An essay is a type of academic writing that has the core purpose of presenting a specific idea and informing the audience about it; or it may make emphasis on conveying an argument and providing some additional examples and evidence. There are different types of essays depending on the purposes they have. So, if you want to be successful in essay writing and to Write an Essay Effectively, you need to master certain tools that help you write this task properly. So, how to write an essay effectively depends on the type and purpose of writing that you persevere.
When it comes to the essay length, it differs and it may range from 300 words, 500 words to 5,000 words and more. Still, the majority of essay writing tasks assigned to students are from 1,000 to 3,000 words. This is a classic standard of essay writing that enables the writer to fully investigate and analyze the topic, come up with an argument, and provide some convincing fact related to the given topic.
Essay topics can also vary depending on the subject area or your major. If you find it hard to come up with a perfect topic on your own or to develop the assigned topic, you are welcome to contact our custom writing agency and get custom essays for sale. Our team of professional and experienced writers has already helped thousands of students succeed in their writing assignments. The team is versatile and our experts specialize in a variety of disciplines, so do not hesitate and place orders with us no matter what topic you have.
The very word «essay» comes from the Latin word «exagium» meaning «presenting a case.» So, essay writing intends to present one`s thoughts, visions or reflections of a specific topic. They can be very personal and relate to one`s life events, experiences, or stories. So, read on and get to know the main guidelines on successful essay writing.
Types of Essays
When you start investigating information about essay writing online, you will certainly come across the information where you can find different types of essays. All in all, there are four main categories of essays:
- Narrative. This essay provides a narration and has a specific central point or a motif. All events, happenings, and incidences revolve around one person or motif initially presented by the writer.
- Descriptive. As evident from its name, the main purpose of this essay type is to provide vivid descriptions of somebody or something. Students may describe nature, an event, a person, a pet, a situation, an emotion, or whatsoever. This essay type is creative since one can have enough freedom to delve into details and descriptions.
- Persuasive. The main aim of this type of essay is to persuade your target audience in your standpoint. As such, you need to be clear in providing strong argumentation and clear evidence. This essay type demands in-depth research, which ought to derive from credible and reliable sources. Besides, it is necessary not only to focus on one standpoint but also provide counterarguments.
- Expository. When working on this essay type, you need to investigate a specific idea, find supporting evidence, elaborate the idea, and then come up with strong arguments to back it up. The given ideas can be developed with the help of a comparison and contrast, problem and solution, or cause and effect approaches.
There are many more other essay types, but these four are the main ones that students have to work on regardless of their academic levels. Different essay types may discuss one and the same topic in different ways. These specifics relate to essay writing rhetorics. So, based on these rhetorical models, there are these other essay types:
- Definition essays – expository essays that aim to define an idea or a concept.
- Critical essays – analytical essays that provide a thorough analysis of the given topic.
- Argumentative essays – pieces of writing need to convince the audience in a certain standpoint taken by the writer.
- Cause and effect essays – paper types that analyze and pinpoint how specific situations or happenings led to other events.
- Process essays – expository essays that clearly provide a certain process of how something or somebody operates or works.
- Comparison and contrast essays – analytical writing where you need to discuss and analyze similarities and differences between different people, situations, objects, or processes.
The very essay writing process contains three main steps:
- Preparatory stage. You need to decide on the topic, formulate it, conduct research, and then come up with a paper outline.
- Writing stage. You need to develop a clear argument, provide background information in the introduction, add supporting evidence, and then come up with a conclusion.
- Revision. Once you have completed the paper, you need to edit and proofread it by looking for content mistakes, grammar flaws, punctuation errors, and others.
How to Write an Essay: 5 Simple Steps
- Formulate a topic after you have thoroughly read and comprehended paper requirements. Investigate background information on the topic and come up with a solid working thesis.
- Carry out thorough research by consulting scholarly and peer-reviewed sources. Take notes within the process.
- Formulate a thesis statement and mention key ideas that you will further develop within the main body.
- Start writing your paper by integrating all information you have gathered in the research process. Provide in-text citations for the facts and details taken from different outside sources.
- Edit and proofread the paper after completion. Always review your essay for mistakes before you submit it.
Essay Structure – Write an Essay Effectively
- An introduction. The main role of the introduction is to state your position, standpoint, or opinion. Apart from setting the background of your writing, you need to formulate a strong thesis statement. It has to be attention-grabbing and catchy for the audience.
- A main body. Decide on the number of body paragraphs you will have. As a rule, you need to have at least three body paragraphs if you have a five-paragraph structure. Each of the paragraphs has to focus on one idea mentioned in the thesis. You need to organize the paragraphs in the order of priority – starting from the strongest argument. The first sentence of the paragraph is a topic sentence, and it should introduce the first idea or argument. Furthermore, it should be supported with examples, illustrations, and evidence. At the end of the paragraph, you have to provide a closing sentence. More so, you need to ensure transitions throughout paragraphs.
- A conclusive paragraph. This is the final paragraph of your essay, where you sum up all findings or ideas derived from the research. You do not have to provide any new facts but merely reiterate those mentioned in the thesis. Remember that the conclusion provides a lasting impression on the reader, so work on it attentively.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that essays take time to complete, so do not be in haste when working on them to Write an Essay Effectively. Make sure you set aside enough time to go through different stages of writing and have enough time for revision and editing. Take a look at the main writing stages you may need to go through:
- think about the main essay question;
- investigate the question by researching different sources;
- jot down the ideas and organize them;
- start writing your paper;
- write the first draft;
- review the draft;
- start working on the final draft.
