthermore, the body paragraphs must be written in the order in which the
main points are listed in the thesis sentence if it includes predictors. For sample, if your thesis statement is
“The main steps of quitting smoking are believing in yourself, getting help and finding a hobby”, the order of
the body paragraphs should be as illustrated in the outline below:
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Thesis statement
The main steps of quitting smoking are believing in yourself, getting help and finding a hobby.
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Introduction
§Thesis statement: The main steps of quitting smoking are believing in yourself, getting help and finding a
hobby.
1st Body paragraph
§Believing in yourself
2nd Body paragraph
§Getting help
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3rd Body paragraph
§Finding a hobby
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While describing the steps in a chronological order, some important transition words must be used. The
transition words show that one step has been completed and a new one begins. Look at the transition words
which can be used in a process essay.
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e.g
§The first step of this process is to gather all the necessary equipment.

§The first step is that you should gather all the necessary equipment.
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The Conclusion Paragraph
In the conclusion paragraph, review the major stages briefly. You might summarize the results of the
process, or explain its significance and also make a final comment. As in the introduction paragraph, do not
 talk about each step one by one. Your reader ought to feel that he has learned something about the process and
he should have a good idea about the topic in general.
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Things to keep in mind while writing a PROCESS essay
1. An introduction paragraph which grabs the reader’s attention
2. An appropriate thesis statement
3. Three body paragraphs and suitable topic sentences for each one
4. Using suitable transitions or signal words
5. A conclusion paragraph which summarizes the process or makes a comment about the process

Many students immediately panic when they are faced with the task of writing an essay. While they may
have many ideas when they discuss a topic, picking up pen and paper seems to dry up all ideas. Some students
aren't even sure what an essay is. Basically, an essay is an organized way to express an opinion and prove that
it's valid. This can take a variety of forms, but the standard format starts with an introduction, has a body, and
ends with a conclusion. There are a few simple steps to writing an essay.
First, students must generate ideas. They have to think about what they know about a topic and what they
want to write. Students do this in different ways. Some students do brainstorming. That is, they sit with a piece
of paper and write words and try to relate them to other words. Some students just make a list of ideas. Other
students find they need to do some prewriting because they think better when they are writing out their ideas.
Some students just sit and think and get the ideas sorted out in their minds. One way is not better than another
way. Everyone is different, so everyone writes in a different way. For example, my friend Susan likes to do
prewriting. She sets her timer for 15 minutes and then she writes everything she can think of about the topic for
that time. When the buzzer goes off, she stops and looks at what she has written. She underlines the ideas that
she thinks are Good. This works very well for her, but it doesn't work well for me at all because I hate to do
prewriting. I just sit and think about what I want to write until an idea comes to me. The important thing is not
the method but the results. Sometimes, students think that the ideas have to be perfect from the beginning, but
this isn't true. Sometimes they might find that their ideas need revision or that some can be eliminated. That's
ok. Once they have generated ideas, they have a starting point so they can begin to write, and that is what is
important.
Next, students need to organize their ideas. They need to make sure that they have a statement of
opinion, and then they need to put their supporting ideas into some kind of order. That is, they need to decide
what will come first and so forth. For example, if students are writing about history, most of the time they will
organize their ideas chronologically because that's the way that people usually think about history--from past
to present, But, it's not always that simple. John wrote a paper about the problems adoptive children have. He
made a list of four problems, but then he had to decide which problem was the most serious and which the
least. Then, he had to make another decision. Should he put the biggest problem first or last? Sometimes a
writer wants to build up to something big, and other times a writer wants to hit the reader right away with
something important. John decided to put his biggest problem last. Students need to look carefully at their
ideas and think about what will make the strongest paper--and the most interesting paper.
Last, students need to write. This seems easy enough, but many students delay this part of the paper
until the last minute. When I say write, I mean write the first draft because, whenever possible, it's good to
save time to write, look at it and make corrections, and then write it again. Students need to give themselves
time--especially in the beginning--to learn from their writing. If they wait until an hour before class, the paper
becomes a burden instead of an opportunity to learn and share ideas. Sally, for example, had a 1000 word
essay due at 11:00 in her English 101 class. She waited until 9:00 PM the night before to begin. By then, she
was so nervous about getting the paper finished on time that she couldn't think of anything to write about. She
kept thinking about the F she was going to get and what it would do to her grade point average. Students
should just start writing and not expect a perfect product the first time, but even an imperfect paper is better
than no paper.
In conclusion, writing an essay is really not so difficult. Students simply need to have a plan for
writing. First, they need to find a way to generate ideas, and then they need to organize these ideas in some
way that makes sense to them. Lastly, but most importantly, the students have to sit down and pick up their
pencils and begin to write. The more students practice writing, the easier it will become because it's really only
thinking and sharing ideas—something they do all of the time.

THE PRODUCTION OF CHOCOLATE

Chocolate is a key ingredient in many foods such as milk shakes, candy bars, cookies and cereals. It is
ranked as one of the most favorite flavors in North America and Europe. Despite its popularity, most people do
not know the unique origins of this popular treat. Chocolate is a product that requires complex procedures to
produce. The process involves harvesting cocoa, refining cocoa to cocoa beans, and shipping the cocoa beans
to the manufacturing factory for cleaning, coaching and grinding.

Chocolate production starts with harvesting cocoa in a forest. Cocoa comes from tropical evergreen
Cocoa trees, such as Theobroma Cocoa, which grow in the wet lowland tropics of Central and South America,
West Africa and Southeast Asia. Cocoa needs to be harvested manually in the forest. The seedpods of cocoa
will first be collected. After the cocoa pods are collected into baskets, the pods are taken to a processing house.
Here they are split open and the cocoa beans are removed. Pods can contain upwards of 50 cocoa beans each.

As a second step, the beans undergo the fermentation processing. They are either placed in large,
shallow, heated trays or covered with large banana leaves. If the climate is right, they may be simply heated by
the sun. Workers come along periodically and stir them up so that all of the beans come out equally fermented.
During fermentation is when the beans turn brown. This process may take five or eight days. Afterwards,
farmers simply spread the fermented seeds on trays and leave them in the sun to dry. The drying process
usually takes about a week and results in seeds that are about half of their original weight.

Once the cocoa beans have reached the machinery of chocolate factories, they are ready to be refined
into chocolate. Generally, manufacturing processes differ slightly due to the different species of cocoa trees,
but most factories use similar machines to break down the cocoa beans into cocoa butter and chocolate. Firstly,
fermented and dried cocoa beans will be refined to a roasted nib by winnowing and roasting. Then, they will be
heated and will melt into chocolate liquor. Lastly, manufacturers blend chocolate liquor with sugar and milk to
add flavor. After the blending process, the liquid chocolate will be stored or delivered to the molding factory in
tanks and will be poured into molds for sale. Finally, wrapping and packaging machines will pack the
chocolates and then they will be ready to transport.

To sum up, in order to turn cocoa pods into well-processed chocolate, one needs to collect the pods, refine
them into cocoa beans and process them at chocolate factories. Thanks to the people who work in this industry,
we are able to have this delight whenever we want some.